The House by the River

by Lena Manta

  Fokas, however, put his hand to her lips. “Don’t try to excuse yourself,” he said, pretending to be severe. “Something like that is completely natural. But I want you to know that nobody is holding you a prisoner here. If you ever feel really homesick for your family, I want you to tell me and I’ll take you to see them. We don’t live at the end of the world.”

  “Oh, how I love you, Fokas!” she whispered and looked deep into his eyes. “As long as I have you beside me, I won’t miss anybody, because you’re my whole world now. Just don’t leave me.”

  “Never!” Fokas said emphatically and bent to kiss her.

  The door opened wide and made the two of them jump up. Evanthia had come into the room with two glasses of water in her hands.

  “What’s going on, Mother?” Fokas said in a harsh tone.

  “I brought you some water in case you’re thirsty in the night,” she answered.

  “First of all, if we’re thirsty, we know where the kitchen is! And secondly, what’s happened to your manners, Mother? Did you forget them outside the door, like you forgot to knock before you came in?”

  Evanthia blinked rapidly as if she’d received a bullet in the chest. Surprise, pain, and finally anger passed over her face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think,” she hurried to say.

  “We thank you for thinking of us,” Fokas continued now in a softer tone. “But I’d ask you in the future to knock on the door before you come in.”

  Evanthia cast a look of contempt at her daughter-in-law, left the two glasses on the bedside table, and went out, closing the door behind her.

  Julia turned to Fokas. “I think she’s angry.”

  “It’s a good thing for rules to be established from the beginning,” he stressed.

  “In any case, your mother doesn’t like me,” Julia dared to say.

  “Don’t pay any attention to my mother, love. She wouldn’t like any woman I loved or married. Don’t take it personally. When she sees that we love each other and that I’m happy, she’ll calm down.”

  “I hope so. But Fokas, I beg you to find us a home of our own quickly. Don’t be upset with me, but . . .”

  “I understand. Be patient for a while. A little way down from here there’s an apartment block that’s nearly finished—I did the design. The owner is a friend of mine, and I’ll tell him to hold on to an apartment for us.”

  “It doesn’t have to be something big, not for now at least. Two rooms are enough for us. I just want us to be by ourselves. We’ve never spoken about finances. I don’t know how much money you earn, and how much money we need to live on each month. My father always gave the money to my mother and she decided how it was spent. With you, though, I don’t know. I want to say . . .” Julia suddenly felt overwhelmed, as if she might burst into tears.

  At that moment Fokas took her in his arms. “I don’t want you to be sad, my darling. When we leave and move into our own house, I’ll do the same as your father; I’ll give you so much for the household for the month and something for yourself, for your personal things. Are you happy?”

  “I think I am . . . yes. It’s all so new to me.”

  Fokas held her tightly and she felt herself grow calm in his strong embrace. And indeed when her husband opened her blouse and planted a kiss on her neck, Julia completely forgot her insecurities and her mother-in-law.

  Evanthia went into her room and realized she was trembling.

  Kyriakos, who was lying on their bed reading a book, looked at her in surprise. “Whatever’s the matter with you?” he asked.

  “That lazy good-for-nothing won’t be around for long!” she declared.

  “Are you calling Julia a good-for-nothing? Evanthia! The girl is just fine, and what’s more, she worships our son just as he worships her.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m telling you the truth, Evanthia.”

  “You call that love? Our son was her ticket out of her goat village. She smelled money and a fancy life and she snared him.”

  “And our son is a fool!” Kyriakos said sarcastically.

  “Our son is still a man. Two pretty eyes and an eager embrace are enough for him to fall into a trap.”

  “Evanthia, you’re raving. And not only are you raving, but you underestimate Fokas. He’s a clever man. He saw what suited him in Julia, and that’s why he married her.”

  “And she’s leading him by the nose. Do you know that a little while ago he turned me out of his room and demanded that I knock on their door before I go in?”

