She could hear her mother thinking.
“You always did love to drive,” Eleni said.
“I do.”
“You still have Theo’s dog?”
“Of course.”
There was silence for a few moments, as if that was the deciding factor.
“It was very sad, Paula. Only me and Fanourakis, his nephew, showed up.” She began to cry again. “Nobody else came. Nobody.”
“Yeah, I know, Ma; you told me.”
She could hear her mother’s breath. “I’d have to pack and all.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve got a washer and dryer.”
“I’d have to get to the airport.”
“I’ll arrange it all.”
Except for Greece, Paula’s mother had never been out of New York. She sounded frightened.
“Ma, we have toilet paper, refrigeration, electricity out here.”
Laughter interrupted Eleni’s crying.
“You have an iron?”
“Sure.” She didn’t but was sure she could buy one at the Ben Franklin. Maggie or Rick would have one she could borrow.
“If I can find a flight, Ma, would tomorrow give you enough time to pack?”
“You’re a good girl, Paula,” her mother said. “Yes. That’s plenty of time.”
* * *
At ten o’clock the next morning at the Duluth airport, Paula spotted Eleni on the down escalator heading toward the baggage claim. Paula had never seen her mother outside of New York or Athens. Eleni stood out on the crowded escalator stairs, high cheekbones, her face retaining that classic, stoic look though her dyed red hair looked matted after the long flight. The color clashed with her dark olive skin under the airport lights, yet she still had an accidental poise that came natural to her. Despite her age, she was a dignified, old-world elegant woman, a type you rarely saw these days. Wearing dark yet stylish-looking clothes, she was handsomely formal, unlike the midwestern informality. Paula spotted the long, thick gold chain that was Eleni’s trademark, brightly announcing her life, as it held Vassili’s wedding ring, an Eastern Greek cross, a bright blue evil eye and a pendant of the Parthenon. While Paula was struck with pride, it also hurt her to see how dramatically her mother stood out—the alien, still the foreigner. Paula rushed to get to Eleni quickly. Before the others noticed how out of place she was. Even the form and outline of her body, proportioned differently, was vivid and distinct, like an apparition from an early 1900s photograph of immigrants flooding New York Harbor but Photoshopped onto an escalator, passing under the post-modern neon-lit sculpture of a moose suspended from the ceiling.
“Mom,” Paula cried, elbowing her way through a group of people. Eleni turned. Pain wrenched her face as she reached for Paula. They grasped like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
“Thank you,” Eleni uttered into Paula’s shoulder.
“For what?”
“For understanding.”
“You’ve done the same for me.”
“Yes. I have.”
All those years ago, when Paula escaped on the subway with a shopping bag full of her clothes after husband number one had taken a swipe at her. Eleni had asked no questions as she’d opened the apartment door and taken the heavy bag from Paula’s hand, her daughter collapsing on her shoulder.
“Thank you for coming, Mom.” They stood there for several more moments.
“Paula,” Eleni whispered, and clutched her tighter. “My Paula.”
“It’s gonna be okay, Mom,” Paula said. “I promise. You’ll see; everything’s gonna work out.” She had nothing to go on but strong conviction.
The loud buzzer in the baggage claim startled them both, a warning to stand clear. People pressed in as suitcases and duffel bags began to stream out. The two women still held on. Paula spotted Eleni’s bag. Without letting go, Paula reached for it but missed. Instead, she’d surrendered to the hug, figuring the bag would come around again.
Her gesture prompted a nice-looking man to turn and ask, “You need help?”
Paula nodded. “You mind grabbing that green bag that just got away?”
The man sprang into action, grabbed the bag and placed it next to Eleni.
Paula mouthed, Thanks.
Eleni let go and turned. “What a nice man you are.”
Paula loaded Eleni’s suitcase into the back of the Escape and opened the passenger door, helping her mother up onto the seat.
“Nice car,” Eleni said, and began scoping out the interior. “Is it yours?” she asked as Paula helped her locate the other end of the seat belt.
