Chapter 18 Chapter 17
Time flew by when Maria wished it stood still, and before long she would be unloaded in that cold place where the waves crashed on the shore.It was the first time she wanted the boat's motor to stop, but the strait between Crete and the island was only a moment away, and there was no turning back.She wanted to hug her father and beg him not to leave her there alone with the two boxes containing her life.Her tears run down.How many times since she discovered the scars on her feet, she has wept Fotini's shoulders wet, and the pillows have been soaked with tears from the two unfortunate nights before her departure.Now is not the time to cry.
They both stood there for a few minutes.Giorgis wouldn't let her be here alone, he wouldn't go until someone came.He was now as familiar with the process of welcoming a newcomer as an islander, and someone from the island would come to pick her up.
"Be brave, Maria," said Giorgis quietly. "I'll be back tomorrow. Come and see me if you can."
Giorgis gripped Maria's hands tightly in his own.He's bold these days, especially with his daughter.If he gets leprosy too, to hell!Maybe that's the perfect ending, because he can come to the island to live with his daughter.If that is the case, the delivery of supplies on the island will be a problem.It is very difficult for them to persuade others to deliver, which will bring indescribable hardship and pain to life on the island.
"If I can come, of course I will," she replied.
"I'm sure you can. Look!" Giorgis said, pointing to the figure emerging from the long tunnel, which was hurrying through the walls of the old fortress. Lord. I sent him a letter yesterday saying I would send you today. You should ask him."
"Welcome to Spinalonga," Papadimitririo said to Maria.How could his tone be so relaxed?She was very puzzled, and was a little distracted for a moment. "Your father sent me a letter yesterday telling me you'd be here today. Your box will be at your place shortly. Shall we go?"
He motioned for her to take a few steps to follow him and enter the tunnel.A few weeks earlier, in San Nicolas, she had watched a Hollywood movie in which the heroine emerged gracefully from a limousine and was ushered down the red carpet into a grand hotel, where the doorman carried her luggage.Maria tried to imagine herself in that scene.
"Before we go," she said hastily, "may I ask your permission to let me visit my father when he brings Dr. Lapakis and supplies to the island?"
"Oh, of course," said Papadimitriou's thick voice, "I think it's settled. I know you're not going to run away. For a while we had to keep people from getting out of the tunnel to the pier because we were afraid They fled, but now most people don't want to leave the island."
Giorgis wants to put the moment of separation between father and daughter behind him.
"I know they'll be fine with you," he heard his own voice reassuring her, "I know they'll be fine."
One of them had to turn first, and Giorgis waited for his daughter to go first.He always regretted that he had left too hastily when Eleni came to this island fourteen years ago.At that time, he was so sad that he sailed away without saying goodbye, but today, for the sake of his daughter, he must muster up his courage.Giorgis is very familiar with the island now, and over the years, he has come to the island purely for work, one or two practical trips a week, each time unloading boxes on the dock, and rushing to the island. Hastily returned.In those years, he watched the small island change a little bit, and his view of the small island became more humane. No one outside the island could do it like him.
Since the 1940 elections, when Petros Quintumaris finally stepped down, Nicos Papatimitririo has been in charge longer than his predecessor.He had accomplished so much on Spinalonga, and the island was growing stronger, that no one was surprised that he was re-elected almost unanimously every spring.Maria remembered the day her father sent the Athenians to Spinalonga.In a time when life was seldom interrupted by such excitement, it was one of the most dramatic episodes of the century.Mother's letters often refer to the handsome, dark-haired island owner and the changes he has brought to the island.His hair was gray now, but he still had the little curly beard Eleni described in her letter.
Maria followed Papadimitrio into the tunnel.He was walking slowly with a cane, his body was almost completely leaning on the cane, and they finally saw the light at the end.Maria came out of sheer darkness into her other world, as amazed as any newcomer.Although her mother described it well and vividly in her letter, she was still unprepared for what she saw.There is a long road, a row of shops, and the shutters of all the houses have been repainted. The flower beds facing the windows are full of late-blooming geraniums. There are one or two large houses with carved wooden balconies.It was still too early, and no one got up, except for one kind of person, the baker.The smell of freshly baked bread and pies fills the streets.
"Miss Petrakis, before I show you your new home, come and meet my wife," Papadimitri said. "She's made breakfast for you."
