The Clocks

Paolo leaned back, sighed, and rubbed at his tired eyes. He'd thought that he'd finally found something that would give them the leverage they needed, but once he got the document into better light he discovered that the words he originally thought said "marriage contracts" said "materials contracts."

One more disappointment and one more document entered in the index under: "Contracts - Business - Stone."

He sneezed twice then stood and walked out into the regular open stacks to get some air into his lungs that wasn't laden with dust. They'd been looking for over two weeks now, but either the leads had proven to be like this last one where sloppy handwriting, time, and hope had misdirected him, or they were reports of local marriage customs in the past or in other countries, which could not be used as precedents. In other words, there wasn't anything useful.

He banged his fist on an inoffensive row of books and was showered with dust from higher up on the stack. He recoiled, sneezing violently, and his back slammed into the stack on the other side of the aisle. Several books fell on his head and shoulders, fortunately doing no damage to him or to themselves. Hoping that there had been some sort of divine intervention, he scanned their titles. Bah. Useless. Unless studying Etruscan architecture would be helpful, which he rather doubted.

Spotting the space they'd fallen from, he left to get a short ladder as well as something to blot his copiously dripping eyes and nose. On his return he climbed up and replaced the books, all the while cursing the delay in his search. He wasn't just worried; he was scared to death. Not just for the twins, but for Sara as well. She was pushing herself much too hard even though her mother frequently dropped by in the evening and literally hauled her home to rest.

Today had apparently been some sort of "last straw" as Blair had been shouting at Sara at the top of her voice. The exact words has been muffled by the stone wall and the stacks but Paolo had been able to make out something about Blair having told her over and over that someone in her position needed to get plenty of rest or...something. The rest had been distorted both by echoes and distance as they had been moving further away from where he was finishing up his work for the day.

He didn't know what was going on, but he was worried that, as their sister, Sara might be suffering from some sort of emotional backlash too. He'd never heard of it, but there was an incredible amount of misinformation, and simple lack of information in general, about health matters involving twins. For that matter, there wasn't much written down about anything concerning twins born in The City. Not for the first time, he vowed to do something to correct that as soon has he had enough authority to explore his options.

That would all be far in the future, if ever. He had only been a priest for 17 months. Trying to do something now, especially as he didn't yet know exactly what the problems were, would be futile and possibly harmful. Sighing heavily he continued shelving the books.

He'd just about finished his task when he noticed a slim, poorly bound volume lying on its side at the back of the shelf. Either it had fallen from one of the higher shelves, or someone had been too lazy to get a taller ladder and had left it lying there, assuming that nobody would notice.

He nodded his understanding and scowled his exasperation. He was feeling a bit lazy himself, as well as irritated and frustrated at whomever had left it there and passed the task of replacing it, wherever it belonged, to him. He had no intention of taking time to find a taller ladder that would allow him to check the upper shelves. He'd already worked an hour past his "official" time, and he was far too frustrated to add to his overtime by putting it away immediately. Fortunately his robes had oversized pockets. He shoved the book into one of them then went on about completing his written notes before he forgot where he'd put the last few books. There was no way he wanted to have to do the job twice just because he'd been too tired to write down the details.

Even though he's worked overtime, he dawdled for a few minutes. He wanted to give Blair and Sara time to calm down from whatever it was before he got home. Fortunately Blair would need to get back to her home fairly soon in order to supervise preparations for dinner. Once he figured he'd delayed enough, he headed back himself.

When he arrived at their room, Sara seemed to be calm enough, and she looked like she wasn't all that tired. Maybe Blair was just overreacting. Regardless he needed to get out of his robe and put on something suitable for dinner. As he pulled it over his head, a seam that had been a bit frayed chose that time to separate and it caught, leaving him to struggle to keep his balance.

As he hopped around Sara giggled. Following that, there was a soft thud. "You dropped something Paolo. You really ought to empty your pockets before you take your robes off."

She picked up the book. "Oh good. It doesn't look like it was damaged. What is it?"

Still struggling with his robe Paolo muttered, "Beats me. I found it lying on the back of a shelf and stuck it in my pocket. I guess I forgot to put it away."

"Heh. I'm going to call you Mr. Absentminded from now on when I need to tease you. What's it about?"

