Chapter 46
‘Aargh!’ Just thinking about it makes me so mad, Takis!’ Aleka felt her ears practically fuming black smoke. She could almost see it engulfing her and rising up to the kitchen ceiling. ‘They’re out to destroy us!’ she continued, ‘Andreas, his son, and that cunning little cousin of mine! Fancy her prancing about like a young missy! Huh! But she didn’t fool us, did she, Takis? Not us! They’re all in this together, surely!’
Things at Perdika hadn’t perked up since that recent night when the place was plunged into darkness, with several insects invading it to boot. As if a curse had been put upon them since then, now tourists and locals alike tended to walk past without as much as a glance in their direction, even her previously loyal patrons. And, what served as a bucket of salt to the wound was most of them strode right into Trata!
Aleka imagined yet more invisible smoke rising to the ceiling, in sync with her escalating rage. ‘How dare they put lizards and spiders in here? And even brought dogs to sit on our doorstep!’ She took an unsteady breath and added, ‘Goodness knows how they did all that. With ultrasounds, maybe? Some fancy German tech, I bet! But they underestimate us, Takis. This is where we fight back !’ she put to him, shouting the last sentence, and it felt so good, but he seemed distracted.
Arms akimbo on the counter, one hand cupping his chin, Takis inspected closely the cage that sat on there, his nose almost touching the rails.
‘Takis! I am talking to you!’
He snapped his head back and swivelled it to face her, a vague expression on his face, as if he’d just landed from another planet and the landing had been rough.
‘Huh? Sorry, Aleka. I just don’t understand what you’re trying to do here. Tell me again how these hamsters can get Trata into trouble. They don’t look like mice at all!’
‘No one said they look like mice, Takis. But it’s the best I could do, okay? I spent all morning visiting all the pet shops in Plaka and Adamas and was lucky enough to find these all-grey hamsters in the last one! Everyone stocked those typical patchy ones that are black and ginger.’
‘But, what does it matter? They’re still hamsters. Not mice!’
‘Takis! Concentrate, will you?’ She made air quotes and added, ‘All that matters is that “some kind of scurrying animal” is found wandering in the premises when I call the authorities anonymously to report exactly that. So they can go to Trata to check things out. And, with a bit of luck, the auditor will not have perfectly sharp vision, and these hamsters may look like mice if they’re seen scurrying away too fast. Get it?’
He scratched his head, eyes glued to the tiny pets in the cage. ‘Yeah, I guess…’
‘And since it’s not easy to acquire actual field mice…’ Aleka nodded her head encouragingly at him, as if he were a toddler doing his A-B-Cs.
‘The hamsters…’ he said, gazing deep into her eyes as if entranced.
She encouraged him with another nod and added, ‘…will have…’
‘…to do.’ He nodded fiercely. ‘Okay, got it.’
###
Invisible, and standing in Perdika’s kitchen near the back door, Laranon shook his head as he watched Takis and Aleka. That human idiot was completely under the spell of this vile woman. What a waste of a man. But everything is choice.
An angel of his calibre didn’t normally get assigned to spy on humans, but he had to admit this was fun. Besides, he could never refuse to do Esmera a favour.
And now, she was calling him, about to arrive. With a single thought formed in his mind, Laranon transferred himself outside.
###
Esmera, in her standard semi-ethereal form, stood near the road at a spot where she could clearly see the back door of Trata.
She was holding a phone, a prop, something all angels could attain just by wishing it, no matter how big or small. She pretended to talk into it, so none of the passing humans would suspect her just standing there doing nothing. At the same time, she was going over her plan again with Laranon, who stood beside her in his fully ethereal form.
He was a being of high vibration, after all. Lowering it enough to be seen by the three-dimensional humans would be exhausting to him.
‘There! He is coming!’ she said, pointing with her chin to Takis, who was rushing over to the back door of Trata carrying the cage.
###
Takis stopped just before reaching Trata’s back door for a few beats, listening for any noise inside. Hearing no one speak, he stuck his head in stealthily. Only Voula was inside, busying over the stove.
Gingerly, so he wouldn’t make a sound, he placed the cage on the step and opened the door. It took one second for the first hamster to realize freedom was beckoning. With a hop, its tiny feet hit the tiled floor.
As if by magic, a second hamster, and then a third jumped out, and now the rest of them were clamouring at the cage door, rushing to get out, as if an inaudible trumpet, one that only hamsters could hear, had just sounded, commanding them all to action.
