YANNIS (Cretan Saga Book 1)

by Beryl Darby

  ‘Yes, thank you, sir.’

  ‘You don’t have to call me sir. I’m Yannis.’ He sat down beside her. ‘Can you tell us about yourself?’

  ‘Not tonight.’ Phaedra spoke firmly. ‘She’s far too tired. She can talk to us tomorrow.’

  Yannis winked at Anna. ‘You can see who’s the boss in this house.’ He took her small hand in his own. ‘Goodnight, Anna, sleep well. If you wake in the night and want company Phaedra and I will be here.’

  Anna bit her lip. She was not worried about sleeping on her own, but she found their kindness and concern for her so touching.

  She slept well and late and when she finally opened her eyes she saw Phaedra sitting on the step in the sun. ‘You’re to wait here with me until the doctor arrives. When he’s seen you I’ll take you for a walk. There’s not a lot to see, I’m afraid.’ With that Anna had to be content and listened eagerly as people passed and Phaedra told her their names.

  ‘Where are they going?’

  ‘Various places; some help Spiro at the hospital, others will be getting their shops ready, there’s a lot to be done each day.’

  Anna looked at her curiously. ‘Shops?’

  ‘You’ll see.’

  ‘What does Yannis do?’

  Phaedra smiled. ‘Yannis does everything. He started the building here, he helped to get the hospital built, but now he spends a lot of his time teaching people to read and write.’

  ‘Like my Pappa.’

  ‘Your Pappa is a teacher?’

  Anna nodded proudly. ‘And he’s the Mayor of Heraklion.’

  Phaedra looked at the child. ‘Are you telling the truth, Anna?’

  ‘Of course I am. My Pappa’s a very important man.’

  Phaedra rose. ‘Come with me. I think we ought to find Yannis so we can tell him what an important man your Pappa is.’

  Happily Anna walked along the path with Phaedra. Yannis was sitting on a block of stone, half a dozen or more people sitting on the ground to one side of him, whilst he made symbols in the sandy dust at his feet with a stick. He smiled as he saw Phaedra approach.

  ‘Have you come to join us?’

  ‘I need to talk to you, Yannis.’

  Yannis looked at his wristwatch. ‘Ten more minutes, then the class will have a break. If we stop now we’ll lose continuity.’

  Phaedra frowned. What she wanted to talk to Yannis about was far more important than the class continuing. She opened her mouth to argue, but Yannis frowned at her.

  ‘Doctor Stavros has arrived,’ he announced and turned his attention back to his small class.

  ‘Come on, Anna. We’ll see the doctor first, then tell Yannis how important your Pappa is.’

  Anna slipped her hand into Phaedra’s. ‘What will he do to me?’

  ‘Nothing. He’ll just look at you. There’s nothing for you to be frightened about. I’ll stay with you.’

  Anna submitted herself to the scrutiny of the doctor. He examined her back and neck carefully. ‘Do you have marks like this anywhere else, Anna?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Who’s looking after you over here?’

  ‘Phaedra and Yannis.’

  ‘Then I think I should talk to them next. There’s nothing for you to worry about, Anna. Manolis tells me your Mamma went back to Heraklion?’

  Anna nodded. ‘She went back to get some money for us. My Pappa’s a very important man and I expect they’ll be looking for me in Aghios Nikolaos very soon.’

  ‘She says her Pappa is the mayor of Heraklion,’ Phaedra informed the doctor.

  Doctor Stavros looked at Phaedra and pursed his lips. ‘Where’s Yannis?’

  ‘He was teaching. He’ll probably be along in a few minutes.’

  ‘I’ll go and find him.’ Doctor Stavros walked back up the path, leaving Anna still holding Phaedra’s hand.

  Yannis, despite his allowance of ten minutes, was still talking to the class. ‘I won’t be a moment, just finishing.’

  Doctor Stavros tapped his foot impatiently. ‘I need to speak to you urgently.’

  Yannis looked at the doctor’s grim face and decided he must curtail the lesson. ‘What’s so important?’

  ‘Where can we talk where we won’t be interrupted or overheard?’