  “He’s right. How dare you go into the room of a married couple without knocking?”

  “I took them some water in case they were thirsty.”

  “Ah, woman! You don’t seem to remember. When you’re in love you don’t quench your thirst with water.”

  “Now you’re being vulgar!”

  “Evanthia, come to your senses. It was you Fokas was trying to protect when he told you to knock before you came in.”

  “What was he protecting me from?”

  “From a spectacle unsuitable for mothers. The young people are in love. Be reasonable! You shouldn’t go into their room for any reason. You might find them in bed—and not because they’re sleeping—and then you’ll all be in an embarrassing position.”

  “Stop it! You’re making me angry!”

  “Woman, however much you don’t like it, your son is married.”

  “That’s easily fixed.”

  “Ah! Tell me you’ve gone crazy!”

  “I’m fine, and I’m just telling you so you know: this marriage won’t last long—I’ll see to it. I didn’t educate him so he could marry the first village girl who came along.”

  “First of all, we raised him together and gave him an education together. Secondly, if he loved this girl, he had every right to marry her. For God’s sake, he’s thirty years old! Did we need anyone’s permission or approval when we fell in love and got married?”

  “What does that have to do with it? We were introduced by mutual friends. We were from the same social class and so we married. If I remember rightly, my poor father gave us an impressive dowry. Have you seen your daughter-in-law? Fokas even paid for her clothes. That’s why he didn’t bring her to us right away—so he could smarten her up first!”

  “Evanthia, I’ll tell you one more time: leave them alone. Approach your daughter-in-law honestly, embrace her like every good mother-in-law does, and you’ll see that everything will be fine.”

  Evanthia threw him a disdainful glance and turned her back on him. She had a lot to think about.

  From the very next day, Julia understood that it would require tremendous reserves of patience to cope with her everyday life. Fokas and her father-in-law left very early in the morning for work, leaving her alone with nothing to do. She got dressed and began to tidy their room. She made the bed, put her and Fokas’s clothes in order, and then looked around, not knowing what to do next. She decided that she couldn’t spend all day shut up in her room, so she took a deep breath and went downstairs. Evanthia was in the kitchen.

  “Good morning, Mother,” she said politely.

  Instead of answering her, her mother-in-law gave her a cold look. She thought of turning around and retreating to the safety of her room, but cowardice never suited her. So she ignored the other woman and made herself some coffee. She sat at the table and watched Evanthia cooking. She paid no attention to Julia, as if she didn’t exist, so when she’d finished her coffee, Julia washed her cup and left the kitchen. There was no sense in her staying here. Before she left, though, she saw her mother-in-law taking the cup she had just washed and washing it again. Hot lava flowed in her veins. The anger that swelled inside her clouded her mind and she became once again the Julia of the village, famous for her outbursts. She approached her mother-in-law who was just putting the rewashed cup into the dish drain.

  “Didn’t I wash it well, Mother?” she asked and her voice trembled. “Have you washed it properly now?
Or maybe, because I drank out of it, it will never be clean again? Perhaps it’s better if we make it disappear!” Taking the cup with a sudden movement, she threw it on the floor, where it smashed into pieces.

  Evanthia rolled her eyes, unable to speak.

  “Anyway, unlike the cup, you won’t make me disappear—nor will you break me!” Julia said, and left the kitchen with her head held high.

  There was no point in staying any longer in the house. Her husband would be home for lunch and she was suffocating in the inhospitable atmosphere. She took her handbag and went out to explore Thessaloniki. Perhaps she’d find a suitable apartment. She didn’t need to wait for Fokas.

  At lunchtime the family gathered around the table in a silence more unpleasant than an uproar. Evanthia sat stiffly, her lips tight. Julia fixed her attention on her food and the two men exchanged confused glances.

  “So,” Fokas began, trying to start a conversation. “What did the two ladies of the house do this morning?”

