The House by the River

by Lena Manta

  The teacher who Peter brought home was a man of about fifty who had a daughter the same age as Magdalini. They didn’t have any trouble communicating because his family was Greek, so he spoke a little of Magdalini’s native tongue. When Mr. Jordan saw Magdalini’s determination, he was amazed. She spent hours and hours with her books. She sat up in the evenings reading and rereading words that seemed to her difficult, strange, crazy, until she slowly began to get used to them. Anna complained that she would get sick the way she buried herself in studying, but Magdalini was determined to speak the language of her new country, and to speak it correctly. Meanwhile, Peter had undertaken all the paperwork necessary to make her stay permanent.

  Magdalini demanded that her aunt and uncle speak no Greek to her and that they correct every mistake she made. She made a particular effort when it came to pronunciation. She didn’t want anyone to make fun of her; she didn’t want to appear to be an immigrant. In the evenings, shut in her room, she wrote long letters to her mother, describing every detail of the changes in her life, and not failing to mention how kind both her aunt and her uncle were to her. She also sent home a lot of photographs of the interesting sights she had visited with Anna. Magdalini knew that her mother would read every letter carefully before she put it under her pillow and eventually among the household icons. She smiled each time she remembered Theodora’s box of icons. In the beginning it was a small box, but just before Magdalini had left, the village carpenter had built her mother something larger to hold all the letters and photographs, the reminders of her loved ones who were far away from her. Every night Theodora prayed to the Virgin to kiss her children.

  In her mind’s eye, Magdalini could see her mother saying her prayer each evening and stroking the beloved paper faces that smiled at her, soulless but adored. Quite often she cried, her heart aching from their absence. Magdalini understood how much her mother loved her. She often thought of going back, of accepting defeat and returning to her mother’s embrace, which she missed so much. Sometimes she would stand up, determined to announce her decision to return, but she never managed it. Her aunt would have arranged some walk, some outing, some new experience to replace her old ones, and everything would have been turned upside down, all decisions postponed.

  It took Magdalini a whole year to adapt completely and to learn to speak English with ease, although she still had difficulty writing it, which made her study even more intensely. At some point she had to be ready to enroll in the university, otherwise what sense was there in her being uprooted? She still hadn’t decided what she would study; that was proving to be the most difficult thing. Every time she tried, she was overcome by uncertainty, but Anna and Peter would be there to calm her down.

  “Don’t be in a panic, Lyn,” Peter would tell her cheerfully. “You’re very young still. You have all the time in the world in front of you. First, you’ll get used to things, then you’ll study.”

  “Lyn” was her new name, although she herself couldn’t get used to it and didn’t like it. Still, she had to accept that “Magdalini” was long and difficult for Americans.

  With her English skills nearly mastered and nothing else to do, Magdalini began to feel as if she were suffocating. The boredom and the loneliness struck her at once and she didn’t know which of the two was more painful. She didn’t like anything and it seemed as if the house was dangerously confining. The hours refused to pass and the days hid no surprises. In the beginning, she was amused that she didn’t have any work to do, since her aunt had two large black women to look after the house and a Mexican woman to cook. It seemed strange to her that by the time she’d had her breakfast and looked at the newspaper, her bed was made and the clothes she’d worn the previous day were taken care of. She was a little ashamed that other people were washing her clothes. And while the washtub back home in the village had seemed a misery to her then, now, as she remembered it, she smiled tenderly. She almost desperately wished there weren’t people around to do all the household chores so that she could do something herself. She couldn’t even busy herself in the garden—there was a gardener.

  When she timidly asked her aunt if she could help out in some way, Anna objected strongly.

  “I didn’t bring you here to be my servant,” she said. It was clear that she didn’t understand her niece’s objection or where it was coming from.

  “Aunt, I didn’t say that, but it wouldn’t be so bad for me to make my own bed. They even bring me my coffee.”

  “That’s their job, my love.”

