Little Cherine Book 06 - BPost032
Being wealthy, their donations were often smaller than those made by ordinary working people.
3811
The three of us keep a healer by us when going out, otherwise we have all three working with Aleka. We only allow one healer at a time from the family. Anna is still our priority. We soon found out she has extra help from others (I’m not the only one who makes stupid mistakes ). I tried to patch things by telling the others that the extra healers are from representatives of the Lady Meli, but the more I have to lie, the less credibility I have.
By accident I found out that Harvey and Shida are secretly meeting the family (of Anna), but I pretended not to know and ensured I did not happen to be where I should not be when they do so. They too have a right to keep secrets from me and I know Harvey is taking extreme precautions not to jeopardise any of the family. I can’t help wondering though, is this world corrupting us? As the sacred 42, none of us had played these games with each other. Sorry, I should have said, only I did.
We did buy a computer and I learnt how to use it for the internet and for writing my thoughts (Anna taught me and it made her feel quite special). I have used it for keeping notes about our days here as I am not certain that when we leave, the person I will revert to will recall our time here. If you are reading this and do not remember being Samuel, hello from me and I hope you are a nicer man than I am. It is strange to think of you being married to Meli while my heart belongs to my little princess. I guess you are the lucky one, for you will have your time of love, while all I’ll ever have are those few days with her as a child. I’ll never know what it is like to hold the woman I love in my arms. Did you really consider me and how I would feel, for I am an entity, a human being with my own dreams and ability to feel pain.
Funny how life sometimes works out despite us. If Harvey and Shida were meant to bond on this trip of three years, the irony is that by my lies and their turning away from me, they are drawing closer, only trusting each other.
Alki never calls (I suppose he has little to say to a man with the limited knowledge and abilities of a soldier) so I spend a lot of time walking. My only companion when we can meet secretly is Aleka. She has blossomed. Knowing she is saving lives, seeing sickly children, some dying, become healthy and happy again is the best gift she could have ever hoped for. She now knows that when our three years are up she will not have our healers and without telling us, extended our limits by going to hospitals, to the children’s wards where she heals as many as she can. One doctor resented her and tried to cause trouble for her, but she threatened to call the press and have them ask him why he does not want her curing or saving the lives of children. She is a spunky lady and I admire the way she has handled the situation we placed her in. She has not complained once, even though she effectively has no private social life anymore.
The Summer is almost upon us and sometimes I now have the company of Harvey and Shida. We have identified places in all directions where we can sit and enjoy a few drinks and talk. One of the places is a bar in a not so nice area, but it fills up with Greeks only, so we enjoy it. The places where tourists go to are not only more expensive, but also de-personalised. Those where the Greeks go to, they remember our name and greetings are called by other regulars.
The three of us went to the bar one evening and had a few drinks. Harvey went to the bar and bought us another round of drinks. As he turned around to carry them back to us he bumped into the man behind him and his drinks were spilt. Courteously he apologised and turned around to the bartender again to order a new round. We were watching and saw the man turn and look at us, he made an obscene gesture towards Harvey’s back, but did not cause any further trouble.
About two weeks later the two of them told me they are going to Monastiraki, so I pretended I did not want to go since I knew they are going to meet the family. I do not enjoy watching television like Shida does, the flat is hot and it feels oppressive. I could see through the windows that the streets are full of people, so I grabbed some money and went walking.
I stopped at a taverna, had some cold beer with my meal and then, since it was still too hot to sit in the apartment and not really late yet, I walked to the bar. There were not many customers there since they do not have outside seating. To me air-conditioning is still a novelty and as long as I am not sweating, I am comfortable. The bartender talked to me a short while (curious as to what I and my friends are doing in Greece) and then I sat by myself and nursed a couple more beers. When I saw it is well past midnight and since I had over half an hour of walking back, I decided I should leave. I stepped out of the bar, turned to walk home and an arm wrapped itself around my throat. I was pulled into a tiny alley.