He had no idea how many they were, more than a dozen for sure. And now, the cage was empty on the step, and, to his excitement, the hamsters were fanning out, scurrying all over the floor. He was so happy he wanted to whoop. But, alas, he had to be quiet. Aleka will be pleased. Finally, I’ve done something right!
He was about to lift the cage and scram when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.
###
Esmera felt ire rising in her, and it was an uncomfortable feeling. Archangels were not meant to do harm to humans, but this sorry excuse for a man caused her to have all sorts of fantasies involving a satisfactory comeuppance. She couldn’t punish him, but, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a bit of fun with him.
With Laranon at her side still invisible to humans, she neared Takis as he stooped over the back door step. They had both seen what he did. Esmera bent over behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
Takis straightened and whirled around, his eyes full of dread.
Speaking with authority, she pointed to the hamsters all over the floor. ‘These are yours.’
It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t insult her by lying. His eyes remained glued to hers as he nodded slowly. Once, for ‘Yes’.
Esmera had this effect on people. They felt compelled to confess to her their nasty deeds. Seeing that this one seemed rather dim, it was even easier to get him to yield to her imposing presence. Being large and freakishly tall really helped. Even though she was dressed as a typical gypsy woman, like she always did, she still managed to get respect.
Her chosen form helped to open people’s minds, and to free them from deep-seated clichés and prejudices. Because no matter the ethnicity or the social background, everyone deserved a fair chance in life, respect, and the benefit of the doubt. That’s all she tried to teach everyone by choosing this form. And it had worked, even on him. Well, well.
Takis swallowed hard, and she returned her focus to the job in hand. Bending over, she swung the cage door fully open, causing Takis to step aside and watch like a neutral bystander.
Esmera gave a low whistle, too low for humans to hear, and the hamsters all pricked their ears, then turned and hurried back into the cage in an orderly fashion, down to the last one. She didn’t need to count or to ask the man if they were all there. She knew they were all back in.
Closing the tiny door she turned to Takis and handed him the cage. Then, she pointed at him with a sharp finger and said, ‘And now, go back where you came from. Hurry! Before I change my mind and turn you into a rat ! You would deserve that and you know it!’
Takis let out a howl and took off running, cage swivelling in his hand. He was out of sight through the back door of Perdika in a heartbeat.
Laranon laughed. ‘You didn’t mean it when you said you’d turn him into a rat, did you?’
Esmera giggled. ‘Oh, please! I’m an angel, not a witch. But he doesn’t know that, does he?’
‘He surely scurried like a rat back to his nest, didn’t he?’
Esmera chuckled. ‘He sure did.’
Laranon gave a hearty laugh. ‘I’ll be departing now then, unless you need something else, Esmera?’
‘Thank you, Laranon. I’ll take over from here,’ said Esmera as she stepped inside, still chuckling.
Voula heard her coming in and spun around. Seeing her inside the kitchen, she rushed over. ‘Hey! What are you doing here?’
Esmera smiled sweetly at her. ‘Hi, you must be Voula. Emilia sent me. I’d like to speak to Andreas please.’
Voula’s expression changed. Even though she still seemed rather alarmed by this sudden intrusion, her facial features had relaxed visibly.
Excusing herself, she went out front and returned with Andreas just a few moments later.
‘Hello,’ said Andreas as he approached Esmera.
She offered her hand. ‘Hi, I am Esmera. Emilia is my friend. I need to speak to you.’
He shook her hand, looking concerned. ‘Is she okay?’
‘Yes, she’s fine.’
‘Good. Please, let’s sit there.’ He pointed to a small table at one corner, and they sat opposite to each other. ‘Can we offer you a coffee? A refreshment perhaps?’ he asked, pointing to Voula, who was now drying dishes but looked eagerly their way.
Esmera shook her head. ‘Thank you but no. Listen. I have no time to waste. I am here because—’
‘First, can I ask you something? Because I am a little confused.’
‘Sure.’
‘Who are you again?’
‘I am a friend.’
‘A friend of Emilia’s? She never mentioned you.’
Esmera saw the distrust in his eyes and didn’t like it one bit. She had to stop this train of thought in his head before he started running with it. ‘Listen, Andreas. I am her friend, your friend, and everybody’s best friend around here. Some of you know it, and some of you don’t! You can call me your heavenly godmother, I guess. Will that do?’
‘Huh?’
‘Listen. Things have become a bit of a mess, and I am here to try to sort them out.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I mean that Emilia is packing her bags, right now, to leave the island and never return.’
