by Alex A King
Vivi’s horrified, and rightfully (in her mind) so.
“Mom!”
“We are grownups, no? Then we can talk of sex. But it was more than that. John was not attentive to you the way a man truly in love is. His eyes did not follow you when you left the room. There was no excitement when you came back. You were always the one reaching out to him.”
Wow. Her mother is Oprah. Greek Oprah.
Opah?
Whatever. Vivi is all shook up. All these years, she thought Eleni adored John. Her beloved son-in-law. If she had a choice between sides, she always joined Team John.
“I thought you liked him more than you liked me.”
“How could I love anyone more than I love my little Vivi? You have all the good pieces of your father and me, and maybe some of the bad too, eh?” Eleni’s voice is smiling. “You are better off without John. I am glad he left you. Look at you now – you are strong!”
Vivi’s face glows red, her mouth goes Sahara. Feels good, in a weird way.
The John years were filled with probability.
The Vivi years are filled with possibility.
Anything can happen. It doesn’t matter that Melissa (sweet, vital Melissa) is stumbling; Vivi’s going to take her hand, show her where the steel lives.
Eleni makes a self-satisfied noise. “You are smiling again. Good.”
“I’m not smiling,” Vivi says. “There’s no smiling in jail. How long until Pavlos comes back?”
“That crook. I should have known Dora would send for him.”
“I can find another lawyer.”
“No, a crook is good. A crook that is family, even better.”
99
VIVI
NOT EVEN LUNCHTIME AND the cop has tzatziki on his upper lip.
“Visitor,” he says. Then he gets out so the visitor can get in.
Eleni gasps.
(Vivi doesn’t, because Dad being there isn’t a surprise.)
“Elias, what are you doing here?”
What is he doing here? Reaching for his wife, that’s what. The man practically crawls between the bars so he can get ahold of her. Then it’s hugging and kissing and –
Love. Real love.
Vivi looks out the window. Nice blue sky. Lots of sun. Not too far away, someone’s cooking souvlaki. Too bad some partygoer urinated beneath their window last night.
Eventually, her dad drops the dime on Vivi.
“Vivi called. She thought you needed me. She was right.”
Eleni gives her the look, but Vivi can tell she’s secretly pleased. “You silly man,” she says.
Vivi’s father glances from one woman to the other. “Will someone please tell me why both my girls are in jail?”
“You didn’t tell him?” Eleni asks her daughter.
Vivi shrugs. There was no time. The moment she mentioned her mother and trouble, her father was out the door.
“It is nothing,” Eleni continues. “They think we killed someone.”
“Sofia Lambeti.” His face gives nothing away.
“Don’t tell me you’re upset!” Eleni says.
Elias Pappas turns his attention to his daughter. “Vivi, I brought you a present.”
“Do I get a present?” Eleni asks.
“When we get you out of here, then you can have a present, eh?”
Vivi’s present walks in the room, rough, tired, no sign of his usual swagger.
“Surprise, I'm a jailbird,” Vivi says.
Max laughs. “Suits you.”
“You haven’t lived until you’ve been arrested in front of the whole neighborhood. Have you seen Melissa?”
Her father nods at the door. “She’s in the waiting room. My poor girl is terrified you’re going to the electric chair. I told her that they used to have a firing squad, not the electric chair.”
“Not since 1972,” Max says. “Greece hasn’t executed anyone since 1972.”
Vivi says, “Shit.”
“Language!” Eleni barks.
Vivi doesn’t bite back.
* * *
She’s watching herself earn her place in this cell. Slowly wringing the neck that put her in here.
It’s okay that she’s here. There are worse things, worse places. Sometimes life turns strange corners. Go to bed one night and the world is one way, wake up in a world gone mad.
It’s okay.
Vivi can live in a behind bars if she has to. She can eat their bread and cheese, drink their water, pee in a lidless, stainless (not-stainless) toilet. She can go to court and watch her character go on trial, listen to the other guy tilt the truth until it fits his template.
And that’s okay, too. Vivi is (if anything has been proven thus far) a survivor. Three parts woman, one part robot.
What’s not okay – seriously NOT okay – is Melissa being frightened.
That’s the complete opposite of okay.
Vivi knows she didn’t kill Sofia, didn’t help Eleni (or anyone else) kill Sofia. While Sofia was busy dying, Vivi was busy doing . . .
Well, doing Max.
Which means someone around here is a major-league liar. And because of that lie, her daughter is afraid Vivi’s going to do life or give life.
Vivi’s doing the time, so she thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to commit a few rounds of mental homicide.
It’s amazing what a furious mother can do with an imaginary lead pipe, barbed wire, and zero consequences.
* * *
“What did the police say?” Eleni asks her husband.
He shrugs. “Nothing. They tell me nothing.” A nod in Max’s direction. “But to him, they talk.”
“They know me,” Max says, in his own defense. “A witness saw Mrs. Pappas arguing with the deceased before she died. Then someone called in an anonymous tip, that the two of you killed the woman together. Vivi, you allegedly lifted the deceased into the tree at your mother’s request.”