3812
I recognised the man Harvey had bumped into and there were two other men with him. They were obviously workers and their hands were calloused. As two of them held me the third man beat his fists into my face. When they let go of me I collapsed to my knees, dizzy from the blows. One of them said something about ‘Tourkos’ (they must have thought I was Turkish) and that I and my friends should go back to our country. After that, all I was aware of was the pain as I was kicked.
The kicking stopped as I heard a voice say in Greek, “Enough!”
I looked up and saw it was Alki. He was alone! I wanted to warn him, tell him to get away, but he did not give me time. His fist shot out and before I could adjust myself to his presence the men had run away. He knelt by me and I knew he was sending his healer into me.
I cannot explain why I reacted the way I did. I screamed at him to leave me alone, to get his healer out of me. I swore at him and demanded he leave, until he got up and walked away.
I thought none of the taxis would stop for me, but finally one did and asked whether I wanted to go to hospital. I refused and asked him to take me home. On the way he talked non-stop, insisting we should go to the hospital, that we should go to the police station and so on. Mostly I did not answer him as even breathing was painful and his swerving in and out of traffic style of driving was causing me further pain. When we arrived, he got out of his vehicle and helped me to my door. When I opened the door and he saw there were two men in the apartment he left.
They took my to my bed and after laying me down they carefully took off my clothes. Even in the condition I was in it surprised me how gentle the hands of Harvey were. He stopped Shida from interrogating me and bringing a basin of water and a small towel he washed away the blood.
“Why aren’t you using your healer?”
“Leave me alone.”
I tried to sit up and passed out from the pain. They must have used their healers on me, for when I woke up in the morning I was well, without any bruises.
I dressed quickly and walked out of there while they prepared me a coffee and bread with cheese. I was in a fury, but not against those who had attacked me, and I did not know what had made me so angry. I did know that if they tried to talk to me, question me about how or why it had happened, I would have taken it out on my friends as I had with Alki. It was important I have some time to myself and the only way to do that was to go to a nearby park. I walked up and down under the trees, the sound of traffic all around me. I thought of the quiet in the woods of Meli’s world and I was enraged by the people of this world. How can they stand living like this!
A man stood by his bicycle which had a white box in which he had ice creams for sale. As I passed him I saw a thin young girl with slavic features ahead of me. Athens is full of them and usually I do not notice them, but this one looked afraid. I was fairly close to her when a man approached her. He looked at me and saw I was a foreigner, so he took a chance and asked her in Greek if she is available for an hour or two. She named her price and he agreed.
Keeping my face averted to hide my anger that was now directed at a target, I walked as if about to pass by them. As I drew close, my fist smashed into his face. Suddenly everything burst in a white fury within me and my fists and all my training for hurting another were making pulp of the man. I heard voices and looked about, ready to be attacked by more men. The ice cream guy was shouting but not trying to approach me, and then I saw the girl was trying to get away before the police she expected arrive.
I went after her and she began to run. I chased her and caught her within a couple of minutes. Speaking in Greek I tried to calm her down. As I talked I held her by her arm and led her away. Out of the park we crossed a street and luckily a taxi came by and he stopped for us. I told him to take us to the neighbourhood of our flat, but not the exact street. From there we walked, the girl whimpering and pleading with me not to hurt her. Her fear increased when she saw there were another two men in the apartment.
“Sit down, nobody is going to hurt you. How old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
“You are hardly thirteen! Do not lie to me, how old are you.”
“Fourteen.”
3813
“What is going on Samuel?”
“She is a prostitute. Fuck! A child, but already a prostitute! Shida, I’ve had enough of this world, I’m going to ask to be taken back home. Get her something to eat will you, she looks like a skeleton.”
He brought the breakfast he’d prepared for me and placed it in front of her. Carefully I sat a small distance away from her so as not to frighten her even more. I sent my healer into her and the others saw my face, the horror in my eyes. I ordered the healer to heal her.
