by Nike Azoros
Pavlos watched her perfectly rounded rump as she walked to and fro fetching papers and filing them away. He had to remember his duty too, he had a wedding to ruin and a leper to deal with. He needed to show he was strong in other ways so he gave in to the demands of his ego, which needed an audience.
‘Hey Angela, guess what I am going to do?’
She leaned forward to hear his plans.
‘I am going to put a stop to the wedding or at least ruin it so their happiness will be broken.’
‘Why would you do that Pavlos?’
‘They have changed things around here too much. Lyras plays music and they all feel soothed, Maria walks around shining like a little sun, it’s not right. And Nikos is real trouble. Ever since he caught that eagle everybody thinks he is some sort of magician. He is doing everything possible to make life better for the lepers but when their life improves my life worsens.’
‘Why Pavlos? Nikos mastered nature to catch an eagle for you to have food, then he secured you bigger pensions for you to have more money, you have us and the infirmary now and power and many good things. Life is better for you all. It makes good sense to me.’
‘That eagle took my eye!’
‘I know, I treated you remember. Everybody said you were trying to steal her but I know you would never do a thing like that.’ Pavlos turned his face so his one eye looked away from her and changed the subject, ‘We all get given more money now. Do you know what that means? No one will want anything from me, my power will be gone. No one will fear me. Everyone will have full bellies to fight me back!’
‘I understand you Pavlos. You should be respected and it annoys me too the way they come in here and use our paper to write those letters to all the ministers asking for this and for that. It is an obstacle to me doing my job. I ask you, am I a nurse or a secretary?’ She lowered her voice. ‘If you want to do anything the others might not like I would help you. I like things better when people are under tight control. It gives me less to do.’
‘Ah Angela, what a team we would have made. I am going to get rid of the horse and of Lyras first. Without the horse the heavy work cannot continue and without the groom there can be no wedding.’
‘How are you going to get rid of a horse Pavlos?’
‘I can get it to fall off the cliff high on the island.’
‘How are you going to get it there?’
‘I still have to work out all the details but you will see Angela, my time will come.’
Angela wanted to be as close to him as possible. No one could understand her connection to him. The residents would try to explain it by saying things like, ‘It is a terrible when a woman is so lonely that she would follow a man like him just for the hope of hearing a kind word.’
In the small testing room behind Angela’s desk a patient lay resting after her regular blood tests. It was good news, a negative result. Three negative results in a row meant release. The result gave Athena the jolt she needed to begin to re-enter the living world again.
In the days before Nikos had come to Spinalonga and brought law and order with him things were a lot different. When a patient tried to escape and was caught, he was glued to a rock and left there to die as a deterrent to others who wanted to put others at risk. Now at least there were the regular tests that gave the occasional negative result and a patient was given hope of leaving the island in a much safer manner. Athena had the milder self healing form of leprosy. Angela went into the room, ‘Are you okay? Did you hear everything he said? We need to stop him. But I can’t tell anyone else yet. We will have to keep a watch on him ourselves.’ The patient nodded in agreement.
‘Good, you get some more rest. You are getting better every day. Sleep now and I will bring you some food later.’
Pavlos enjoyed the position of power and prestige that Angela gave him through her absolute trust that he told her everything. He even let her come along with him sometimes to meet the boat and pick up goods. The boatman only ever came to Dante’s Gate when he had a new patient to deliver, all other deliveries were made to the other side of the island at ten in the morning, twice a week. On delivery days at around ten in the morning someone would go to Dante’s gate to see if there were any newcomers to meet.
Yesterday when the boatman had delivered a load of food for the infirmary kitchen he had told Angela that he would not be doing any deliveries the next due day because he had to do some maintenance on the boat. She kept the news to herself.
‘Pavlos I have not been to Dante’s Gate since I arrived here, I think I will go there today to greet the boat. I might ask Nikos to come with me.’ She said it with the exact note of casualness.
‘What’s the matter koukla, don’t you want your Pavlos today?’ She blushed, ‘Well I would much rather prefer your company of course, I just wasn’t sure how to ask you.’ She looked at her feet as she spoke.
‘Eh I know, the women go crazy for me, come on who needs that city boy. Let’s go see if anyone is to be told Welcome today.’ She chatted easily to him as they walked down to the street of pain and entered the tunnel.
‘No boat,’ stated Pavlos in surprise.
‘Ah well that is a good thing isn’t it? Let’s chat for a while and enjoy the view,’ she even took his arm and walked with him to the end of the jetty. Her easy chatting had relaxed him as he stood at the very end of the jetty looking out over the waters to the mainland.
‘What do you think about when you look out there Pavlos? Do you ever remember places you’ve gone and people you’ve met?’
‘No, no I don’t I don’t think about anything anymore except how to stay in control of Spinalonga.’
‘Don’t you ever think of the Venetis family?’
She had said it so easily he had begun to answer, ‘They got in my way...hey! What are you asking that for, what do you know about that?’ She looked up at him and placed one of her hands on his chest, she spoke softly, soothingly. ‘I just wonder if you ever felt bad about what you did to that innocent family.’
