Saturday, November 18

Damiano's Lute

R. A. MacAvoy's second part from A Trio For Lute. Following the first story, Damiano, our hero is alive and well out of the clutches of Satan... or he thinks.
One year after Damiano Delstrego makes a pact with Satan, he is on the roads to Avignon. With him is Gaspare, a theif from San Gabrielle. Damiano took this scrawny boy and made him his dancer while he plays. They split profit evenly.
Of course, Raphael is close by. The Seraph watches closely at his beloved little student. Once in a while, he gives Damiano a lute lesson.
Of course, the witch Saara is also along disguised as a dove or sometimes an owl.
Damiano makes something of himself in Avignon. From a rich witch to the nothing that Satan wanted, Daminao rose and made something of his talents for music. He even played for the Pope who gave him a new Lute.
It was then that plague struck Avignon killing people in days even Damiano's benefctor. Gaspare's whore of a sister got the plague and was dying. With one act of bravery, Damiano transferred the plague into himself and asked Raphael to take him to a feild. There, Damiano breathed his last leaving his weeping music master to take care of the people he loves: Gaspare and Saara.
Gaspare, angered that Damiano had died instead of him, charged at Raphael and demanded he teach him the Lute the same style as Damiano.
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I find Damiano's actions always touching. He tries so hard to be a Saint even though he believes he can't be one. He wishes if a glimmer of hope would permit him to be a saint but he died. The most touching scene I read was when Raphael gave Damiano a hair cut.
Memorable conversation: Raphael and Damiano
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"Dami, Dami! You have power ofphilosophy beyond the mere angelic. Perhaps you have hit the reason for man being what he is."
"Reason? I did not know we had reason for being, Seraph. To understand the devil?"
"To forgive him. It is more than I can do."

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