Chapter 12 #2
We all looked at the clear, cerulean sky and obviously this was highly unlikely, but it seemed Dennis was persuaded, and after eliciting a promise that he would see us all later, he ambled off, June and Susan following at a statelier pace.
Having all agreed the rooftop terrace would probably be too hot at this time of day, we made our way to the lovely courtyard in the middle of the hotel.
There it was deliciously cool, the shade from the hotel walls providing relief from the sun, and Costas had switched on the fountain in the middle, so the sound of splashing water added to the feeling we were in a little oasis of calm.
We opened our lunch bags and after a few minutes’ quiet enjoyment of the delicious flavours, Effie went off to the water cooler in reception and brought back four plastic cups.
‘Well, we ought to give this wine a try before it gets warm, don’t you think?’ she said. ‘It would only be polite.’
Beryl unscrewed the lid and poured a tiny amount into each one, and after touching our beakers together and shouting ‘Yamas’, we tried it.
Then we pulled faces at each other.
‘It’s not what I would call lively.’ Anita coughed.
‘Probably deadly,’ Beryl suggested, ‘still, I am sure it will take the tea stains off my tooth enamel. I’ll ask my hygienist if that’s even possible the next time I see her.’
We took another sip.
‘Sherbert lemons?’ Effie suggested.
‘Mixed with salad dressing,’ I added.
‘But actually, now I’m getting used to it, I quite like it,’ Anita said, holding up her beaker and squinting at the wine. ‘It’s sort of… brisk.’
‘That’s a good word. Brisk and efficient,’ Beryl said, ‘and a bit lively. That sounds like my hygienist too. It’s certainly woken up my tastebuds.’
Effie stuck out her tongue and patted the end of it. ‘I think mine are a bit numb actually.’
‘Probably good with fish,’ I said, and I pointed at my chocolate-glazed cream puff. ‘Not kokakia.’
Beryl filled up our beakers. ‘Let’s give it another try. It reminds me of something I drank in Peru years ago, made by such a lovely family. But they didn’t really know what they were doing. Anyway, I’m sure this is much better than that. It doesn’t taste particularly wine-ish though, does it?’
She picked up the bottle and squinted at the label.
‘It just says wine from local growers, nothing about alcohol content. But the good thing is we are supporting the local economy so that’s fine. It’s growing on me actually. Which is just as well as I bought two bottles. Two litres. That’s a lot of wine.’
‘Go big or go home, isn’t that what people say?’ I said.
Beryl gave me a look. ‘People who say that seriously underestimate my enjoyment of going home. Now then, did anyone get any good pictures this morning? Even if we didn’t paint anything.’
We all took out our phones and scrolled through them. Mine seemed to have a lot of pictures of food, some great views over the sea and a few from the ancient village that morning. Including – I felt a jolt of shock – one with Will in the background. Goodness, I hadn’t even realised he was there.
I enlarged the photo and zoomed in to look at it more closely.
Yes, it was definitely him. And he had been smiling.
Sunglasses off for once. The others had been standing by the remains of an amphitheatre, chatting away quite comfortably by the looks of it.
Dennis had been holding out one finger, presumably pointing out the perspective he hoped to capture.
Will was standing in that easy, rather elegant way that was so hard to define.
I stared at Will’s face. For once he had his hat off as well as the sunglasses, and I thought again what a nice face it was. A face you could trust. A face that was new to me and at the same time annoyingly familiar.
I sent some of the pictures on to Nicky, plus a couple of selfies I had taken of the four of us about to eat, another sitting on the minibus, all of us looking excited.
Mum
Just so you can see where we are and what we have been up to, although not much painting done yet.
I’ve been having too much fun exploring.
As you can see I’ve made some new friends.
The weather is gorgeous and the food is excellent.
We are in the middle of drinking a bottle of local wine, 4 euros for a litre!
It’s different but I don’t think I will bring any home.
How is work going? Any updates on if the library is closing or not?
An hour later, we had finished the bottle of wine and all of us were thinking it was probably stronger than we realised.
‘I need a little nap,’ Effie said, ‘and I need to commune with my conscience about not having any alcohol today. Perhaps I will call it in-depth training, so when we get some of the good stuff tomorrow we will realise the difference.’
‘That’s a great take on things,’ Beryl said. ‘We are now informed. We can make our own choices.’
‘My choice is to have a lie down,’ I said.
I looked at my watch; it was three thirty. Had I changed it to local time or was that GMT? For a moment I couldn’t remember. We had a discussion about this and decided it was right, so there was still the opportunity for a bit of a – what had Beryl said? A messimeri. A siesta.
I thought of my clean, comfortable bed upstairs, the bedroom which would have been straightened up and hoovered by the cleaning staff, my own little bathroom, and the lovely view out over the twinkling Mediterranean, and I sighed happily at the prospect.
The big windows onto the balcony would be open to allow the breeze from the Mediterranean in, but the shutters would be closed and the sunlight would be filtering through, casting dappled shade onto the bed.
Maybe the kittens would be out there, snoozing in their canvas hammock.
Perhaps they would poke their little furry faces over the edge when they heard me come in. The whole thing sounded irresistible.
‘In fact, that’s a great idea,’ I said, standing up.
The other three followed and we made our way to our rooms to sleep off the ntópio krasi and gather our resources together for another evening.
Back in my room, I undressed and slipped into my dressing gown.
I’d have liked a cup of tea actually, and for a moment I looked over at the little cupboard in the corner where there was a kettle and my plastic zip-lock bag of proper teabags brought from home, but in the end I decided I couldn’t be bothered and lay down on my bed with a sigh of relief.
This was absolute bliss, and I felt marvellous.
As I closed my eyes and felt myself relax deliciously into a snooze, my mobile buzzed with a text, and of course I looked.
As a parent there is always the tiny thought at the back of one’s mind that back home, something might have happened.
Although even if it had, what I could do about it was anyone’s guess.
It was from Nicky.
Nicky
Looks like you’re having a brilliant time, good for you.
No more news about the library, we are going to start a petition and also try and think about doing new things to make the place more visible.
The weather here is horrible, it’s cold and raining on and off.
I had to stand on the edge of a muddy pitch the other day watching Joe play in a football tournament.
It was hours of purgatory. #badwifealert
Ivan is fine, he hoovers up his food like a good ’un.
I took him some leftover sausages this morning, and he was delighted.
I sat in the kitchen for an hour yesterday doing some paperwork, and I thought he might like some company.
Ivan came and sat on my lap and purred like mad.
And then he kept lying across my laptop and getting in the way, it was so funny.
By the way, I showed your pictures to Joyce just now (you met her, she was retired and then volunteered to come in and help with the pre-schoolers reading group) and she said what is Doctor Bill doing there?
She says he hasn’t been heard of for years.
I can almost remember him but I wouldn’t have recognised him.
He’s devilishly attractive. Joyce asked if he was filming?