YANNIS (Cretan Saga Book 1)

by Beryl Darby

  ‘Who’s Dora?’

  ‘My wife.’

  ‘Can we meet her?’

  ‘Of course; she’ll be delighted.’ Yannis rose to leave and held out his hand to help Anna from the deep armchair. ‘If I could just call a taxi.’

  ‘I’ll take you home.’ Elena picked up her car keys. ‘Poor aunt Anna looks almost asleep.’

  Dora looked at Yannis anxiously as he returned with his sister, his face drawn and his jaw set. ‘Is Stelios dead?’ she whispered.

  Yannis shook his head. ‘We’ve been chatting to his wife and children. They thought we’d both died long ago.’

  Dora slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. ‘How awful for you.’

  Yannis slumped down in a chair. ‘I suppose I was to all intents and purposes. Once a leper and sent to Spinalonga death was inevitable. You weren’t expected to leave from there! It’s Anna I feel sorry for. Why disown her? She’d done nothing.’

  Dora could think of nothing to say that might comfort her husband. She placed a glass and bottle at his elbow. If he became drunk who could blame him? Anna had gone straight to her room and Dora knocked tentatively.

  ‘Is there anything you want?’

  ‘No, thank you.’ Her voice sounded muffled.

  ‘May I come in?’ Without waiting for an answer Dora opened the door. As she had guessed Anna was crying. She pressed another handkerchief into her hand and sat beside her on the bed.

  ‘Poor Yannis; fancy Stelios saying he was dead! Stelios used to adore him. Followed him everywhere.’

  Dora placed an arm round her sister-in-law’s shoulders. ‘He was very young when Yannis was taken ill. Maybe he didn’t fully understand.’

  ‘We none of understood. Pappa forbade us to tell anyone.’

  ‘Maybe that was why Stelios thought it better to say he was dead.’

  Anna shook her head. ‘Why should it have happened to Yannis?’

  ‘Why does it happen to any of us?’

  ‘Oh! I’m sorry. I forgot.’ Anna’s hand flew to her mouth.

  ‘That’s all right. I’m not sensitive about it any more. I suppose I’m luckier than most. I’ve no outward signs that people can see when I’m dressed. When I first limped I said I’d had a car accident and everyone accepted it and was sympathetic. Had I told them the truth my own family would have driven me away.’

  ‘We wouldn’t have done that to Yannis.’

  ‘You may not have, but your neighbours would. That was why your Pappa forbade you to tell anyone. It was probably easier for Stelios to say Yannis was dead; it saved him awkward questions and explanations. Now, how about helping me to lay the table for supper? You must be hungry. You’ve hardly eaten all day.’

  Anna sniffed. ‘I still think it was very wrong of him.’

  To Dora’s surprise Yannis had drunk very little, but she found his silence disconcerting. She tried to make up for it by chatting brightly to Anna, arranging how they would spend their morning in the city.

  Yannis spent a sleepless night. He was more shocked and hurt than he realised. To have told people his family was dead! The words went round and round in his brain until he could see the sky begin to lighten. He seemed to have only just closed his eyes to try to stave off the coming of dawn when Dora was shaking him.

  ‘The telephone, it’s Daphne.’

  Yannis rubbed his eyes. Stelios must have died in the night for her to be telephoning so early. He vaguely noticed that Dora was dressed and the sun was bright in the room.

  ‘Hello? Daphne?’

  ‘Yannis, I’m at the hospital. Stelios is asking for you.’

  ‘For me? You must be mistaken. Is he delirious again?’

  ‘No, truly. He seems quite coherent and is most insistent that he wants to speak to you.’

  For the first time Yannis looked at his watch. It was ten fifteen. He could hardly believe it. Why had Dora left him so late? What must Anna think of him?

  ‘Give me half an hour. I’ll bring Anna with me.’ Yannis replaced the receiver looking thoughtful. ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’ he demanded of Dora.

  ‘You spent all night tossing and turning, muttering away to yourself, so I thought it best to leave you when you began to sleep soundly.’

  ‘But you and Anna were going into town.’

  ‘That can wait until tomorrow. You get yourself dressed and I’ll bring your coffee.’