  “The thing is, Aunt, I don’t have any work to do,” she explained, but she had gotten the message that it was useless to insist.

  When Anna told Peter about the conversation, he smiled understandingly.

  “The girl’s right,” he said.

  “But do you know what she asked me? If she could work in the garden!”

  “It’s natural. I don’t imagine they had a gardener where she lived.”

  “But she’s been with us for a year and a half. She should be used to it by now.”

  “Anna, I’m afraid you’ve forgotten what you yourself once went through. When I could finally stand on my own two feet, when money stopped being a worry for us and started to amuse us, when you stopped working—do you remember what you went through? You fixed up the house, and as long as you were doing that, things were fine. After that—do you remember?”

  “Do you mean to say that Magdalini is bored?” Anna began to understand, and her face brightened.

  “Bored to death, my dear. See, now you understand. She’s alone, Anna. As you said yourself, she’s been with us for a year and a half and her only company is you and your friends. She needs girls her own age, boys to flirt with, fun.”

  “But she’s completely inexperienced. She might get into trouble.”

  “My dear, I know that you’re nervous, but you can’t keep Lyn here in the house forever.”

  “So what should I do?”

  “Your friends have daughters, but you’ve never let them approach Lyn. When Charlene suggested her daughter take Lyn out for coffee, you refused.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “She told me so herself. Accept the fact, my dear, that you’ve been rather selfish. You keep Lyn for yourself and you don’t want to push her to make friends with other girls.”

  “But Charlene’s daughter is . . . so lively!”

  “Judy’s a fine girl for her age. Lively and social. She’ll introduce Lyn to a whole lot of people.”

  Anna lowered her eyes and Peter got up to sit next to her. He put his arms around her shoulders and his voice became loving.

  “You can’t hold on to her anymore, my love. I understand, but I must warn you that you’re in danger of losing her completely. The way she’s feeling, it would be easy for her to decide to go back home. Lyn is like the child we never had, but if she were ours, I’d tell you the same thing. Besides, don’t you want to see her happy?”

  Peter was right. Magdalini had begun to think seriously about her future and the thought of going back to her village was gaining ground inside her every day. However much she loved her aunt, however much she recognized what Anna and Peter had done for her, she didn’t see any light on the horizon. The isolation was getting to her. After such a long time in Chicago, she hadn’t succeeded in making a single friend, and she missed the company of people her own age. Especially since she had grown up with her sisters. She wondered why Anna’s friends didn’t put their daughters in touch with her, unaware of the many efforts that had been made and rejected by Anna herself. Magdalini imagined that the girls didn’t want to have a relationship with an immigrant, and she was hurt by that, but she didn’t say or show anything to anyone.

  University and her studies seemed completely uninteresting to Magdalini, while in contrast, the village had acquired mythical dimensions. Whatever she remembered she liked. She was dying to see the tall trees again; she longed to see her house and to throw stones in the river. When
she thought about her mother and grandmother her heart leapt. American food, which she had liked in the beginning, seemed tasteless to her now and there were moments when she thought she could smell the fresh bread that Theodora had baked. Although Magdalini didn’t fully realize it, the decision to return had begun to take shape inside her.

  One morning, when Magdalini came downstairs for breakfast, she was surprised to find that her aunt wasn’t waiting for her alone as usual. Two other people were sitting at the table. One she knew—it was Charlene, her aunt’s friend, who’d visited the house often. The other one was a stranger. She was a girl of Magdalini’s own age, who got up happily as soon as she saw her.

  “Finally! We’ve been waiting for you for ages,” she called out.

  Magdalini smiled awkwardly and turned to her aunt. Anna stood up and came over to her. She took her by the shoulders and pulled her closer.

  “Judy is Charlene’s daughter. She’s come to meet you. Now that you speak English better, I think you should meet some girls of your own age,” she explained.

