Black Butterflies by Sara Alexi

but it wasn’t big enough on its own to make a living, not big enough unless they could merge with the farmer next door, Manolis’ father.
    The family moved to a nearby town briefly, just before the merger, and Marina ’s parents got jobs in offices. But then cuts came, and Marina’s mother lost her job. Soon after that they returned to the village.
    ‘ Ah, so not for love, then?’
    ‘ No, not for love. Just the same old tale of many women in Greece.’
    ‘ A fine woman like you needs love.’ Bobby shuffles in his seat and his jacket falls off his bony shoulder again. Marina pulls it back on. His face is back in the shadows and she can picture him in his youth, and she smiles.
    ‘ We all need love,’ she answers.
    ‘ So, did you find love?’ Bobby gives her a lingering look.
    ‘ What, with Manolis? Ha! There were times when I was fond of him, but I think I was just used to him being around. He wasn’t exactly what you might call a good provider! He was never home much.’
    Marina ’s mind reels at the recall of all the mad schemes Manolis engaged himself in. He always had something on the go, some iron in the fire. Just putting his back into an honest day’s labour in his olive groves was not his style. The olives suffered from the lack of attention and the crops dwindled, so his search for alternative sources of money became more and more frantic.
    ‘ Here’s a story that will describe my “loving” husband to you.’ Marina feels Bobby settle, ready to be transported.
    She relates the story of one of his first enterprises, when he diddled his brothers out of the family fishing boat in a game of cards, combined with a large amount of whisky. The brothers had been invited for dinner with his new wife and they came to taste her cooking. Marina and her mother baked all day so as not to disappoint, and the brothers relished every mouthful.
    After dinner, out came the whisky and Marina took herself off to the kitchen to wash up and generally stay out of the way. Manolis played the generous host, and invented toast after toast, until out slipped his cards, and before the brothers knew where they were they were involved in a riotous game, first betting for this and that old bit of furniture, then on to betting olive trees one by one until whole orchards had passed hands. Finally, everything was put into a pot and the deal was the sole ownership of the family fishing boat which, at the moment, they took turns to use. If you have a fishing boat you always eat; it was a heavy bet.
    This was the first time Marina had seen Manolis pull this card game trick and she thought it was just how the boys behaved. It was only later she found out that he had used sleight of hand, as well as a lot of whisky, against his own family. She lost all trust in him that day. She was his wife but he treated her as a maid, to cook and clean for him. If he could treat his brothers in this way, how could she imagine he would be any more loyal to her? Before the marriage ink was dry, they had grown apart.
    He swapped the traditional wooden fishing boat for a big covered hulk of a vessel with no seagoing capability, and the villagers had laughed. His brothers had ranted. It was his friend who put him up to it, Mitsos. Even his mother had said that Manolis and Mitsos were trouble, from the moment they learnt to walk in the village square together.
    Manolis and Mitsos spent weeks working on that old boat, gutting the insides and installing padded seats and a fancy music system, and divulging the details of their plan to no one. The villagers thought they had gone mad, and came to see the work in progress and to poke fun. Were they planning to woo the fish into the boat with music from the speakers, or did they expect them to die laughing?
    Bobby is chuckling away by this point and encourages Marina to continue her narrative. She is a little sad that she has no need to embellish. The truth is ridiculous enough.
    When he painted the whole thing