YANNIS (Cretan Saga Book 1) (7 page)

The cousins retreated from the smoky interior; glad to be back in the fresh air and after a short time Yannis’s father joined them.

‘We wanted to ask you a favour, Pappa. When school finishes here will you want me to come back to the farm to work before I go to High School, if I get a place, that is?’

‘It would certainly help. What had you in mind?’

‘I wondered if Annita and Andreas could come also.’

‘I see no reason why they shouldn’t, if Yiorgo and Elena don’t need them.’

Annita clapped her hands. ‘Thank you, uncle Yannis, that would be lovely.’

Yannis’s father smiled at her exuberance. ‘I don’t think you’ll find it very exciting. We haven’t all the shops that you have here.’

‘I don’t mind. It will be different.’

Elena was in the kitchen preparing fresh coffee. ‘Is Andreas with you?’ she asked of Annita as they entered.

Annita shook her head. ‘I’ve been with Yannis to meet his father.’

‘Where has he got to?’

‘I expect he’s at a friend’s house.’ Annita dismissed her brother. ‘Mamma, please say yes, uncle Yannis says that Andreas and I can go and stay on the farm during the holidays.’

Andreas entered quietly, but his mother noticed him. ‘Where have you been?’

‘I’m sorry, Mamma. I was with some friends and we were talking. It was later than I realised.’

‘Andreas, would you like to go to Plaka and stay on the farm with Yannis during the holidays?’ asked Annita.

‘I’m sure I should enjoy it very much. I’ve never been on a farm.’

‘To bed, young man, or you won’t be going anywhere,’ Elena said firmly and Andreas disappeared obediently. ‘You two should also be in bed,’ she continued, turning to Annita and Yannis. ‘Yannis you will have to share Andreas’s mattress tonight as your Pappa is having yours.’

Yannis nodded. ‘I don’t mind. I’ll go up now, and then I won’t disturb Andreas. Goodnight, Pappa, and thank you. I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘Would you mind having them in the holidays?’ asked Elena when she was finally alone with her cousin.

‘Not a bit, they’ll be able to help around the farm. You’ve been so good to Yannis that it won’t hurt us to show a bit of hospitality to your children. He’s a lucky boy. Mr Pavlakis thinks he shows great promise and has every hope of him gaining a scholarship. Tell me, do you have any relatives in Heraklion? If Yannis does go there he’ll have to stay somewhere and I know no one.’

Elena shook her head. ‘I can’t think of anyone. I’ll ask Yiorgo tomorrow. We may as well go to bed. There’s no telling what time he’ll be back.’ She began to clear the table of coffee cups and stack them in the kitchen. ‘What time do you plan to leave tomorrow?’

‘Don’t worry about me. I’ll be up with the sun. I’ll see Yannis before I leave, but if Yiorgo is sleeping late I shan’t disturb him. We had a chat today. I’d like to be back in Plaka by mid-day, so I’ll have to make an early start.’ Yannis held out his hand to Elena. ‘I’d like to thank you, Elena. You’ve been like a mother to Yannis. We do appreciate it.’

‘Go on with you,’ Elena was embarrassed. ‘He’s a nice boy; besides it’s given him and Annita time to get to know each other. They’ve become as thick as thieves. I think that match will work out well.’

Yannis held his breath and crossed his fingers behind his back.

‘I’ve had a letter from the High School. I’m pleased to say that you have been accepted and gained a full scholarship.’

Yannis sat back on the desk behind him, his legs no longer able to support him. ‘Thank you, sir,’ he managed to whisper, then realisation dawned and a broad grin spread over his face. ‘It’s wonderful!’

‘You’ve worked hard for it. Don’t think it’s the end of the road, you’ll have to continue to work hard for the next few years if you want to get anywhere in life. Have you any ideas for a career?’

Yannis shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Something to do with history I think.’

Mr Pavlakis nodded. ‘A wise choice, but don’t force yourself into a career. You are one of the few who will be able to choose their occupation. Now, something else before you go; I’ve been giving serious thought to you going to Heraklion. Your father said you have no relatives there that you could stay with.’

‘That’s true. We’re quite a small family really. I suppose I’ll have to find a room somewhere.’

