The delicious smell of wood smoke was the first thing I became aware of those early Sophian mornings and I used to think it came with the perfume from the wisteria that lingers around the charcoal soot-streaked ovens near our villa, but after talking with Theo I began to associate it with his recollection of the blaze in the forest on the mountainside. Either way it always drifted in with the warming of the morning.
Alexis and I sat in the doorway of the tool shed sipping thick black coffee, eating lemon cake and watching the waves through the open back gate.
'So Alexi, how long were you married?'
'Three years. A girl from Stephanos town but she left me one day when I was on the sea. She met a man from America.' He shrugged and flicked the dregs from his cup into the aubergine patch. Mikri ran to investigate. I wondered how Alexis kept going through all his misfortune. 'Life's life - it ebbs and flows and every tide brings a little er…jetsam. No problem.'
The wind was howling again for all the drowned sailors, overturning chairs and tables, clattering things that clattered.
'Is that why you left the sea, Alexi, because of your wife?'
'No, boss, no. I left because of the danger. Death came looking for me, disguised in a red roaring fire that trapped me in the belly of a tanker, and I swear to God I saw the devil in those flames - and then, just before I passed out, my super special friend began to shout and scream and didn't stop till help arrived and so he saved my life.'
'You are a very lucky man to have such a good friend. He lives on the island?'
'He lives in this house. He is my parrot, Kaos. Ha!' He slapped my shoulder and went to get more coffee and cake leaving me smiling to myself in admiration of his tales. When he came back he put down the tray and stood to watch the wind skim the spray from the waves on the sea below. 'You see that wind? It tells me she is angry.'
'The wind? What do you mean? Who's angry?'
'Athena, our goddess. You see boss, I have a duty but I don't do it.'
'I'm sorry Alexi, I don't get it. You'll have to explain.'
'There is a wind, long feared for thousands of years, that comes to the Aegean every summer. My ancestors called her Etesian and she is treacherous. In an instant the sky grows dark and soulless, and no one but a fool would put a boat out to sea when she is blowing like that. The fishermen saw her as punishment from Athena for taking too much fish, so they made offerings and asked her for calm so they could make trade again. I know, I know, you may laugh but it worked. These robbers at Faria? They don't care. Their boat is so powerful, the wind has no effect. In fact, bad weather gives them cover. I think Athena is offended - and me? I do nothing. So, she is angry.'
'But you, why is it your responsibility?'
'Boss, our guardian has left, so I take his place because I'm the shepherd of the village. Same job - different name, that’s all. But let me tell you, I never knew it was such a big job. I might need help.'
'Start with Faria, tell me what that's like, Alexi.'
'It's where I take the goats. There is a channel washing the space between our islands. It is narrow and not very deep so sometimes I swim. But for the baby animals we have some boats tied together and with this we make a bridge. It's very safe.'
'Any people?'
'No. No one lives there now but some say there was once an established city called something like Nissyros in the little bay of Palatia,' his eyes blazed with enthusiasm. 'You can still see the ruins of the chapel of Agia Melina surrounded by big chunks of marble. It is where there once stood a rich, tall church with one hundred gates and one hundred bells and all have been stolen by greedy looters. Near the chapel there is a wellspring that runs all the way down from the high plateaux. And burials have been found also,' he shook his head and gave a long and tender sigh. 'When I'm there, I feel complete.'
'Alexi, there must be a way to end this situation. From everything I've heard, looters have been helping themselves to historical artefacts for centuries and whoever is the brains behind this particular organisation believes they have a cast-iron right to take what they want. They must be mad.'
'But aren't we all a little insane?' He whittled at some new pegs for his lyra and re-threaded the strings then tuned them so tight I thought they'd snap. He tapped my arm, 'You want me to teach you to play the lyra? It will calm your nerves after the coffee.' He looked at me sideways and giggled, 'Listen to me, I have seen their yacht. It is magnificent. It has a hull of deep red. Like when you look through your eyelids at the sun.'
'Maroon! The corporate colour, of course.'
'She's a beautiful, dangerous lady.'
'And she comes and takes what she wants.'
'It is hard to protect everything but not impossible. Greece is full of archaeology. Every day, we fall over historical artefacts. I listen to the wind and between you and me, I promise to do what I can.' He lowered his voice to a whisper, 'Let me tell you, one day we will be free from these evils. I'm serious. I have sworn before the goddess and she will help.'
'So you still have faith in Athena?'
'Of course. But just because you don't believe that doesn't mean she don't exist,' his eyes were shining.
'Please, don't be offended. It's just that some people will believe anything no matter what the facts are to the contrary,' I said.
'Why not? All gods and demons are man-made. There is no proof they exist or don't exist,' he finished his drink. 'Boss, I know what you're thinking but if you believe in something then it exists - if you don't, it don't.'
'And you offer her prayers and ask for guidance?'
'And consult the oracle and make ... more faith,' he looked crazed - but not crazy. There was something strengthening in what he said. He shrugged, 'Boss, I have made a little altar - to my goddess Pallas Athena. I can call upon her with tried and tested ritual. It is common to some people.'
