‘no need to rush here.’ But all the same, despite her aunt’s reluctance to talk about herself, Calli still thought she should ask about Froso’s state of health. Last night would have been the time to do that, she told herself and made up her mind to raise the subject when she got back.
‘There you are! You are even more of an early bird than your mother,’ her aunt said as Calli walked into the kitchen. ‘Ready for some eggs now?’ She pointed to the table laid out with breakfast.
‘There wasn’t a soul on the beach today,’ Calli replied, pulling up a chair. ‘I had it all to myself.’ She looked at her aunt and started to spread some butter on a slice of thickly cut bread.
‘The heat will drive them all out there soon enough,’ Froso replied, pouring out the coffee. Calli reached for her cup and breathed in its revitalizing aroma. ‘You are really spoiling me, Thia,’ she said, taking a sip. ‘You must let me do things for you, too, while I’m here.’ She glanced at her aunt over her cup, gauging if this was a good time to find out about her health.
‘I hear you haven’t been so well,’ she began. ‘But you look more than fine to me,’ she added quickly.
‘I am well enough, my girl, and even better now you are here,’ she replied and reached for her coffee, too.
‘Yes, Auntie, I am here!’ the young woman replied cheerfully, ‘and I’m not going anywhere for a while. I’m here to help you, and if you ever want to talk to me about anything, I am here for that too.’
‘I will, my girl. There is plenty of time for that – but now don’t forget we have things to do this morning after you finish your breakfast,’ she replied, reminding her niece that they had some obligatory visits to pay around the village.
Calli knew that on arrival in Crete one always had to spend some time paying visits to various relatives, calling from house to house. In the past, her mother told her, when a visitor arrived at the village the locals used to compete with each other on who should offer the most hospitality to the newcomer, even insisting on putting them up for the night, and would sometimes be offended if the visitor refused.
Although her cousin’s wife had arranged a big gathering that evening in her honour, Calli knew that there was no avoiding the individual house calls too and the last thing she wanted was to cause offence. By the time the two women returned home from their social rounds it was almost time for the midday meal.
‘What would you like for lunch?’ Froso asked Calli, who was stuffed with as many sweet delicacies, cups of coffee and home-made lemonades as she could endure. All that she could possibly manage or wanted now, she told her aunt, was to collapse into her bed for a long, well-deserved siesta.
The gathering at Chrysanthi and Costis’s house was a crowded affair with not only many of the relatives she had already visited that morning but also quite a few people she had never met.
‘Costis wants to show you off to some of his friends,’ Chrysanthi told her. ‘He is so proud of his talented cousin.’ She smiled broadly and ushered Calli towards a crowd of men tending to a fire in a stone-built barbecue at the edge of the garden. ‘They are getting ready to cook the pagithakia, the lamb chops.’ Chrysanthi pointed to a pile of meat ready for the hot coals. ‘Come, let me introduce you. Your cousin has been boasting about you, he’s even shown his friends your website.’
Should she be embarrassed, irritated or touched by Costis’s enthusiasm? In the end, Calli opted to ignore it.
As expected, Chrysanthi had gone to great lengths to prepare a feast for the party, and all the women and girls were busy laying everything out on long trestle tables under the vine canopy. Once again, more food was brought along by many of the guests and Calli thought that not since she was a child had she seen such a marvellous family celebration – but then again it had been so long since those days, perhaps she had forgotten.
‘Your cousin thinks highly of you,’ Michalis, one of Costis’s friends said after Chrysanthi introduced them. ‘I believe your work takes you all over the world. It must be very interesting.’