  ‘Follow me.’ Yannis led the doctor to the far side of the island and found a convenient granite rock to sit on. ‘What’s wrong? Is it Phaedra?’

  ‘Have you heard any news from the mainland?’

  Yannis shook his head. ‘There have been rumours, nothing more.’

  ‘Heraklion fell last week. They fought in the streets, trying to hold the Germans back, but it was no use. They were completely outnumbered and had little in the way of arms. That wasn’t the worst, though.’ A shudder went through the doctor. ‘They took all the government ministers and marched them out of town. They massacred them all.’

  Yannis drew in his breath. ‘I don’t believe it! Why should they do that?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ The doctor sounded weary. ‘Who knows why these things are ever done?’

  ‘All of them? What about Yiorgo Pavlakis?’

  ‘Who was he?’

  ‘The mayor. He was my old school teacher who came over here and visited us. It was through him we used to bargain for concessions. He managed to get our pensions granted.’

  ‘That brings me to another problem, the child.’

  Yannis smiled at the thought of Anna. ‘She’s a nice little thing. Seems quite amenable to being here.’

  ‘Do you know who she is?’

  ‘She was caught stealing in Aghios Nikolaos, said her mother had returned to Heraklion.’

  ‘She says,’ Doctor Stavros took a deep breath. ‘She says she’s the daughter of Yiorgo Pavlakis.’

  The doctor was quite unprepared for Yannis’s reaction to the news. He turned white, his hands clenched and unclenched. He grasped the doctor by his shirt and his voice was hoarse with emotion when he spoke.

  ‘Tell me that’s not true.’

  Doctor Stavros tried to pull away. ‘What’s the matter? For God’s sake man, you’re strangling me.’

  Slowly Yannis relaxed his grip and wiped a trembling hand over his forehead. ‘She can’t be. It would be too cruel.’

  ‘She says her father’s the mayor of Heraklion; you say the mayor was Yiorgo Pavlakis. He was a friend of yours so you must know if she’s his child.’ The doctor’s voice seemed to be coming from far away.

  Abruptly Yannis rose to his feet and began to hurry down the path. The doctor followed more slowly, puzzled by Yannis’s shock at his news. Yannis stopped at the tunnel entrance where Phaedra was showing Anna the drinking fountain.

  ‘Anna, I want to ask you about your Mamma and Pappa. You say your Pappa is the mayor of Heraklion?’

  Anna nodded.

  ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘Yiorgo Pavlakis.’

  ‘And your Mamma is Louisa? You live in a taverna?’

  Anna nodded again. ‘And Pappa is a teacher, too,’ she volunteered.

  Yannis’s voice sounded strangled. ‘He was my teacher, Anna.’

  Anna’s face lit up. ‘You know him?’

  ‘Yes, Anna.’ Yannis turned and walked away, as the doctor caught up with him.

  ‘Yannis, what’s wrong with you? You’re behaving like a lunatic.’

  ‘How do you expect me to behave?’ Yannis shook off the doctor’s hand and walked rapidly up the path. Yannis pushed his way through the door of the hospital and looked around. Father Minos was sitting beside the mattress of a woman who was obviously dying. There could be no help from him yet. Disconsolately Yannis sat outside and waited.

  When Father Minos left the hospital he was tired and drained, quite unprepared for Yannis’s wild, incoherent speech. He took his arm.

  ‘Be quiet, Yannis. I don’t understand anything you’re saying. Come back to my house. I want a glass of wi
ne to clear my head. You sound as though you could do with one as well. I’ve been in the hospital for nearly twenty four hours and I’m exhausted.’

  Yannis hung his head. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be troubling you at a time like this, but I need to talk to you. I need your advice.’

  Father Minos refused to talk until they each had a glass of wine and he had removed his sandals. He wriggled his toes in appreciation. ‘Now, Yannis, what’s troubling you?’

  ‘A girl was brought over from the mainland last night. You were up at the hospital so you wouldn’t have seen her.’

  Father Minos nodded. ‘I was told. She’s no more than a child, I gather.’

  ‘That’s right. Phaedra and I were asked to look after her until the doctor had seen her. She says she has a birthmark.’ Yannis’s face took on a stricken look. ‘I didn’t even ask the doctor if he’d diagnosed! I must find him.’

