Penthesilea's Wish [Vol.2]

Chapter Seventeen

While at lunch with his new research acquaintances from America, Nicasio found them to be sensitive to the fact that he and Daniela were new to Greece. Stacie continued her flirtatious chatting with him, apparently believing Daniela was only a colleague of his from Berkeley. Judy wanted to talk about her ongoing excavations both at the Agora near Plaka and the new project with which her university was engaged in at the ancient city of Thebes in central Greece. The professor from Bucknell seemed very proud of her school's recent work on the ancient fortress there. She spoke at length about her team of students bringing to light a newly discovered shrine which was dedicated to Heracles.

The other couple to which Nicasio spoke briefly never seemed to be out of each others clutches. They were in Athens on a study grant, they told him, presently working to complete a workshop course at the Weiner Laboratory of Archaeological Sciences. This was an in-house, full-facilities lab within the AmericanSchool compound devoted to precise analysis of archaeological artifacts. The male student, Kevin, left the clutches of his paramour only long enough to explain their work simply. He did this unceremoniously by giving the name of the course they were attending-Sex, death and bones: Paleodemography and gender differentials in the Mediterranean World. He explained he was from ArizonaStateUniversity and is girlfriend, a talkative African-American girl who never tired of being in his arms, was Phoebe, from BrynMawrCollege.

While in the midst of the group's disjointed conversation, Theofilos unexpectedly appeared from the garden entrance and approached the table, greeting everyone affably. Nicasio could tell from their sudden levity at seeing him, that Theo was a welcome sight on the grounds of the campus to everyone.

"Nicasio! Nice to see you again. How is my homeboy from San Francisco finding it here in his sister city of Athens?"

There were smiles from the group, and Nicasio reached up and knuckle-punched his "friendly" to complement the warm greeting.

"I'm fine, Theo. Your resources here on early Mediterranean navigation are very useful. We're going over to the NationalMuseum tomorrow to see the display of the Antikythera Mechanism. Of course, Daniela wants to see some authentic imagery of Amazons there."

"I was just talking to her up in the library," Theo interrupted. "Seems like she's finding a lot of materials for her graphics study."

Nicasio gave a surprised look to Judy and Stacie.

"So . . . she's feeling . . . ok?"

"If you ask me, she's getting along brilliantly. Totally buried in the online ceramic collections. Yeah, she's going to love the National. And so will you. She tells me she's having a great stay here, Nicasio. We're very pleased about that."

Nicasio continued a perplexed look.

"In fact, all of us like hearing that around here . . . right guys?"

Theofilos beamed a proud smile at those in attendance, seeming to bathe in his popularity among the American students.

"But what I'm here officially to announce to you all today . . . is a rather a last minute invitation from our director, Dr Santori. You see, he just learned this morning that the American School will be receiving a generous grant this summer from an anonymous donor somewhere back in the US. It will enable us to proceed now with some long-awaited expansion projects and a list of specific text collections for our facilities."

"Fantastic!" Judy interjected explosively, eliciting a positive rise out of the group.

"So . . . as this news calls for a celebration," Theo continued, "you are all invited to Cotsen Hall this evening. It's just across the street at the Gennadius Library. The official announcement of the grant will be made there tonight to our Classical Studies community here in Athens. It will follow with some Champaign and tasty little snacks."