I

It is a scorching weather. The afternoon sun has chased the wind behind the mountains. Even the thinnest air required to move a dry leaf by an inch is not in the existence. The street is completely deserted and the few countable shops which fall on both sides of the street are also closed. Farmers didn’t dare to come out at this hour and were taking nap in their backyards under any cool shades they could find. At the end of this village street there is a small metal bridge, old and rusted at few places, below which a thin stream runs. Under that bridge, beside the stream bank, few stray dogs were the only to be seen who were sleeping like deads.

Under this blazed cloudless sky, this empty street is strolled by three more creatures. Edgardo, mounted on his favorite horse Chestwind, a bay in color, is slowly moving towards his destination. He is wearing his tight leather boots below his police uniform; his service stock-man hat was somehow keeping his head cool. A thin sweat from his forehead was reaching down to his cheeks. The horse is lazy and is walking at his normal breath.

The third creature is a man, lean and short, but not so short, who’s both hands were strongly held together with a long rope which was held securely by Edgardo. Walking the distance that man was dead beat, and his feet’s without any shoes were burning. He is wearing a thin trouser and a shirt which by far can indicate the identity he was carrying. His head was blazing as the sun rays were piercing his skulls through the thick hairs. He was quite for a long time, but finally he spoke, “please let me drink some water from the stream”, as they walk over the small bridge. His words seemed to make no effect on Edgardo and he was going on the same pace on his horse pulling him.

That man looked back and saw the cool water flowing through the stream, but still walking as Edgardo won’t let him stand, not for a moment.

“I know it’s your gun for which you are portraying yourself strong”, said the man trying to make his possessor more angry.

Edgardo was smiling at those words and then he said, “you are right Jorge, to keep a notorious thief and yegg like you under discipline, we need such tools. To hold an animal we have to be an animal.”

They crossed that small bridge below which the stream was flowing and the market street was now over. They took a right turn onto a narrow path, and entered the earthy and broken road who’s one side lay the farmland of the peasants and the other side was covered with eucalyptus trees planted in a succession through its length. Now they are walking under the shade and a mild wind was caressing that part.

They walked for few more distances on that dusty path between the farms until the shining sight of the high watchtower made them stop. Between the farmland stands one mansion, majestic in beauty and enormous in dimension. Edgardo stopped his horse in front of the iron-gate. A gate-man was signalled, and the three walked inside the large estate of one wine merchant, Santino de Pierio.

Jorge has robbed uncountable people and burgled a myriad of houses, but never in his life he has ever dared to look at such a mansion. For him this was not just a villa but a King’s castle surrounded by vineyards from all three directions within a large estate. Walking over the gravelled path, which is sometimes hurting him on his shoeless feet, his eyes can’t put the vision out of sight and so they stare the large wine plantation falling on both sides of the gravelled path, between which spotting a tree was a rare achievement. And when Chestwind stopped under the sole command of Edgardo, and Jorge found himself standing in front of that huge mansion made of white stones and ancient Gothic carvings.

Edgardo dismounted himself and pulled the rope towards him and said, “this is the place I intended you to bring”. With the pull Jorge came running towards Edgardo.

The long rope, with which Jorge is handcuffed, was tightly knotted to a stone pillar and Edgardo went inside the villa. Angry Jorge, when Edgardo was gone, stretched himself towards a fountain, as his ropes allowed him to do so, drank water from that sprouting fountain till his stomach was full. After that he came back to the same spot, found a shady corner and sat down comfortably.

Edgardo went inside the house and there was a change in his hot skin which felt a coldness under the spacious drawing room. Inside, one servant showed him the way to the guest room, where he made himself comfortable on one cushioned chair which Edgardo figured out was made of some delicate leather.

Edgardo kept his stock-man hat upon a small table and started glancing the rich object and pieces of arts surrounding the walls. The roof was high enough and the room is long on whose end large window panes were providing views for all the outside activities. Along the corners, glass lamps were hanging. On the wooden tables along the wall, golden bust of some ancient warriors were kept with dignity. Long painted pictures of some old kings, women, horses running on pampas, were hanging on most of the parts. Hunted heads of deer and other animals were placed as such as they were staring at the visitors.

As he was busy gathering the sights into his memory, a strong voice pulled his attention.

“Buenas tardes, Señor”, said a short, fat man with a thick moustache on his round face. This man was not familiar to Edgardo neither Edgardo was familiar with him. But it is the uniform of Edgardo which is familiar to every citizen of Mendoza.

That short man is the owner of this mansion and is very well known in this entire village as Santino de Pierio. Walking down the stairs he said, “I was expecting your Superior.”

“Buenas tardes, sir. He had to go with the Mayor, so he sent me instead”, said Edgardo.

Santino de Pierio came and sat beside Edgardo and asked in a low tone, “have you brought what I sought?”