  Instead of answering, his mother got up and went into the kitchen. When she returned she was holding the broken cup in her hands. “This is all that your wife did today!” she said drily. “She drank her coffee, broke the cup, and then took to the streets! She’s only been home for half an hour!”

  Fokas was stunned. He turned to Julia, who, as if she’d heard nothing, continued eating her meal. “Julia?” he asked her, completely at a loss.

  The girl put the last bite in her mouth and then stood up. “Your mother and I,” she began assuredly, “have agreed that I’m not only undesirable, but incurably sick. You know, like people with tuberculosis. So whatever I touch, it’s not enough for it to be washed. It’s better to destroy it. Isn’t that right, Mother?”

  Julia calmly took her plate and her glass and smashed them. Then, with a light nod, she said good-bye to Fokas and her in-laws and returned to her room. Only there did she let the tears flow freely down her cheeks. Fokas followed her almost immediately and found her standing beside the window, looking at the road. He closed the door softly behind him, then sat down in an armchair and lit a cigarette.

  “When you’re ready, I’d like to find out what happened,” he said. “It’s impossible that you’ve suddenly gone crazy and started to smash things. What’s going on, Julia?”

  In a completely colorless tone, Julia told him in detail the episode of the controversial cup. She nearly lost it when, as soon as she’d finished, she saw Fokas starting to laugh.

  “I never expected you to laugh at this moment,” she flung at him crossly.

  Fokas put out his cigarette and came to her. He put his arms around her and kissed her tenderly. “Before we married, on one of my visits to the house, I was alone with your mother one evening. She was in a nostalgic mood and she told me lots of stories about your childhood. Indeed she warned me that beneath your miniature appearance lurked a fiery temperament, and God help anyone who bothered you or the people you love. She also told me that you were famous in the neighborhood for your nerve, and whatever you had in mind you always managed to achieve. So I’m very pleased that my mother met her match, just like your grandfather did once upon a time.”

  “She told you about my grandfather?”

  “Naturally! You were the only one who wasn’t afraid of him, and the only one he did everything to please. He even gave you the dog, Arapis, despite the fact that he didn’t like dogs. As you can see, my love, I’m aware of all your sinful past.”

  “So you’re not angry with me that I behaved like that with your mother?”

  “I’m angrier with my mother because she behaved like that toward you. I know that things will be a little difficult until we find our house, but after today I’m a little more at ease. You can manage very well with the Cerberus called Evanthia. Just don’t carry it too far!”

  “I never bother anyone unless they bother me.”

  Fokas laughed hard and hugged her. His laughter reached the sitting room and Evanthia turned pale. Kyriakos shook his head in disappointment, then got up from the table, and, taking his newspaper, disappeared into their room.

  Four months passed before the right apartment turned up. Julia wore her legs out tramping all over Thessaloniki. The apartment that Fokas was waiting for in the new block hadn’t worked out; the owner wanted to sell it rather than rent it. And despite all the new construction in the city, it wasn’t easy to find the sort of place they wanted. One had no view, and Julia was adamant about that. Another was expensive, and the next had a kitchen that looked like a prison. Staying at Evanthia’s became more difficult every day, as she took care to ensure, but Julia displayed a stubbornness and an honesty that caused all the carefully warped schemes of her mother-in-law to stumble and fail. In fact the house was almost becoming a battleground with everything that went on. The two men tried to keep the peace but after four months they threw up their hands. They accepted their defeat one Thursday when Evanthia left the house early in the morning to attend a funeral.

  Her mother-in-law went out rarely, if at all, so Julia felt as if someone had given her an unexpected gift. With no one around to object, she cooked all morning and put all her art into making the food. It was the first time in four months of marriage that she had cooked for her husband, so she decided to make a red stew with pasta, a dish she knew he liked. She was almost disappointed when she heard the key in the lock, indicating that her mother-in-law had returned. They greeted one another coldly as Julia set the table.