They turned left into a secluded side street, and then entered a courtyard with a door to the outside.Papadimitriou opened a door and poked his head in.The house was built by the Turks, and a man of Papadimitrio's stature was a head taller than the inhabitants of the time.
The room is bright and tidy, the kitchen is next to the living room, and there are stairs leading upstairs.Maria even caught a glimpse of the separate bathroom that went further into the kitchen.
"Let me introduce my wife. Catalina, this is Maria."
The two women shook hands.Although what Eleni told her in her letter was different from what people outside the island said, Maria still thought that the people who lived in this place were lame or deformed.She was amazed by the grace and beauty of this woman.Katerina was younger than her husband, Maria estimated she was about fifty.Her hair is black, her skin is fair, without a trace of wrinkle.
The table was covered with an embroidered white linen tablecloth and fine patterned china.When they were seated, Katerina held up the delicate silver jug, and a stream of hot black coffee filled the mug.
“There’s a small room next door that just vacated recently,” Papatimitrio said. “We thought you might like it, or, if you prefer, there’s another room in the shared apartment on the hill.”
"I think I'd rather have a house of my own," said Maria, "if it's all right for you."
There was a plate of fresh pies on the table, and Maria gobbled one up with hunger, having eaten nothing in days.At the same time she was hungry for more information.
"Do you remember my mother—Eleni Petkis?" she asked.
"Of course we do! She was a wonderful lady and a good teacher," Katerina replied. "Everyone thinks so. Pretty much everyone thinks so, anyway."
"So there are people out there who don't think so?" Maria said.
Catalina paused for a moment.
"There was a woman who was a schoolteacher before your mother came, and she saw your mother as an enemy. She is still alive and has a house on top of a hill. Some people said she felt that the suffering that happened to her kept her alive ’” Katerina said. “Her name is Christina Krostalakis. You have to watch out for her—she’s going to find out who your mother is sooner or later.”
"But first of all, Maria," said Papadimitrio, who was not pleased that his wife had disturbed their guests, "the most important thing you need to do now is to walk around the island. My wife will take Walking you around, Dr. Lapakis is expecting to see you this afternoon. He will conduct a preliminary examination of each newcomer."
Papadimitrio stood up.It's past eight o'clock in the morning, and it's time for the island owner to go to the office.
"I trust to see you again soon, Miss Petkiss. I leave you in the hands of able Catalina."
"Goodbye and thank you for welcoming me so well," Maria responded.
"Let's go shopping after we finish our coffee," said Catalina cheerfully when Papadimitrio was gone. "I don't know how much you know about Spinalonga—perhaps more than most Do - life here is pretty good. The only problem is that you are locked up here and live with the same people all your life. I am from Athens and I was not used to it at first.”
"I've been in Plaka all my life," Maria said, "so I'm used to it. How long have you been here?"
"Fourteen years ago, I came on the same ship as Nichols. There were four women and nineteen men. Three of the four women are still alive. Fifteen of the nineteen men are still alive. "
Maria wrapped her shawl tightly around her shoulders as she went out.When they turned onto Main Street, it was nothing like what she had just seen.People came and went, going about their business, on foot, on donkeys, and on mules or carts.Everyone looks very busy and has their own things to do.A few people looked up and nodded in the direction of Catalina and Maria, and some men raised their hats.As the island owner's wife, Caitlina received special respect from the people.
Now that the shops are open, Katerina points to the shops and talks quickly about the people who own them.It was almost impossible for Maria to remember all of this information, but Katrina loved the details of their lives, the intrigues and gossip that went around.There's Panterporian, a department store that sells everything a home needs, from brooms to oil lamps, with many wares on display at the front door, and jars of olive oil stacked high in a grocer's window; Mana There was a shop for knives at Roboyne; there was a shop for plum wine; and there was a bakery, where rows of fresh loaves baked golden and piles of rough shortbread attracted the passer-by.Each shop has its own hand-painted sign showing the owner's name and what's inside.The highlight, at least for most of the island, is the tavern, which is run by the delightful young Gerasimo Mandakis and already has a few patrons sitting around for coffee , a mess of cigarette butts smoking in the ashtray.
When they came to the church, there was a bungalow, and Caitlina told Maria that it was a school.They looked through the glass of the window and saw rows of children.In front of the classroom, a young man stood and spoke.
"Who was that teacher?" Maria said. "Didn't that woman you mentioned take the school back after my mother died?"