  Magdalini was at a loss, but Judy was a happy creature with an inexhaustible fund of things to talk about, and what’s more, she’d been prepared by her mother and by Anna. She had often seen Magdalini from a distance, but her aunt’s denial of any friendships had hindered her from approaching, despite the fact that she liked the look of the Greek girl. Magdalini felt a little dizzy, but she was happy to answer Judy’s questions about her country, as it gave her the opportunity to observe the girl at her leisure.

  Judy was a pretty girl with blond, almost white hair and light-brown eyes that always seemed to hide a smile in their depths. Her voice was childish and she spoke very fast, as if she were afraid of being interrupted and unable to finish what she wanted to say. Within a few minutes she’d told Magdalini her whole life story and described all her friends. Anna saw with relief that her niece smiled at everything she was hearing. When Judy asked her to go for a walk, she accepted without a second thought and the two girls left.

  Anna’s emotions were conflicted. On the one hand she was pleased because she saw her niece’s expression coming to life again after such a long time; on the other hand she felt she was suddenly alone.

  Charlene looked at her, smiling. “I understand how you feel about that girl, but she’s grown up, Anna. She must find people of her own age.”

  “Peter thinks the same.”

  “Then I’m sure you understand that you’ve done the right thing. Judy knows who she should meet and where to take her. Don’t be afraid.”

  “Now I understand the responsibility I took on when I took her from her mother. What will I tell her if . . .”

  “Anna!” Charlene interrupted her abruptly. “What on earth is the matter with you? The girls have gone for a walk—they’re not going to war!”

  “Yes, but this isn’t Greece, it’s Chicago.”

  “So? Has anything ever happened to you during the years you’ve lived here? It’s the middle of the day and they’re not going anywhere dangerous. They’ll eat an ice cream and drink a cup of coffee. You can’t keep her under lock and key, Anna.”

  Anna was silent. She knew that her friend was right, but she didn’t feel at all reassured. The time Magdalini was away seemed long to her and when the girls returned, she had to hold herself back so as not to reveal her anxiety. To her surprise, Magdalini’s cheeks were bright red, her eyes shone, and she was smiling happily.

  “I had a wonderful time, Auntie,” she shouted and hugged her. “Judy’s a marvelous girl. She introduced me to all her friends and tonight we’re going to a party! They get together at a house, she told me, put on records, and dance. I don’t know how to dance, of course, but Laura—one of the other girls—told me it’s not difficult and she’ll teach me. Stephen, who is Karen’s cousin, asked me to save a dance for him, otherwise he’ll be angry.”

  Magdalini stopped, out of breath, and Anna had trouble holding back her tears. She finally understood just how unhappy her niece had been. She had never seen her so poised, never had her voice sounded so happy, never had her eyes flashed like this.

  “I’m so pleased you like Judy and her group of friends,” she managed to say and she kissed Magdalini.

  “What shall I wear, Aunt?”

  Anna took her niece by the hand, pulling her up the stairs. “Let’s go and look in your closet,” she proposed happily.

  Magdalini’s social life finally began, and it was intense, which worried Anna at first, although Peter kept her on an even keel. The girl was with Judy every day; the two had a lot in common and really loved each other. When Alex asked Judy to marry him and she accepted, Magdalini cried for joy. Her friend’s engagement had a strange effect on her, though. The woman in her had begun to awaken, demanding attention. In the two years she’d been in America, no one had flirted with her, but she hadn’t really thought about it until Judy got engaged. The way Judy’s eyes shone strangely each time Alex was beside her, the adoration as she gazed at the man she would marry—all this kept Magdalini awake for hours every night, thinking. Something inside her told her that there was magic hidden in the moments when Alex and Judy wanted to be by themselves. For her, a mysterious veil still hid the relationship between a man and a woman. Theoretically she had learned a lot since the day she left her village, where such discussions were forbidden, but she understood that theory must be light years away from practice.