  It was a little more than the half an hour that Yannis had estimated by the time he and Anna reached the hospital. He was still unconvinced that Daphne had understood her husband and sent Anna into the room alone. He waited in the white, scrubbed corridor until Elena came out to him.

  ‘Pappa wants to see you.’

  Silently Yannis followed her into the room where his brother lay, small and wizened in the hospital bed. He stood where Stelios was able to see him. For what seemed like eternity to Yannis, Stelios looked him up and down.

  ‘Not – too – bad,’ he gasped finally.

  Yannis moved a little closer. ‘I’m burnt-out. I’m not infectious.’

  ‘Doesn’t – matter – now.’ Speech was an effort.

  ‘Why did you do it, Stelios? Me, yes, that was understandable, but why say everyone was dead?

  ‘Education – career – Daphne. Might – have – found – out,’ he panted. ‘Better – all – dead.’

  Yannis nodded. Tears were pricking at the back of his eyes. With a last supreme effort Stelios managed to raise his hand and touch Yannis’s.

  ‘Forgive – me – Yannis.’

  Yannis took the fragile hand in his own disfigured claw. ‘I understand. There’s nothing to forgive.’

  Yannis leant towards Daphne and whispered. ‘Has he been confessed?’

  ‘This morning.’ She bent and kissed his thin cheek. ‘You always made me very happy, Stelios.’

  Stelios opened his eyes and smiled at her. He tried to raise his head, but it fell back limply on the pillow as his strength ebbed away. His breath rattled in his throat and his eyes began to glaze over.

  Anna pushed Daphne away from the bed. ‘Take them out, Yannis. There’s nothing more to be done.’

  Placing an arm round Daphne’s heaving shoulders, Yannis led her from the room, followed by her two silent children. Anna closed her brother’s eyes. She wondered if she should offer to wash and lay him out or if his family had made other arrangements. She decided she would ask them later.

  Daphne, although white-faced, had regained her composure when Anna joined them and was busy apologising. ‘It was just so sudden.’

  ‘It always is,’ Anna assured her. ‘However prepared you are it still comes as a shock. How long had he been ill?’

  ‘Almost a year. The doctors were surprised he fought for so long.’

  ‘We’ll go back to my apartment,’ Yannis spoke authoratively. He ushered his relations down the corridor and stairs, stopping at the front desk to inform the nurse on duty that his brother had died. She nodded, pressed a buzzer, murmured her usual sympathetic phrases to bereaved relatives and turned back to her work.

  Elena drove across the city and was directed by Yannis to his apartment. The little party entered soberly, Dora guessing by their faces that the waiting was over. She fussed over Daphne, bringing freshly baked baklava and urging her to eat. Each did so automatically and in silence, occupied by their own thoughts until Anna finally spoke.

  ‘Would you like me to wash Stelios and lay him out for you?’

  Daphne looked at her in horror and shuddered. The action was not lost on Yannis.

  ‘Anna is the local nurse back home,’ he explained. ‘She deals with everything as a matter of course. She just wondered if you’d prefer to have the essentials performed by a relative rather than a stranger.’

  ‘No, I think maybe a stranger is better. Less,’ she searched for the word. ‘Less humiliating. It will be done by the hospital, won’t it, Yannis?’

  �
��Of course. All you need to arrange is the funeral, or I could do that for you.’

  Daphne shook her head. ‘No, I’m quite capable. I know what Stelios wanted. We discussed it when he first knew how ill he was. Would your brother Yiorgo want to come to the funeral?’

  Anna shook her head. ‘He can’t leave the farm. There’s little point in contacting Marisa or Yannis either. They hardly remember him and it’s doubtful they’d be able to get here in time. I’ll stay, Yannis, if I may.’

  ‘I hope you’ll stay a good bit longer. This is the first time you’ve ever had a holiday and I think you should make the most of it.’

  ‘I did say I’d return as soon as possible,’ Anna looked dubious.

  ‘Yiorgo is quite capable of looking after himself for a week or two,’ remarked Yannis dryly. ‘It’s time you had a rest and were looked after for a while.’

  ‘Do stay. There’s going to be a theatre show at the Acropolis next week and we could get tickets. You’ve never seen anything like it.’

  ‘I’ve only been to the theatre once before. That was on Spinalonga.’