‘I’ve lived on my own in a strange town and it’s a very lonely experience. This is confidential at the moment, Yannis, but I am also leaving at the end of this term and taking up a position in Heraklion. I wondered how you and your parents would feel if I tried to find rooms for us in the same house? We could be a certain amount of company for each other until we found our feet and made our own friends.’

‘I would really appreciate that and I’m sure my parents would, too.’ At this moment Yannis did not care where he would live.

Mr Pavlakis picked up his books from his desk and held out his hand. ‘Congratulations on your success, and let’s hope I manage to find somewhere suitable to stay together. I shall go to Heraklion during the holidays and look around. When I’ve found something I’ll pay you a visit in Plaka and talk to your parents.’

‘I’m sure they’ll be very grateful.’

‘Come along then, I must go or I shall be late for work.’

Mr Pavlakis walked rapidly away from his pupil who watched him out of sight before walking slowly back to his uncle’s cottage. His dreams had come true. He was going to High School. His imagination began leaping ahead of him, finishing High School and going to University in Athens, finishing University and becoming famous. How proud of him his parents would be!

Annita was helping with the washing when he arrived. She looked at him a little fearfully. ‘Why did Mr Pavlakis want you?’

‘Why do you think?’

‘You’ve a scholarship to High School?’

Yannis clasped his cousin around her waist, the wet washing between them. ‘I’ve passed and I’m really going! Isn’t it the most marvellous thing that has ever happened?’

Annita hugged him back. ‘I’m so pleased for you. Wait ‘til we tell Mamma and Pappa!’

‘That’s not all, Mr Pavlakis is going to Heraklion,’ he flushed in mortification. ‘That’s supposed to be confidential, so don’t tell anyone, please. He’s going to find us rooms together.’

‘Do you want to live with him?’ Annita was surprised at Yannis’s pleasure.

‘It will be better than being on my own in a strange town, and I do enjoy talking to him.’

Annita disentangled herself from Yannis’s embrace and the wet sheet. ‘What will your parents say?’

‘I expect they’ll be pleased that there will be someone with me. It seems strange to think that I won’t be coming back here.’ He gazed around the kitchen as if he were seeing it for the first time.

‘I must put the washing out.’ Annita went out to the yard so that Yannis did not see her eyes were full of tears. She would miss him so much.

Yiorgo had agreed to take the children to Plaka by boat, using the canal at Olous as a short cut. It would be more work for him, as the sail would have to be lowered so they could pass beneath the concrete bridge, but it would save the children a long walk in the blazing sun.

‘A special treat for Yannis,’ he grinned. ‘He’ll be able to see the houses.’

Yannis smiled contentedly. He had tried in vain to see the remains of the village that had been lost beneath the sea whenever his uncle had sailed in that direction, but never managed to catch more than a glimpse. Yiorgo and Yannis rowed strongly over the smooth water, whilst Andreas sat at the tiller. At Yiorgo’s instruction they shipped their oars and allowed the boat to glide gently over the clear, blue-green water.

‘Look, Yannis,’ he called and pointed into the sea. The three children hung over the side.

‘They’re just blocks of stone,’ said Andreas in disgust.

‘Could be anything,’ added Annita.

Yannis shook his head. ‘No, look. There’s the outline of a wall. See that large stone over there? That’s where the door would have been. You can see another wall going that way. Please, Yiorgo, move on a bit.’

Yiorgo did as he was asked, Yannis pointing out where the walls were until even Annita and Andreas became interested. Finally the water deepened until it was impossible to see the weed-encrusted blocks and Yannis sat up

They began to negotiate the tiny canal. There was just enough room for a boat to pass beneath the low concrete bridge with the mast down. The water looked so shallow that Yannis held his breath; sure they would be grounded. They passed through safely into the bay and Yannis’s heart skipped a beat as Spinalonga came into sight. He hoped Yiorgo would not sail too close.

Annita and Andreas began to look for lepers, but saw no one until they rounded the island and were nearing Plaka. At the quay was a boat and a quantity of barrels had been off-loaded. As the boat began to row away lepers appeared through the archway and began to manhandle the barrels away from the quay. Yannis watched, horrified and fascinated. The men who were collecting the barrels looked like any other villager.

‘I feel so sorry for them,’ said Annita quietly. ‘They’ve done no harm, and yet they’re treated like criminals.’

‘No harm! They infect people with their terrible disease. An island is a good place for them.’ Yannis shivered despite the warmth of the sun.

