Page 125 of DATE
"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked, glancing at her.
"Hmm?" Hedy was still looking at the float, which carried a large wine bottle. "It's a passionate love song. Did Ghirlandaio write it?"
"Wrong guess," he smiled at her. "It was written by our lord himself."
"What? The stern and serious lord?" Hedy laughed, a littlesurprised. "How is that possible?"
"He’s written many romantic and fiery love poems, and he was famous in Florence for them many years ago." He patted her shoulder and gestured toward the soaring doves. "Once you've been here long enough, you'll become a poet, too."
A few days after the carnival ended, Leonardo came to visit again.
"Hedy—would you like to come with me to Milan?"
Hedy was packing away her experimental tools when she heard the invitation, a bit confused. "So suddenly?"
"The Sforzas in Milan invited me to host a grand ball for the young duke," he waved the design draft in his hand. "I’ve decided to call it 'The Feast of Heaven.'"
"If I remember correctly, the young duke is only about four or five years old, right?" she thought for a moment. "Is it safe if I go?"
"You can pretend to be my maid," Leonardo observed her face and added, "Wrap your hair in a coarse cloth, take off all your jewelry, and add some freckles and shadows to your face. As long as you look a bit uglier, not many people will notice you."
Hedy hesitated for a moment, but ultimately agreed.
She explained the situation briefly to Lorenzo, who nodded readily in approval.
Milan and Florence were now allies in peaceful relations, so there were no concerns about trouble.
After two years, she was finally leaving the small city and could breathe a sigh of relief.
The caravan included not only several attendants but also the little Bacchus, Atalante.
Leonardo had already calculated the journey in advance and claimed that the distance from Florence to Milan was about 180 miles.
"I made a mileometer to verify exactly how long the journeytook," Leonardo shook the round device in his hand. "Isn’t it interesting?"
No, I’ve seen this on car dashboards.
It took them nearly a week to reach Milan.
Sometimes, when Hedy felt tired of sitting in the carriage, she longed for her Ford car.
If she were to jump ahead four or five hundred years, it would take just three or four hours to cover the distance.
But it had to be said that the countryside scenery of this era was like something out of a painting.
The weeping willows by the babbling streams, the farmwomen holding cats, the vast fields of wheat and vineyards—everything was so simple and natural.
She noticed that Leonardo had switched to a new notebook on the journey, and his sketches of bushes and rural landscapes were quite beautiful.
Sometimes, Hedy would borrow a pen and casually doodle on a piece of paper.
"What do these two circles and triangles mean?" Leonardo asked, sitting beside her, looking quite curious. "And the two dots?"
It’s Mickey Mouse.
Hedy thought about the definition of comics for a moment and then showed him a few simple sketches.
No need to depict textures or skeletons, no need to show their relationship with the gods.