That got his attention. ‘What? She’s going back to Athens? For good?’
‘Yes.’
‘But… I spoke to her on the phone just a couple of hours ago. She never said anything.’
‘Why would she? Who are you to her? You tell me!’ She shook a finger at him and added, ‘Huh? You didn’t even ask her to come over when she last phoned you. She told me! You’ve been shunning her. And I demand to know why!’
He looked away. ‘I know… Things have been… erm… difficult for me this last couple of days.’
Esmera nodded impatiently. ‘A-ha… Listen... Lia heard you back at your house arguing with your son. Something about you not talking to a woman, needing time… Was this about Emilia?’
‘What? No !’
‘Who was it about then? Who else is there?’
Andreas bent his head and grabbed the back of his neck like a man getting hold on a lifesaver at deep sea. He began to rub it fiercely. ‘Ugh… I am embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve been acting up at home…sulking… like a petulant child. The argument you refer to… it wasn’t about Emilia but about my son’s girlfriend, Anja. I haven’t been speaking to her… But things are okay now. I apologised back at the house earlier today. We put it behind us.’
‘But, what do you have against Anja? She’s sweet as pie!’
‘You know her?’
‘I know everyone Emilia knows,’ Esmera said matter-of-factly.
‘Okay… Well, I haven’t been right for the past two days. Not since the night of the opening. At the end of the evening, I received some bad news that shook my world… But none of it has anything to do with how I feel about Emilia, believe me.’
‘So, your feelings for her haven’t changed?’
‘No, of course not! I still care for her…’
‘Care? I thought this was love , Andreas. She told me what you said… that you wanted her to stay, to be with you forever .’ She made air quotes when she said the last word, shaking her head at him.
‘Yes, yes… I did… but things have changed now, and I really don’t know… what I am doing any more.’
‘What nonsense is this? A man your age—’
Esmera was silenced when Andreas banged his fist on the table. It even caused Voula, who had been watching from the sink, to be so startled her shoulders jumped.
Andreas sighed, then swiped a tear away. Now, gazing at the tablecloth as if fascinated by it, he said in a broken voice, ‘I’m sorry… I promised my wife—’
‘Your wife?’
‘Yes…’
His head was bent so Esmera couldn’t see his face but could feel the pain in his heart. It resonated deep inside of her and felt like sinking into a warm sticky liquid. It made it hard to breathe.
She reached across the table and placed her hand over his. The angry fist of moments ago was now a limp hand laying palm down on the tablecloth. He reacted to her touch by snapping his head up and swiping away even more tears. ‘I am sorry,’ he said, ‘for my lack of control. You shouldn’t be seeing me like this. It’s not very manly.’
‘You miss your wife, you loved her, I understand…’ said Esmera, squeezing his hand gently. ‘And, I am sure the memorial ceremony of yesterday brought it all back.’
‘You know about the memorial service? I didn’t tell Emilia that.’
‘Your son told her.’
‘Oh!’
‘Oh, indeed. One more reason for her to feel left out.’
‘I’m sorry… I just didn’t want to drag her into it, that’s all. It was just a family obligation that needed to be fulfilled.’
‘I understand that. And I hope that’s all there is. Because if you’re still stuck in the past, then you’re playing with Emilia’s feelings.’
‘No! Of course, I’m not doing that—’
Your wife is no longer here, Andreas. You have a new chance on love. Real love. Don’t waste it.’
‘Esmera, listen to me. My recent change of attitude is not about my wife… Well, I guess it is, up to a point, but I’ve moved on. I am definitely over her passing! She’s been gone for five years, but the thing is, I made a promise to her before she died that I would return here and make a new life for myself and Nakis… To always stay close to our boy. To take care of him.’
‘And? What’s wrong with that?’
He gave a bitter laugh and said, ‘The problem with Nakis is… He is not Nakis. Not really. He is… Stefan. I guess I had been clinging on to false hope all this time, even denying to use the name he preferred for himself.’
‘What does that even mean?’
He gave an exasperated sigh and leaned back in his chair, spending a few moments, evidently trying to gather his thoughts. Finally, he said, ‘My son is a Greek, one hundred per cent, Esmera. But the German way of life won him over. He even changed his name, his grandfather’s name, into one that sounded more German…’ He smiled bitterly and added, ‘And, I guess, it’s his right… His choice. He didn’t really want to come to live here with me. I tried to convince him, and he came here to try it, only because that was what his mother wanted for him.