  The men returned for lunch on time and sat down to eat. Fokas was the first to dig in, followed by his father. Immediately both men made faces of disgust and spat out their bites against all the laws of good manners. Julia looked on, the smile fading from her face. She had tried it earlier and knew that the stew was a complete success. The moment she put a forkful in her mouth to see what had happened, she saw the satisfied look on her mother-in-law’s face. She must have emptied a whole packet of salt into the meal.

  The dining room fell silent, and Julia looked at her mother-in-law. “I imagine that you’re proud of what you’ve done,” she said.

  “Me?” Evanthia looked surprised. “What did I do? I’ve been out all morning. If you don’t know how to cook, don’t blame me for it.”

  “Until you returned the food was fine. I imagine you emptied the salt into the saucepan while I was setting the table.”

  “You’re crazy!” yelled Evanthia.

  “Enough!” Fokas had jumped up in a fury. “Mother, this is too much, even for you!”

  “You’re blaming me? This girl has bewitched you and you believe everything she says!”

  Evanthia was beside herself. She wept and shouted out completely incoherent phrases.

  Kyriakos stood up calmly, took his wife by the shoulders, and pulled her into their room.

  Fokas turned to Julia. “I’m really sorry. It was completely childish what she did. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything. Take me out somewhere to eat; I’m dying of hunger.”

  Fokas looked at her with gratitude for not wanting to discuss the situation any further.

  The next day, Fokas’s father went to see him in his office.

  “Father, what are you doing here at this hour?” Fokas asked in astonishment. “Why aren’t you at work? Has something happened?”

  “One at a time with the questions, son,” Kyriakos replied smiling. “First of all I’m not at my work because the store is mine and I can leave whenever I like. And right now, I want to drink a coffee with my son. As to whether something has happened—what more has to happen for us to find a solution and stop things from getting worse?”

  “You’re speaking about yesterday . . .”

  “You and Julia have been living with us for four months, and every day reminds me of the Albanian front in 1940. Snow everywhere, freezing, and bombs falling. And fine, I was fighting then. But now I’m a noncombatant, a civilian. And my house is a war zone!”

  “I’m pleased you can face
it with humor.”

  “Not with humor, Fokas. The situation has reached a dead end. In the beginning there were isolated episodes, now our health is at stake. Take your wife and leave!”

  “But we’re still looking for a house.”

  “So hurry it up! It doesn’t have to be perfect. It can be something temporary. I’ll help you with the furniture—behind your mother’s back of course, because you’ll leave, but I’ll have at least another two decades with her. Do you know what scares me?”

  “That Mother doesn’t seem to accept the situation?”

  “Exactly!” Kyriakos answered. “Instead of slowly coming to terms with the idea and with Julia, she gets angrier than ever. I ask myself what else she’d be capable of doing.”

  “Well, there isn’t much more she can do.”

  “Don’t be naive! Up till now the attack has been on the front. What will happen if the guerrilla warfare starts?”

  “You’re confusing me with your military talk.”

  “I mean that until now your mother has been attacking your marriage in obvious ways. But what if her treachery becomes sneakier and more underhanded?”

  “Where are you going with this?”

  “I would be foolish if I thought I could predict Evanthia’s way of thinking. She’s frightened me in the past. That’s why you must leave. At least if she doesn’t see you, if she doesn’t have the evidence of scandal in front of her, perhaps she’ll calm down. And later you’ll have a child—and then where else can it go? She’ll accept the situation then.”

  “Why is she so angry with Julia?”

  “Because your wife has personality and opinions, and those two things are deadly sins to Evanthia. What’s more you chose your wife instead of letting your mother choose for you. So how does her tyrannical disposition deal with it?”

  “OK, you’re right. I’ll take Julia and we’ll go as soon as possible.”

  In the end, the fact that they found an apartment had a worse effect on Evanthia.

  “That witch took him from me!” she kept repeating to Kyriakos until he lost his patience.