Willa

Chapter Fifteen: Sundays

Sundays were strange, I no longer attended church, and yet my entire life I had been there and been devoted to it. I had sat beside my family in church on Sundays my entire life thus far, without fail, come rain or shine. Days like Sundays, they exist now solely to remind me that I am not home or devoted to Jesus Christ as I had been. They are days of guilt, sinking into the profound loss of everything and everyone I ever knew. It really didn't help that Sunday was the only day the Nomikos family closed up the restaurant. I could really have done with the distraction of those shifts.

The Nomikos always attended their Greek Orthodox Church and mingled with the congregation on Sundays. The plus side though, was that Calliope would invite me over for their feasts, and let me tell you the Greeks know how to eat. I drool thinking about Marias Kleftico, moussaka and spanakopita, not to mention her stifado. There was always left overs for Mary and Erica, to their great pleasure.

Calliope had easily slipped into the role of a beloved friend these last months. I don't think I could have sanely relocated and stayed my eighteen year old self without her. Whilst I loved Mary and Erica for taking on the parental role with me, it was Calliope who took me out into town and made me feel as close to normal as possible for a teenager. We would play ball down on the local courts many afternoons of the week, practicing and keeping up our skills for the spring when we would both be early intakes to the university. Calliope was intense on the court and put me through my paces. I was confident with a ball, and knew I was good, but lord above, Calliope Nomikos was a whizz kid with a ball, which I guess is where little Tedmeister got her ball skills from. Teddy at almost four was insanely quick, her hand eye coordination for her age was astonishing, which I guess was due to her sisters interest in teaching her when she would play. Now that I was here, I taught her too. Teddy was like the little sister I never wanted, but she made me and Calliope howl with laughter. Teddy was most definitely older than three in her mind, and she wanted desperately to keep up with her sister and her friends.

Calliope had a friend called Emma, she wasn't so much into basketball as she was into watching us play it. It turns out Emma is quite gay herself, and with Callies interfering she had learnt of my sexuality too. She now seemed much more interested in our afternoons playing ball than she had used to be, two months ago.

***

"When do we go back to yours for the Sunday feast Cal" I ask "I am literally growling from the stomach" I say clutching my belly dramatically, and throwing the basketball over my shoulder, turning to find it falling effortlessly into the basket.

"Me Me" Teddy calls.

I pick her up with the smaller ball we had bought her, and I hold her up high as she throws the ball, not surprisingly making the basket.

"Good work Theodora" Calliope praises as she hands Emma her bottle of water after taking a quick sip. "Momma said five which is in twenty minutes... So we better get going" she suggests, checking her watch.

"Can I come this time" Emma asks with a wink.

Callie smiles "of course" she says taking the ball from my hands, dropping it and dribbling around me in a dance I have long lost understanding of, but it works each time in making me dizzy. It would be known one day as 'Theodora Nomikos' dance of death, as she took out many an opponent on the professional court with her dribbling and technique. She weaved a ball around her opponents as if in a trance, and it was all down to Calliope, who would one day be the proudest big sister in the world as she observed her little sister on the TV and court side. Teddy would one day eclipse all of our talents. We would look on with joy and pride, flattered whenever she would mention us in an award show, or put it all down to us teaching her from as soon as she could pick up a ball. Nobody could forget Theodora Nomikos once they watched her dance... especially not the WNBA.