“You mean the thief?”

“Oh yes! I mean the thief.”

“Yes, I have brought him, he is tied outside”. Edgardo gave a suspicious look to that man as the men of law are always skeptical towards any strange behaviors. He then said, “My superior ordered me to hand you this thief alive and I presume I have completed my task. But let me inform you, he is one of the most wicked in the entire Mendoza.”

Upon hearing this Santino gave a smile. He then said, “oh, how bad I am. I have not introduced myself. My name is Santino de Pierio. May I know your name Señor?”

“Sergeant Edgardo”, was the reply.

“Sergeant Edgardo, will you stay tonight in my villa and we will have dinner together.”

“Señor, my duty does not permit me to do so, I wish I could have.”

“Well, no problem, your senior is aware of it but it’s just a matter of time to explain you the entire matter”, he took a pause, “take me to the thief you brought.”

Both went outside, near the water fountain to whose left on a stone pillar, Jorge was knotted. He was taking a deep sleep in the shade along the walls which is covered by creeps from the bottom till the top of the windows.

Without disturbing the sleep of that poor man, both went inside and Edgardo sat again on the same chair while Santino sat on the right side. Between them a small wooden table was placed, a servant kept some fruits and two glasses of wine on it.

“Taste it, Señor, it’s one of the finest wine in Mendoza”, said Santino smiling.

Edgardo took a sip, stirred the glass and then took another sip and kept the glass back on the small wooden table, “indeed one of the finest I ever tasted.”

As Edgardo was sipping the wine and observing the interior which has surrounded him, he had the curiosity of asking the question about the thief which he could not ask from his superior at office. And so after a decent pause he asked, “my inquisition on this fact may not led me to any of my objective and neither I find this as any part of my business, but I am curious, curious to know that a merchant who has lot of money at home and at banks, in his old age, have everything in his life, what he will do with a thief upon whose head there are thousands of charges, who has made so many failed attempts to escape from the prison and is famous for breaking every safe chest. What business could you have with a person like this?”

Santino took a deep breath and kept his wine glass on the table and gave again the smile of a child. He looked at the wall clock, and then to the open door way. And after a thought he started to tell the reason behind having a thief at home.

“Well, Sergeant Edgardo, your superior knows about this, but as you are new, so let me tell you from the beginning. As I grew old and already crossed the age of seventy five, but that doesn’t mean that I lost my charm that I held at the young age. You see, this entire farm”, he made one full swing from his right hand with fore finger pointing, “it was a normal barren land and my father couldn’t even grew spinach on it. But I took it as a challenge and look today, it’s the largest wine farm. I love to take challenges, I don’t calculate the consequences. My father is not there or else he would have patted my cheeks for my accomplishment. So, it happened few months back, when one of my old friend, who is a retired Commissioner and lives in Ulains, said to me that no matter how rich I am, my money is worthless to change a thief to a good responsible man. His words pierced my little heart like someone has stabbed it a thousand times with a spear dipped in bitter sugar water. And, so the consequence build upon my ego. I have a good reputation at the police circle and your seniors are my good friends. As I asked about one such person whom I can change and can raise him as my own son, they suggested me this man”, he pointed with his fat finger towards the thief sleeping outside, “then I paid the required money so that every charge on his head must be removed and I can make him a far better man.”

Edgardo consumed the story completely but was half impressed by Santino’s thought, as being a police, he, by his small working life, knows that a thief like this cannot be changed. But he also values the act of this innocent man and thought not to deject his noble deed.

As he finished his wine he said, “can I have another glass of wine, if you wouldn’t mind.

“Sure, why not, this winery never runs out of wine”, and Santino called out Guste, his servant.

After the leisure was over, Edrado put on his hat and prepared to move back to his destination, but on the door he turned back and said, “some challenges are worth accepting and sometimes you have to let them fly beside you, without catching them. If you change your mind then I will be the happiest person”, and saying those he went out on that burning heat. His tall and lean image made a silhouette as he left the door and the wine merchant was looking at his visitor leaving the house.

II

A week passed, Jorge was provided with a room of his own, his own closet, a dedicated servant who looked and cared for his belongings, a horse and above all a new name was also given to him.

Now Jorge was called Federigo, as Santino said he is like his youngest son. Santino’s eldest and genuine son, Rodrigo, was in Paraguay, managing a factory making Panama hats.

A small portion on the left side of the vine yard was given to Fedrigo and he had to maintain that farm under his supervision. Santino’s notion was to put an evil mind under a working condition so that he never gets deceived by any illegal thought. At the tenth day, Santino made a decision that the time to know more about Federigo has arrived. So on that night, which was raining heavily with blazing thunderstorms outside, like their usual evening, they started the dinner. Unlike others, Santino talks more while eating and so was Federigo.

