excerpt
But this time, when they reach the water their dad leads them
to a movie theater where the film Ulysses is playing in which Nicolas’s
favorite actor, Kirk Douglas, plays the role of Odysseus. It is only the
second time in their lives they have entered a theater. The first time
was in Crete when, after prodding from the schoolteacher, their parents
took them to Chania to see The Greatest Story Ever Told, a film
about the life of Jesus. Today they walk into the cool darkness of the
theater to enjoy the heroics of Odysseus, which they have learned
about in school, and how he managed to escape the horrible Cyclops
and all other adventures he had before reaching his home island of
Ithaca again and being reunited with his son, Telemachus, and his
wife Penelope. The boys knew the whole storyline by heart, and they
are entranced to see it all acted out on the huge glowing screen of the
movie theater.
When the movie is over, they walk outside and struggle for a moment
to adjusting to the sunlight again, but they are soon distracted
by the ice cream cones their dad buys them, which they relish down
to the last lick. There are a lot of people on the promenade, strolling
from one side of the harbor to the other, and the boys and their parents
slowly make their way to the White Tower where the boys play
with other children their age while the parents rest on benches
nearby and keep a close eye on them.
When evening arrives and the sun is almost on the western horizon,
they climb the road to Sikies. Nicolas holds his father’s hand and
Eteocles his mom’s. It is a warm evening and Eteocles feels sweaty.
He rubs his face on his mom’s arm, absorbing a little of the coolness
of her skin, and she looks at him and says to her husband, “He’ll be
a woman’s man when he grows up.” His father only smiles, walking
proudly, happy to be with his wife and his children again, far away
from the difficult days in Crete where he was tortured almost every
night by the local police to pressure him to spy on the customers
coming and going at his popular café, which he steadfastly refused
to do. And now it is a pleasant day of April, and Eteocles and Nicolas
are at school in Salonica.
Hellenic Canadian Literature 