The Copernican Whispers

Karpouzi was a young boy living on the outskirts of Greece with his grandmother, many ages ago. He never knew his grandmother's name; a little because he was scared to ask and a lot having to do with the fact that he didn't really care. Karpouzi's grandmother was a strong seventy years old woman, who wasn't really his grandmother. She was the sister of his real grandmother, who adopted the little child when he was three years old. Besides these facts, there was nothing that could define the child or his life. Nothing to talk of his parents who left for more and never returned.

The times were different, when communities meant something wonderful. Here people were exposed to something sinister. Humanity! Or at least the new idea of it. Everyone looked differently at the other and expected little when in times of need. But in this hopeless land remained something quite imperative to the modern world. It was the land of the thinkers and the believers. Faith made them all the same in their differences.

It wouldn't be true to say that Karpouzi wasn't special or was too ordinary to be spoken off. This young boy was certainly different in a way nobody could understand. Karpouzi was a recluse, with a mind well beyond his age and far beyond his time.

A wealthy merchant visited Karpouzi's grandma every year during the winters. He did this as a sign of respect to her, as she had tended to him when he fell rather ill on one of his journeys, with fate having brought him to to that town, to the house of the only woman who might have cared. It wasn't uncommon for people to die of a simple flu, considering that it was the early 17th century.

This merchant, on his visits, spoke of the stars and the moon and the earth going around the sun to Karpouzi's grandmother. And the little boy, four at the time, lay in his bed and heard the merchant talk in the other room, each night, before he drifted to sleep. The child grew up without having uttered a word but in complete control of all his senses and motor skills. A fascinating seven year old; strong, beautiful, yet timid and non-confrontational. By seven, he longed to hear the merchant speak and was happy that winter was just around the corner.

Karpouzi had never seen the merchant, but his soft whispers talking of the planets never left his mind. The boy began to think for himself and imagine things that could typically be perceived by a thinker of an older age. But the boy still couldn't read and everything he learnt was through his senses. The year he turned eight, the merchant didn't show up. Nor did he do so in the winter the boy was nine. This made Karpouzi curious, as he wanted to know why the merchant didn't come home anymore. Because the little boy hadn't a formal education, nor he wished to speak, he was left with nothing but his imagination, experiences and memories. Karpouzi really believed that the merchant simply lived beyond the waterfalls of Edessa. An assumption which he simply had to put on trial.

On one sunny morning while drawing stars on the ground with a broken tree branch, Karpouzi began drifting deep into his thoughts and realms of imagination. That moment, he simply had to find the merchant and know more about the stars. He dropped the branch and walked towards the woods in the direction of the waterfalls of Edessa. He knew the way because that was the only place his grandma could take him for a stroll, as it was simply an hour away through a shortcut; which was only known to his grandma and himself. After walking for around 20 minutes on the path, the boy was startled. In front of him lay the body of a man who had been dead for ages, in a torn robe which surely would have been that of a rich man. The boy suddenly realized that he was not even on the right road towards the waterfall. In shock, the child simply sat down, trying to calm his nerves.

This was a moment when the time stood still. For a single moment the boy's breath relaxed, but then his heartbeat rose when the realization came upon him. Karpouzi knew he had found the dead merchant. He instantly rose and ran towards home, or at least in the direction he believed it was. But luck was on his side and he could see his grandma's home in the distance. He quickened his pace and ran straight in dropping only at the fireplace, at the feet of his grandma. And then, the boy spoke, "Grandma, the merchant, he is dead. I saw him. He has been dead for long."

There was a moment of absolute silence, except the boy's heavy breathing. When his grandma could collect herself from what had just happened, she smiled with welled up eyes, yet with not a single teardrop. She said, "Boy you just spoke to me. If only I could have had this earlier. But, I want you to see something first." Grandma lifted the boy and said, "Come in to the living room." and the boy followed behind her, starting to feel tiresome from the run. When he entered the room, his grandmother pointed to a chair facing the window and said, "That is the merchant." On hearing the voice, the merchant turned around with a smile. The boy instantly dropped to his knees, overwhelmed with emotions, sobbing. The kind merchant went over and lifted the boy and said, "How are you child?" and the boy said, "I am stupid. Teach me." The merchant burst out laughing and said "Of course. But after supper."