‘They don’t infect people deliberately, and they couldn’t help getting the disease. It’s like having measles,’ reasoned Annita.

‘Don’t they frighten you?’ asked Yannis

Annita shook her head. ‘No, I just feel sorry for them and sort of helpless.’

Yannis looked at her with disbelief written all over his face. ‘We’re here,’ he said, announcing the obvious to change the subject.

His family were waiting at the tiny jetty to welcome him. The children jumped ashore and Yannis found himself in his mother’s arms. To his surprise he found he was considerably taller than she was. He knew he had grown by the way his arms had been poking out from his shirts and the gap there was between his trouser legs and his shoes, but he had not realised by how much.

His brothers and sisters hung back; shy of their cousins and also of their older brother whom they had not seen since Christmas. Yannis threw his arms round all of them in turn, and then introduced them to Annita and Andreas.

As soon as they arrived at the farmhouse Yannis wanted to see the new donkey his father had purchased. Aga seemed to know him and looked at him with sad, old eyes that wrenched at Yannis’s heart. The younger donkey eyed him uneasily and shifted away. Yannis ignored her; there would be time to get to know her later. He talked softly to old Aga and she responded to his voice by twitching her ears and nuzzling close to him. Eventually Maria came to find him.

‘Are you coming? Mamma has lunch ready.’

Yannis nodded. ‘Poor old Aga.’

Maria took his arm. ‘She has a good life. Pappa still takes her with him and lets her graze. She never works now, the young one does it all.’

‘It will be nice to be in the fields again, to smell the earth instead of fish.’

They laughed together. ‘It’s good to have you back, Yannis. I wish you were going to stay.’

‘I couldn’t do that.’

‘Do you prefer to live in a town – and smell of fish?’

‘No,’ Yannis smiled. ‘Do I still smell?’ He sniffed at his shirt.

‘Will you ever come back?’

‘I don’t think I will ever live here again, but I’ll always come back to visit.’

The fields fascinated Annita and Andreas. The vines, planted in such straight rows and the earth around them turned regularly to keep the weeds at bay, the olive trees which were planted irregularly with the grass for the donkeys being allowed to grow as it wished between them.

Annita lay on her back in the shade of a carob tree. ‘This is lovely. So peaceful. It can be peaceful at sea, but you always have to be ready for trouble there. Here you can just lay and relax.’

Yannis poked her with his toe. ‘I thought you were supposed to be working. You might marry a farmer and you’d look silly not knowing what to do.’

‘He could teach me,’ answered Annita nonchalantly, ‘besides, your mother doesn’t work in the fields.’

‘She used to,’ Yannis assured her. ‘Now she plants herbs and vegetables and looks after the chickens.’

Annita sighed. She would have to get up. Yannis showed her how to dig around the roots of the vines to aerate them, but not to damage the young shoots. He also explained how to look for parasites that could blight a crop overnight, or moulds that would make the plant whither and die.

‘I don’t think I want to marry a farmer,’ she groaned as she straightened up. ‘Yannis, what are you doing?’

‘I found this.’

‘It’s only a broken pot. I expect someone threw it away.’

Yannis ignored her and stuffed the pieces into his pocket. He began to look for more shards until Annita lost interest and walked away. Yannis searched around the area, but no more pieces came to light. He straightened up and decided to search systematically along each row, bending to examine more closely the small stones, which were mixed with the red-brown earth. He was on the verge of giving up when he saw another piece sticking out of the ground, far larger than anything he had found earlier. He tried to pull it out, but met with resistance. With eager fingers he scraped away at the soil and tugged again. He wriggled it in the earth and dug a little deeper. The shard gave, and to his surprise the piece he had been pulling at was the base of a pot, with at least half of one side still attached. The boy fingered it curiously, brushing away the earth and rubbing it against his trousers. He looked into the hole it had left and found another small slither.

‘Have you lost your bone?’ Maria’s voice sounded behind him.

He looked up and smiled. ‘I’ve found some pottery.’

‘I should think Pappa would be quite pleased to have his fields cleared. You could take the stones as well.’

‘Don’t you find it interesting?’

Maria shook her head. ‘It’s just useless pieces of a broken pot. No good to anyone, so they’ve been thrown away.’

‘You’re probably right,’ admitted her brother. ‘What have you been doing?’