“Yep,” Paula said. “All mine.”
“Uch ooo, Paula, this must have cost a fortune.”
She felt her mother glaring over at her.
“Not as expensive as some.”
“But expensive enough. Where’d you get this kind of money? Does Roger know you spent all this?”
Paula sighed and didn’t answer. As they headed toward the parking ramp exit, Paula explained that the car got good gas mileage. Eleni tried to sound cheery about it but seemed to give up before they reached the parking attendant. She seemed tired, indifferent or both. Eleni didn’t even flip down the sun visor or at least feel for a mirror on the back to fix her hair and check her lipstick, which she always did in her own car. Sometimes she’d drive with the visor down—more concerned about getting her eyebrow pencil right than missing a traffic light. But now Eleni’s eyes were dull; her prying questions about the Escape lacked the usual bite that would have progressed into a critique of Paula’s spending habits. Eleni was a toothless dragon.
They reached the parking exit and Paula handed over two dollars. The gate lifted and they headed toward downtown Duluth, and then toward Highway 61.
“This is it, Mom,” Paula said with feigned exaggeration. “You’re in beautiful downtown Duluth.” Her hand gestured across the windshield and she got a smirk out of Eleni. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really.” Eleni looked passively out at the trees and at a multistory black iron drawbridge on the lakeshore that caught her attention.
“The drive’s a bit over an hour,” Paula explained. “We can stop if you get hungry.”
“I’m fine for now.”
“The seat tilts back if you’re tired, Mom.”
“No, I slept on the plane,” Eleni said, taking in roads, trees and buildings as if it were her first day on earth. She limited the usual running negative commentary as she scanned for threats and opportunities. More like a butter knife now than her usual stiletto self.
“Doesn’t look as cramped as I thought,” Eleni said as something caught her eye and she followed it.
“Cramped?”
“Small towns always look cramped to me.”
“Oh.” Roger’s brownstone came to mind. Paula could almost smell the musty stacks of astrophysics journals. She shuddered. So far she’d battled such thoughts, New York had been kept safely under lock and key since her arrival, and she intended to keep it there for another three weeks.
Cramped. She wondered what Eleni would think of the tiny cluster of buildings hugging Grand Marais’ half-moon harbor.
Her reaction to the first glimpse of the lake surprised Paula, especially since Eleni had spent so much time on the Aegean, Mediterranean and North Atlantic.
“Oh my.” Eleni stared out as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “You weren’t kidding it was gorgeous.”
“I wasn’t,” Paula said. It was a clear, warm late September day. Eleni fiddled with the window control until the glass lowered.
“It smells good, too. I can’t quite place the scent, but like some kind of spicy perfume.”
“I thought you’d like it.”
“Is your town near this lake?”
“It’s right on it, Mom,” Paula said. “The place I’m staying is on the shoreline, too.”
Eleni raised her eyebrows and turned to Paula and clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Uch, popopopo—that must be exp
ensive; why are you going through money like water now? How are you paying for all of this?”
“Actually, Mom”—she felt giddy as she revealed the bargain with Rick—“it’s free.”
Eleni glared sharply at her with those bird eyes that, had she been a falcon, could detect mice under layers of snow.
“I swear—it’s a trade. I work and get a free place to stay.”
“Your work with the birds,” Eleni confirmed.
“Yeah.”
“I bumped into Mr. Sanchez last week. He’s closing the store,” Eleni said.
“Aww.” Paula felt a pang.
“I told him about what you were doing here and it made him very happy. Says you finally found your calling. Will I get to see your birds?”
“They’re not my birds, Mom, but of course you can see them. My boss rehabilitates them and releases them back to the wild. Right now we’ve got an eagle, an owl and some mammals. There might be something else by the time we get back. You never know.”
“So who’s this boss of yours?”
She told her all she knew about Rick, the property, the guesthouse.
“So is this Rick married?”
“He was.”
