thank you,” he kept repeating, his forehead pressed hard upon my chest. He might just as easily have been thanking me for holding his money as freeing him from that monster. I was clueless, and frankly too distraught to care.
Before getting back into her carriage, Tertulla laid her hand on my shoulder. “It will be all right. You’ll see.”
Waiting until the ironclad wheels of her carriage began to roll, the guards snickered. One said, “Look, Alexander has a new puppy.”
After spearing them with one of my most well-honed glares, I told the boy, “Now, you must let go so that I may mount my horse.” The rest of our procession had already started to move off. Once asked, he complied straightaway. Now that’s a welcome change. I looked round for someone to help me mount. Because of my height, I could have flung myself up and into the saddle, but preferred to avoid such an unseemly display. This proved to be unnecessary, for looking down I saw that the boy had dropped to one knee and was offering to assist me. He had linked his four fingers in such a way that the backs of his thumbs and wrists provided the area of lift I required. Perhaps he would have some utility after all.
But not at this occupation. A few of the guards had lingered to watch; they laughed as my weight drove the slight child’s hands almost to the ground before I hauled myself up by the pommels, legs swinging wildly. Not having the strength to drag myself up all the way, I dangled between heaven, earth and soldiers’ mirth. Something solid met my soles; recognizing it for the boy’s bent back, I pushed off as lightly as I could and pulled myself inelegantly into the saddle to the sound of enthusiastic applause.
“Get up, boy,” I said. The child Hanno did. I was not surprised to see that in spite of the fact that I had knocked him down, his smile had remained intact. I felt obliged to add, “Thank you.”
We walked on, Apollo instinctively slowing his pace for the benefit of the lad. My horse, it must be said, was more attentive than I, for it was only after we had restarted our journey that I looked down to see that the boy’s oversized head was not his only irregularity. He walked with a pronounced limp, pushing off with his undersized left foot which he planted at ninety degrees to his right. The sight of this asymmetry distressed only those who witnessed it, for the boy had long ago adjusted his style of locomotion such that he was completely at ease with it. He rested his hand on my leg, frequently glancing up to bestow upon me his undiluted grin. If he wasn’t irritating me with that look of gratitude, he was staring with unabashed wonder at every mundane sight we passed. Further proof of his insanity. Any being exhibiting such complete contentment with the world and his place in it must be lacking any true understanding of it.
I would like to be able to tell you that on that day my heart went out to the boy, but suffering the touch of his two fingers on my calf, all I could feel was another headache coming on.
•••
And that was how Hannibal came to be in our midst. Yes, I know, that was not his true name, but within a week the familia had changed it for him, from Hanno to Hannibal. It was inevitable. At least he and I had that in common. The difference was that as in most things, the boy perceived this as kind treatment. Hanno loved the change, skipping about the domus repeating his new name over and over again. I snagged him in the colonnade and holding hands, we walked back to my tablinum.
“Well, Hanno, we must find a way for you to earn your keep.”
“I’m not Hanno. I’m Hannibal.”
“But that is not your real name.”
“It is my new name.”
“Do you know it is possible to have two names? I have two, and one of them is a secret. Would you like to hear it?”
“Oh yes, please!”
“My secret name is Alexandros.”
“I want a secret name, too!”
“Hmm. I wonder what it should be?”
The boy walked a few feet, his face crushed in concentration. “I can’t think of any,” he said, almost in tears.
“I know. What if we called your secret name Hanno? That would be easy to remember, wouldn’t it?”
“Hanno! That’s a good