“Where are you parents?”
“Back home. Please mister, I didn’t do anything to you, please let me go.”
“Back home? They are not in Greece?”
“No.”
“Do you know you are very ill?”
She did not know what to answer and sat staring at the food miserably. “Eat. Your body needs the food if you are to be cured of all the diseases you have. For how many years have you been a prostitute?”
She was obviously terrified of me so I think she answered honestly. “Six years.”
“That is not possible!” Harvey exclaimed in horror.
Shida said, his voice nearly breaking from his pain, speaking in English so that she does not understand, “It is possible Harvey. I saw on television a documentary about children being brought to Greece from the neighbouring countries. Men tell the parents the children will beg on the streets and they promise them they will receive lots of money, but they force the children to have sex with adults. Usually the men who bring them here first rape the children a number of times so that they will not resist when a customer uses them. Samuel was right, this is not a world for us, we must leave.”
“No!” The muscles in his throat went taut. “This is where we belong. We are soldiers and it is our duty to protect the weak. I’m going to find the man who brought her here and kill him. I will find all the men like him and kill them.”
I shook my head. “You can’t do that Harvey. Without that man, what do you think a little girl like her would do? How can she take care of herself, where would she sleep, who would keep her away from the police? If she is sent back to her family, they would not want her and she will be left to die. If we are to do something to help these children, then killing those men is not enough, we also have to provide shelter for the children who depend on them.”
“Then we do so.”
“With what money Harvey? Being a soldier is not enough, we must have money.”
He slammed his fist into his hand. “Then we find some!”
Sadly I shook my head. “Honour and the desire to help are not enough Harvey, we have to use our brains and think first.”
His face went a deep colour and he shouted at me, “That is the trouble with you! You always step back from everything to think and then you do nothing! We decide what honour demands of us and then we think of how we will do it.”
Shida tried to placate him. “Samuel knows what we must do Harvey, he has already decided that, he is only trying to think of a way to do it.”
Harvey said, “The three of us can get jobs and the money we have left we use to help the children.”
Shida tried to explain to him, “Jobs!? Harvey, what work can we do in this world? All we know is how to be soldiers. If we try to get jobs they will throw us out of the country, we do not have permits to work here.”
3814
I tried to make him face reality, “If we find the money and rescue the children and kill the men who do this, the police will soon know it was us and they will put us in prison.”
“Of course!” Harvey said with a bitter laugh. “Of course that is how things would work in this world. Killing animals who do this to children makes us criminals!” He turned to me, pleading. “Please Sam, we have to find a way to stop this.”
Shida suggested, “We better talk to Angelo, he knows this world better than we do.”
I glanced at the girl. “What do we do with her? I don’t want to cure her and send her back to the life she is living.” Shida stayed with her.
“Samuel is right, there would be little point in leaving the girls on the street without any protection. I don’t know what to suggest, I doubt anyone has enough money to protect all the girls. If you just kill the adults who do this, you leave a vacuum in the market and others will find more children and bring them. Only by the police cracking down on them can we hope to make a dent in this evil trade. Not even the police can stop it completely. Harvey, I’m sorry, I know how important this is to you, but there are no easy answers. All I can say is that killing is not an option.”
Bitterly Harvey said, “Sam, you must let the Lady know we have to return, I cannot live here and do nothing.”
“No my friend, we must not return. Whatever little good we can do here will have to suffice. Our souls would sicken if we returned without helping at all.”
Angelo asked, “What do you intend doing with the girl you are holding?”
“My healer is working with her. In the meantime we must find a family willing to adopt her.”
“A fourteen year old girl who has had the kind of life she has? Samuel, no one will want her. Even I would not want her around my Anna, to teach her about that kind of life.”
I saw the truth in his words. “Then we will have to adopt her.”
“You will not be allowed to. Three men adopting a girl of her age and background? They will think you want her for other reasons.”