“Kids?”
“Apparently not.”
“A girlfriend?”
Paula took her eyes off the road and looked at Eleni.
“You interested, Mom? I could probably hook you up.”
Eleni laughed. At last Paula had caught her mother off guard.
“Just curious,” Eleni says. “That’s all. I want to learn about your life out here.”
“Well, my life out here ends in three weeks. Two with you, one more after that and then it’s back to New York.”
Paula could feel Eleni studying her for a very long time.
“What?” Paula asked, her eyes on a logging truck that had just pulled out in front of her.
Paula glanced at her mother, but Eleni dropped her eyes.
* * *
Thick storm clouds rolled in later that afternoon, drenching everything on and off for the rest of the day. Fotis had greeted Eleni at the door and she’d bent over talking to and petting him. After Eleni unpacked they drove to IGA to meet Maggie. On the way, Paula mentioned the upcoming Avon party that Maggie had been hyping for weeks.
“I don’t know, Paula,” Eleni hedged in the car. “I’m not sure I’m up for a party. Why don’t you go ahead? I’ll be okay; I brought plenty to read.”
“Why don’t you wait and see how you feel?” Paula suggested.
At the IGA, Eleni picked up her brand of instant coffee and creamer, and blueberries from Ephraim’s orchard. Paula introduced her to Maggie and Bobby Ray, the bagger, stocker and janitor who was the twenty-year-old nephew of Marvelline, who ran the Oklahoma Café. Bobby Ray was slow, as they called it, yet he was as smart as could be. It was as if he’d been in a litter of puppies and while in utero the others had squashed him way in the back. Even Paula couldn’t figure it out, since he was always attentive, though shaky, as if doped up on some kind of meds, some days more so than others. And everyone had the sense that Marvelline had rescued him from some bad situation back in the small town of Godebo, Oklahoma, where they were from. Yet Maggie extolled Bobby Ray’s virtues—a hard worker the likes of which she’d never had. Missing not one day in two years, unlike many of the high school students who’d last a few months and then disappear.
“Hi, Paula,” Bobby Ray said.
“Hey, Bobby Ray. How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. See your mom’s visiting.”
“Yeah, she is. Did you meet her?”
“Just did.” Bobby Ray nodded to Eleni and walked away. Pencil thin, his body moved in one piece with minimal articulation of his limbs, and he had short crew-cut hair. He returned to finish blocking the cans of soup that he’d just stocked.
“So I see you have one of those little blue evil eyes, too,” Maggie said, spotting the jangle of charms on the end of Eleni’s necklace.
She picked up the chain, holding the blue eye between her fingers. “They sent me this from the village the day Paula was born. To protect and bring luck.”
A lot of good it did. Paula pressed her lips together.
“I’ve never taken it off,” Eleni said as if that were a major life accomplishment.
“Well, you know,” Maggie began. “The evil eye is very hot right now in jewelry. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings all with those staring blue eyes. I have to confess, I find some of them a bit creepy.”
“They’re supposed to be,” Eleni explained. “They bounce back people’s envy and ill will, protecting the wearer.” Eleni went into a detailed explanation about the importance to Mediterranean people.
“Would you be our featured guest at the dinner this Saturday?” Maggie asked.
Eleni looked at her as if trying to gauge the woman’s sincerity.
“I’d be honored if you’d come share all of this history at the potluck,” Maggie asked. “Marvelline’s closing up the Oklahoma Café for the night and we’re having our semi-annual Avon party there. Regional reps, the works.” Maggie turned toward Eleni. “Truckers all got their undies in a bundle, but Marvelline told ’em they’re more than welcome providing they buy makeup. That shut ’em up.”
Paula laughed. Eleni wasn’t sure what it all meant.
“We don’t often get someone from your background up here,” Maggie said. “I know my friends would be very interested in a talk about the evil eye.”
Eleni paused, considering the invitation. “Why, I’d love to,” she said, her voice having a lightness that surprised Paula.