She drew her other hand out from under her apron, ‘Because really even a pig like you should feel something.’ She had said it so sweetly and evenly. He faced her, the expression on his face showed he was perplexed at why she was talking like that. He didn’t even see the long scalpel she used to efficiently pierce his right lung. He gasped and stepped back and bent low. He tried to speak but the air whistling out of his lungs was the only sound he could make. He leaned against her and she spoke, still sweetly, still calm.
‘Don’t struggle Pavlos, just fall to your knees as your body wants you to do. I knew exactly where to strike. You see I want you to feel what my brother and his family felt as you took their lives. I want you to have the same shock I did when I arrived to celebrate his name day but instead had to arrange four funerals. Is the breath trickling out of your body like my poor niece when you strangled her after you violated her tender body?’ Her voice was as steady as a surgeon’s hand. He leaned further into her and she stepped back slowly to allow him to slip to the ground till he was kneeling.
She deftly withdrew the scalpel and tipped the kneeling man over so she could reach his crotch. She hacked at his tattered clothes till his genitalia were exposed and sliced them off like a dry wart, as the blood began gushing from the wound she stuffed the mushy package into his gaping mouth, still releasing air like a slowly deflating balloon. From out of her pocket she drew a long thin needle.
‘Did you know you pierced my brother’s heart? I am not going to do the same to you, death would be too quick, too easy,’ she said evenly as she skewered him in the left kidney. His body arched up in agonising speechlessness. Angela was as calm as if she was administering medication. She had played this scene over and over in her mind ever since she requested her transfer to Spinalonga. Her entire remaining family had been wiped out by one man. Everything her brother had was now hers but she could not live in any peace knowing they were all gone but their killer lived free, leper or not, he was
free to breathe and eat and sleep while they never would again.
Her precious little nephew who had his head crushed against the stone walls of the house was in her thoughts as she walked up to the edge of the jetty where Pavlos was gushing blood and hissing like a snake. Here she knew was where she needed to use all her strength. She kicked him in the back and he rolled a little but not enough.
In his fury he was able to stick out his hand and grab her ankle bringing her down to the ground with him. He was gurgling something that was not discernable but she knew he would be saying something along the lines of, If I am going, I am taking you with me. But she was ready for him. She had been ready since the day she buried her family.
She reached over the edge of the jetty and easily found the large stick she had put on the little stone lower ledge the day before when she knew the boatman was not coming. She brought it down on Pavlos’ hands making him let go of her ankle. She got up quickly and swung it like a baseball bat to hit him square in the face but he got up in one last super human effort and whacked it out of her hands leaving her vulnerable and weaponless. She knew he was fatally wounded but in the time it would take him to die he might kill her too. He tried to lurch at her but she poked him in his one remaining eye and then ducked down to regain a striking position and to try to reach out and grab hold of the stick.
She saw her fallen stick get lifted up. It was swung up and it struck him on the chin knocking him right back to overbalance. He arched backwards and swung his arms violently to try to keep his balance but he was too far over, he crashed onto the rocks at the base of the pier smashing his head open before he sank into the water. Angela looked up to see who had struck him and saw Athena, his rape victim.
‘You left the infirmary? I told you to stay there so he wouldn’t hurt you again. Go back quickly so I can finish up here.’
‘That was for my puppy.’ Athena embraced Angela, uttered ‘Thank you,’ and Athena left quietly to return to her room at the infirmary, but with a smile on her face. She was definitely getting better and her recovery would be even speedier now. Angela sighed in satisfaction as she tilted her head up to feel the sea breeze applaud her actions.
Behind her, high on the fortified walls of Spinalonga stood Ikaros the stonemason who had walked to find a few extra stones to even up a wall he was completing. Angela did not brush off her clothes or fix her hair, it was more convenient to her to appear disheveled. She had grazed her face and arms when she fell. She slipped the scalpel and skewer back into her pockets beneath her nurse’s apron. No one would search her and she would have ample time to sterilize them and put them back into their places. No one would miss them anyway, she did all the stocktaking and ordering. The shock of what she had done began to overwhelm her. She knew it would, it was a natural reaction but anyone else would assume it was the shock of the attack. Ikaros came running down to see her and met her when she emerged from the tunnel.
‘Miss Angela let me help you.’ Others had seen Ikaros running and followed him to see what was wrong. Her distressed and disheveled condition was obvious as they formed a protective circle around her. ‘Did anyone see what happened?’ asked one of the women. She had her story all ready but Ikaros spoke first,
‘I saw the whole thing. Poor Miss Athena must have been out wandering. Pavlos got to her and began to attack her. Before I could start my way down I saw Nurse Angela come looking for Miss Athena and tried to stop Pavlos. He tried to stab her with a scalpel he must have stolen from the infirmary. You put up one hell of a fight Miss Angela. Pavlos was so violent and then tried to force himself on her, she fought back, he lost his footing and fell onto the rocks smashing his head before falling into the sea, I know he could not swim and the currents are strong today.’ Angela stared at Ikaros as he spoke. He never once looked at her to suggest he had something over her. He held his chin high and he spoke convincingly and asked nothing of her. That told her much. He was as glad as she was that Pavlos the monster was gone. After all the suffering that fiend inflicted upon women Ikaros thought it was sweet justice that the person who finished him off was a woman.
