The summer of secrets, p.22
The Summer of Secrets, page 22
‘I can’t think of one reason why we shouldn’t,’ Kuríllos replied. ‘There’s an hour and a half before the ship leaves. Ten minutes is plenty time enough to nail a few shutters closed.’
The steps up to the house were half concealed by fallen bracts of bougainvillea. In the past few days, local women had had more important things to do than sweep their street clean. Delicate as vermillion confetti, the drifts of colour reminded them of the kafenion near their house. They glanced at each other, sharing a thought and hurried onward and upward.
They noticed a game of tavli taking place outside on the patio. The contestants – the town’s two best players: the owner of the general store against the blacksmith – had been rivals for decades. Each year, the tavli tournament started on New Year’s Day and ended at midnight the following Christmas Eve. Whoever won the most games gave a live sheep to the other. Winning was an honour, losing was lucrative. Ten men surrounded the players, under the shady pergola laden with bougainvillea. Although gambling was forbidden by law, bets were taken and both the Konstantinidis men placed a few liras on the blacksmith, then they settled down with a well-deserved glass of ouzo to watch the game.
They both backed the right man, the farrier was destined to be a clear winner. The game, almost over, came to a halt when the ships foghorn vibrated through the air.
‘Poutana! Whore!’ Kuríllos mouthed. ‘The ship!’
‘Maláka!’ Babá muttered, not bothering to compete with the thunderous clamour. ‘Come on!’ he mimed nodding towards their home.
They raced around to the house, hammered in the nails making sure the property was secure. With the klaxon still howling they sped back down to the ship. The stevedore signalled the ship’s bridge and the foghorn stopped.
‘I wouldn’t want to be in your boots when your wife gets hold of you,’ the stevedore said gleefully. ‘She’s going to kill you with a blunt knife.’
Babá turned to his brother. ‘Let’s get our story straight. It was a leaking pipe to the pump, OK? We had to get some lead from the blacksmith and fix it before we closed the house up, all right?’
Kuríllos nodded. ‘Didn’t want a flood, did we?’
The brothers hurried on board and moments later, lines were hefted off the stanchions. As the ship slipped her mooring, the sun slid below the horizon. Under a sky the colour of glowing embers, 400 residents of Castellorizo stood at the ship’s railings and waved goodbye to their island and the dark silhouettes of their friends and neighbours who hoped to join them soon.
Mamá and Babá hurried everyone below decks to settle down for the night.
*
‘Do you mind if I stay at the rail a little longer, María – can you manage without me?’ Sofía asked.
María smiled and kissed her sister’s cheek. ‘You stay as long as you like. You’re missing him terribly, aren’t you?’
Sofía nodded, unable to speak for the pain in her throat. She battled rising tears and sighed. ‘Sometimes I feel we will never be together again. I miss him so much.’
María always understood. She opened her arms and gave Sofía a warm hug. ‘I remember how sad I was when Mustafa first went away for six months, I also feared I would never see him again.’ She rubbed Sofía’s back. ‘I was heartbroken, but look at me now! I don’t even know how many children I have,’ she joked. ‘Or when I’ll see their swashbuckling father again. So, stop worrying. Now I’m going to see what my unruly mob are up to. You take as long as you like up here.’
‘Thank you,’ Sofía managed to whisper.
Once she was alone at the stern rail, Sofía allowed herself the luxury of tears. She watched Castellorizo, now bathed in silver moonlight, drift towards the horizon. Her whole life had taken place on that small rock. She admired Anastasia because she had travelled and experienced many different lifestyles and cultures. Could Sofía step into the teacher’s place when they all returned to their island? This was a frightening thought, yet she knew Anastasia would want her to. Everyone would miss the teacher – and Sofía would never forget that last visit to the cottage. Tears spilt down her cheeks for Anastasia and then for Jamie. How she missed him and longed to lie in his arms. Would they ever be together again?
Her thoughts were broken by the emergency drill announcement. It was time to learn how to put on a life jacket in the event of an emergency. She smiled to herself. How could a ship this size possibly sink?
*
By nine o’clock in the evening, everyone was exhausted. They had spent four days packing and moving their valuables and essentials down to the port.
