Kapelis- The Hatmaker

by Andreas Kappa

  He was forever grateful to his eldest son for the money, but he missed him terribly. He had to go to Athens to certify documents for his landholding so the landholding was legal after the civil war.

  Kalapaseas, who had performed the king’s protocol, was now a single judge in the Supreme Court of Piraeus. Andreas had Kalapaseas’s address in Marousi. Marousi was a suburb in Athens that was for the affluent.

  Andreas went to the address and saw a recently built large two-storey home on a large block with olive trees and orange and mandarin trees. It was truly beautiful.

  He rang on the doorbell and was greeted by a maid. She took Andreas to the living room. She had prepared tea and coffee and a variety of sweets.

  Kalapaseas walked in and kissed Andreas on both cheeks, and they embraced. Kalapaseas waved the servants to leave so the men could be left alone.

  Kalapaseas said, ‘Welcome, my beloved friend. We are older now. I told you to do what we were instructed to do.’

  Andreas said, ‘Yes, you are right. Your wisdom is correct. But would I do it again—of course, I would. Down with the monarch and Zito Hellas! [long live Greece].’

  Kalapaseas laughed. Andreas laughed with him. Then both men cheered each other with their glasses of ouzo. The men spent the whole afternoon exchanging stories—some funny, some sad, and others involving the politics of the country.

  The next day, Andreas travelled back to the village by train. In Vrostena, Andreas’s son Achilleas had formed a Greek singing group with a singer and a clarinet player. Achilleas played guitar.

  Achilleas loved music. They were invited to perform their repertoire for payment during festivals and the celebration of patron saints’ days.

  Yiannis resigned himself to the fact that he was a peasant, and he tended to the fields. He kept his reading and writing up so he would not to lose the skill.

  One day in Kalavryta, Achilleas was playing with his band when one person from the audience yelled out, ‘He is a Kapelis, a communist and a traitor!’

  Achilleas was the tallest of the Kapelis family and had fiery green eyes. He stopped the singing and went into the audience to beat the man harshly. The word got around as to what happened in Kalavryta, and the band regarded Achilleas as a liability and let him go.

  Achilleas was now without employment and tended to the fields again. He would also seek work from other farmers to bolster his income.

  His favourite task was to hit the pine trees, puncturing the trunk of the tree to then extract pine resin for use in medicines, candles, and as a glue.

  One day when Achilleas and his father were out hunting, one of the villagers who was a right-wing fascist came across Andreas and said, ‘Communist, leave the game we are hunting alone.’

  Andreas instructed Achilleas to shoot him. Achilleas obeyed his father, aimed his shotgun at the man, and fired. The man had scurried into the forest upon hearing Andreas’s order, and the shell hit a tree and just missed the man.

  Achilleas spent the next three days in prison until a statement was taken by the police from Andreas.

  He cleverly crafted the evidence to say that he had told Achilleas to shoot the hare and not him. The man, who was slightly deaf, could not hear what was actually said by Andreas to his son.

  The police believed that version of events put forward by Andreas, and Achilleas was released. Both father and son belly-laughed over what had occurred.

  Kostas from Australia wrote many times to the family. On one occasion, he wrote directly to Achilleas. He described Australia as a peaceful and lucky country where jobs were plentiful and life, though hard as an immigrant, was enjoyable.

  He always had money in his pocket. There were opportunities to be had, and he wanted help to open his own restaurant or cafe. Achilleas was seduced by this invitation from his oldest brother. He enjoyed any sense of adventure.

  Kostas completed the forms with the help of an English-speaking Greek to sponsor his brother. Achilleas went to Athens and waited for the sponsorship to be approved. Once Australia accepted his application, Achilleas was bound for Australia.

  It was 1955, and Greece was still in political turmoil. There were serious rumours surrounding the capital that a cohort of colonels was preparing for a coup to oust King Paul I.

  Achilleas went back to the village to say goodbye to his family. He hugged Yiannis and his younger siblings. He embraced his mother, who was crying.

  True to his previous form, Andreas was sitting on his wicker chair on the veranda, facing the sea and with an emotionless face.

  Andreas said, ‘My son, the foreign land is swallowing my children like a hungry lion. Please kiss your brother, and may luck be your guide. Farewell.’

  Achilleas walked down the track and travelled by bus to Athens. A few days later, he got on the ship bound for Australia.

  A month later, he was warmly welcomed by his brother at the port in Sydney. The brothers embraced, and Achilleas gave him news from the family.

  As Achilleas could not speak English, he could hear a cacophony of noise coming from the mouths of people all around him. He quipped, ‘It is like my tongue was severed when I left the ship.’

  The brothers were now looking for a shop to build a restaurant or cafe. Achilleas took a job as a kitchen hand in another restaurant. The two brothers worked many long hours in the next two years to save money for the project.

  Achilleas went to Cooma for six months to work in the construction of an enormous hydroelectric power station funded by the state. The pay he received was ten times more than he was paid as a kitchen hand.

  One day, cement was being laid and more than fifty workers were killed when the reinforcing steel collapsed. Achilleas had been rostered to work that day, but to his fortune, his roster was cancelled, as the foreman said he had enough men.

