Green Neon

23 Greek plumbers

The swaying barge chugged towards the small harbor. Colorful fishing boats were moored at one end, while a few sailing boats and motor yachts were moored at the other.

Gradually, the miniature creatures moving around the square by the harbor became recognizable as people who seemed to be wandering around aimlessly - women with shopping baskets, many of them dressed in black and wearing a headscarf of the same color, fishermen mending their nets on the quay wall or standing around in small groups and chattering, children playing tag, a few tourists.

Taverns lined up among small shops around the square at the harbor, behind which white, cubic houses crowded. Tom only saw one slightly larger road leading inland, while all the other streets in town were too narrow for cars, none of which were in sight except for an old bus and a couple of motorized freight trikes.

After the short ride in the barge, they climbed onto the quay, took a few steps to a stone bollard, and sat down on it. Their sea voyage had lasted most of the day, but it had flown by. The big city with its hustle and bustle, its stench, its masses of people and vehicles lay far behind them. They found themselves in a completely different world, with its very own background noise, with a smell of fish and sea, with a light that was dazzling even through sunglasses.

They heard snatches of music and conversation, but the sound of this place was anachronistic, like from a world before the invention of modern technologies that somehow broadcast false sounds. This impression ended when suddenly an aggressive speech was transmitted by a tinny speaker. It originated from a man standing on the harbor promenade next to a motorized tricycle and touting his melons. In doing so he proved that they were in a different place but not in a different time.

Christina had described the way to her aunt's house in detail, because nobody would be able to pick them up at the port. Aunt Kyra had lived alone in her small boarding house since her husband died and didn't leave the house all summer, because after all one of her guests might need something. Neighborhood children even did the shopping for her.

On the eastern edge of the harbor they discovered a pharmacy, next to which an alley led into the maze of houses. Christina had told them to turn right at the second intersection and walk all the way down this path. "Do you actually call it an 'intersection' when it's only two narrow alleyways meeting?" Tom wondered.

No sooner had they left the open plaza than they were engulfed in lanes so narrow that sunlight would never penetrate to them, and that were surfaced with natural stone with whitewashed mortar. The cubic houses lining them were snow-white and had only a few small windows. The unceasing wind made the heat of over 30 degrees bearable.

As described by Christina, after a while the path climbed and later fell again, and then their destination appeared on the right, which they recognized by the vine that twined around the blue door. The house was supposed to be right on the water, but there was no ecidence of this. They knocked on the door and entered the hall.

Immediately, a chill enveloped them that made them realize how hot it was outside. There was a ver light and pleasantly sweet scent of lavender and oregano in the air. They stood a little lost in the narrow hallway with a bare stone floor, which, apart from a large mirror, was only furnished with a glass case containing all sorts of cups, glasses, porcelain figurines, and objects that were both pretty and ugly at the same time. Above the glass case hung a grimy painting of an elderly man with a weatherbeaten face and straggly hair whose eyes seemed to be looking straight at the visitors.

Three doors led off the hall, all of which were open, and a narrow stone staircase led to the guest rooms on the first floor. A small, elderly, and slightly plump woman dressed in black came through the back door and smiled at the boys. She greeted Tom in a mixture of French and Italian, and Nikos in Greek. The boys couldn't resist Aunt Kyra's open cordiality and they immediately felt at home.