I had no other options. I went down to the kiosk and called Alki.
“I was waiting for you to call. Take the girl shopping, get her clothes and then meet me alone in Kolonaki.”
She was already responding to the changes in her body and even looked better. Shida had been playing cards with her and had managed to make her giggle a couple of times and though she tensed up a little when the two of us arrived, she soon relaxed again. We told her we are taking her shopping for clothes.
“Why?”
Harvey laughed. “It is the first time I’ve ever heard a female ask why a man wants to buy her clothes. We want you to look and feel nice. What is your name?”
“Petra.”
“That is a nice name, it suggests you are a strong girl.”
We enjoyed watching her as she saw what a wide variety we insisted on her buying. She thought a nightie was a waste of money, but she loved the luxury of owning two. We had to get a sales girl to help her with undies as we were too embarrassed to do so - not that she was. When she got her first bra she was excited and asked to wear it immediately and since the shop did not mind, we told her to wear her new clothes.
“You look pretty, but your hair needs to be fixed. I hope we find a hairdresser with free time.” We did and her hair which had looked dull and unkempt is now shiny and beautiful. She was happy to accompany us to a pastry shop and had a slice of cake.
“I have to go soon or else he will get angry with me. Can I take my new clothes with me?”
3815
“Petra, you never have to worry about the man who made you live the life you’ve lived in Greece. We are going to look after you and you will stay with us.” She kept her face bland, hiding her feelings, but her eyes were calculating as she looked at the three of us and we could almost see her thought processes as she decided it would be far easier and more comfortable satisfying only three men. She nodded her agreement.
Our apartment only has three bedrooms and mine is the largest. I told them I have to leave for an hour or two, but they should move my things out in my absence, as I will sleep on the couch. Shida laughed.
“I can just see you trying to sleep on the couch. I am shorter Sam, you sleep in my room and I’ll use the couch. Tomorrow we’ll get a bed and I’ll share your room with Harvey and she can use my room.”
“Cherine says Petra is not ready to become a Cherinian. You will have to teach her empathy first.” He was amused by my thoughts and added, “Yes, she passed by, close enough to touch Petra. I know you have an excellent memory, but don’t waste your time, Cherine could have been anyone, even a man. She would not have come in her own form.”
“Why? Was she afraid her beauty would have made us notice her?”
He laughed again and then answered thoughtfully, “I suppose you could say she is beautiful, but not in the way you are thinking Sam. Not like the girls you see in the magazines. She has fine features and the most amazing smile, but it is the force of her personality that captivates you.”
“Why did she need to touch Petra?”
“She does not really need to, but she prefers to do so. She says she gets a deeper feeling of what the person is like. She has not ruled out Petra as a Cherinian Sam, she just needs the three of you to teach her how to love and have empathy for others. Do that and she will be accepted as a Cherinian.”
“We will not get in trouble if we keep a young girl with us?”
Again he laughed. “You seem to have a gift for getting into trouble. Don’t worry, we can handle it.”
“Alki. I am sorry about the way I reacted to you when you saved me from those men. I do not know why I was like that. Thank you, it was brave of you to tackle three men at once.”
He shrugged. “It was no great thing. Sam, look in your heart and work out what angered you. There would be no purpose in my telling you why you were in such a fury, you must see the truth for yourself.”
“You know what we want to do. What is your opinion? Would it place you at risk?”
“Angelo is right. Killing is not the answer. Let me tell you what the Robert of your world does.” He told me about the penal world.
“That is fine for him, we do not have his powers. We have to find an answer according to our abilities.”
“Identify him and we’ll send him to the penal world.”
“We can’t do that without solving other problems first. Petra says he brought eleven children to Greece. What of them, we cannot abandon them.”