"No idea. The light there was awful, and I was too tired to try to read it anyway."

"Oh. OK. Let's see."

Paolo finally got his robe off then put it in the basket reserved for clothing that needed mending. Fortunately the robes that priests wore for their daily duties were all alike, and he had three others exactly like it.

When he turned around he saw that Sara was crying. Before he could ask she pointed at the the book, which she had open to the title page. "It says: Marriage Regulations Volume Four Permissible Exceptions Allowed Under Church Law, including an enumeration of the conditions which must be met in order to grant said exceptions.

"Paolo, please, never, ever drop a book again. OK?"

He crossed the room and hugged her tightly. "I promise dear one. I'll do my very best."

Very, very carefully Sara closed the book, then, just as carefully put it on the table next to her chair. Then she threw her arms around Paolo and sobbed. For all they knew, what was in the book might be of no help at all. They were both very sure of one thing though. If what they sought existed, it was probably in that slim volume.

When they'd calmed down, they both blotted their eyes. Sara sighed, "Promise me that you won't tell my mother what I just did. She's been after me for a full week to avoid becoming overly excited. She says that too much stress might not be good for the baby."

Paolo exclaimed, "Baby! What baby?"

Sara just smiled at him, whereupon he grabbed her again and didn't let go for quite some time. When he finally did, he pushed himself back. "If I were in any other line of work, I wouldn't believe it. Two miracles in one day. It must be a sign...or a joke."

"Whatever are you talking about?" Sara's look was quizzical.

"Oh. That. Well it's just something I've been thinking about lately. We're taught that we were created after the same image as God's own, right? Wouldn't that mean that God has a sense of humor? Then if you factor in how wicked Hibiki's sense of humor is, can you imagine what God's must be like?"

"Paolo, sometimes you come up with ideas that scare me. Any being with a sense of humor more warped than Hibiki's is something that I really don't want to think about."

Both of them collapsed into laughter. Just as they finished, Mimi appeared, "Dinner is ready, please come down."

She began to turn away, then turned back and said, "Congratulations, times two," after which she whisked herself away.

Sara looked blankly at Paolo who looked right back at her. "Did she mean that we're having twins, or did she mean once for the baby and once for the book?"

Paolo spread his hands in a "who knows?" gesture. "I have no idea. All I know for sure is that I've never known her to be wrong when she makes these vague pronouncements. Though we usually only find out weeks or months later what she's talking about."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Still it's probably a good sign. Let's go get something to eat. I expect that we'll be rather busy later, and we'll probably need some energy for reading the book too."

"Oh you!" Sara punched him in the arm and laughed. Then they walked hand-in-hand down the stairs, smiling all the way.

-----------------

After dinner Paolo and Sara excused themselves from their usual after-dinner chat with his parents by explaining what they'd found. Once they had, Miranda, typically, said, "Well what are you standing here for? Get going!"

They laughed. They got.

Half and hour later Paolo stood up and stretched. "On the plus side it's a good thing that this book is printed otherwise we'd never be able to read it. On the minus side...why in the world did they use such small type? Couldn't they have just made the book a bit larger?"

Sara shook her head. "Perhaps you're right, but can you imagine having to plow through another handwritten tome? Every day I thank God that Admiral Zheng sent a small printing press back with Captain Turano's fleet after they met each other in India in AF 649.

"You don't suppose that this was printed on that very press do you? Let me see it for a minute."

Sara turned back to the title page, pointed at the bottom, then lifted her head, doing some mental arithmetic. "The common date here is 1314 AD, so that converts to...AF 653. It just might have been. That would explain the small size. They didn't master making reliable larger presses until around AF 660."

She turned the page. There was more on the bottom. "Interesting, it seems that this is a copy of a volume that was originally written in AF 531. "At any rate, it's my turn now. You rest your eyes for a while."

They traded off about every 20 minutes or so, each one reading the titles of the sub-sections out loud.

At one point Paolo exclaimed, "OH. Here's an interesting one. It won't help us, but still, it may come in handy someday. It says that if one prospective partner is of a legal age to be married, and the other is at least 15 (for girls) and at least 16 (for boys) the requirement that the parents of the younger child be present at the ceremony, and thus -- presumably approving the match -- may be waived if the presiding churchman is at least a bishop and certifies in writing that it is a true love match and that there is no coercion. That part's obviously intended to prevent someone bribing or forcing a regular priest into performing the ceremony.