  ‘On Spinalonga?’ Nicolas looked at his aunt in surprise.

  She nodded. ‘They were very talented. I didn’t understand it all, but I did enjoy it.’

  ‘It was “The Birds”,’ smiled Yannis. ‘Very ambitious of us.’

  ‘Did you really? You didn’t tell us that yesterday,’ Nicolas spoke accusingly.

  ‘There’s probably a good deal more I didn’t tell you, and I expect I’ve forgotten more than I remember.’

  ‘Were you happy there, Uncle?’

  ‘Happy! Who can say?’ Yannis shrugged. ‘I had moments of great happiness and some of my saddest times. It was my home.’

  ‘Weren’t you glad to leave?’ Elena looked at him in surprise.

  ‘Of course not. We’d built Spinalonga into a community to be proud of. I only wanted to come to Athens to get a clean bill of health so I could travel wherever I wanted. I planned to return until the government placed a closure order on the island.’

  ‘Haven’t you thought of returning, just to see how it looks now?’

  Yannis smiled sadly. ‘Maybe. One day. When I have enough money.’

  Daphne frowned. ‘Surely you have enough money to take the ferry over?’

  ‘Of course,’ Yannis assured her. ‘But I’ve always travelled at the government’s expense. It’s made me mean. Besides, I’d want to visit my friends, Andreas in Heraklion, Flora and Manolis in Aghios Nikolaos, Father Minos in Ierapetra. It would take a good deal of time and money.’

  ‘I’d like to see the island,’ mused Nicolas. ‘I’d like to go there with you and see your house, the hospital, and where you held your theatre shows.’

  ‘You’d be disappointed,’ interrupted Anna. ‘A good deal is in ruins now.’

  ‘Is that why you don’t want to go back?’

  ‘No, I suppose I’m just getting old and it seems too much effort.’

  ‘I’ll take you. If you really want to go, that is.’ Elena leant forward, her eyes glowing with enthusiasm. ‘We’ll load the car onto the ferry and I’ll drive you to see all your friends, then to the island and back to Athens. Please say yes, Uncle. We could do it when aunt Anna has to go home and take her with us.’

  Yannis looked at his sister. ‘It’s an idea, Anna.’

  The car bumped down the gangplank from the ferry and Elena began to weave her way across the quay, avoiding the throng of people who were trying to board the ferry before the arrivals had finished coming ashore. Using her horn liberally she cleared a passage for herself between the people, luggage and animals.

  ‘Where now, Uncle?’

  Yannis peered out of the window. ‘It’s changed. I’m not sure if I know my way. Up the hill, I think. We should come to the Square. I’ll know my way from there.’ Following the line of traffic they rounded the corner and Yannis caught his breath. ‘This is the same. Go to the left, down past the market.’

  Yannis directed his niece, taking left turns all the way, until they stopped before the tiny church of Aghios Manathaeus. Leaving the car parked precariously on the narrow pavement they trooped into Andreas’s little house, filling the room, whilst he sat there smiling proudly. He urged them to stay, but Yannis could sense that after four hours of reminiscing between himself and his cousin, Elena and Nicolas were bored.

  ‘We’ll visit you again on the way back, I promise,’ vowed Yannis. ‘We want to make Aghios Nikolaos tonight and stay with Flora and Manolis.’

  Andreas crossed himself as Elena drew away. He had a deep mistrust of fast cars, particularly when they were driven by young women. He waved until they were out of sight; then returned to the peace of his sanctuary. The visit had been most enjoyable, but so many visitors at one time were tiring.

  Manolis was still out fishing when they arrived, but Flora greeted Yannis rapturously. ‘I never thought I’d see you again,’ she exclaimed as she wiped away the tears of joy with the back of her hand.

  ‘How are you keeping?’

  ‘Fine. No signs at all. How about you?’

  ‘Fitter than ever,’ Yannis’s eyes roved round the room. ‘You still grow geraniums, I see.’

  ‘Manolis wouldn’t let me bring them back from the island. I had to start again with just a couple of pots. Let me show you our wedding photographs. I wish you’d been there. We had a tremendous party, just like Marisa, all the villagers came over.’

  ‘What made you take Yiorgo’s house?’