'Will you show me it one day?'
'Of course,' he grinned. 'Maybe sooner than you think.'
So with a head full of contradictions I made my way across the square to meet Alessandra who was waiting for me outside Virgenia's. Opposite, is a taverna used by some of the farmers. Just as we met, I noticed Mercouri sitting at that taverna drinking with one of his cronies and he must have heard our voices because he waved a beer in the air and shouted to attract my attention as though we were old friends, 'Ya! Mr. Godfrey! Hello! Would you come and have a beer with me?'
I took off my shades and stared right at him, not saying a word.
'I've been looking for you, my friend,' he said.
I continued to ignore him.
In Virgenia's Jools and Robbie were in good spirits and seemed to think I should accept Mercouri's apology, make amends and forget it - after all he was just a bit drunk. They didn't understand and there was no time to explain. I nodded without saying anything. What good would an apology do if that snake didn't understand the damage he was doing? I refused to ignore the incident. And then he came in and placed himself close enough to our usual table to seem included, but with me not sitting down it was hard for him to pin me down. But the time came, after several games of cat and mouse, when I had to face him. I was glad when I did because apart from a few tourists, the usual gang were there including Virgenia and Nikos and it was time to make my point.
With a great theatrical sigh, he pushed himself up and raised his glass, 'Hey, c'mon Mr. Godfrey, let me buy you a drink and say I'm sorry. OK?'
He expected me to give in and I'd been happy to ignore him so far but since he was prepared to persist with the charade, I was determined to have my say. Carefully, I moved a chair out of the way so there was nothing between us. I pointed at him, my arm outstretched and straight, then in a firm clear voice I used some simple words that everyone could understand, words to let him know how it felt to be humiliated.
'Understand this - I do not like you. You are big but you are a coward and a bully. You have no respect for the feelings of other people. You are an irritant. You are nothing but a mosquito - enas kounoupi!' I held up both palms towards him, fingers apart, which is just about the rudest gesture Pani ever showed me. I was shaking, furious with the whole situation.
The room fell silent. Everyone was looking at us. He stared at me, open mouthed, unable to believe his eyes and ears. He repeated the words in slow whispers, one after the other, until he grasped the full weight and meaning of each one, then his mouth fell open. To those who understood, I don't suppose they meant much, but I knew a swaggerer of his stature would swallow all the implications. With the last word spoken quite loudly, and in clear Greek, I turned from the group with as much control as I could muster and wandered steadily and slowly toward the kitchen, expecting a blow to the head at every trembling step.
Nana stood in the doorway staring at me, gaping, mesmerised, delighted. When I asked her for an iced coffee, 'metriou', she blinked awake, 'Right away, Mr. Godfrey, sir. Medium.'
The atmosphere was thick but clearing. A gloomy silence hung there. Then dear Alessandra turned to Jools and grinned, 'Do you get mosquitoes biting you're ankles when you try to sleep on the beach, Jools?' At first I thought she'd gone a bit loopy, then I read the metaphor and it brought everything into perspective. There was a mosquito in the room and it had to go, after all, you find irritating insects everywhere. Then with exaggerated courtesy, I asked Alessandra if she would like an iced coffee.
She smiled, 'Please. But this time, no milk, metriou, just like yours. Want to sit down?' She pulled a chair towards her and lowered her voice, 'I know it would be more convenient for everyone if you let that fool have his fun but you have drawn a line and now they must decide where they stand. See now what we women have to go through? Well done.'
I tried to be pleasant but there was nothing pleasant on my mind, at least we'd put our case and had won a little victory. Next, we would have to speak to the ones we could trust most and get ourselves organised for more important matters, and I was not one for conspiracies.
Nana brought our drinks then touched my arm and said, 'Mr. Godfrey, that man is idiot. In Georgia we have old saying, “The idiot judge the oddity by his own ignorance.” You understand me?'
Alessandra looked from her to me and smiled. Apart from that, I don't remember us drinking our coffees or talking about her shop and her grandmother, but Alessandra claimed we discussed our pilgrimage to Dorini and the motor bike ride. I remembered nothing, my mind was on other things. As for the sheepish Mercouri, Nikos and he had loud words, and as he left Virginia's he called over his shoulder,
'No more here! No more tourist here! And you, Mr. Godfrey, don't think I've finished with you yet!' Then he strode off to his bus, seething with suspicion and spite.
That night I locked myself inside the house trying to organize my jumbled mind. How on earth did I get in this trap? How do I get out? The strain was becoming more and more obvious. And the anxiety was stifling. I had to take deep breaths as I paced around the rooms.
In the lane outside I could hear the excited voices of Alexis and Alessandra approaching until they came to a hush at the door. In they burst, chattering and excited, full of cheery plans for our expedition to Faria after the festival.
But my mind was full of Daphne and the obnoxious Mercouri. I went upstairs to bed, completely drained.