monster.’
He picked up his knife and cut a blistered livid tentacle off the octopus. Instead of eating it, he threw it on to the ground, which was a blatant invitation to the cats in the village to join him for lunch. They started to circle his shoes under the table, coming from all directions to fight each other for a piece of the sea monster. He delicately sawed into the rubbery flesh of the polpo and pushed it into his mouth with relish. After a while he saw no reason not to drop three more tentacles into their paws.
My mother had become quiet and shockingly still. Not still like a tree or a leaf or a log. Still like a corpse.
‘We were talking about Wi-Fi,’ Gómez continued. ‘I will tell you the answer to my riddle. I say “wee-fee” to rhyme with “Francis of Assisi”.’
Three thin cats were now sitting on his shoes.
Rose must have been breathing after all, because she turned on him. The whites of her eyes were pink and swollen. ‘Where did you go to medical school?’
‘Johns Hopkins, Mrs Papastergiadis. In Baltimore.’
‘Think he jests,’ Rose whispered loudly.
I stabbed a tomato with my fork and did not respond. All the same, I was concerned about the way her left eye was closing up.
Gómez asked if she was enjoying her bean soup.
‘“Enjoying” is too strong a word. It is wet but tasteless.’
‘How is “enjoyment” too strong a word?’
‘It is not an accurate word to describe my attitude to the soup.’
‘I hope your appetite for enjoyment will get its strength back,’ he said.
Rose rested her pink eyes on my eyes. I removed my gaze like a traitor.
‘Mrs Papastergiadis,’ said Gómez. ‘You have some enemies to discuss with me?’
She leaned back in her chair and sighed.
What is a sigh? That would be another good subject for a field study. Is it just a long, deep, audible exhalation of breath? Rose’s sigh was intense but not subdued. It was frustrated but not yet sad. A sigh resets the respiratory system so it was possible that my mother had been holding her breath, which suggests she was more nervous than she appeared to be. A sigh is an emotional response to being set a difficult task.
I knew she had been thinking about her enemies because she had written a list. Perhaps I am on that list?
To my surprise, her voice was calm and her tone almost friendly.
‘My parents were my first adversaries, of course. They did not like foreigners so, naturally, I married a Greek man.’
When Gómez smiled his lips were black from the octopus ink.
He gestured to my mother to continue.
‘Both my parents breathed their last holding the kindly dark-skinned hands of the nurses who tended them. But it seems churlish to have a go at them now. I will, anyway. To my parents on the Other Side. Remind me to spell for you the names of the hospital staff who sat with you on the day you died.’
Gómez rested his knife and fork on the edge of the plate. ‘You are talking about your National Health Service. But I note that you have chosen some private care?’
‘That is true and I feel a little ashamed. But Sofia researched your clinic and encouraged me to give it a go. We were at the end of the road. Weren’t we, Fia?’
I gazed at the boat being pumped up in the square. It was blue with a yellow stripe across its side.
‘So, you married your Greek man?’
‘Yes, for eleven years we waited for a child. And when we at last conceived and our daughter was five, Christos was summoned by the voice of God to find a younger woman in Athens.’
‘I am myself of the Catholic faith.’
Gómez shovelled more extraterrestrial octopus into his mouth. ‘By the way, Mrs Papastergiadis, “Gómez” is pronounced “Gómeth”.’
‘I respect your beliefs, Mr Gómeth. When you get to heaven, may the pearly gates be draped in an octopus drying for your welcome dinner.’
He seemed up for everything she threw at him and had lost the chiding tone of their first meeting. Her eyes were no
He picked up his knife and cut a blistered livid tentacle off the octopus. Instead of eating it, he threw it on to the ground, which was a blatant invitation to the cats in the village to join him for lunch. They started to circle his shoes under the table, coming from all directions to fight each other for a piece of the sea monster. He delicately sawed into the rubbery flesh of the polpo and pushed it into his mouth with relish. After a while he saw no reason not to drop three more tentacles into their paws.
My mother had become quiet and shockingly still. Not still like a tree or a leaf or a log. Still like a corpse.
‘We were talking about Wi-Fi,’ Gómez continued. ‘I will tell you the answer to my riddle. I say “wee-fee” to rhyme with “Francis of Assisi”.’
Three thin cats were now sitting on his shoes.
Rose must have been breathing after all, because she turned on him. The whites of her eyes were pink and swollen. ‘Where did you go to medical school?’
‘Johns Hopkins, Mrs Papastergiadis. In Baltimore.’
‘Think he jests,’ Rose whispered loudly.
I stabbed a tomato with my fork and did not respond. All the same, I was concerned about the way her left eye was closing up.
Gómez asked if she was enjoying her bean soup.
‘“Enjoying” is too strong a word. It is wet but tasteless.’
‘How is “enjoyment” too strong a word?’
‘It is not an accurate word to describe my attitude to the soup.’
‘I hope your appetite for enjoyment will get its strength back,’ he said.
Rose rested her pink eyes on my eyes. I removed my gaze like a traitor.
‘Mrs Papastergiadis,’ said Gómez. ‘You have some enemies to discuss with me?’
She leaned back in her chair and sighed.
What is a sigh? That would be another good subject for a field study. Is it just a long, deep, audible exhalation of breath? Rose’s sigh was intense but not subdued. It was frustrated but not yet sad. A sigh resets the respiratory system so it was possible that my mother had been holding her breath, which suggests she was more nervous than she appeared to be. A sigh is an emotional response to being set a difficult task.
I knew she had been thinking about her enemies because she had written a list. Perhaps I am on that list?
To my surprise, her voice was calm and her tone almost friendly.
‘My parents were my first adversaries, of course. They did not like foreigners so, naturally, I married a Greek man.’
When Gómez smiled his lips were black from the octopus ink.
He gestured to my mother to continue.
‘Both my parents breathed their last holding the kindly dark-skinned hands of the nurses who tended them. But it seems churlish to have a go at them now. I will, anyway. To my parents on the Other Side. Remind me to spell for you the names of the hospital staff who sat with you on the day you died.’
Gómez rested his knife and fork on the edge of the plate. ‘You are talking about your National Health Service. But I note that you have chosen some private care?’
‘That is true and I feel a little ashamed. But Sofia researched your clinic and encouraged me to give it a go. We were at the end of the road. Weren’t we, Fia?’
I gazed at the boat being pumped up in the square. It was blue with a yellow stripe across its side.
‘So, you married your Greek man?’
‘Yes, for eleven years we waited for a child. And when we at last conceived and our daughter was five, Christos was summoned by the voice of God to find a younger woman in Athens.’
‘I am myself of the Catholic faith.’
Gómez shovelled more extraterrestrial octopus into his mouth. ‘By the way, Mrs Papastergiadis, “Gómez” is pronounced “Gómeth”.’
‘I respect your beliefs, Mr Gómeth. When you get to heaven, may the pearly gates be draped in an octopus drying for your welcome dinner.’
He seemed up for everything she threw at him and had lost the chiding tone of their first meeting. Her eyes were no
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