the sounds from outside, but also a warm breeze that drifted in, carrying with it the sweet aroma of jasmine and herbs. Yet, looking around, she observed that it was as well-equipped as any surgery she had ever seen.
‘It is quiet at this hour,’ Dr Demitriou explained, offering the women a couple of chairs under the ceiling fan. ‘It is of course the hottest part of the day and even with the breeze from the window we still need more air,’ he said apologetically. ‘If you had come just a little earlier you would have met some of my patients waiting to see me – not that I have many in any one day.’ He smiled. ‘By now everyone is getting ready for their siesta after their lunch, or perhaps their breakfast if they got up late,’ he chuckled. ‘You might have guessed that nobody is in a hurry here, taking it slow means fewer accidents, fewer falls or broken bones.’ He smiled broadly.
This easy slow pace of life, Dr Demitriou claimed, was a significant reason why people lived such long and healthy lives on Ikaria. Their love of sleep and their diet, he also believed, were the two main causes behind this phenomenon.
‘Everything they eat is organic, and they consume a lot of olive oil, honey and local wine,’ he explained. ‘They grow all their own produce, and above all,’ he said with certainty, ‘I am convinced that this local mountain tea which they drink on a daily basis is a huge factor.’
‘I have always been a strong advocate of this,’ Maya said, glancing at Calli and nodding in agreement.
‘There are many varieties of local mountain tea, or perhaps a better word is infusions,’ the doctor continued, ‘and they all have their particular qualities. What I find amusing is that people drink it and relish it as a delicious beverage without consciously thinking it is medicinal, but then again I believe they do know. They know it instinctively and that is the beauty of it and the reason why, if they are suffering from a certain ailment, they always recognize which herb to use as a remedy. I honestly think this knowledge is in their collective consciousness, passed down to them through the generations.’
‘What did I tell you?’ Maya said as they left the doctor’s surgery and made their way to the beach bar. ‘He knows the local people better than anyone.’
Calli was in complete agreement that Dr Demitriou’s stories of local life would be an excellent addition to her article. All the same, just now she didn’t want to talk about him. What was topmost in her mind was to ask her friend about Paolo – after all, she seemed to know him better than anyone else there.
‘He is a good man,’ Maya told her with sincerity in her voice. ‘We’ve been friends for many years, and I love him as if he was my brother. He is an old spirit, that one, he’s been on this planet many times before.’ Calli stared at the older woman with perplexity, wondering, as so often since they had met, what she was talking about.
‘Er . . . yes, well . . .’ she murmured, ignoring Maya’s cryptic words and eager to continue with her questions. ‘What I wanted to ask you was . . . you know what you told me the other night?’ She hesitated, her tone tentative. ‘Remember that wish you said I should ask Raphael?’
She reached for her drink and took a sip, her mouth suddenly very dry. ‘Do you think this . . . I mean Paolo might be the answer to my plea?’ she heard herself say – and could hardly believe her own ears as the words came out of her mouth. Could this be the same Calli who had always approached life with firm logic and pragmatism, for whom metaphysical fancies and the supernatural had no place in the world?
Maya swivelled round on her stool and fixed Calli with her eyes before answering.
‘You, my friend, don’t know it yet, but you have been granted a rare gift. What you experienced the other night was a potent and rare thing. Paolo has come into your life for a reason. When I first met you, all I saw was pain and loss in your eyes. Now I see something else, something quite different.’
Calli held her breath and waited for her to continue.
10
Maya inhaled deeply, shifted a little closer and reached for the younger woman’s hand.