  Before Achilleas arrived in Australia, Kostas had met a girl born in Australia from Greek parents, and the couple married. They had two children. Ourania, the firstborn, and Andreas. They were named after his mother and father. The names were anglicised to Lorraine and Andrew.

  Andreas was now a grandfather and very pleased that his son was married and had a family.

  By 1959, the brothers had enough money to lease a shop and build a cafe next to a hospital for women giving birth. Many letters were written between the brothers and their family back in the village.

  In one letter, Andreas told the brothers that there was a coup against the king by the colonels but it failed.

  To heap disaster upon disaster, there was a huge earthquake on the island of Santorini, causing destruction, followed by aftershocks in the Peloponnese that had frightened people. It was like the gods were finally angry with the behaviour of the Greeks.

  The brothers opened the shop, and it began to operate well. The nurses and doctors from the hospital were regular customers, and there was a training college for police cadets that frequented the cafe as steady patrons.

  The money was coming in to pay all their bills with some left over as profit.

  Back at the village, Yiannis was becoming more and more frustrated working on the land. His brothers in Australia suggested that he now be sponsored by both to come to Australia. Yiannis agreed.

  Yiannis was advised that his papers had been approved to migrate to Australia. Andreas loved Yiannis a little more than his other children in his heart. He never made that obvious. Yiannis was scholastic like Andreas. That fact augured his favour.

  When Yiannis came to the village to say his last farewells, Andreas simply said, ‘I will miss you, my son.’ He kissed him on the forehead.

  Each time Andreas said goodbye to his children, a string to his heart broke. He had lost three children to the wilderness. That was how he felt.

  He reflected as an older man. He asked himself whether he should have convicted Aspros. He went to the coffee lounge that supported h
is political views and saw Aspros.

  Aspros said, ‘Andreas, I will play you backgammon for a coffee and a Turkish delight. Are you in?’

  Andreas said, ‘Of course, Aspros. Could not think of a better opponent.’

  True to his word, Aspros was wearing the blue cap he had made for him.

  Yiannis travelled the same voyage as his brothers previously and was met at the port by Kostas and Achilleas. He now joined his brothers at the cafe. Each brother was working hard in the cafe, and each was being paid from the profits.

  In late 1959, the brothers in Australia wrote to both their sisters in the village, Maria (Maro) and Vasiliki (Vaso) and urged them to come to Australia to join them. The girls agreed, and their migration papers were approved. In 1960, both the sisters travelled to Australia together.

  Again, as they left the family and kissed everyone goodbye, Andreas sat on his wicker chair on the veranda and held their hands to bid them goodbye. Andreas showed no emotion and did not cry.

  After they had left, Andreas put both hands on his face and bowed his head. He said to Ourania, ‘Dear Lord, what have I done?’ Tears rolled down his cheeks like snowflakes falling in winter. Andreas wept for days and days at his loss.

  His son Spiros was now responsible for all the work involved in tending to the land.

  Maro and Vaso arrived in Australia and were greeted at the port by Achilleas. They were taken to the shop and were billeted in the unit above the shop. They assisted as waitresses in the shop until they got on their feet and could make their own way.

  Achilleas quipped, ‘Vrostena has moved to Sydney.’ Everybody laughed.

  In late 1960, Achilleas married a local lady born in Australia from Greek heritage. Her name was Mary. In October 1961, the couple had a boy named Andrew.

  In the 1960s, whilst Andreas’s children were establishing families and growing the business, Greece seemed to be experiencing peace and economic growth.

  King Paul had died in 1964 and was succeeded by his son, King Constantine II. The politics in the capital was still volatile.

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  GREECE, 1967–1974 (THE JUNTA)

  George Lambrakis was assassinated, and there was a continual power struggle between Karamanlis, a right-wing politician, and Papandreas, a centre-left politician, for control of the country as prime minister.

  As king, Constantine could barely keep control of the disorder. Greece had now joined NATO and was attempting to introduce itself as part of Europe.

  In Australia, Achilleas and Mary had a second son, Vasilios, anglicised to William (or Bill for short). Later the couple had a daughter Ourania (Lorraine) and a son Mihalis (Michael).

  Without the knowledge of Achilleas, his eldest brother, Kostas, had borrowed against the equity of the leasehold to the cafe and the goodwill to take out a loan. Kostas invested heavily in the stock market, but the outcome was that he lost almost all the loaned money. There was a paltry amount left, and the cafe had to be sold in a fire sale.

  Achilleas took what was left and bought a modest home to house his family. Achilleas then sought employment and found a job in a steel-making factory. Mary sewed garments at home to supplement the family’s income. Their eldest son, Andrew, showed academic ability and excelled at school.

  Achilleas was sent a letter by his father in May 1967. He advised Achilleas that, on 21 April 1967, there had been a successful coup by colonels in Greece under the leadership of Papadopoulos and Patakos.

  He also advised Achilleas that a strict curfew had been put in place throughout the entire Greece and that King Constantine had submitted to the dictator and fled to northern Greece with a small army of royal guards.

  He told his son he was worried what would happen next in Greece. Andreas was sixty-seven years old but remained spritely and reasonably fit and well.