  ‘Manolis had it all ready and waiting for me. He wrote to Andreas to ask if we could rent it and he replied it was his now Yiorgo had died and if he could afford to buy it he could do so. It was such a surprise. How long are you here for?’ She chatted on, recalling for Yannis the years they had spent on the island, her indomitable spirit always coming to the fore.

  Deftly she prepared a meal for them, refusing Anna and Elena’s offers of help. ‘I can manage,’ she assured them. ‘It took a while, but with practice I found I didn’t even miss my arm, besides, it’s much easier here than it was on the island. I think you’re brave, going back, Yannis, even for a visit.’

  ‘Why should he be brave?’ asked Nicolas curiously.

  Flora struggled for words. ‘It’s so “dead”, somehow. It feels dead, dead and sad. I didn’t realise how sad until I returned from the hospital and I couldn’t leave fast enough then. Manolis still goes. He takes visitors over during the season, but I’ve never been back.’

  ‘I’m surprised people can find anything to interest them over there. After all, it’s only a deserted village.’

  Flora shrugged. ‘It pays well, and if they want to gawp at ruined houses let them.’

  Manolis arrived, smelling of fish and tar. Yannis sniffed appreciatively. ‘That takes me back to boyhood. Yiorgo always came in smelling like that.’

  Flora wrinkled her nose. ‘Now Yannis mentions it you do smell, Manolis. Go and wash and change your clothes or you’ll drive our visitors away.’

  Despite their protests Manolis did as Flora bade him, returning in his Sunday suit. Flora laughed at him. ‘You didn’t have to be that grand, Manolis.’

  Gravely Manolis took his place at the head of the table. ‘This is the first time I’ve entertained Yannis in my house. It’s an occasion. I have dressed for the occasion. Had it not been for him you would still have been on the island and we would never have married. I have a good deal to thank him for.’ Manolis raised his glass. ‘To Yannis.’

  To Yannis’s embarrassment everyone followed suit and he felt his eyes growing moist. He wished Dora had been there with him, but he had bowed to her wishes that she stayed behind to keep Daphne company.

  ‘It’s only for a week, besides,’ she had added, ‘I don’t belong to your island memories.’

  Yannis rose the next morning with his head throbbing. He placed his head under the tap hoping the cold water would help to clear it. Flora la
ughed at him.

  ‘You are out of practice.’

  ‘I’m just a little woolly between the ears,’ Yannis assured her. ‘I don’t really want to meet Father Minos smelling strongly of drink. He might think I’d returned to my former habits.’

  ‘Yannis,’ Flora bit at her lip. ‘It’s just possible he may not know you.’

  ‘Not know me? Of course he’ll know me.’

  ‘He’s an old man now, well into his eighties. His memory’s not what it was.’

  ‘He’ll know me,’ Yannis spoke with assurance. ‘We’ll call in again on our way back, so be on the look out for us.’

  ‘We will, and Yannis, thank you.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘My life.’

  Before he could answer she had shut the door swiftly and was waving to them from the window. Yannis settled back comfortably. He was enjoying himself.

  They ran Father Minos to earth in a secluded garden at the monastery. The monk who escorted them to him warned Yannis gently.

  ‘He has become very old of late, his sight has failed and his memory plays tricks. You must not expect too much of him.’

  Anna touched Elena’s arm. ‘Let Yannis go first. We mustn’t overwhelm him.’

  Yannis approached softly over the grass and knelt stiffly before the elderly priest. ‘May I have your blessing, Father?’

  ‘Of course, my son.’ He placed his hand on Yannis’s head.

  ‘Don’t you remember me? I’m Yannis.’

  ‘Yannis?’

  ‘I was on Spinalonga.’ Yannis felt a lump coming into his throat.

  ‘Ah, Spinalonga. I was there a long time. With the lepers, you know. Sad cases, all of them, but they made a happy life for themselves, until the war, anyway. The Germans tried to starve them. They couldn’t do it, though. We beat them in the end. Then they took them away. All my friends gone.’ A tear slid gently down the priest’s wrinkled face.

  Yannis patted his hand, rose and walked away. ‘He doesn’t remember me. I left it too long.’

  An anguished look on his face Yannis led the way back to the monastery. He did not see Father Minos rise to his feet, his hand outstretched before him, searching the air.