One Greek Summer Wedding by Mandy Baggot

Author:Mandy Baggot [Baggot, Mandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2024-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

Over an hour later, Akis’s head was spinning and he almost knew enough of the litany to be able to recite it if he was needed for service on Sunday. He stood in the garden looking out over the olive grove to the sunset beyond turning the sky a fiesta of pink, Pig by his side munching on sparse tufts of dry grass.

‘What did you think, Aki?’

It was his grandmother, stepping through the garden, a bottle of ouzo in one hand and two small glasses in the other. He hastened to take them from her, hurried to the rusted metal table and two equally old chairs.

‘I think that perhaps neither of us should be drinking ouzo,’ he remarked, making sure she was settled in her chair before taking his. ‘I have my motorbike.’

‘Soon your mother will be measuring you up for the robes of a priest without the Velcro like your dancing show,’ Irini said. She laughed until she started to cough.

‘I’ll get you some water,’ Akis said, standing up.

‘No,’ Irini replied. ‘Ouzo is all I need. God whispered in my ear this morning.’

Akis shook his head as he poured them both a little of the clear liquid. ‘Pappa Spiros did not tell me anything about God doing any whispering.’

‘But he did tell you about re-imaginings. The way the stories from the past can be adjusted.’

‘I’m not sure it’s the stories that need to be adjusted,’ Akis contemplated aloud. ‘I think perhaps it is my mother’s views. And the way she projects her insecurities onto Cosmos.’

‘Because he is the weakest goat,’ Irini said, sipping her drink as Pig moved to another spot. ‘That is what your mother has always done. She finds the person who will listen to her agenda the longest and she will make her opinions their opinions. Cosmos, poor Wren and your long-suffering father.’

‘What do you think I should do?’ Akis asked, sitting back in his chair.

‘You ask me! You want another opinion to go with all the others being forced on you? You are crazy!’

Yeah, he was. And he had told Cara that the only person whose opinion really mattered was your own. Already he was losing a grip on who he was.

‘I just want to do the right thing,’ he admitted.

‘Who for?’ Irini asked.

‘For everybody.’

‘Ha! That is the impossible dream. It is an unachievable reality. You should know this already.’

‘The best thing then,’ Akis said. ‘The thing that gets the closest best outcome for everybody that matters to me.’

Irini sat forward on her chair. ‘Will you answer me something?’

‘Sure.’

‘Why when people talk about the day you lost your finger do they call it “Cosmos’s accident”?’

Akis didn’t answer. What was he supposed to say?

‘Because Cosmos is OK. There are no physical scars, he does not speak of any trauma he feels. In fact, when he is made to regale the tale at events, he tells people he does not remember much of this. But you. I see what happened written all the way through you. The sacrifice you made.

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