  In August 1967 and in the heart of summer, an army officer with the rank of captain and two privates entered the village square and went into one of the coffee lounges.

  The captain asked, ‘Where is Andreas Kapelis, the son of Kostas?’

  The owner of the coffee lounge said, ‘He is not here, but his house is across the square and down the path until it ends.’

  The men walked to Andreas’s house and up the stairs leading to the veranda and the front door. Sitting on his wicker seat on the veranda was Andreas, soaking in the summer sun.

  Andreas said, ‘Can I help you?’

  Captain said, ‘I think so. Are you Andreas Kapelis, son of Kostas?’

  Andreas replied, ‘Yes. What can we make of it?’

  Captain said, ‘By order of the colonels, you are commanded to accompany me to Aegion for questioning.’

  Andreas said, ‘For what? Have I committed a crime?’

  ‘I am not here to give you information. I am here to carry out orders and request your presence in Aegion forthwith. If you do not come voluntarily, I will direct and order the privates to take you into custody.’

  Andreas took his coat and hat and a small bag of items, including some food, and entered the army jeep with the men. He was taken to Aegion. He was placed in a room for questioning.

  The captain said to him, ‘Andreas, we have accessed your family file, and it appears that you are a declared communist.’

  Andreas said, ‘That is wrong. I was a democrat, and I rejected the monarchy in Greece. I still remain a democrat and do not want a monarch.’

  ‘Do you admit you are a communist?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You are an enemy of the current regime.’

  ‘What regime?’

  With that answer, the captain took out his baton and forcefully struck Andreas on his left shoulder, instantly breaking his clavicle bone in two. Andreas bent over in pain and could not see in front of him.

  Captain said, ‘I will ask you one last time. Are you a communist?’

  Andreas could barely respond from the pain and answered, ‘No. Nothing can change that.’

  The captain then called for one of the privates to come into the room and ordered him to continue the beatings.

  After two solid hours of punishment at the hands of the private, Andreas passed out on the chair.

  Andreas awoke in a cell. His shoulder needed attention, as the bone was fractured. His head and neck had been beaten and were bruised and sore. His shin bones and legs were injured, and he was suffering from a headache.

  He yelled out, ‘I need medical attention!’

  The captain came to the cell and said, ‘There are only doctors for communists. Are you a communist?’

  Andreas emphatically said, ‘There is also a god for righteous men.’

  Andreas remained in prison for two months and was subjected to ill treatment and brutality. He was only released because the army had arrested younger men and needed his cell to house them.

  Andreas made his way home. When Ourania saw the state Andreas was in, she was shocked. She immediately called for the doctor.

  When the doctor examined him, he said that the broken left shoulder needed immediate attention at the time with plaster and now that the shoulder had set in place there was little that could be done. His shoulder would remain in a depressed position all his life. As for the bruises and contusions, with time, they would heal.

  In 1968, the news from the north was that King Constantine had amassed an army to prepare for a counter-coup against the colonels. This attempt failed dismally, and Constantine left Greece forever.

  He went into exile firstly to Spain and then established himself as a citizen in London. He was related to Prince Phillip, the Queen’s husband, and other royal families throughout Europe.

  The junta’s rule was harsh and unrelenting. There were several small uprisings, which were quashed by the colonels. There were also several unsuccessful attempts at the life of Papadopoulos.
/>   Back in Australia, the children of Andreas had settled into the life of Australian citizens.

  By July, 1974, the junta in Greece was removed. The colonels were arrested and tried for high treason. The penalty for the offence was life in prison.

  On 13 December 1974, a national referendum was held, abolishing the monarchy, and a parliamentary republic was established.

  Andreas thought this day would never come to Greece. There was indeed a peace that swept over Greece, and Andreas was pleased.

  Andrew, the son of Achilleas, had sat for entrance exams to be entitled to complete his schooling at a selective school in Australia. He was successful.

  When Andreas heard of his grandson’s success, he was content. He then wrote to his grandson, expressing his joy.

  He told him that if he decided to be a lawyer, no matter what the obstacles or interferences he may encounter, justice must be done and must be seen to be done.

  Andrew completed high school and sat for entrance exams for university. He was successful in matriculating for a combined degree of law and arts.

  When old Andreas in the village heard this news, he was overwhelmed with pride.

  Rather than immediately commence his degree, Andrew decided to take a year off from his studies and travel.

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  VROSTENA, 1980

  In March 1980, Andrew’s first stop was to travel to Greece to see his relatives for the first time. Andrew did not tell anyone he was going to Greece to surprise them.

  He took the KTEL bus to the village from Athens. The bus travelled south from Athens and then towards the western peninsula at the top of the Peloponnese.

  The majestic Sea of Corinth was to his right as he looked out the window. Although it was winter and the seas were choppy, the water was blue, a royal blue.

  The bus stopped at the Isthmus of Corinth for a coffee break, and the young man marvelled at the sight. He passed ancient Corinth and Xylokastro as the bus weaved along the coastline towards his destination.

  The bus then stopped for a moment to let other traffic through where there was a junction and a sign pointing to Kalavryta. The bus turned left at the sign.