Free Henry of Atlantic City by Frederick Reuss

the streets of Byzantium as a beggar and when the emperor was not afraid of the people.
    They followed the guard down a long corridor lined with statues. Some statues were missing arms and some were missing heads and one was missing completely. Thepedestal had a little card on it. The emperor was a great lover of antiquity.
    “You behave yourself, kid,” Henry’s father said.
    The emperor was sitting behind a big desk and was surrounded by his generals. They all looked up when Henry and his father and Sy entered the room. Henry was surprised because they were all old men and the room smelled kind of sour, like old men. The emperor motioned for everybody to be seated. He beckoned Henry to come to him. Henry walked around behind the desk and the emperor leaned forward in his chair and whispered into Henry’s ear. “Do you love your father?” he asked. He turned his head so Henry could answer.
    Henry whispered into the emperor’s ear who is he that exists except the Father alone?
    The emperor looked across his desk at the room full of men and smiled. Then he picked Henry up and sat him on his knee. He was much stronger than he looked. He swiveled in his chair so their backs were to the men in the room and they were looking out the window over the beach. The waves crashed silently in the distance and outside it was cold and gray December. The emperor stroked the back of Henry’s head. “Tell me, son. Should I believe what your father has come here to tell me? Is he telling the truth?” One of the generals sneezed and blew his nose. Without turning around Henry knew it was Sittas the Thracian because he had a cold he could never get rid of. He had caught it in the mountains when he was trying topersuade the Armenians to leave their mountain homes and become part of the empire.
    Henry cupped both his hands over the emperor’s shaggy ear and said if we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth in us; if we unite with it, it will bring our fulfillment.
    The emperor was quiet for a long time and kept stroking the back of Henry’s head. The generals were getting restless. Then the emperor whispered in Henry’s ear, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
    Henry cupped both hands over the emperor’s ear again and said a saint.
    The emperor laughed and then he lifted Henry off his lap and told him to go sit down. Then he swiveled around so he was facing the men in the room. “Okay, gentlemen. What have you brought me?”
    Germanus leaned forward in his chair. “How about the whole story?” he said in a low voice. Germanus had married an Anicii. The Aniciis came to Byzantium from Rome after it was conquered by the Ostrogoths. They were about as old and noble as families that could still call themselves Romans got and Theodora hated Germanus and his wife because they were aristocratic and rich whereas she had once been an actress who took off her clothes on stage and people knew what she looked like naked. Everybody knew that Theodora hated them only because she was jealous and they were never welcome in the Palace, which suited them just fine because they hated being anywhere near the rabble.People called Germanus the Grand Seigneur because he dressed in fancy clothes and spoke in a fancy way and had estates and palaces all over the empire.
    “There’s not much to say,” Sy said slowly. “Except that I was asked to carry some money out of the country.”
    “What were your exact instructions?” Germanus asked.
    “To deposit the cash and return with the deposit slip.”
    “Which bank?”
    “ICCB. The International Commerce and Credit Bank.”
    “Did you ask why?”
    “No.”
    “Did you have any idea yourself?”
    “I assumed it was a tax thing.”
    “A tax thing,” Germanus said. “What were you offered for helping out with this tax thing?”
    “Two percent.”
    “And what did that come to?” Germanus asked.
    “A little over sixty thousand dollars.”
    “So the total sum of the deposit