“We have samples of pendants, necklaces,” Maggie began. “Makeup demonstrations, plus Avon’s regular line of products,” Maggie explained. “Wait till I tell the others; they’ll be so tickled. They’ve wanted to meet Paula, and now they get to meet you both.”
Maggie looked at her watch. “Too bad I don’t have someone to cover now or we could all go down to the Oklahoma for some lunch. I got that new night manager, Amber, coming in around three and I gotta stick around for training.”
* * *
“She looks Turkish to me,” Eleni said as she and Paula walked back to the Escape during a break between rainstorms.
“I told you she’s American Indian.”
“I know, but she still looks Turkish. I had a cousin, Despina, up in Thessaloníki who was a cop and used to paint her fingernails blue. She could be her twin. Lots of Turkish-Greeks up there.”
Eleni stopped on the sidewalk. “How ’bout I make spanakopita for the Avon party on Saturday? Think they have filo and feta up here?” She began searching the storefronts.
“Well, if they do, Maggie’s got it.”
“You have a full kitchen?”
“Yes, though I’ve never turned on the oven,” Paula said sheepishly.
Eleni glared at Paula, hands on hips. “Now why doesn’t that surprise me.” Grabbing Paula’s sleeve, Eleni turned her around, walking back to the IGA with the excitement of a teenager. “Come on. I’ll bring fresh spanakopita to Maggie’s and that Marvel lady’s party. Maybe I’ll even spring for some baklava. You can help with that.”
Paula smirked. As they entered the store, Eleni pulled out a shopping cart.
* * *
It rained the entire rest of the day, so they hunkered down in the guesthouse with Fotis. They dozed, ate and watched old reruns of The Donna Reed Show. “I always thought that woman was such a phony,” Eleni said, sipping coffee and petting Fotis’ head with the other hand. “Ella, Fotis mou,” Eleni said, amused as she studied the dog’s face. “You know he looks like one of Theo’s dogs.”
Paula thought back to the dogs of his she’d known.
“They all have the same expression,” Eleni said.
Paula glanced at Fotis as he looked up. She didn’t remember the dogs that well.
“Like they’re really people in a dog’s body, God rest his poor soul. Maybe he’ll come back
as one and be happier.” Eleni looked at her watch.
“You got a train to catch?” Paula teased.
“You’re such a smart mouth.” Eleni chuckled and pretended to smack her. “I’m just trying to figure if I’ll be back in time for his mnismosino.”
Paula remembered that forty days after death the priest would perform a ceremony that released a person’s soul from the earth.
As Eleni started to pet Fotis, he leaned against her leg. “Aww—you’re such a good boy, aren’t you,” Eleni said, and hugged him.
Paula practically did a double take. “I didn’t know you liked dogs.” She’d never seen Eleni touch a live animal.
“I love dogs,” she said.
It was news to Paula. “Then why didn’t you let me have one?”
“Uch ooo, that was Vassili,” Eleni dismissed with a wave of her hand. “‘All I see is filth, fur and money down the toilet,’ he’d say.”
“You asked for me?”
“Of course I did. For me, too. I wanted a dog,” she said, and laughed in a way that made Paula feel a pang of disappointment. “But as much as I tried to get him to say yes he’d shake his head. ‘Ochi, Ochi, case closed,’ he’d say. ‘Don’t ask me again.’” Eleni imitated Vassili brushing his hands. “And then after he died,” she said, “I was lucky I could feed you. Thank God you ate like a little bird.”
CHAPTER 12
Eleni insisted on tagging along with Paula the next morning. First they visited the eagle. Paula gently grasped both of his feathered legs to secure his talons, lifted and tucked him into the crook of her arm. As she walked out of the enclosure, talking to him in Greek, Eleni gasped.
“Oh my God.” Eleni stepped back and unconsciously covered her mouth.
“Yeah, they’re big, aren’t they?” Paula said. She was proud of the eagle and even prouder to be holding him.
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