  For the first time in their lives together, Anna began to worry about Peter. Recently he seemed very anxious. Every sound made him jump. He avoided going out alone, and he shut himself up for hours in his office. When some people she had never seen before began to visit him at the house, she didn’t like the looks of them. She had never wondered about her husband’s work, and now she was annoyed with herself because of it. Peter was supposed to have an import business, but she didn’t know what the agency imported or who he collaborated with. When she realized that her husband was using armed bodyguards, though, she decided that the time had come to speak to him.

  That evening she waited for Magdalini to go out and then went into Peter’s office, determined to clear the situation up. She found him bending over some papers. He was surprised by her entrance. Anna never disturbed him when he was working.

  “Has something happened?” he hurried to ask.

  Anna noticed that her husband discreetly covered the papers he was reading. “You tell me,” she answered calmly and sat down opposite him.

  “But my dear, you came and interrupted me, so you must want to tell me something,” Peter observed, smiling at her.

  “Peter, you’ve never underestimated my intelligence. Why are you doing it now? Something has been going on lately, and I want to know what it’s all about. There are armed bodyguards outside our house who follow you in another car when you go to work. Am I correct? Up until now, I’ve never met any of the people you work with, and suddenly our house has become a center for people passing through, and what’s more their faces shout from a long way off that they’re dangerous men. What are you mixed up in?”

  Peter broke out in a smile but Anna remained serious.

  “What on earth are you thinking?” he asked, in a voice that pretended to be cheerful. “Yes, I admit that I have protection, but my business is expanding—we’re living in Chicago!”

  “But we’ve always lived in Chicago and you’ve never had armed guards to protect you.”

  “Yes, but as I told you, lately my business has gotten a lot bigger. Charley, my competitor, is mad because I took a job right out of his hands, and his people are following me in case I step on his turf again.”

  “Peter, do you know what all this sounds like? Dangerous! This Charley must know that there are upsets in business. He’s a professional, not a gangster . . . unless . . . Peter, tell me you haven’t gotten mixed up with the Mafia!”

  Anna had jumped straight up from her chair. Peter came up to her, smiling calmly, and took her by the shoulders.

 
; “My dear,” he began, “I think you’ve been watching too many American movies lately. I’m your husband, not Al Capone.”

  “That’s what I want to know.”

  “If I’m Al Capone? Have you gone crazy, Anna?”

  “Peter, please, tell me the truth!”

  “But what should I tell you?”

  “How did you suddenly make so much money?”

  “Now, you’re asking? It’s been years, Anna.”

  “Yes, and I never asked. My mistake. In the beginning we could barely get by. We both worked like dogs, and there was never enough. Then suddenly everything changed. Back then, in my joy, I put it down to good luck. Now, with all this . . .”

  “My dear, you’re worried about nothing. We’re not in danger!”

  “Then why the armed guards outside our house, Peter? Then there’s Magdalini. Is the child in danger?”

  “Anna, you’re letting your imagination run away with you. They’re protecting me because I usually carry a lot of money around with me in checks, or I meet with businessmen who need protection. Do you think I’d endanger the life of my wife and Lyn?”

  “This Charley, what is he? Who is he?”

  “He’s a competitor. I told you. He’s also in the import business. He’s been in it longer than I have, and he took it very badly when I took a job away from him.”

  “And is he so dangerous that you need protection?”

  “I don’t know, my love.” Peter seemed to have lost his patience. “These are precautionary measures. To put it simply, the guys I’ve hired exaggerate a little and they make an impression. They’re doing their job. Charley, who’s getting old, wants to pull back and hand the work over to his son. Of course it annoys him that his son will have a serious competitor, whereas he himself had a monopoly.”

  “And that doesn’t remind you of the Mafia?”

  “You’re really not in your right mind!” Peter was indignant and raised his voice, which made Anna even more concerned. The only time her husband shouted was when he felt he was being squeezed and he couldn’t slide out of it.