He thought for a moment and grinned. “I have spent my life trying to stay out of the public eye, I had a good run, but I suppose I can’t avoid it anymore. I will create a home for street children and…”
“No, not a home Alki. Could you create a fund which would pay couples to foster the children? They should not do it for the money and what you pay should be just enough to help cover the extra costs they will have.”
“The government does that and it is not very successful Sam.”
“You are not the government Alki, you are Cherinians. I know you have powers that would make it possible for you to know which foster parents really want a child.”
3816
“The government would not allow us to do it Sam, we would have to do it as part of an approved program of the child welfare department. Let me talk to a few influential people and we’ll see what we can do.”
“You have three volunteers Alki, we will gladly do all we can to help.”
“The three of you have already done much to make this a better city for those who suffer. We will do all we can to help, tell your friends.”
“Is that what Lady Meli says?” He laughed again, agreeing. “You know, when I met her she frightened me. Does she frighten me as my wife?” It seems that whatever I said he found funny, he must have come to the meeting in a laughing mood.
“This is ridiculous! We are soldiers, not doctors. How do we teach her about empathy?”
“By example Harvey. If we give her love and show we consider the pain of others before doing something, she might learn.”
The next six weeks became a time of learning for us; as to how much Petra learned from us I don’t know. What I do know is that once she understood we did not intend using her to satisfy our sexual needs, she spent a few days puzzled and worried and then somehow came to a decision that if we are what we claim, just young men wanting to give her a chance at living a normal life, then she will accept it and not worry. She always has a smile for us and does her best to help keep our apartment clean and tidy.
Shida took her with him on a visit to Aleka and that proved to be the turning point. She was interested in what Aleka is doing and asked if she can visit on her own. Aleka made her welcome and in the hours she had free she taught Petra about herbs. They spent hours talking and soon Aleka would keep her by her as she helps the sick. It was not long before she idolised the older woman and drove us crazy by quoting everything Aleka told her and all that she does. Aleka was scandalised that Petra stays with us and within a week she had moved to her apartment. The two of them have become inseparable.
“She has told me a lot about her life till now. I did not know such terrible things happen in Athens. There must be many others who also close their eyes to what happens around them. We see the children on the streets begging and deep inside we must know what else they have to do to survive, but we do not allow ourselves to think about it or to imagine what it must be like for them. I am just as guilty as the man who took her from her family and forced her to this kind of life. By pretending nothing was happening, I was giving that man permission.”
“None of us are able to face all the horrors in our society Aleka, at least you are doing what you can to help alleviate some of the suffering. Do not try to take on another problem. We have found men of wealth and power who will help us change the lives of some of those children. That is the best we can do.”
Shida said to me, “You are not right Sam. Aleka is helping by looking after Petra. She is teaching her to care about others.”
Aleka sighed. “The poor child, how she still has such a good heart after all she has been through I do not know. You do realise she thinks of the three of you as gods?”
I laughed, embarrassed. “How can she feel that way after living with us and tidying up our messes?”
She smiled. “She worries that now she is not staying with you, your apartment is turning into a pigsty. Would you mind her coming over to tidy up?”
“She is more than welcome, always. Aleka, we miss her, could she spend some time with us also?”
Whenever she comes over and goes out with us, we are like proud fathers, expecting everyone around us to be jealous of us. Without our deliberately attempting it, our attitude helped rebuild her self image and confidence. In October she found the courage to ask me why I had hit the man and saved her.
“The night before I’d been attacked by three men. Two of them held me while the third one hit me. Petra, I felt so helpless and ashamed of myself for not being able to fight back. Seeing you, I suddenly felt that you must be feeling as I had felt and it sent me into a rage.”
“You saved me because you were attacked?”
3817
“You hear us talking about empathy. What I went through made it possible for me to feel and identify with how I thought you felt.”
She nodded. “When I see the people auntie Aleka helps, I also feel how they suffer because I had been sick. That is empathy?”
“Exactly.”
She thought about it a moment. “If it is auntie Aleka who cures the sick, how is it you healed me?”