Katrina smiled. "No, not even stepping over the body of San Pantalemon. The children didn't want her back, and neither did many adults. For a while, my colleague from Athens took over, but he died. Your mother trained I got another teacher, and he's about to try it out. He was very young when he started teaching, but the children liked him very much, and they listened to everything he said."
"what is his name?"
"Dimitri Rimonias."
"Dimitri Rimonias? I remember the name. He was the boy who came with my mother. We heard he was the one who infected my mother with leprosy - and he's still here! Alive! "
Although such cases are rare for lepers, Dimitri's symptoms have barely progressed since his first diagnosis, and he is now running the school.Maria felt a wave of resentment, how could her mother's luck be so bad!
They didn't go in, not wanting to disturb the class.Katerina knows that Maria still has a chance to meet Dimitri.
"There seem to be quite a few children," commented Maria. "Where do they all come from? Are their parents here?"
"In general, their parents are not here. They are children from the mainland who were infected with leprosy and sent here. When people come to Spinalonga, they try not to have children. If the children are born healthy If they do, they are taken away from their parents and sent to the mainland for adoption. We have had one or two tragic instances of this recently."
"That's so sad. But who's going to take care of the children that are being sent?" Maria asked.
“Most of them were adopted. Nichols and I adopted one too, until he grew up, moved out, and had a life of his own. The rest of the unadopted children lived together in a house and were brought in by the community. management, but they are all well looked after."
The two women continued down Main Street.On the top of the hill in front of them stood some buildings, the largest of which was the hospital.
"I'll take you there later," Katerina said.
"The building is also visible from the mainland," Maria said, "but it looks bigger up close."
"Recently, the hospital has expanded a lot, much bigger than before."
They came to the north of the island, where no one lived, and eagles howled from high above.Here, Spinalonga receives strong winds from the northeast ocean, which crashes against the rocks below and splashes into the air.The character of the water is also different here: in the channel that separates Spinalonga from Plaka, the water is generally calm, while in the open sea, the water is like a galloping white horse.The mainland of Greece was hundreds of miles away, with dozens of small islands in between, but from this vantage point nothing could be seen.Just air, sky, birds of prey.Maria was not the first person to stand on the edge of the cliff and look down, and that's when she thought, what would it be like if she jumped off?Did she hit the sea first, or was she crushed by the jagged rocks first?
The sky was drizzling and the trail was starting to get slippery.
"Come on," Katerina said, "let's go back. Your boxes should be delivered by now. I'll take you to your new home, and if you want, I'll help you get your stuff out."
As they came down the trail, Maria found dozens of separate, well-tended fields where people had overcome harsh natural conditions to grow vegetable crops.Onions, garlic, potatoes and carrots are beginning to sprout on this windswept hillside, and they are lined up in neat rows with no weeds, showing how hard and meticulous their care must be to keep them in this rocky terrain grow on.Each patch is a sign of hope and comfort that life on the island is not intolerable.
They passed a small church facing the sea and ended up in a walled cemetery.
"Your mother is buried here," Catalina told Maria. "This is the final resting place for everyone on Spinalonga."
Katerina didn't intend to sound so stiff, but anyway, Maria didn't respond.She kept her emotions in check.This is someone else walking on the island, and the real Maria is far away, lost in thought.
The graves were unmarked because everyone was buried together.Too many people have died here, and there is no room for such a luxurious loneliness behind them.Unlike ordinary cemeteries, built around churches, those who come to worship will be constantly reminded that they will eventually die, but this cemetery is different, it is hidden and secret.Nobody on Spinalonga really needs a death token.Their days are numbered, and everyone knows it.
Just as they were about to make a full circle, they passed the most magnificent house on the island that Maria had ever seen.It has large balconies, with a front portico.Katerina stopped and pointed at it and said: "That's the official residence of the island owner, but when Nichols took over, he didn't want to kick out the former island owner and his wife, so they stayed there, and Nico Si still lives in the old place. The previous owner of the island passed away for many years, but Epida Kentumaris still lives here."
Maria recognized the name immediately.Elpida Kentumaris was my mother's best friend.It was a brutal fact that everyone around my mother seemed to outlive her.
"She's a good woman," Katerina added.
"I know." Maria said.
"how do you know?"
"My mother used to write about her. She was my mother's best friend."