The sea took on a swell and Sofía noticed the children becoming unruly. They’d finished the food, a pot of flavoursome kouneli stifado – rabbit stew – that seemed to have more small bones than usual. Her uncle had gone down to the hold, to check on his prized breeding pair of mink. Much to Uncle Kuríllos’s annoyance, the stevedore had insisted he left the creatures in the hold. Her father – from whom her sensitive nose had picked up the slight scent of ouzo – was asleep and snoring loudly. Sofía’s mother and sister, exhausted from the day’s tribulations, were trying to stay awake. Their eyelids slid down, heads tipped forward, then they jerked back to consciousness bearing a look of fear. Deciding to quieten the children the best way she knew how, Sofía gathered them around her for story time.
‘Mamá, María, Ayeleen – why don’t you get a little sleep while Rosa and I entertain the little devils?’
Rosa, who idolised Sofía, nodded rapidly. ‘I can dance for them.’
‘And I will tell them a story,’ Sofía added.
‘That would be wonderful. To be honest, I’m dead on my feet, Sofía,’ María said.
‘Me too,’ Mamá said letting her eyes close without resistance and the tension leaving her face. Ayeleen had already curled her body around Mamá, her face soft and luminous and her eyes closed.
‘I promise to wake one of you when I need to sleep,’ Sofía said, then she turned to the little ones. ‘Come on, boys and girls, settle down. First, Rosa is going to dance for you. Watch carefully, because one day your sister will be a famous ballerina. She will dance before royalty in the grandest theatres and kings and queens will throw roses onto the stage in her honour.’
Rosa tucked her skirt into her knickers and made a low bow. Sofía led the children in applause and then smiled to see their amazed faces when her niece started to dance. Surely Rosa’s dream would come true. Uncle Kuríllos always said anything is possible if you want it badly enough.
By the time the dance was over, Mamá and María were asleep. Sofía claimed the children’s attention. ‘Now, I’m going to tell you a terrible story about a war. A scary tale, the legend of a great fight that took place before earth existed.’ She glanced at her mother and had a fierce urge to kiss her cheek, but she turned back to the children, lowering her voice into an ominous whisper. ‘Listen – if you’re brave enough – to the story of “The Gods and the Giants”. The beginning of all things as we know them today.’
The children loved to be scared by Sofía’s stories. They sat around her, cross-legged, wide-eyed and already quiet. Sofía thought how lucky her parents were; things had worked out perfectly for them. Thank God Mamá had a son the third time around. She couldn’t imagine her mother going through pregnancy as many times as María. She looked around specifically to bestow a smile on her amusing little brother . . . but where was he?
‘Fevzi, Zafiro, where’s George?’ Sofía asked.
Zafiro shrugged. ‘We haven’t seen him for ages, Aunty Sofía.’
Mamá, instantly awake, picked up on the conversation. ‘Has anyone seen George?’ She stared about: a wild, disbelieving look grew in her eyes as her grandchildren shook their heads. ‘Georgikie!’ she called getting to her feet and shaking Babá from his sleep. ‘Babá, where’s George?’
‘How should I know?’ he mumbled.
‘Did you get his gun and give it to him when you came back?’
‘Gun? Ah, the gun. No, I forgot about it. Haven’t seen him since I left to close up the house.’
Mamá shook him roughly. ‘What if he got off the ship? Wake up, you buffoon! What if he fell overboard? What if he got on a different ship after we left? We have to tell the captain to turn around or we may never see him again!’ Mamá cried, already verging on hysteria.
CHAPTER 29
OLIVIA
Castellorizo, Greece, present day
‘I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU, Uncle. I couldn’t imagine where you’d got to. I even phoned the hospital and got Big Dave to check the flat. Nobody knew where you were.’
‘I’m sorry. I should have let you know. Mind you, it’s not the first time I’ve been in trouble for disappearing.’ He smiles to himself and I sense there was another story in him. I will remind him as soon as we relax later.
The walk to the house and distillery takes two hours. Every pensioner we pass has heard of Uncle’s arrival and, after much handshaking, each insists, in turn, that he sits with them for a short chat. Only after sincere promises to return will they allow us to continue our journey. I am relieved by the short stops. Although he claims to feel better than he has for decades with the stent fitted, I’m being cautious. His friends’ interest in me is a little unnerving, especially when one sprightly sixty-something asks if I’m married.