“So my son, you told me about your criminal life now tell me about your parents? Are they living in any part of Argentina?”

Federigo’s mouth was stuffed with food, and in haste he gulped and munched it, drank a glass of water and then started his story that he never tells in brief to anyone

“My father”, he started, “and I used to live in Spain. When I was ten years old we moved to Greece. My father, whom I thought was in some sort of fishing business, was actually a petty thief who used to steal fishes from other boats and then sold them in the nearby market. Most of the time I helped him selling fishes, sometimes the fisherman’s rope, clothes and their boat-oars were also stolen for extra money. He trained me how to steal and conceal the small plunders. When I turned fifteen, we moved to this Land of Silver. We thought to make a fortune here but at one night when it was raining, like it’s raining now, he had a pain in chest and he closed his eyes forever. But till then I was turned to a connoisseur. I steal from the houses and the tents, the Sheriff and the shepherds. I was caught many times but I escaped until one day when they lead me here.”

Santino was listening to him with all his heart; he also forgot to chew the remaining grains in his mouth. And after a pause he spoke, “so don’t you have a thought to even escape from this place, there is not a single constable at my house?”

A big laughter erupted from Federigo upon hearing this. “A fool will have a thought to escape such leisure”. And both laughed heavily on these words.

But Guste, old servant of Santino, who has been working here for a long time, didn’t find anything to laugh upon. He was just thinking how his clever lord falls in trap for such a fool’s challenge.

Three months passed. Santino saw the difference in character and morale in Federigo. He felt proud of himself. He felt proud on his money; he found them worth to change a thief to a gentleman which now can be positioned at the society without any complaint.

It was a fine early morning, clear sky with flecks of white cottony clouds scattered sparsely. Outside, Santino was instructing his horse boy who was fixing two small wooden barrels of wine which falls on both side and also a bag above the horse of Santino. Federigo was also doing the same, keeping the wine barrels, but was unaware of the purpose for which the preparations were being made.

They sat for the journey towards the South as their horses left the villa, the country roads, the streets and finally their city and now they are travelling in the open fields of the pampas. On the way Santino told Federigo that they were heading towards Ulains to visit the old Commissioner.

The horses were running in a smooth speed, crossing the twisting paths, small farms, empty desolated house beside the roadways and galloping over small water streams. Whenever Federigo would cross a small stream with his horse galloping over the waters, his memory would drift in the past when in a hot and dreary day he was being pulled by that sergeant who denied him to drink water. And with each feeling of insult he would spike his horse more ruthlessly. Santino who is behind was happy to see his new son who is running through the vast pampa plains.

Many a time they stopped by the side of the river streams to take their food and wine under some tree shades, take a small nap and then again resuming their journey. By the evening when it turned dark they arrived at a small town and Santino decided to lodge the night in a worthy comfortable inn.

They found one inn which had a wooden board where the name was inscribed, The Oven. They knotted their horses, took two barrels each on both hand and bags hanging on them and walked straight inside. They kept those medium weighted barrels on the table and inquired for a room.

They were given a room at the second storey. Federigo was watching the night view from the window. The mountains were glimmering under the silver moon, and till distance only small golden dots of light were twinkling. The nearby river water was singing a soft flowing music. And few paces far from the inn there may be a bunch of low shrubs as a small army of fireflies were seen assembled above it.

It was already night and so they took the dinner in their room and as they were laying on their bed, Federigo asked, “why you took four barrels of wine, we don’t need to drink so much.”

Santino was reading a book of adventure. He closed the book keeping an eucalyptus leaf on the page he was reading and gave a half smile, put down his pipe and said, “look son, two barrels are for us, and two for my friend. Whenever I meet my friends I will get extra wine for them. And from now on, my son, you also remember, that whenever you go to meet someone you should not do it empty hand”. Federigo paid attention to the words, but gave a dull face, and with that he blew the candle out and went for a sleep.

The moon has reached the height in the sky. The silver light was falling through the window glass. Santino was sleeping like a dead horse, but in that night, on his bed, his sleep broke with a pain. He felt a sharp and heavy steel piercing his throat. He could not scream but could feel his hot blood flowing on his neck and dipping on the bed. And after a while Santino closed his eyes and his warm breath could be felt no more.

The next day, at afternoon, Federigo reached the villa mounted on his horse. On arrival he was alone and with a suspicion the old servant Guste asked, “Where is our master?”

Federigo gave an inflamed look at that old man, “Ah! He is in Santa Rosa, for some business deal, so he sent me back, and you stop asking me questions, bring some food for me. Until his return, he told me to look after this villa”, said Federigo in a grating tone.

Federigo stretched himself in the soft cushioned chair of Santino and drank the wine and ate the food. In his mind he was laughing at the poor man and his horse.

The End