The other two looked at me, waiting to see how I would answer. I took her hands in mine. “Petra, we all have the ability to heal ourselves and others. I promise you that one day you also will be able to save others if you really want to.”
“I do Samuel, I really do!”
When we were alone they both attacked me for making the promise. I smiled. “Before we return she will be taught, you have my word on it.”
“You have been keeping a secret from us for a long time Samuel. This is part of the secret, this and your meetings where we are not allowed to be with you?”
I smiled, happy they had brought it out in the open at last. “Yes. There is a reason I have to keep it a secret, but when we leave here you will know everything. We have already been here over a year, it is not that long to wait.”
Shida said, “Samuel, even in the desert you had secrets from us, so we are not worried. I admit I worry more about my not understanding why the Lady sent us to look after Anna when she has not needed us, but at least we have been able to make a difference in the lives of many people.”
“Perhaps it also changed us a little? That could be a reason we were sent here.”
Gruffly Harvey asked, “In what way am I expected to change?”
I grinned. “You want me to start counting the ways in which you could change for the better? I do not think I can count that high.” He pretended to hit me.
“Tell me then, in what ways?”
“Harvey, you are one of the most noble souls I have ever met, but you are like a child in some ways. You tend to see things as only having one face to them, as if there is only one truth. You have to learn to bend a little, to recognise that what is right or good for you is not always the same for others. They also have their own truths. Learn to see life through their eyes and you will be better able to help others as they need to be helped.”
“More often than not that is the reason given for allowing criminals to act as they will. There must be a limit to our placing ourselves in the other persons’ shoes and we must say, ‘enough!’.”
“I agree, either extreme is wrong.”
Shida spoke softly as is his wont when deep in thought. “Harvey, we can all agree in general principle that it is a crime to steal. If we apply the law without consideration of any other factors then the law would be unjust in many instances. If a man steals to feed his family for he has fallen on hard times, justice should take cognisance of his motivation and be more lenient.”
Harvey spoke tersely, “No. If a man steals to feed his family then the judgement should not be based only on the actions of that man, but on the society he belongs to also. Where there is extreme poverty by all and his theft would deprive the family of another, no understanding should be extended. In a society that has at least a small measure of affluence, if a man needs to steal to feed his family, then the society itself should be judged. It is unpardonable than any man should have to steal to feed his children in a society where there is wealth and waste.”
I laughed. “If we three soldiers are to become philosophical we should at least do it in a bar with a mug of ale in our hands.” They enthusiastically agreed and we returned home very late that night.
3818
Chapter One Hundred Seventy Four
We have been very careful not to get attached to any females as it would not be fair to them, since we will be leaving. As for myself, I know I am married with a wife that none here can compare to, and though I may not love her as Samuel, I respect the fact that I am not a permanent personality, just a creature created for a temporary purpose and my original personality will wish to be with his wife when we return. Having seen the Lady Meli I cannot blame him. It seems that whenever my motives are pure, life mocks me.
The three of us were sitting in a coffee shop in a merry mood and our voices and laughter were louder than they should have been. A young woman at a table next to us looked over at us a few times in a manner that showed she was irritated. She finally spoke to us.
“Excuse me, could you please talk less loudly, I am trying to study for an exam I have tomorrow.”
We apologised and kept our voices soft. Doing so stole the mood from us, so we decided to move to a nearby bar where our voices would not upset anyone.
About a week later I sat alone in the coffee shop waiting for the other two, when the same woman sat at a table close to me. I leant over.
“How did your exam go?”
“What?” She looked at me frigidly and then she recalled our previous conversation. “Oh, fairly well.”
“You do not look like the type of person who only does fairly well.” She smiled, but did not answer.
I took her lack of a reply as a hint that she did not wish to speak to me. I sat staring at a painting on a wall for a few minutes and decided to ignore her wishes. “Are you in university?”
“Yes.”
“What are you studying?”
