The Power of Five Oblivion

dangerous. At the same time, we study them because they are instructive. They give us an illustration of what can happen when people take a wrong turn in their faith.
    “St Joseph was exactly that … deluded, ignorant, wrong! At least that was what I believed. So I wonder if you can begin to imagine how I felt when I returned home this evening to be told by my own mother that one of the Gatekeepers had come to Rome and that he was upstairs, staying with us. My mother believed in you completely, Pedro. She once studied theology at the University of Rome and, like me, she had come across the stories about the Old Ones. When she told me about you – you were still asleep upstairs – I felt emotions towards her that I had never felt before. I think I actually hated her for believing you. I must ask forgiveness for that, Pedro. A man should never hate his mother.”
    “What have you done?” Pedro asked. The words only came out with difficulty. He wanted to get up and run out of the room but he was suddenly very tired. He could still taste the wine on his lips, but now there was something else – a bitterness that the fruit had disguised. His eyes were getting heavy. The room was shifting slowly, losing its focus.
    “If only I had been right. If only you had been a street beggar trying to get food and shelter by tricking his way into our house. That was what I first thought. But then, in front of my eyes, you performed a miracle. My sister had been seen by the very best doctors in Rome. We had talked about surgery and different sorts of therapy, but in the end we were forced to accept that there was nothing more we could do and that she would die. The cancer was too far advanced. She had not spoken or eaten for weeks before you arrived. We knew that the end was very near.
    “And yet tonight, thanks to you, she was sitting up in her bed. She spoke to us. I can see in her eyes that she is well again.”
    “I saved her.” It was an effort speaking the three words. Pedro was aware of time slowing down. He felt as if there were a huge hole in the room and he was slipping into it. The priest was watching him intently.
    “Yes. You saved her. You have an extraordinary power and I am grateful to you. I hope that God will have mercy on you. I hope He will have mercy on both of us.”
    “What have you done?” Pedro demanded a second time. He didn’t try to disguise the anger and contempt in his voice.
    “The wine you drank was poisoned, Pedro. I have poisoned you. You have only three or four minutes left.” He raised a hand, the jewelled rings on his fingers sparkling in the light. “Do not be afraid. I have taken the same poison myself. I could not commit the sin of murder and allow myself to live. We will make this last journey together.” He paused to catch his breath and Pedro saw the dreadful pallor in his face and knew that he must look the same. “I have done evil,” Silvio went on. “But I had no choice. I hope you will forgive me. I hope God will forgive me. He will understand.”
    No.
    Pedro refused to die. He had been fighting all his life – in the village where he had been born, in the shanty town where he had lived. He was furious with himself for having sat here and taken the wine in his own hand. He remembered now that Matt had tried to warn him when they were together in the dreamworld. How could he have trusted this man who was still talking to him so reasonably, trying to make sense of what he had done?
    “These are terrible times, Pedro. It seems that the world is coming to an end. The whole of the south of Italy has flooded and now Vesuvius has erupted, causing more death and destruction further north. The cities are overrun with refugees escaping from war and famine in eastern Europe and there is no longer any room to feed or house them. The government has responded with measures that we cannot think about. They are being killed … tens of thousands of them. Even the Holy Father has been forced to turn a blind eye. What can we do?
    “And there are worse things happening all over the planet. In India, in China, in America, in Africa. Whole countries have disappeared. Some of them have retreated into the Dark Ages. Terrorists and fanatics have killed millions. Have you ever read the Bible? The kings of the earth and the great ones and the rich and the strong hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the hills and said: ‘Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb because the