"But did you know that after your mother died, she and her husband adopted Dimitri."
"No, I don't know that. After she passed away, I don't want to know more about life here, and I don't need to."
For a long time after Eleni's death, Maria resented the amount of time her father spent in the quarantine area.Once her mother died, she was no longer interested in this place.Now, of course, she felt a little remorse.
Wherever she went along the way, the village of Plaka was in plain view, and Maria knew she had to start restraining herself from looking that way.What's the point of seeing what people are doing across the sea?From now on, everything over there has nothing to do with her, the sooner she adapts to this side, the better.
Now they are back at the block of houses where they started.Catalina led Maria to a rusty front door, and she pulled the key from her pocket.The inside of the room seemed darker than the outside, but after turning on the light, the room suddenly seemed less dark.It was damp inside, as if no one had lived in it for a long time.The fact is that the previous resident lay dying in the hospital for months and never recovered.Sometimes, however, someone recovers dramatically for a period of time after the most deadly attacks of leprosy fever.It is a custom on the island to reserve their dwellings for the people till the end.
There were only a few pieces of furniture in the room: a black table, two chairs and a "sofa" against a concrete wall covered with a thick woven fabric.Apart from a handful of plastic flowers in a glass vase and an empty shelf for dishes on the wall, the previous occupant left little trace.The shepherd's hut on the hill was probably more comfortable than this.
"I'll stay here and help you get your stuff out," Katerina said masterfully.
Maria was determined not to show how she felt about the hut, but only if she was left alone.She needs to be firm.
"It's very kind of you, but I don't want to take up too much of your time."
"That's fine," Katrina said. "I'll be back in the afternoon to see what I can do. If you need my help, you know where I am."
Said she left.Maria was happy to be alone with her own thoughts.Katrina was well-intentioned, but she also sensed a hint of impatience, realizing that her babbling voice was a bit uncomfortable.The last thing Mariah needs is someone telling her how to tidy her room.She would make this miserable room into a home, and she would do it herself.
The first thing Maria did was throw the poor plastic rose vase in the bin.At this moment, despair and depression came to my heart.In this room full of rotting smell and damp objects of the dead, she had always controlled her emotions, but now she collapsed.She had been tense for so many hours of controlling herself, of feigned joy, for her father, for Papadimitririo, for herself, and now this terrible turn of events swallowed her up.Such a small journey marked the end of her life in Plaka, but it was the longest journey she had ever traveled.She felt so far away from home, so far away from everything that was familiar.She misses her father and her friends more than ever, and her bright future with Manoli has been taken away from her.In this dark room, she wishes she was dead.For a moment she thought she might be dead, because hell couldn't be darker or less welcoming than this.
She went upstairs to the bedroom.A hard bed and a straw mattress covered with dirty sheets were all there was in the room, save for a wooden Madonna pinned askew to the rough wall.Maria lay down, with her knees drawn upon her breast, and wept.I don't know how long she has been like this, but in the end she had nightmares intermittently.
In that dark, deep sleep, she heard the rumble of drums in the distance and felt herself being slowly pulled out of the water.Now she heard the constant knocking, which was not drums at all, but someone knocking on the door downstairs.She opened her eyes and didn't want to move her body for a long time.Her limbs were all frozen in the cold, and it took all her willpower to lift her body from the bed and stand up.She slept so deeply this time, and there were still two clear mattress button marks on her left cheek. Nothing could wake her up until she realized that someone downstairs was about to knock the door open.
She came down the narrow stairs, unbolted the door, opened the door, and in a daze saw two women standing in the twilight: one was Katerina, the other an elderly woman.
"Maria! Are you alright?" Catalina yelled. "We were dying for you. We kept knocking on the door for like half an hour. I thought you might... possibly...dang yourself to something." thing."
The last words came out of her mouth almost unconsciously, but there were good reasons for saying them.Some of the new arrivals have attempted suicide in the past, and some have succeeded.
"Yes, I'm fine. Really I'm fine—thank you for worrying about me. I must have slept soundly...Stop standing in the rain, come in."
Maria opened the door wider and stood aside to let the two women in.
"I must introduce you. This is Elpida Kentumaris."
"Mrs. Kentumaris, I know your name too well, you are my mother's best friend."
Two women reached out and took each other's hand.
"I can see that you look a lot like your mother," Elpida said. "You are not much different from the picture she has in her hand, even though it was a long time ago. I love your mother, she was my best One of the friends."