“Ha-ha,” Vivi says weakly. “It’s a lie, of course.”
Max nods. “I told them we were together at the time, and after I left Melissa was there. Which she confirmed. The good news is that you’re both free to go – for now. They’re processing the paperwork.”
“They’re letting Mom go, too?”
“New evidence, they said.”
“I told them you would kill each other if they leave you in here together,” Vivi’s father says. “The paperwork on two dead women in their custody would be taller than Mount Pelion. And Greek police, they do not like paperwork so much.”
“Ha-ha,” Vivi says.
Ha-ha.
100
VIVI
MELISSA IS FULL OF tears and hugs.
That’s okay, Vivi is, too.
“Allergies,” she says.
Nobody suggests otherwise.
* * *
You’d think she’d been gone a year, the way Biff acts.
It’s undignified, how she rolls around on the ground with him, but who cares?
“So who do you think called in the tip?” Max asks.
Vivi shrugs. “Could be anyone.”
“Who hates you?”
“I’m sure there’s a list.”
“Be serious, Vivi.”
“I am serious. Let’s see. Ian – that’s my ex husband’s boyfriend. Your fiancée – ”
“Ex fiancée.”
“ – my cousin Effie. Melissa’s friend Olivia. This Sofia woman’s daughter – who may or may not be my sister. I’m sure there are more. Like I said: a list.”
“Do you think she’s your sister?”
“It’s possible.” She thinks for a minute. “Who knows if she even knows I exist? If her mother was as secretive as mine . . .”
They look inside at Vivi’s parents and Melissa working in the kitchen.
Vivi says, “We never really know our parents, do we?”
“No, but they know us. They used to be us.”
* * *
She might talk a lot of sunshine and
light, but Vivi is worried.
Somebody here hates her. Somebody here hates her enough to lie to the police.
That’s not exactly small potatoes.
Nobody leaves anonymous tips for funsies. It’s a calculated tactical move. That anonymous someone wants:
* * *
Vivi in jail permanently.
Vivi in jail temporarily.
Jail or no jail, Vivi’s reputation shredded.
* * *
So, she’s worried. For now, she’s out of jail and home with her family, but what’s next?
When someone’s gunning for you, they usually bring more than one bullet.
She keeps her cool, though. Doesn’t melt in front of her family. Doesn’t cry again, until she’s tucking Melissa into bed that night.
It’s been years since Melissa asked to be tucked in, but tonight is special circumstances.
Biff settles his big bones on the end of Melissa’s bed and tries to look small. Melissa’s not trying to look small – she is small. Tonight she’s maybe five, maybe seven.
“Mom, you’re not going back to jail, are you?”
“No, Honey. Max vouched for me, and they know his word is good.”
“Then why did they arrest you?”
“Because someone told a lie.”
“Why would they do that?”
It’s a million-euro question. “I don’t know. People do all kinds of awful things for all kinds of reasons. Maybe it was some kind of crappy joke.”
“It’s not very funny,” Melissa says. Her bottom lip is starting to quiver. “Are you mad at me, Mom?”
“Yes, but also no. Does that make sense?”
“Not really.”
“I don’t like that you lied to me, but that’s only one tiny crappy thing. There are a billion other wonderful things about you. If you could stay away from guys until you’re thirty, that would be awesome.”
“Are all guys assholes?”
Well are they?
Consider the two men in the other room.
The man who boarded a plane, and took on the world, the minute Vivi called, the minute he knew his wife was in need.
The second man who (Vivi knows) would do the same for his own wife, if necessary. The man who saved Melissa, who saves children every day. The man who told the truth so she could walk free.
“No,” Vivi says. “Most men are pretty great. Just be patient.”
101
VIVI
IS MY MELISSA OKAY?” Elias asks.
Vivi nods.
“I should go,” Max says.
“Or you could stay,” she tells him. “For a while.”
He glances at her parents.
Eleni says, “If you put your hands on my daughter, I will cut them off and feed them to the dog.”
“Leave the man’s hands alone, he’s a doctor,” Elias says.
“Only a surgeon needs hands.”
* * *
Vivi gets down to (personal) business.
“I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t want to hurt – ”
“I’m in love with you.”
It’s not midnight, but it sure looks it. The moon is too new to matter. All they’ve got for light is the stars, and even they’re limping, worn out from last night’s merriment.
Vivi panics. This isn’t how the script in her head goes. And when it comes to Max, she’s not good at making it up on the fly. She can’t be trusted with herself.
That’s okay, Max has more words for her.
“I think I loved you from the moment I saw you standing in the emergency room, holding Melissa in your arms. You were terrified, but at the same time you were strong enough to carry her in there on your own. Yes, I want to be your friend, but not just a friend.”
He loves her. He loves her.
And yeah, she loves him.
Or at least she thinks she does.
It’s hard to say. She lived a make-believe love for so long that now she can’t tell the real thing from the impostor. Doesn’t want to love a sheep and find out he’s a wolf.
“I’m not looking for an answer, tonight,” Max says. “I’m giving you your time. Giving myself time. Then I’m coming for you, Vivi. Believe it.”
