Table Of ContentFor Leo
‘Eat slowly; only men in rags
and gluttons old in sin
Mistake themselves for carpet-bags
And tumble victuals in.’
Sir Walter Raleigh,
‘Instructions to His Son’, 1632
Contents
Map
Dramatis Personae
Glossary of Greek Language
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Author
By the Same Author
Also Available by Anne Zouroudi
Map
Dramatis Personae
Hermes Diaktoros, the fat man – an investigator
Dino – Hermes’s half-brother
Donatos Papayiannis – an olive farmer
Tasia Papayiannis – Donatos’s wife
Sakis Papayiannis – Donatos’s son
Amara Papayiannis – Sakis’s wife
Marianna Kapsis – a rival olive farmer
Dmitris Kapsis – Marianna’s step-grandson
Renzo Rapetti – an ice-cream seller
Lefteris Boukalas – a hotelier
Stavroula Boukalas – Lefteris’s wife
Tomas – Stavroula’s father
Katya – Stavroula’s aunt
Meni Gavala – a vintner
Esmerelda Dimas – a newspaper editor
Spiros Zysis – an olive-oil wholesaler
Miltiadis Sloukas – a tailor
Dora – owner of a kebab shop, a widow
Xavier – Dora’s son, a self-styled activist
Dr Fitanidis – a doctor at Neochori hospital
Arethusa – a waitress in Neochori
Takis Kapsis – a butcher
Glossary of Greek Language
amessos – immediately, at once
anthotyros – a goat or sheep’s cheese, often eaten with honey and fruit
baklava – pastry made with chopped nuts and syrup
bourekakia – pastry-wrapped savouries
chairo poli – delighted to meet you (formal greeting)
doxa to Theo – thanks be to God
filé – friend
fraskomilo – mountain sage, often used to make tea
galaktoboureko – pastry filled with semolina custard
glyfoni – apple mint, also used for tea
graviera – a hard cheese used for grating
gyros – a kebab: grilled meat etc. wrapped in pita
kafebriko – a long-handled pot used for Greek coffee
kakomira – poor thing
kalé – popular and familiar form of address
kali mera (sas) – good morning, good day (polite/plural)
kali nichta – good night
kali spera – good evening
kalo mezimeri – good afternoon
kalos ton/tou/tous; kalos irthate – welcome
kamari mou – term of affection, lit. my pride, my son
kataifa – nut-filled pastry made with shredded dough
kefalotyri – hard sheep’s milk cheese
keftedes – fried savouries of meat, vegetables, cheese or fish
kleftiko – Lit. ‘stolen meat’. The origins of the dish lie with sheep-rustlers, who
baked stolen animals in covered pits to prevent smoke giving away the thieves’
location.
kokoras – cockerel
koproskila – vehement term of abuse
kori mou – my daughter
koritsia – girls
koukla/koukles – beauties, pretty girls (lit. dolls)
kyria (kyries) – Madam, Mrs (plural: ladies)
kyrie – Sir, Mr
malaka/es – common insult or term of abuse (singular/plural)
malista – certainly
manka – a not-quite gentleman or spiv
mikre – little one
mori! – exclamation of surprise
mou – my
panayia mou – by the Virgin
pappou – grandpa
pedia – people, everybody (lit. children)
periptero – kiosk selling cold drinks, newspapers, cigarettes etc.
poustis/es – slang term for homosexual (singular/plural)
salone – living room
santouri – stringed musical instrument made with mallets
skordalia – garlic sauce usually made with bread or mashed potatoes
souvlaki/a – skewers of grilled pork, lamb or chicken (singular/plural)
taramasalata – dip made from fish roe and olive oil
thea – aunt
theé mou – my God
theié – uncle, often used as a term of respect to an older man
toumba – children’s game of tag
tzatziki – dip made from yogurt and garlic
yammas – cheers, good health
yassou/yassas – hello or goodbye (singular/plural or polite form)
yiayia – grandma
yie mou – my son
One
The fire-pits lay across the hillside, graves of the unmourned beneath bare heaps
of the dirt which had filled them. The pine planks acting as their markers bore
rough-painted family names, and the menfolk were ready to play sextons,
shovels close at hand for when the call came.
The Papayiannis men checked their watches, counting down the remaining
minutes as they passed round the ouzo bottle, drinking to the win they were
confident would be theirs, trading bawdy jokes and laughing lecherously and
loud. To left and right the opposition waited, backs to their rivals and segregated
in their clans.
Below them, the church’s domes and arches straddled age-mellowed stone
walls, where a bronze sundial was mounted on a marble plaque. Smart in the suit
he had worn on his wedding day twenty-three years before, the mayor
scrutinised the sundial, and when he judged the shadow of its arm to be touching
noon, he gave a signal to the bellringer, who began a spirited tolling of the bell.
The mayor ran to the courtyard gateway, and with his hands around his mouth to
carry his voice, shouted up to the expectant men on the hillside, ‘Pedia! It’s
time!’
At all the pits, the men began to dig, throwing aside the dry topsoil, working
fast to uncover what lay beneath.
But at the Papayiannis pit, the dry soil was only a shallow covering, quickly
removed to reveal dark, damp earth beneath.
Sakis Papayiannis was first to notice the change. He held up his hand, and
called the digging to a halt.
In surprise, his relatives pulled their shovels from the dirt.
‘Are you crazy?’ asked a cousin, in annoyance. ‘We won’t win by sitting on
our arses.’
Sakis crouched down, and touched the newly exposed soil. Away to the right,
the Kapsis men broke through the earth seal, and the fire-pit released trapped
smoke and steam made mouth-watering with roast meat and herbs. They set their
spades aside, and two of them pulled on leather gauntlets to dig with their hands.
A boy ran out from amongst them, shouting as he reached the church, ‘We’re