Catalina surveyed the room, and it looked the same as it did a few hours ago, Maria's box was still there.Apparently, she wasn't about to open them just yet.It's still like a dead man's house.Elpida Kintumaris saw a bewildered young woman standing in a cold, empty room at a time when people were about to start their steaming dinner and wait for the comfort of their own familiar beds.
"See, why don't you come and live with me to-night?" she asked kindly. "I've got a spare room, and it's no trouble."
Maria shivered involuntarily.The current situation is chilling, and the room is so cold and damp, she agreed without hesitation.She remembered passing Elpida's house earlier, with women's naturally sharp eyes, and she remembered seeing delicate lace curtains covering the windows.Yes, she would like to live there tonight.
For the next few nights, Maria stayed at Elpida Kentumaris' house, returning to what would become her home during the day.She worked to change it, whitewashing the walls and repainting the front door a bright, vibrant green to remind herself that spring was here, not late autumn.She took out books, photographs, and some small pictures she had chosen, hung them on the wall, ironed her embroidered cotton clothes, and spread them out on the table and some comfortable chairs Da feel that there is no need for things.She set up shelves and set up pots and jars of dried herbs.Scrub a previously dirty kitchen to a shine where bacteria can't live.
The first dark days of pessimism and despair were behind her, and though Maria had been thinking about what she had lost for weeks, she was beginning to see hope.She thought a lot about what life with Manoli would be like, and began to wonder how he would react when times were tough.Although she missed his easygoing, his ability to tell a joke whenever he wanted, she couldn't imagine how he would accept misfortune if it befell them.Maria had only tasted champagne once, at her sister's wedding.After the first fizzing sip, the foam disappears.Would a marriage to Manoli be like that?She has no way of knowing now.Slowly, she missed him less and less, she was almost disappointed in herself, and her love seemed to gradually dissipate in the air like this.He was not part of her present world.
She told Elpida about her life after her mother left: how she took care of her father, how her sister married into a wealthy family, and how she herself fell in love with and engaged to Manoli.She confided in Elpida, as if to her own mother, the old woman made her feel warm.And this girl, Elpida has known it from Irina's description many years ago.
She overslept the first afternoon and missed her doctor's appointment, and Maria was due to see Lapakis later in the week.He took notes on her symptoms, drew a sketch of her body, marked the skin damage, compared his observations with the information Kritis sent him, and found that she had an additional mark on her back.This made him very alarmed. Now that Maria's physical condition was fine, if there was any change, then his initial hope that she might survive might become a phantom.
Three days later, Maria went to see her father.She knew he would set off punctually at ten minutes to nine to see Lapakis across the sea, and she would have a good view of his boat in five minutes.She saw three people on board.This is a bit unusual.For a split second, she thought it was Manoli who had broken all prohibitions to visit her.However, when she saw the figure clearly, she knew it was Kritis.At that moment, her heart soared, as if seeing the thin doctor with silver-gray hair, she saw the hope of healing.
When the boat bumped gently against the buoy, Giorgis tossed the rope to Maria, who expertly tied it to the post, as she had done countless times before.Although he was worried about his daughter, he still carefully concealed it.
"Maria...I'm glad to see you...Look who's coming, it's Dr. Crittis."
"I see, Daddy," Maria said softly.
"How are you, Maria?" Crittis asked, jumping nimbly out of the boat.
"I'm absolutely 100 percent feeling fine, Dr. Crittis. I've never felt anything else," she replied.
He stopped and looked at her.This young woman doesn't look like she belongs here.She was so beautiful, so out of place here.
Nicos Papadimitriou came to meet the two doctors on the pier, and when Maria stopped to speak to her father, the three men disappeared into the tunnel.The last time Nicholas Kritis came here was fourteen years ago, and the changes on the island surprised him.The renovation of the old house had already started at that time, but the result exceeded his imagination.He was even more amazed when they arrived at the hospital.The old house was still there, but the extension, nearly as large as the entire original building, had also been built.Kritis remembered the plans on the wall of Lapakis's office years ago and saw immediately that he had achieved his ambition.
"Amazing!" he sighed. "It's all here. Just as you want it to be."
"It's just been a lot of blood, sweat and tears, I assure you - it all came from this gentleman," he said, nodding to Papadimitriou.
