My life in Greece

   My days started as a young infant. I grew up in a small house with my mother and younger sister. My father worked with the government. Which means my father or one of our slaves accompanies me and my mother everywhere we go. My father owns the land and lets my mother and I live here and take care of his land. I help with cropping and cleaning. My name is Agata which means "good-hearted" in Greek. My mother's name is Damara which means gentle and my father's name is Aegeus which means "protector". I also have a little sister named Mara which means "eternally beautiful". My father leaves us everyday to go to work and we are left to do housework. At home, my mother and I are left to take care of Mara as she is only 2 years old. My mother also has to make our clothing. In the winter, she knits it together out of animal skin and fur to keep warm. She also uses sticks to help her knit. In the summer, I do the beading and my mom gets the fabric from these big leaves in the forest behind our home. My mom dyes the leaves from the beetles that live on the bark of the trees. The days can get boring, but my favorite thing to do is play outside with my best friend, my lizard. I named him philosophios which means "friend of god" or "lover, friend". Philosophios and I play in the nearby stream and climb the high trees. In summer, they are lime green and the buds are pink like blossoms, they also have tangerine orange and bright yellow which makes them even more beautiful. After we play, I have to go back inside and care for my sister. I feed her and tell her a story that my father told me when I was her age. She laughs and my mother rests. Soon, my father comes home with 5 tokens equal to $25.00 for his good work. My mother takes the money and goes to the supermarket watched by our servant. He follows her every step of the way, not letting his eyes lose her steps. When she leaves, my dad says pack your things, "We are leaving"! I stare blankly into his big brown eyes confused and scared. "Where are we going"? I ask frightened. I grab my sister and a ripped pouch with two tokens, my lizard, and an old stuffed animal. My great grandmother gave it to me before she died. She made it from animal skin and fur filled with cotton from the cotton plants. I cuddle the now black teddy bear from the dirt. It has a small rip in the side of it's arm, cotton falls out. "Her expression was etched on her face, glowering and full of grave. She made a sly smile knowing that he was going to do something roguish." I slowly walk out and follow my father into the woods, he carries an ax made from sharp wood and old metals. His face was wanly as if something bad was going to happen. He was straight-faced the whole way there, but when we got to the creek where the water flowed up and the trees swayed, where there was no sound, he burst out laughing! He said: "All this way, you didn't even realize that this is all a joke!" I was puzzled. "WHAT!" I said. Then, I saw my ma'am walk up and Agape or servant meaning "love" walk up behind me. They all said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" I had thought they forgot. Today is my 9th birthday! I was slack-jawed! I saw my grandfather who only comes to see us rarely, he brought me a basket of food from his garden. I laughed and cried. My mom was holding a "cake" from the supermarket. Now I understood where everyone was. My family was different from others. We got along and my father treated us well, not badly. My grandfather would come to see us even if my mother was married and had kids. In fact, he loved us! I loved my family. We had the best life ever. Tonight we would celebrate more, and in the morning get straight back to work.