We finally reach the house. The moment it comes into view, Uncle stops and stares, a look of wonderment on his face. ‘It’s exactly as I remember leaving it,’ he whispers. ‘Needs new windows, shutters, balconies and doors, but apart from that, it’s perfect. Can we get inside?’ He steps towards the front door.
I try to imagine how he feels, returning after all this time. ‘The lock’s just some wire threaded through the keyhole and around a nail in the frame,’ I say. ‘I’m hoping to find a locksmith today, to make the building secure.’
Suddenly, I realise there isn’t enough time to organise all the things I want to do. My week in Castellorizo is racing by.
‘Last time I was here, without my family around me, I was a young boy, quite sure the Bogeyman was going to get me. My family had no idea where I was. My poor parents were out of their minds with worry. I had literally missed the boat you see.’
‘Where were your family?’
‘All on board a ship to Cyprus. It became so dangerous to live here, the British offered to take those who had nowhere else to go to a safer place. We were on a big ship in the port for a whole day. It started as an adventure – I’d never been on a real big ship before – but by late afternoon, the novelty had worn off.’ He laughs and I know there is another funny story coming. ‘I saw a row of seagulls on the harbour railings, near the mosque and thought it would be fun to shoot them, but I’d forgotten to bring my wooden gun, so I decided to sneak home and get it. After all, it was growing dark and so I guessed the ship was staying in port until the next day. Anyway, Babá and Uncle Kuríllos had gone back to the house hours before.’
‘You were a rascal, weren’t you? So you got off the ship?’
‘I did. But there was no sign of Babá at the house and the door was still open, so I hurried through to the distillery where I remembered I’d last had my gun. There were sacks of some kind of leaves, all stacked four high, like a bed. The smell of them made me sleepy and it was so nice to be there, in my home, with no screeching babies for once.’
‘Don’t tell me you fell asleep?’
‘You’ve guessed it. When I woke it was pitch dark and there was an awful howling that terrified me. Then, loud banging that sounded like someone was trying to knock the front of the house down. I hid myself behind the sacks clutching my gun, ready to assassinate the Bogeyman. Eventually, the banging stopped and then the howling ended, too and I guess I fell asleep for a while.’
‘Poor thing – how old were you?’
‘I don’t know, around five or six, I guess. Anyway, when I woke it was still dark, but then I saw light coming under the front door and I realised it was morning. I tried to get out, but the door and windows were stuck closed. There was no food or water in the house and I was trapped. What a palaver. I shouted and hollered but everyone was busy taking their valuables down to the port for the next ship and as you can see, we are right at the back of the town. Nobody was coming past.’
I twist the wire off the nail and push the heavy door open. ‘It’s infested with mice, I’m afraid and as you pointed out, the floor’s probably unsafe.’
‘I’m not surprised about the mice. They were straw mattresses.’ He nods towards the bed. ‘I guess we could put some poison down, but be prepared for a hell of a stink later. In the old days, they’d put a couple of hungry leopard snakes in – that would clear the house instantly.’
I shudder. ‘I’m not so sure about that. Let’s stick with the poison or traps, Uncle.’
He chuckles. ‘Your house – your choice.’
‘Ah, there’s a subject we need to discuss. Is it really my house?’
‘Of course it is. What makes you ask?’
‘There’s a guy here, from Australia, who claims to be María’s great-grandson. He says the entire family have given him power of attorney to claim that the house is legally his. He’s been to see the lawyer already.’
Uncle’s eyes narrow. ‘Has he indeed? Well, we’ll see about that. Now, let’s have a look inside. Throw a few stones in first, will you, to scatter the mice.’
‘Look, I’m concerned about the safety of the floor and it’s half twelve already. Let’s go and get some lunch and, while we’re at the harbour, we’ll ask at the supermarket about mouse poison.’
‘Good plan, I’m a bit peckish myself, to tell the truth.’
‘Hey, Olivia!’
We both turn and see Greg ambling towards us. I try to dampen my smile, but it’s not working.