  ‘You can see him again later.’

  Yannis ran a trembling hand through his hair. ‘What am I going to do?’

  ‘You don’t want this girl to live with you?’

  ‘I don’t mind and Phaedra’s delighted to have a child to fuss over.’

  ‘Then what’s wrong?’ Father Minos was beginning to feel impatient. He wanted to go to bed and catch up on his sleep.

  ‘I think she’s my daughter.’

  The glass fell from the priest’s fingers. ‘Your daughter!’

  Yannis nodded. ‘It’s quite possible that Yiorgo Pavlakis’s wife had my child.’

  Father Minos waited quietly. ‘Do you wish me to confess you?’

  ‘It’s too late for confession. I paid for Louisa; I feel no guilt there. She was a prostitute. When I returned to Heraklion she told me she was going to marry Yiorgo as she was pregnant.’ Yannis smiled wryly.

  ‘Couldn’t it have been Yiorgo’s child?’

  Yannis shook his head. ‘She was supposed to be betrothed to him, but refused to discuss marriage with him. She told me she was happy with her way of life. Poor Yiorgo. He worshipped her.’

  ‘What makes you think the child was yours? You say she was a prostitute.’

  ‘It was the way she spoke to me.’

  ‘Let’s assume the child is yours. What then?’

  ‘That’s what I wanted to ask you. Should I tell her?’

  ‘Can you be certain she is your child?’

  Yannis considered. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Then you can’t lay claim to her. How would Yiorgo feel after all this time?’

  ‘O, God, you don’t know, of course. The doctor brought some news with him. Heraklion has fallen and the Germans have shot the government. Yiorgo is dead.’

  Father Minos crossed himself. ‘Yannis, think for a moment what kind of effect you would have on this child. You say the man she has called ‘Pappa’ all her life has been killed and you’re suggesting that you should tell her he wasn’t her father anyway. All you want to do is salve your conscience. You should be praying that the girl has a birthmark and nothing worse. Go into church, Yannis, and spend some time on your knees. Say a prayer for the soul of Yiorgo Pavlakis whilst you’re there.’ Father Minos leant back in his chair and shut his eyes. So Louisa had been speaking the truth. This he would have to think about.

  Anna sat by herself looking out across the sea. Below the waves pounded on the rocks, matching the pounding in her head. She was confused and felt as though she was living in a dream from which she would finally awaken and find herself back in the taverna in Heraklion. After the doctor had left Father Minos had spent a long time talking to her. He had explained that her Pappa had been killed by the Germans and that at present her mother would have no way of getting to Aghios Nikolaos to find her and take her home. She had cried, dry, shaking sobs, which had racked her body and finally fallen asleep in Phaedra’s arms. Now, two weeks later, she was wondering how much longer it would be before her mother finally found where she was.

  The wind was rising and Anna shivered. She rose slowly and walked to the edge of the path where there was a drop to the cruel granite rocks below. Cautiously she peered over, watching the waves as they sucked and gurgled or broke in a cloud of spray. She almost toppled over the edge when her arm was taken in a firm grip.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I was watching the waves.’

  ‘There are safer places to watch them.’ Flora steered her away from the edge. ‘The cliff could crumble and give way at any time. You must learn where to avoid on this island.’

  ‘I shan’t be here much longer,’ Anna assured her. ‘My Mamma will come for me.’

  ‘And when your Mamma does come she’ll want to find you safe and well, not covered in bruises where you’ve slipped down the cliff. You can watch the waves from here. You should be safe enough. You ought to have a shawl around you, the wind is cold.’

  ‘I’m warm enough. The waves are not as high here,’ she complained.

  ‘They soon will be. There’s going to be quite a storm. It will be too rough for Manolis to come over so I’m going up to the hospital to help.’

  ‘Do you like helping?’

  ‘Not much, but someone has to. I’m not a lot of use.’ Flora pointed to her mutilated arm.

  ‘How did you do that?’

  ‘The doctor had to cut off my arm to save my life. It was poisoning all of me.’

  ‘Don’t you mind only having one arm?’

