When?"
"Perhaps later today."
"Divine! That sounds wonderful," beamed the doctor.
Melpo moved closer to him. "Let's say around four, by that time my servants will be gone. We will have privacy."
"It would be perfect, Mrs. ... Melpo."
Feeling unprotected, vulnerable, and angry, Anna hit the bathroom mirror hard with both fists. The resentment she had felt for her mother since she was a little girl and fueled by her present anger swelled up inside of her. She longed for the comfort of her father, but he was out of the country, yet again.
Regaining her composure, she walked to the phone in the next room and dialed a number. She waited speechless until an anxious voice said:
"Hello? Who is it?" The voice paused. Could it be her son Nikolas? Her heart began to fill with hope.
"Mrs. Theophilos, it ... it ... It's me,
Anna."
"Anna? Our Anna? I have missed you. I have been worried sick, my daughter."
"Thank you, mother of my Nikolas."
Anna wiped her tears. "Can I come to see you?" "You don't need to ask me that, you know what the answer is. When?"
"Today. Now!"
"Great! I'll make some coffee ... Oh, sorry, the coffee ran out, but I have some
Mountain Herbal Tea."
"Tea will be fine. I'll see you in an hour."
Anna walked to Kolonaki Square and flagged an approaching taxi. The road seemed to catch on fire as the young taxi driver slammed on his brakes upon seeing Anna and almost ran into a German soldier on patrol. The angry German came over and stuck his rifle in the driver's face, ordering him out of his taxi. Anna rushed over and in perfect German asked the soldier to leave. He stood at attention and obeyed.
"Take me to Piraeus, please," said Anna, getting into the taxi, as she pulled down her skirt to cover her knees.
"You, I'll take anywhere, Doll!" said the driver. "I'll even go down to Hades for you."
Anna paid no attention. Her mind was on how to tell Nikolas's mother about the events in Crete. Passing by Constitution Square, where German soldiers in pairs guarded the hotels and the government buildings, she painfully realized that the proud Greeks were firmly under Hitler's rule. Driving through the Plaka, Anna saw no happy children playing in the streets. Many were fighting over scraps near a garbage can. Trembling old people walked in a daze, looking for a place to lay down their skeletal bodies, never to get up again.
Anna looked up at the Holy Rock of the Acropolis: barbed wire all around, with the German flag flying on top of it. "This is not right," she murmured to herself. "Not right at all!" She had the feeling that there was a car following the taxi, but she put it out of her mind.