Did the crocodile laugh?

By Diana Nassiopoulou

Story takes place in Greece from the 1930s onwards

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ocelotos Publishing
• Release date: Apr 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9786182052167

Book preview

END BEFORE THE BEGINNING

(On the island… 1934, Maria finishes the Second Grade of Primary School. Meeting of her father with her teacher)

Mr. Giannis! At last, you came… I’ve called you so many times, I wanted to talk to you about your daughter, Maria…

Work, you see, Mrs. teacher… The field and the sea want you to be a slave from dawn to dusk – even more than that – to give you the good stuff. And don’t picture much; we’re just talking about bread and onions. The letters you put in the children’s heads don’t make the cauldron sing nor fill the bellies of seven people, bless their heart… So? What’s going on?

The teacher observes him speechlessly. Neither is he like the tender and sensitive islanders that people had described to her before she settled on the island. The man across from her plays with his faded cap on his gnarled fingers, and his sun-drenched face has deep wrinkles. His gaze – as much as she manages to see before Giannis lowers his eyes on the ground – is harsh, sharp as steel. He stared at you for a while, just enough to weigh you, and he would immediately find you duff, if your hands were thin and your fingers were made for papers and pencils – things that are nonsensical and unnecessary for him.

The teacher abruptly interrupted her thoughts; she had to talk to him.

I brought you here for Maria… she continued timidly, trying to regain his attention.

Oh, look, if she makes any fuss, a little beating-up will do, Mrs. teacher. You should know that she looks strange and weird to us, too. I cannot handle her.

What are you talking about, Mr. Giannis…? What fuss? Maria could never cause trouble! She is a sensitive child and my best student.

Inadvertently, the teacher has raised her tone to Giannis. She hasn’t done that again to any parent nor to anyone. Her cheeks blush, her hands tremble. She tightens her fingers not to show her agitation.

As for that last thing you said, Mrs. teacher, that… your best student, that is useless to her. So, will you tell me why you brought me here, or should I guess? said Maria’s father sarcastically.

The teacher acts like she doesn’t understand the way Giannis uttered his last words.

Mr. Giannis, I called you here, because I learned that you have thought of stopping Maria from school…

Oh, and? he replies insolently, implying that it’s none of her business.

Don’t do this crime, Mr. Giannis... It will be a disaster for this child, as if cutting her wings. Maria wants to go farther and study. You’ll see. The time will come when you’ll feel proud of her. I’m sure that she has the potential to become a very important person. You will remember me: Maria will reach high!

Compelled by her own defense, the teacher could easily fall on her knees and beg him, if she felt that Giannis might give in. But he is not used to retreating and doing favours.

Listen, Mrs. teacher, he interrupts her abruptly, I know where you’re going with this. As for that high you said, she’d better rise to the high terraces, to the field, and de-weed. And as for her wings, the hens too have uncrushed wings, but they don’t go high. Whatever you say, I’ll stop Maria from school! The second (2nd grade) is more than enough for her – to not be played at the bazaars. I kept my other daughter right after she finished the first. And nothing happened to her. She’s fine!

The teacher gets misty. She doesn’t have a kid. What she wouldn’t give for Maria to be hers, since her father didn’t want her. But the option of adopting isn’t even in her dreams, with the man that she has…

She thinks, If only I could take her with me, let her study – if her parents agreed, of course… This was not the first time that this goes through her mind.

You can have the girl, Giannis says, as if he read her thoughts, and while the irises of his eyes have expanded, he continues full of greed: This time next year, Maria will be sending us money from Athens, because that’s where I will send her to work. Life is tough in this poor place, he says and lances a lateral, oblivious glance at the teacher, as he doubts whether she is able to understand his words.

But... she’s just a little girl; how can you do that to her? the teacher makes a last effort.

Indeed, Maria is very small, with her two side-pigtails, her slender legs and her cheap-fabric pleated school-skirt. More petite than all the girls in her class.

She can eat where she’ll go and grow bigger, mutters Giannis angry that someone opposes his decisions and turns his back on the teacher.

The debate is pointless and cannot bring any results. The teacher’s words are taken by the wind, as Giannis moves away. Without saying goodbye to the teacher, spitting in his palms and rubbing them together, looking satisfied as if he has just closed a good sales deal, with big profit and zero