‘This is Gregoris, the local electrician. He’s preparing an estimate of work for us.’ I introduce my uncle and invite Greg to join us for lunch at Eleni’s.
*
Eleni throws her arms wide. ‘Ela, come and eat and tell me all your news. Everyone is talking about you, George. You want a menu?’ Next, Dino comes running out of the kitchen.
Uncle hugs and kisses them both and eventually we settle at the table. ‘Tell me what’s the special today?’
Greg knocks the side of my thigh under the table in a bit of secret attention-seeking. We smile at each other, then smile in opposite directions, trying to fool the world.
‘I have a list of jobs that need doing as soon as possible, but I don’t know where to find the right people,’ I say. ‘Can you help us, Greg?’
‘Anything for you,’ he says, his eyes narrowing, then his lips part slightly with a smile. I have a terrific urge to kiss him and I am sure he knows. My heart patters with the memory of our kiss on the return from Kaş.
‘I need proper locks on the door and window shutters. A water supply and electricity as you know. Also, some support under the ground floor, until we can establish how safe it is. The roof needs repairing, too.’
‘Leave it with me. I’ll get the builder to put some shoring props under the floor beams – today if possible, so that you can go in and investigate.’
‘How can I ever thank you?’ I say without thinking. He gives me such a naughty smile I feel slightly breathless, gaze into his eyes, then look away quickly.
‘Olivia!’ Uncle says so sharply, I jump and everyone laughs. ‘What would you like to eat?’
‘Surprise me, Eleni. Whatever you suggest will be fine.’
She stands taller and shuffles her shoulders. ‘I have carrots el Grec, fresh from my plot, with macaroni I made myself, to go with a traditional dish of chicken and wild greens. Is very good! The best. For the pudding I have home-made apricot ice cream with toasted almonds and borage flowers.’
Uncle and I exchange a glance and say, ‘Yes please!’ together. I glance around, expecting Rob to appear any minute, but so far, there is no intrusion.
As if on cue, my uncle says, ‘Why don’t you tell me about this young man from Australia? You say he’s my sister’s great-grandson and he’s claiming the house. Or is he saying both the house and the distillery belong to him?’
‘This is the odd thing, he didn’t seem to know about the distillery. With such a monumental history, you’d think he’d know about the building.’
Uncle purses his lips and frowns. ‘I see. I look forward to meeting him. White wine and soda, Olivia?’
I grin and nod. It’s going to be lovely having my uncle here.
CHAPTER 30
SOFIA
Between Castellorizo and Cyprus, 1943
UNCLE KURÍLLOS SUGGESTED THEY SEARCH the ship. ‘Perhaps Georgikie’s found a more comfortable place to sleep. We all know what a monkey he is. Perhaps he’s hiding, so calm down everybody. Or perhaps he’s fallen asleep with one of his friends in a cabin. We’ll explore all possible locations and question everyone on board.’
This logical suggestion calmed Mamá. Sofía kept María’s children occupied by telling more stories, while the adults helped to search the ship. As midnight approached, it became clear the boy was not on board. Mamá, panic-stricken again, went with Babá and Kuríllos to the bridge to ask the captain to turn the ship around.
The captain understood neither Greek nor Italian, so Mamá – now in tears of fear and frustration – fetched Sofía. María took her sister’s place guarding the rest of the children, most of whom were asleep by this time. A long conversation took place between the captain and Sofía, while – ignorant of the language – her mother shuffled impatiently from one foot to the other. Eventually, Sofía addressed her parents and uncle.
‘The captain says he can’t do anything until daylight as they have to maintain radio silence through the hours of darkness, for fear of enemy submarines.’
The worried Greeks started making suggestions, loudly as possible, in their native language.
The captain appeared startled, probably imagining every U-boat in the Mediterranean listening to the noisy Greeks. He turned to Sofía for a translation, then explained. ‘Tell them, at first light I will call Castellorizo and order the soldiers to do a thorough search. If the little boy is there, we will find him. Now, I must remind you we are trying to keep as much silence as possible, so as not to attract U-boats. I suggest you all get some sleep. You’ll have a long day tomorrow.’