‘But he misses his girl. They love each other very much, you see, and they also love their life in Germany. They don’t want to settle down here. On the night of the opening they told me all that. And my son announced he is giving me a month… Just a month, to replace him at the restaurant because he is leaving.
‘He is going back to Germany to be with Anja. They want to get married there, start a family… which means I have to go back too.’ He took a steadying breath, then continued, ‘So, it seems to me that… that I got this restaurant here for nothing. The boat too. For nothing. And, as for Emilia…’ He sighed deeply. ‘Well, I—’
Esmera put up a hand. ‘Let me guess. You think Emilia is yet another of the things that you acquired here for nothing ? Because, in order to fulfil your promise to your late wife, you feel like you have to go back to Germany too? So you can stay close to your son?’
He seemed exhausted when he looked up from his lap and gazed into her eyes. ‘In a nutshell? Yes. Exactly that.’
‘But, what about your love for her?’
‘Are you saying it should count more than my promise to my late wife?’
‘I am saying that love conquers all, Andreas. It’s a cliché, surely, but does that mean it’s untrue? Besides, define “close”. In this day and age, with cheap charter flights and internet video calls always available, everyone can be daily close to people living in other countries. Even on the other side of the world. Geographical distance no longer stops people from growing close to each other and sharing in each other’s lives. Some people curse the Internet, but it’s a huge blessing to Humanity. I am surprised a man of the world like you does not realize that it’s the perfect answer to your little problem.’
He took a few moments, just gazing into her face, brow heavily creased. Before he could speak, Stefan entered with Anja.
Andreas made introductions and the young couple stood there looking perplexed for a while, seeing that it was obvious Andreas had been crying. Both dressed in swimwear and holding towels and a straw bag, it was obvious where they’d been.
‘Everything okay, Dad?’
‘Yes, Son. Just having a conversation. We were just talking about Emilia. Esmera is a friend of hers.’
Stefan’s features pinched. ‘Emilia? She’s not here, is she?’ He looked around, and behind him, toward the corridor that led outside.
‘No, Son. She’s not. But why? What’s the matter?’
Stefan scratched his head. Instead of answering his father, he turned to Esmera and asked, ‘Is it true? About Emilia and Lia?’
Esmera knew instantly what he meant. She read it all over him, that Takis had dutifully informed him what he had found out from Mrs Popi. They had all surmised that Emilia and Lia were the same person. But, clearly, Andreas had not been told yet.
She turned to Stefan. ‘Come sit down, Child. And you, Anja. Let me tell you all about Lia.’
‘What about Lia?’ asked Andreas.
‘She’s gone, Dad. We won’t be seeing her again. The jig is up.’
Andreas’s brow knitted. ‘What jig? What are you talking about?’
‘Sit… All of you, please, sit down. You too, Voula. Take five minutes. It’s quiet outside. You can all afford me this short time to explain about Lia. I need to apologise to you all, because this is my mess, too. It was my own idea, you see, to guide her to come and seek work at your house, after Emilia met you both on two separate occasions…’
‘What? You mean it wasn’t a coincidence that her niece came to work for us?’ uttered Andreas, as Stefan, Anja and Voula dragged chairs to join them at the table.
Esmera didn’t answer him, and simply continued, ‘But things went south. The… erm… helpers I appointed to look after Emilia in my absence… well, they slacked. They are still wet behind the ears, you see. One of them decided to get a waitressing job here, and the other one played with other children instead of what they were supposed to do… which was to focus only on minding Emilia.’
‘Those helpers , as you say… Are you referring to Elise and Chloe?’ asked Voula.
‘That’s right. By the way, sorry for Elise quitting without notice. That was me. I made her do it. She’s leaving the island soon anyway. Both she and Chloe are.’
Stefan stopped translating for Anja into German what was being said, then turned to Andreas. ‘Now, it makes sense! I thought it wasn’t like her to dump us like that, Dad!’
Andreas seemed lost and didn’t comment. Instead, he said to Esmera, ‘I am sorry, I don’t understand. Why are they all leaving so suddenly? Lia, Elise and Chloe? And, Emilia too, you say?’
Esmera pressed her lips together as she looked at everyone in succession for a few moments, then said, ‘Okay. I’m about to answer all your questions, but you’ll have to keep quiet and listen to me, really listen, until I finish. Do not interrupt me. You will find it hard to believe what you’re about to hear, but know this: The truth always makes sense, and it will answer all your questions.’