Oh.
102
VIVI
ELENI! VIVI! HURRY, HURRY!”
Mid morning. They all slept in.
At least until the Thea Dora juggernaut started rolling their way.
Now they’re leaping out of their beds, running to see what today’s drama is all about.
Vivi is in yesterday’s clothes. Max left minutes after his revelation, and things got hazy after that. Getting changed seemed like a waste of potential sleeping time, so she let herself fall, let the bed catch her.
She and Eleni collide at the front door. Her mother squints at the figure of her impending sister.
“My God, Dora, what is your problem?”
“Virgin Mary be praised, you are both here!” She glances around furtively. “I hope the lesbians did not touch you.”
“No lesbians, Thea. Just me. And Mom's not exactly my type,” Vivi says. “They tossed us in a cell together.”
“And nobody beat you?”
“Not even at cards.”
“Oh, thank Jesus and God and the Virgin Mary!”
It’s exhausting, watching her heave herself up the steps.
“I heard a rumor, Vivi, that your father broke you out of the jail. If you need a place to hide from the police I know a good one. It is under my house. Your late uncle, he dug a big hole there in case the Turks came.”
Eleni has a funny look on her face.
“We didn't break out of prison,” Vivi says. “They let us out.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Eleni says. “The walls are made of concrete and steel. How would we break out?”
“Maybe Elias tied rope to a car and pulled the window bars.” She sounds hopeful.
Vivi doesn’t laugh – she doesn’t.
“You are ridiculous, Dora,” Eleni tells her sister. “Come, have coffee.”
“No, no, I cannot stay. You must come to my house immediately! We must remove the evil eye. Sofia is dead so her curse should be gone, but someone else still wishes you ill or you would not have been arrested.”
“Dora . . .” Eleni starts.
“Bah! You have lived in America too long!”
“I suppose it cannot hurt,” she says. “Vivi?”
It’s unconventional. Weird. Hocus-pocus. Crazy. Start believing in the evil eye and you may as well start living your life according to the horoscope scribbled in the back of the newspaper. It’s one step away from throwing your life savings at some psychic hotline, where the only accurate prediction is your inevitable bankruptcy.
“I thought you already got rid of the curse. Why do it again?”
“Curses can be like a burr,” her aunt says. “This one could be stuck to you.”
What would The Amazing Randi say?
“Um, okay?”
* * *
Vivi thinks her aunt doesn’t look so hot, so she offers to drive. She doesn’t frame it like that, though, doesn’t tell her aunt she looks like one small hillock away from heart failure.
She’s diplomatic about it. Blames it on her own frailty and the heat.
Melissa stays behind with her grandfather. Vivi thinks how lucky she is – lucky to have Melissa in her life. She’s the world’s biggest silver lining.
They’re still in first gear when Eleni says, “Look, here comes Melissa’s friend.”
Vivi glances in the rearview mirror.
Friend, her ass. But she’s glad to see Olivia is alive and capable of steering a bicycle. She doesn’t like the girl, but she’s somebody’s baby. And, yeah, this lets Melissa of a huge, bloody hook.
“Hang on,” she says.
Reverse, reverse, until she’s alongside Olivia.
The girl looks startled, at first. It’s obvious she was waiting to
catch Melissa alone, but she makes a smooth recovery.
“Mrs. Tyler, is Melissa home?”
“Not to you.”
“Why?”
Gee, where does she even start? “Because you're a shitty friend and my daughter deserves better. That’s a good enough reason.”
The girl leans on the handle bars oh-so casually, puts on her best smirk. Vivi wants to slap it clean off her face.
“Did Melissa tell you everything?”
Figures. Vivi is so not surprised. A snake is a snake is a snake. But Vivi’s a good Girl Scout – she came to this confrontation prepared.
“Everything.” She stretches that word to its limits. “Including the part where you had sex with Thanasi.”
Goodbye, smirk. Hello, fear.
“I could have died,” Olivia says.
“But you didn't.”
“But – ”
“You didn’t.”
Olivia looks away.
“I highly recommend looking for another friend. Melissa is unavailable.”
Vivi hits the gas. The tires spin and as she zooms away, all that’s left in the rearview mirror is a sepia-toned girl.
103
MELISSA
MELISSA WATCHES IT ALL go down.
Olivia rolls up on her bicycle and Melissa freaks out, because either that’s a ghost out there or Olivia has come to kick her ass for kicking her ass.
But she’s not a ghost. Melissa figures that part out quickly when Mom throws the car into reverse.
So Olivia’s not dead. That’s good. That’s great. No juvie for Melissa – if they even have juvie out here.
Which leaves the ass kicking. Best-case scenario, Olivia’s going to yell a lot of horrible things. She doesn’t care what Olivia tells Mom, but she does care what Olivia tells, oh, the rest of town. School is starting in another month, and Melissa doesn’t want everyone to hate her before they’ve had a chance to know her. There’s, like, one high school in town. It’s not as if she can just go somewhere else nearby. Changing schools would mean catching the bus into Volos every day.