  Flora smiled. ‘I’d rather have two, but I’d rather be alive than dead, so there’s not a lot to mind about.’

  Anna shuddered. ‘Some of the people over here make me feel ill.’

  Flora gazed at her sadly. ‘Anna, if it makes you feel ill to look at them, think how they feel when they look at themselves. Never let them know. It hurts far more than the disease when you know people can’t bear to look at you.’

  ‘I’ll be glad when I can go home.’

  ‘I’m sure you will, but we shall miss you. We like having you here.’ Flora felt a catch in her throat.

  Anna stayed watching the waves for most of the morning. The scene of wild desolation matched her mood and she was glad to be alone. Hunger finally drove her back to the house where Phaedra had soup simmering and freshly baked bread from the communal oven.

  ‘What have you been doing all morning?’

  ‘Watching the sea.’

  ‘You should have had a shawl with you. The wind can cut right through you. You don’t want to catch a chill.’

  Anna shrugged. ‘I won’t catch a chill. I’ve never had a chill,’ she boasted.

  ‘You’ve never lived on an island before, either. Now, have you finished the writing Yannis set for you? He wants to spend the afternoon with you.’

  ‘Why should I have to do lessons?’

  ‘You should be pleased that Yannis bothers. No one taught me how to read and write when I was a child.’

  ‘I don’t think Yannis likes teaching me.’

  Phaedra looked at her in amazement. ‘Of course he does. Yannis loves teaching. He’s taught many of us to sign our names and read the newspapers.

  ‘I can sign my name and read,’ protested Anna.

  ‘ So Yannis can teach you other things. You’re very lucky to have a teacher all to yourself.’

  ‘It would be more fun with other people.’

  Phaedra looked at her sympathetically. ‘I’ll see what Yannis says. Maybe some lessons you could join in with the others.’

  Anna nodded. There was obviously no way she was going to avoid the lessons. ‘I’d like to learn to sew,’ she volunteered. ‘Like you do.’

  ‘I can teach you to sew in the evenings.’

  ‘I’d rather do that in the day time than the lessons,’ Anna tried again. ‘When I go back home I won’t be taught how to sew.’

  ‘Doesn’t your Mamma sew?’

  Anna shook her head. ‘She’s too busy to show me. She has to work in the taverna.’

 
Phaedra wished she could think of a way to change the subject. ‘Maybe your Mamma will let you stay with us a little longer if she’s so busy.’

  Anna looked at Phaedra from under her lashes. ‘May I get down? I’ve finished.’

  ‘You may, then get your pencils and papers.’

  Anna returned and sat at the table bored. Yannis had not arrived and Phaedra insisted that she waited there for him. She began to draw, first the pot of geraniums, then Phaedra busy in the kitchen area, Father Minos as she remembered him when he had talked to her so seriously, Flora, with the arm of her blouse hanging limply, Manolis tying up his boat at the jetty. She had almost finished the picture of Manolis when Yannis entered the room.

  ‘Practising your writing?’

  Anna tried to shuffle the papers out of sight, but she was not quick enough. Yannis picked them up, holding them at arm’s length; then he looked at Anna. It was the look she hated, it seemed to go right through her as though he were trying to see her heart pumping. When he spoke his voice was very quiet and controlled.

  ‘Where did you learn to draw like this, Anna?’

  Anna shrugged. ‘I just draw.’

  Yannis nodded. ‘You’re a very clever little girl. May I borrow these? I’d like to show Father Minos.’

  ‘You can have them if you want them. I can always do some more.’

  Yannis hurried to Father Minos, pushing open the door of the house without ceremony and sat down opposite him at the table.

  ‘I want to show you something.’ Yannis spread the drawings out in front of him.

  Father Minos studied them carefully. ‘They’re not bad, not bad at all. Who did them?

  ‘Anna.’

  ‘In that case they’re very good.’

  ‘The last time I saw drawings like this they’d been done by my sister Maria. I know Yiorgo and Louisa couldn’t draw, so she must have inherited it from my family.’ Yannis’s eyes were glowing.

  Father Minos held up his hand. ‘Yannis, it proves nothing. She could have inherited the talent from her grandparents.’