Penthesilea's Wish [Vol.2]

Chapter Twenty-nine

Following refills of iced tea and more general conversation, Dr. Vasiliou invited her guests from the balcony into her tidy house. In route they passed a large painting in the hallway. It was none other than that of a young Amazon warrior. Nicasio smiled as Daniela stood before it motionless. Though the central female figure in the painting had similarities to the images she had spent so many hours viewing at the Blagen Library, there was something very contemporary about this young warrior. She sat alone on a horse, dramatically on a hill at daybreak, looking out to the horizon which included a section of vast sea. A small spotlight positioned on the wall behind Daniela illuminated the figure in the painting so as to make her glow in the dim passageway. The Amazon held a bow and sheath of arrows over her shoulder and wore the classical, tight fitting chiton revealing an athletic, supple body. As the artwork depicted in the ancient vase paintings and sculptures which Daniela had perused days before, the garment was worn short against the girl's thighs and fell open off one shoulder, exposing one of her youthful breasts. But what was different about this painting was it was rendered in a photo-realistic style and superbly executed in oil or tempera. The Amazon girl's expression had an intelligence and sensitivity to her gaze which Daniela found captivating.

The professor soon led them to the main salon of the house. The tall, narrow-paned windows, letting in bars of light, seemed foreign to Daniela. She had been used the sweeping horizontal bay windows of her home in San Francisco. In this spacious area Dr. Vasiliou encouraged them to sit on an over-stuffed divan with a collection of colorful pillows, across from a spacious, low coffee table, on which were collections of driftwood, round stones and large cylindrical candles.

It was here that the professor cordially mentioned that there needed to be a discussion about lunch as it was already two o'clock. As she apologized for not expecting company, she suggested enthusiastically that they move from the village down to one of the tavernas out on the peninsula of the Hora. Theo tried to decline the offer, explaining that they had planned their return voyage at six o'clock in the evening back in GavrioPort. The professor insisted, reminding him there would be ample time. She told the group cheerily she would hear nothing more of them leaving before lunch. She also went on to explain that her own Jeep was in the parking lot just across the bridge. They could take both cars, allowing Theo and guests to return to the port directly from Hora.

Standing gracefully and moving across this great room to speak in hushed tones with Theo, it became evident to Daniela just how this woman had spent the first part of her life. Most of the walls, even to the upper ceilings, accessed by a rolling ladder, were covered with bookshelves. They bristled in the harsh window light with multicolored volumes, many with German and English titles as well as Greek. Daniela stood and walked to the fireplace, central to the tall room. It was set into one of the bookshelves with a heat-stained antique marble façade displaying pineapples and seashells in bas-relief. The piece reflected tellingly of the generations of use its hearth had provided during the cold and lonely winters the sea captain's families had lived there.

Who was this woman, Daniela wondered as she looked over the professor's trim, athletic frame, now engaged in animated native conversation with Theo. Was it really possible to have such a life she had managed to carve out for herself in such a beautiful place? So solitary, fulfilling and refined? Daniela thought of how much this professor could teach any woman about independence. Soon the group, including Dr. Nefeli Vasiliou was walking back down the little path out onto the winding streets of Stenies. They all seemed eagerly on their way to the vehicles for lunch.

To Daniela, the drive back down the mountain to the old town of Hora in the professor's Jeep Cherokee was a little too fast and furious. Dr. Vasiliou handled the late model 4x4 deftly and fearlessly, while all the time comically berating the infamous "Greek drivers" whom she herself had to contend with in her own country. As they passed down the steep mountain road, closer to the sea and in route to the old city, the professor's phone began to ring. She switched it to be audible by Bluetooth inside the Jeep.