Nobody questioned a thing. No reports had to be written and no authorities had to be informed. He was already dead and buried. It was over.
Angela fell into a small depression afterwards. Her major purpose for living had been carried out. With Pavlos dead so was her family. Up until then they had lived within her, now they were laid to rest and all she had was the bitterness of everyday routine. Doctor Lukas thought it was the after effects of the shock. He had always found her to be an efficient worker and very well organised.
‘I will be having a coffee break shortly Angela, please join me.’
‘Thank you doctor, I will.’
‘Call me Lukas, please. You know Angela, I do not know hardly anything about you, where you are from or if you have a family, or a husband.’
‘I am from Athens, and I have no family, no husband. I was sent to work early to send money back to support my younger brother so he could get his technical training. Our parents were killed in the Smyrna genocides so I took the responsibility for his education. He became a very good rail engineer but he died suddenly. I never got married because I was either working or mourning.’
He was very moved, ‘Angela the refugees from Smyrna suffered unimaginable loss. I am sorry you faced such hardships. I was married, quite happily. We were expecting a child, things were going quite well and there were no signs of any problems but the birth came early and it was a very difficult one apparently. I was away on duty because I thought there was enough time. There was no one there to get her the medical help she needed, I lost her and our baby daughter on the same day.’ He rested his hand on her arm in a gesture of comfort. ‘Sometimes Angela a traumatic past is what it takes to make a person work hard to have a peaceful future.’
Angela did not believe that. In her past she had always been wary of people who confide their past tragic circumstances too quickly into a friendship. It is a sign that they believe by sharing their most painful memories they can form a more lasting bond. She was wary because she did not want to build a friendship on a foundation of tragedy. Friendships that start that way can only grow by being fed more tragedy. Happiness would change it too much until it was no longer what it once was, so it too dies.
Lukas had always been professional and kind so she allowed the friendship to continue. They spent every coffee break together from then on and soon started dining together. He opened up to her about all aspects of his life and they developed a warm and easy friendship that they had never experienced with a person of the opposite gender before. They became each other’s best friend.
‘Angela when do you finish your term here? Mine is for another year.’
‘Mine too.’
‘Then, if we do not choose to renew them, perhaps you would consider working with me in the clinic in Athens, I will need efficient assistance such as yours.’
‘Thank you, I will give it consideration Lukas and give you my answer in a few days if you don’t mind.’
‘Of course, what about Sunday, take until Sunday, we can take the boat to Elounda and make a day of it. We can eat at a taverna and bring some sweets back for the patients.’
Her decision to accept made their Sunday pass happily to remember the occasion he insisted on buying her a gift. He bought her a necklace of turquoise and a pretty shirt with an embroidered collar. She bought herself a pair of lovely brown suede platform shoes. The celebrations continued into the evening when Angela needed help carrying the goods she had bought up to her room. Lukas put the parcels down while she poured him a glass of her secret supply of cognac. He put down his glass and took hers from her hands and put it down next to his.
‘Thank you for a lovely day today and for agreeing to be with me in Athens.’
‘I think it will be very enjoyable working for you too.’ He stepped in to be closer to her, ‘We will work well together. I confess to you Angela it is my w
ish that we will be doing everything well together, not only work.’
‘Lukas...,’ she hesitated and almost went to tell about what had happened to Pavlos and why, but she realised it was not a burden she needed to share. There were no feelings of guilt just an inner calm. She would tell him one day and he would love her even more for it but for now she was enjoying being with a man who wanted her by his side in every way.
‘Yes Lukas, I want that too.’
He stepped back again remembering his sense of propriety which had been weakened by the closeness of a woman with the green eyes, small waist and slim ankles of Angela Venetis. She knew enough of the male body after almost twenty years of caring for them to know that this man was a fully functioning man. Her satisfying encounters with the soldiers had never caused her any shame or regret. She had found physical pleasure to be the most beautiful thing she had ever felt. And she wanted to feel that good again with Lukas. He seemed to be a lot more puritanical than she was but she needed to see if they had some compatibility in that area. Then she corrected herself,
‘Have patience Angela; here is your chance to have a much more normal life.’ She was proud of the work that had happened on Spinalonga but she was not a leper and did not want to spend all her days on the island. She had settled her family problem and she was classed a spinster. To be with Lukas was a blessing. It would just be better if she and he had an amorous affinity.
Lukas had been watching her think and he caught sight of what he had been hoping to see. He saw the desire in her eyes. ‘I’m glad you want that too Angela and you know what I would like right now?’ he smiled and let the desire show in his eyes too.
‘What would you like to see right now Lukas?’ she said as she held her bedpost and swayed provocatively.
‘I have read your medical records and in it next to the section on any identifying marks it says that you have a small brown beauty spot on your inner left thigh.’ They both sighed in relief that their thoughts were in accord and they burst out into laughter. Then they looked at each other lovingly before hugging each other and falling onto the bed.
