Authors: Martin Wiseman

2021 (46 page)

BOOK: 2021

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‘It’s nothing like
that
’ stated Jenny firmly ‘why it’s too colourful’ she criticised.

‘Well
, why don’t
you
go in if it’s worrying you so much?’ suggested Alec.

‘I’m not going in on my own
’ Jenny stated as she made out she was just admiring the Cathedral’s architecture as someone just walked by them.

‘Well, m
aybe the Pope gave it to them?’ suggested Alec as Jenny now put her hands on her hips as she just stared at him.

‘The Pope gave it to the Archb
ishop of Canterbury?’ queried Jenny ‘get real, Alec’ she smiled.

‘I see your point.
Maybe it’s just a copy then?’ Alec suggested.

‘But I didn’t
think anyone other than us and a handful of other people in the world even
knew
about it?’ queried Jenny.

‘T
hey don’t’ agreed Alec. ‘Look, it may be something completely different for all we know’ he surmised. ‘Maybe it’s just someone’s artist impression of what happened?’ he suggested.

‘But only you, me, my dad, Joan, Andre and Jack even saw what happened’ shrugged Jenny.

‘Well let’s
go in there and have a look then’ suggested Alec as he just looked around before grabbing Jenny’s hand and dragging her inside as they quickly made their way through the short corridor to the office on the other side.

Before th
ey could do anything else though, someone immediately spied them there and quickly followed them inside.

‘I’m very sorry, but this section of the cathedral isn’t open to the public’ a male voice behind them suddenly announced.

Both Jenny and Alec had been quite startled.

‘Oh, I’m very sorry but we..’ Jen
ny’s voice suddenly trailed off as she just stared at the person now standing there. Then she nudged Alec as she whispered to him ‘it’s
him
!’

‘It’s him? It’s who?’ puzzled Alec as Jenny
now just looked embarrassed.

Fortunately the man
just laughed.

‘She
means I’m Joseph Brown, the new Archbishop of Canterbury’ he smiled broadly.

‘You’re joking,
really
?’ replied Alec.

‘Well I hope I don’t look that unlikely a c
andidate for the job?’ the new Archbishop laughed.

‘No,
of course not’ nodded Alec.

‘I’m afraid
this is my private office, so I’ll have to ask you to leave I’m afraid’ he suggested politely.

‘I’m sorry, yes
, we will’ nodded Jenny ‘it was just that we noticed the painting you have up on your wall’ she explained.

‘Oh
, that one, yes it was given to me by a very close friend’ the Archbishop smiled.

We wondered
, if it was all right, if we could we have a closer look at it?’ asked Jenny politely.

‘Why
, it’s not worth anything is it?’ asked the Archbishop.

‘
We’ve no idea’ shrugged Alec.

Then Alec
looked at Jenny as she was egging him on to explain.

‘It’s just that
, that picture just seems to be depicting the demise of the Migrators’ Alec informed the Archbishop. ‘It was a friend of ours who became known as The Prayerman’ Alec explained.

‘Really? Well I’ve certainly heard of him
!’ nodded the Archbishop.

‘We witnessed it you see,
the very end of the Migrators and only a handful of people did. That’s why were so shocked to see this painting here. We thought we were just seeing things’ added Jenny.

‘
Well that’s quite extraordinary’ exclaimed the Archbishop ‘well, by all means have a closer look if you like’ he nodded.

Jenny and Alec both looked at each other nervously as they
went around each end of the Archbishop’s large desk.

They then held hands as they both nervously gazed upwards.

‘Oh Alec, it depicts exactly what we saw that
night, but how is this possible?’ Jenny puzzled.

‘It’s not the same painting
I saw before, Jenny, this is a different one’ Alec explained.

‘Then who painted this one?’ puzzled Jenny.

‘Oh, it was a pai
nter in Paris’ smiled the Archbishop ‘a Dutch painter actually’ he explained.

Both Jenny and Alec looked at each other again.

‘Dutch again’ they both smiled
.

‘
But how could he have painted this? Was he there or something?’ puzzled Alec.

‘I’ve rea
lly no idea’ shrugged the Archbishop.

‘Maybe he saw the other one,
the painting in the Vatican I mean’ suggested Alec.

‘The Vatican?’ puzzled Archb
ishop Joseph Brown.

‘Yes, the original painting
is by Vincent Van Gogh’ explained Alec, but hardly anyone even knows it exists, let alone has seen it.’

‘Well I don’t know of course, but I wouldn’t have thought the young artist who painted this has ever visited the Vatican. He’s just a struggling artist by all accounts, bit of a drunkard apparently’ smiled Joseph.

‘It’s so much like the other one, Jenny
, it’s uncanny’ gasped Alec.

Jenny now p
ut her hand to her face.

‘Oh my God, Alec, have you looked at the face?’ she asked as she just stared at the painting
‘but that’s
Tom’s
face’ she uttered.

‘I
t
can’t
be?’ questioned Alec as he leaned forwards to check it for himself. ‘Oh my God, but you’re only right’ he smiled. ‘Ah, but that says it all doesn’t it?’ he laughed ‘it just
has
to be genuine.’

Then he just stood still.

‘This is the second time I’ve seen Tom’s face on a painting like this
, Jenny’ he now pondered.

‘But last time it was predicting the coming of the Migrators. Oh God, you don’t think it could be doing the same this time do you?’ pondered Jenny, now looking quite scared.

‘No, of course not
, that’s all in past’ Alec reassured her.

Archb
ishop Joseph Brown now stepped forwards himself as he studied the painting.

‘You know, it’s funny, but my good friend always said t
here was just ‘something’ about that painting’ he smiled.

‘He could
well be right’ nodded Alec.

‘Oh, it was a
she
’ smiled the Archbishop ‘she died’ he explained.

‘Oh
, we’re very sorry’ now uttered Jenny apologetically.

‘Yes, we were very close’ the Archbishop nodded sadly.

‘This painting is just amazingly similar, Jenny’ smiled Alec as he just kept staring at it.

Suddenly though, his smile turned to a grimace.

‘Uh oh
!’ he uttered.

‘What’s up?’ puzzled Jenny.

‘I
t’s the date, Jenny’ he replied ‘see it in the bottom corner.’