"The rest is just details about how the certification must be worded, where copies need to be filed (likely to prevent the originals from 'accidentally' being destroyed), and how long they must be retained."

He turned the page and continued reading silently, then, after about 10 minutes, he froze. He turned to Sara and then looked back at the book and pointed with a slightly shaking finger. "This says what I think it does, doesn't it?"

Sara took the book and began reading out loud from where Paolo had pointed, "There is one extraordinary circumstance, which no churchman is likely to see more than once in a lifetime, but, for the sake of completeness, still needs to be documented. Most important of all in such situations is that all documentation must be done exactly as specified, and the priests involved must follow the prescribed formula exactly, on penalty of excommunication."

She looked at Paolo. "I've never heard of anything so extreme before."

Paolo just shook his head and, with a look, encouraged her to keep reading. "Oh, yes. Of course. Sorry."

"Ahem.... If one prospective spouse is of marriageable age, even if barely so, marriage to a still younger person is allowed, even if below the age of 16, BUT only under the following extraordinary circumstances. Either three priests, a priest and a bishop, or an archbishop must certify that they have thoroughly interviewed the prospective partners and must state in writing their conviction that they are truly in love. This alone is not sufficient. They must also state the reasons for their conclusion. In addition, it must be shown that if the prospective partners are not allowed to be together that one, or more, will become physically ill. Again, there must be documentation, from at least two physicians, that this is true illness and not something feigned or of a lesser degree."

Suddenly Sara laughed. "There's something written in the margin. It says, 'So much for the histrionic, juvenile declarations of 'I'll die if I can't be with her!' "Let's see, most of the rest isn't useful or necessary. OK. here's the last pertinent part.

"If the younger of the prospective partners is more than two years younger than the usual minimum legal age to marry, but no more than three years, the above procedures will be followed with one additional stipulation. The official church certification must be by an archbishop or a cardinal and not three priests or two priests and a bishop. Absolutey no exceptions will be allowed.

"Even then no girl under the age of 13 may be married, nor a boy younger than 14.

"Once married, the newly wed may not under any circumstances live alone without adult supervision. They must live with their parents and must remain there until the youngest completes his or her secondary education. In the case of the younger taking up a trade, the couple will live with their parents until said younger spouse has attained the rank of Journeyman. Said rank must be affirmed by examination by at least two Masters not related to the examinee."

Sara leaned back. "Wow, talk about detailed. I didn't see a single exploitable loophole, did you?"

"No and if there were, I should have. One of my classes is officially called 'Logic and Reasoning'. The priest teaching it calls it 'Hair Splitting'. There are some amazingly complex discussions of doctrine in the archives where priests have used the same writings to justify completely different positions. Father Drivas uses them as our texts.

"Well no matter. What does matter is that we've found it! At least I think we have. How long will it be before Jason turns 14?"

"He already did dear, about six weeks ago. The birth date that matters is the twins'. They'll be 15, and thus of legal age to marry with our parent's written consent, on the 19th of June. That's just a hair over two weeks away."

Sara pushed back her chair. "We can discuss the details later, not that our opinions will matter in the long run. There's no way our parents will let us be involved with the planning. They'd never let anyone else have all the fun. And, speaking of which, we need to notify everyone as soon as possible."

As Sara headed for the door, Mimi opened it and stepped in. "Madame Macklin and her twins will be here within 10 minutes. Madame Fukui and Jason will be a bit longer, but no more than 17 minutes. Mr. Fukui is already asleep since he must be up so early tomorrow. Mr. Macklin is teaching one of his advanced classes and will be tied up for at least another two hours. Sven is placing extra chairs in the formal dining room so as to allow everyone to be seated. I expect that this meeting will take far longer than it should, just as meetings always do. I shall serve tea and snacks 45 minutes after you begin."

Paolo's, "Thank you," chased after Mimi, who was already out the door and partway down the hall.

"Mimi" and "mysterious" went hand in hand. Frankly the two of them preferred it that way. It made life more interesting. Sara and Paolo smiled at each other then headed downstairs to see if Sven needed help moving the chairs.