After the island owner left, Lapakis proudly showed Kritis a tour of his new hospital.The rooms in the new hospital are tall, with windows that run from floor to ceiling.In winter, strong shutters and thick walls shielded the patients from the pattering rain and howling wind; in summer, the windows were open to the wind blowing from the sea below.There are only two or three beds in each ward, and the entire ward is also divided into two wards for men and women, everywhere is spotless, Kritis noticed that each ward has its own shower and toilet.There were patients in many beds, but the atmosphere in the hospital was still calm.Only a few patients were tossing and turning on the bed, and one was moaning softly in pain.
“I finally have a hospital where patients are treated as human beings,” Lapakis said when they returned to his office. “And, here they have self-respect.”
"It's touching, Christo," said Kritis. "You must have worked your ass off to get this. It looks so neat and comfortable—not at all what I remember it to be."
"Yeah, but good terms aren't all they want. What they want most is to get well and get out of this place. My God, how much they want to get out of here," Lapakis said wearily.
Many islanders know that medical treatment is new, but it is rarely given to them.Some people believe that the disease will be cured in their lifetime, but for those whose hands, feet and faces have been deformed by the disease, this is just a dream.A few volunteered for minor operations, to relieve deformities in the feet, or to have major lesions removed, but they dared not ask for anything else.
"Look, let's be optimistic," Kritis said. "There are some drugs in the experimental phase right now. They won't work overnight, but do you think there are patients here who will try it?"
"I'm sure they would, Nicholas. I think there are people who would. Some rich people have been insisting on injecting the oil despite the high price and the pain of the injection. Do they have something to lose if there's a new drug to try?" ?”
"Actually, a lot will be lost at this stage..." Kritis replied after thinking for a while, "These medicines all contain sulfur. As you may know, unless the patient's health is always in good condition, the side effects of the medicine are still terrible."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it could be anything from anemia to hepatitis - even insanity. I was in Madrid recently for a leprosy conference and even heard there were cases of suicide while trying this new drug."
"Okay, then we have to think carefully about which patients, if any, can serve as test mice. If they need to be physically strong enough in the first stage, there will be many people who are not qualified for this."
"It won't be that fast. We'll have to make a list of suitable candidates first, and then we'll talk to them about the possibility of a trial. It's not a short-term project—maybe it's months before the injections start. You how do you feel?"
"I think that's the best way to make progress. At least having a plan is a little bit of progress. Do you remember that list we made last time? Seems like a long time ago, and a lot of people on it are dead now." Rah Pakis said gloomily.
"But things are different today. Back then we weren't talking about real, tangible, tangible cures, we were just trying to improve ways to stop the spread of the disease."
"Yeah, I know. I just feel like I've been wasting my life here, that's all."
"It's great of you to understand, but I do believe some people can look into the future. Anyway, I'll be back in a week and we'll look at those lists then, shall we?"
Kritis returned to the pier by himself.It was noon now, and Giorgis was there waiting for him as promised.Several people turned to look at him as he walked down the street, past churches, shops, and small restaurants.The only strangers these men saw were lepers new to the island.No newcomer struts with purpose like this one.When the doctor emerged from the tunnel, the turbulent sea came into view at the end of October. He saw the boat undulating on the sea about 100 meters away from the shore, and a woman stood on the pier, looking at the sea in the distance.She turned around when she heard his footsteps.When he turned around, his long hair fluttered and brushed against his face, and a pair of big almond eyes stared at him, full of hope.
Many years ago, before the war, Crittis had been to Florence and seen Botticelli's fascinating painting The Birth of Venus.The grey-green sea behind the figures, the long hair blown by the wind—Maria strongly evokes his impression of the famous painting that still hangs on the wall of his house in Heraklion.In this young woman, he saw the same shy smile, the same questioning side of the head, and the same nascent purity.Before, he had never seen such a beautiful person in reality.He stopped.In his eyes at this time, she was not a patient, but a woman.He thought she was more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen.
"Dr. Crittis," she said, rousing him from his daydream, "Dr. Crittis, my father is here."
"Yes, yes, thank you," he said hurriedly, suddenly realizing that he must be staring at her.
Maria held the boat tight while the doctor was aboard, and then let go when he was aboard, throwing the rope to him.Crittis looked up at her as he grabbed hold of the rope.He had to take another look, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming.He didn't.Venus' face could not have been more perfect than hers.
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