The Wildcat Behind Glass by Alki Zei

Author:Alki Zei
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Restless Books

* * *

It wasn’t easy for all four of us to go and see Nikos together, since we had to keep it a secret from Pipitsa and the two littlest kids, Odysseas and Avgi. So we decided to go two at a time, first Myrto and Artemis, and then me and Nolis. Today it was our turn. We were happy, because we had a letter with us that Mr. Antonis had brought from town, and every time we went, Nikos would ask: “Did you happen to bring me a letter?”

We had already climbed the hill, were at the top, and were getting ready to head down into the ravine when we heard shouts and saw, close by, two constables shoving a man and hitting him on his head and back. We knelt down in the bushes to watch. They seemed to be headed toward the Windmill with the Broken Blade. The man was screaming, and that seemed to make the constables hit him harder. At some point blood started running down his face and I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see. I’d never seen so much blood in my life. We waited there for a while, until we were sure they weren’t going to the windmill, and when the shouts and screams had moved a long way off, we snuck back out of our hiding spot. As we rushed down the hill, I cut my foot on a sharp rock. I wanted to cry, but I was ashamed in front of Nolis, who would say that all girls are crybabies. But when Nikos saw me, he was worried, because I was covered in blood, and it was still oozing out of my foot. I remembered the man we’d seen being beaten by the constables, and I started shaking all over. Nikos cleaned the wound with alcohol, which he had a little bottle of, and then he tied a clean handkerchief around my foot and lifted me into his lap like a baby. Nolis told him all about the constables and the man they were beating. Nikos had heard the screams and had been worried that something might have happened to us while we were on our way to see him.

“You’re just little kids,” he said. “I forgot how little you are.”

“We’re not little!” Nolis said. “And if the girls are afraid, I can come by myself.”

“No, Nolis,” Nikos continued. “You’re kids, you should be playing all day without a care in the world. But with things as they are, we grownups need your help.”

I wasn’t saying anything, because I’d seen that the handkerchief Nikos had tied around my foot was already bright red, and I was scared of all that blood.

“Stamatina will have to take you straight to town,” Nikos said, turning to me. “You need to get a tetanus shot. This place is filthy.”

It really did smell of rot and mold. Suddenly, everything seemed so ugly. The little room where Nikos was staying, the mattress on the floor,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.