“You are not Greek.”
I smiled. “That is true, but I assure you, despite my handicap, I will understand which subject you are studying - if you tell me.”
She smiled and I saw that she is one of those rare people who also smile with their eyes. “Economics.”
I frowned. “You win, I don’t understand. I mean, I’ve never understood what an economist does. From the little I have understood, those who create wealth are people who have an idea and work hard to make it happen, often risking everything they have. At which level does an economist become useful to such a person?”
She grinned. “I am hoping to earn a high salary someday, so I would say when he has made a big success of his business?”
I shook my head in wonder. “I have read so many articles, heard so many economists talking on television and finally you come along and explain why anyone studies economics in a way I can understand. You must have a gift, perhaps you should become a teacher?”
As she laughed again, I saw the two outside crossing the street. I quickly got up and leaving money on the table wished her a nice day and left. As I walked out I wondered why I had acted instinctively to hide from them that I had met and talked to her. Although our paths crossed a number of times over the next few weeks, I always smiled, greeted her and walked on.
With the public beginning their Christmas shopping in earnest, the coffee shops became crowded and it was not always easy to find a table. I’d waited my turn and then sat nursing coffee after coffee as I waited for the two to bring Petra from her shopping.
“I’m sorry, the place is full and you have a few empty seats, may I join you? I’m tired and need to get off my feet for a while. I’ll pay for my drink.”
3819
“With pleasure. I see you have been shopping.”
She put her parcels on the other chairs and sat opposite me. “Yes. I hate it and I always promise myself next Christmas I won’t buy anyone a gift, but then I end up buying all my family and friends gifts. I have to, because I know they are all going to buy me gifts.”
“Actually, I’m happy, because this is the first Christmas I have ever had someone to buy a gift for.”
“I can’t believe that! Even as a child you never bought a gift for anyone?”
“I have, but not a Christmas gift.”
“Why, do you come from a Muslim country?”
“From Brazil. I just never had a family.”
“My name is Jasmine.” She gave me that smile I liked. “In Greek it is not really Jasmine, but I liked the name. It sounds exotic.”
I shook my head, disagreeing. “No, I don’t think that is the reason you chose it.”
“What was the reason?”
“Because it suited your smile.”
She pretended to frown. “Are you trying to flirt with me?”
I was taken aback. She was right and I had been acting foolishly. “I’m sorry.”
She laughed. “Brazilian men must be very different from Greek men. No Greek would apologise for flirting.” She stopped, her eyes intent on my face. “You really mean it! Why?”
“I will be leaving Greece in one and a half years, it would not be right of me to flirt with you.”
At that moment Petra, Harvey and Shida joined us. I introduced them and as the others talked to Jasmine, Petra leant over to me and asked me in a whisper if Jasmine is a friend of mine. I replied that she is. She beamed happily at me and joined the conversation. Shida was in a funny mood and made Jasmine laugh. To tease us, she asked Petra what she is doing with such a weird bunch of men. My heart froze on me as she earnestly replied.
“I was one of those foreign girls you see in the streets. A man took me from my family and made me work as a prostitute from when I was eight. Samuel saw a man trying to pay me to have sex and he hit him. Since then they have been taking care of me so that I don’t have to do that work anymore.”
To say that Jasmine was shocked would be an understatement. There was no point in trying to mend fences, so I kept quiet. Within a couple of minutes Jasmine had finished her coffee, paid and was out on the street. We looked at each other and then Harvey burst into loud laughter and then so did we. Poor Petra said, staring at us bewildered, “But you said she is your friend, Samuel!” That got me laughing again.
The next morning Jasmine came straight to our table. “I want to meet that girl I was rude to yesterday, I want to apologise to her.”
“She has not realised you were rude, so if you apologise you will make things worse. She is a lovely person and is trying very hard to adjust, so I will not allow you to hurt her. Jasmine, what was done to her was not of her choosing and she deserves a chance at a decent life.”
