Air Club room. Snacks, tea, and seating seemed like home, but he was really taken by the quiet, the respite from the noisy concourses. Their three-hour layover gave the two men time to continue sizing each other up. AJ was able to switch seats to sit with Ceres for their flight to Athens. He figured if they were going to be in the air for sixteen hours he surely could learn something from the old man. Once they were airborne, Ceres began talking excitedly about returning to Greece. It had been ten years since his last trip. This one could be his last visit.
“I grew up in the hills of the north. It’s mountainous country, not many people. The Germans and some collaborators killed my family and burned my village. I went with the Andartes and met your grandfather. He helped me escape Greece. After the Germans left in December 1944, the different resistance groups fought each other until civil war broke out in 1946. I left before that, though. I came to America with only the clothes I was wearing, and the English I learned from your grandfather.”
“And that piece of gold you showed me,” AJ responded.
“Yes, I had that too. The brother of a man from my village took me in. His name was Andrew Papandreou. Mr. Andrew, as I called him, gave me a new life,” Ceres said.
“Where is he now?” AJ asked.
“He and his wife died years ago. They had three children. Two of them died, but I still write to Georgia, my last American sister. She is all the family I have left.”
“From the little you have told me, maybe we should consider each other family,” AJ said, his own family gone.
“I was beginning to feel that way about your father,” Ceres replied. “Perhaps we should.”
“Tell me about my grandfather and why you think there’s a connection to my father’s murder?” AJ said.
“It’s complicated Ajax. I don’t have the full … what is the term? I don’t have the full picture,” Ceres said.
AJ was impatient, as always, with the old Greek’s stalling.
What was he hiding? He squirmed in his seat like a six year old. Patience, he reminded himself, was an old ally. He would take his time, as he did in the courtroom. He needed to take his time.
“Andreas was curious about his father,” Ceres continued, “who he was, what he did in the war, what could have happened to him? He hunted for friends and relatives, searched through the National Archives in Washington, military records, and even church records, looking for answers – clues to what happened.”
“Clues? The safe deposit box didn’t have any clues,” AJ said.
“We shall see,” Ceres responded, still cautious about trusting the young man too soon. “I was with Lieutenant John, your grandfather, for several months during the war, but there were things I didn’t see. He was reported killed but …When he disappeared part of the ransom disappeared too. His men had no choice but to believe he had stolen it and abandoned them. But Ajax that is not the man I knew, even though I was just a small boy.”
“So what really happened?”
Ceres leaned back in his seat and gazed out the plane’s window. “Lieutenant John and his men stopped a train carrying the ransom, and some Jewish prisoners. They ambushed and killed the guards. They freed the prisoners and took the ransom. Lieutenant John planned to force the Germans to release all the Jews they held in the North. Your grandfather called it ransoming the ransom. He got a group of Greek traitors to help him and I think he trusted the wrong man.”
Ceres’ voice trailed away, and, lost in sad memories, he turned to stare out into the darkness. Overcome by exhaustion and sadness, he fell silent, and then into a fitful sleep.
AJ waited until Ceres began to snore then took out his iPhone. He added to the copious notes he had made previously and wracked his brain for any crumb he could recall Ceres had left.
When they landed in Athens, AJ turned on his cell phone. He had a message from Spiro
“I grew up in the hills of the north. It’s mountainous country, not many people. The Germans and some collaborators killed my family and burned my village. I went with the Andartes and met your grandfather. He helped me escape Greece. After the Germans left in December 1944, the different resistance groups fought each other until civil war broke out in 1946. I left before that, though. I came to America with only the clothes I was wearing, and the English I learned from your grandfather.”
“And that piece of gold you showed me,” AJ responded.
“Yes, I had that too. The brother of a man from my village took me in. His name was Andrew Papandreou. Mr. Andrew, as I called him, gave me a new life,” Ceres said.
“Where is he now?” AJ asked.
“He and his wife died years ago. They had three children. Two of them died, but I still write to Georgia, my last American sister. She is all the family I have left.”
“From the little you have told me, maybe we should consider each other family,” AJ said, his own family gone.
“I was beginning to feel that way about your father,” Ceres replied. “Perhaps we should.”
“Tell me about my grandfather and why you think there’s a connection to my father’s murder?” AJ said.
“It’s complicated Ajax. I don’t have the full … what is the term? I don’t have the full picture,” Ceres said.
AJ was impatient, as always, with the old Greek’s stalling.
What was he hiding? He squirmed in his seat like a six year old. Patience, he reminded himself, was an old ally. He would take his time, as he did in the courtroom. He needed to take his time.
“Andreas was curious about his father,” Ceres continued, “who he was, what he did in the war, what could have happened to him? He hunted for friends and relatives, searched through the National Archives in Washington, military records, and even church records, looking for answers – clues to what happened.”
“Clues? The safe deposit box didn’t have any clues,” AJ said.
“We shall see,” Ceres responded, still cautious about trusting the young man too soon. “I was with Lieutenant John, your grandfather, for several months during the war, but there were things I didn’t see. He was reported killed but …When he disappeared part of the ransom disappeared too. His men had no choice but to believe he had stolen it and abandoned them. But Ajax that is not the man I knew, even though I was just a small boy.”
“So what really happened?”
Ceres leaned back in his seat and gazed out the plane’s window. “Lieutenant John and his men stopped a train carrying the ransom, and some Jewish prisoners. They ambushed and killed the guards. They freed the prisoners and took the ransom. Lieutenant John planned to force the Germans to release all the Jews they held in the North. Your grandfather called it ransoming the ransom. He got a group of Greek traitors to help him and I think he trusted the wrong man.”
Ceres’ voice trailed away, and, lost in sad memories, he turned to stare out into the darkness. Overcome by exhaustion and sadness, he fell silent, and then into a fitful sleep.
AJ waited until Ceres began to snore then took out his iPhone. He added to the copious notes he had made previously and wracked his brain for any crumb he could recall Ceres had left.
When they landed in Athens, AJ turned on his cell phone. He had a message from Spiro
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