She flushed, angry. “I am not that stupid, of course I realise a child of eight had no choice. If I’m not allowed to apologise, how do I make it up to her?”
“Could you be a friend to a low class, uneducated ex prostitute? I thought not. Let her be Jasmine.” My voice was cold and cutting and she swung away and walked out. I felt sad suddenly. She had seemed such a nice person. Thereafter, whenever we saw her in the coffee shop she did not greet us, so we ignored her too.
3820
Petra loves the toasted ham and cheese sandwich they make at our favourite coffee shop, because they add a couple of slices of tomato when we ask for it, so we took her to the coffee shop at about eleven in the morning.
“Petra, come sit with me. Let the men find a table of their own, we have girl things to talk about.” She was smiling and gesturing, so with a look of uncertainty at us, Petra went to her. We could not very well take a table next to theirs and we worried while pretending not to be watching them. After a few minutes we heard Petra laugh and it was a good laugh, the kind of happy sound we do not hear from her often. We were not certain whether to be pleased or not when she dashed over to tell us she is going with Jasmine for a while and will phone us when she gets back home. We hoped that Jasmine wants to show her nice clothes, how to do her nails and that sort of thing.
Instead of returning to Aleka, she came to give us her news and to thank me for introducing her to my friend. “She took me to the library. I thought it was a boring place, but do you know what she did? She took me to some books and said, these are books about geography and then she showed me pictures and maps and showed me where we are. Then she went to another row of books and said, these are books about history. These here are about Greece and these here are about Albania and those about England and so on and told me about how the ancient Greeks invented so many things and even politics. She showed me a lot of things and told me a little about each of them so that I could see how much magic there is in all those books. Then she said I have to learn to read and she promised to come to theia Aleka to give me lessons every day.” She gave me an excited hug. “Samuel, I am going to learn to read!”
The three of us were very quiet that night. When we were going to bed, I told them I am going to sit alone in the coffee shop until I see Jasmine. I have an apology to make. They looked at each other and then agreed it is a good idea.
When she finally arrived I was sitting facing the door and immediately stood up. She came to me.
“Samuel, are you still angry with me?” Before I could reply she spoke enthusiastically. “You were right, she is a lovely person and she is bright. Samuel, I told her about books and when I offered to teach her to read, she was like a small child in her excitement.”
“Jasmine, I feel humbled. I judged you unfairly and I apologise.”
“No, you were right. I was shocked and at the first moments all I could think was that you had insulted me by bringing a prostitute to our table. It did not take me long to see how stupid I had been and I was ashamed of myself.”
I mimicked the sly look of the gypsies and leered at her. “Well, if both of you have such good hearts, then you will need someone to watch over you.”
She grinned. “And that someone is going to be you?” She changed, became troubled and said grimly, “Petra is afraid the man she worked for, the sihamenos bastardos (disgusting bastard), he might be looking for her. She is scared of him.”
“He better hope he doesn’t find her. Don’t worry, we’ll see to it that she never leaves home without at least two of us to watch over her. Jasmine…” I stopped, the words so difficult to say. “It may be better that my friends watch over her when she is with you, I don’t think I should see you again, I think I might be falling in love with you.”
She did not seem to have much to say in response and when I left her there was an ache in me, as if I was leaving all that is good in me with her. I brooded over it for two days and then I got the phone call I’d been expecting. I went to meet him.
“This was not supposed to happen Samuel, you had placed controls in your mind so that if any of you meet a woman you are attracted to, you will do anything to stay away from her.”
“Don’t worry Alki, I’ve already decided not to see her again. It would not work out, the real me has prior rights and I would not do anything to hurt Lady Meli.”
“Of course I worry! We all do, we can feel how you are suffering.”
“Then block it out. What I feel is my own business.”
“Sam, we have to let your family know what is happening. Perhaps they can help you.”
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)14th December, 2019
- posted: 14th December, 2019
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