when they married theyâd be ready to set up house. Thatâs right. Now some had dowries and others didnât, but I know one thing. From Kastrà all the way to Palaiohóri, KynourÃa, they had requisitioned all the mules.
âAnd theyâd carry off the dowries.
âWhatever was in the houses. Burned down or not. The houses were looted.
âDid you see the mules leaving from where you were?
âWe saw them. After they freed us. Because a signal came that the Germans were coming from TrÃpolis. With the local men in the Battalions. Thatâs when they let us go. But when the Security Battalions got here the houses were nothing but ashes.
âAnd
they
burned the rest down.
âThey burned three or four houses. In retaliation. But not the same day. They came back later. To retaliate. Against Velissáris, and Mávros.
âYes.
âBecause NÃkos Mávros was also a ranking member.
âKapetán Foúrias.
âKapetán Foúrias. The worst, the most barbaric of the lot, here in KastrÃ. While the Velissáris brothers, we could say by comparison,they were restrained. One was a lawyer, and the other a soft-spoken type, he had actually finished high school, they kept their distance. But not Kapetán Foúrias. But the thing I remember is . . .
âAbout the fire?
âAbout the fire. Itâs that complete strangers came here, and they had their informants here, and they showed them where my mother or yours or this one or that one had hidden their things, and theyâd tell on them, and they went and opened those so-called shelters and took those things. And thatâs the story of the big looting.
Chapter 23
We loaded up the chestnuts. To haul all through the night. We passed Sourávla, we arrived down outside Ayios Pétros. Was it the devil playing tricks, or was it the smell of bloodâthree years since Fotiás was killed there, the mules wouldnât set foot there. We couldnât see a thing.
Chapter 25
Pavlákos was present at the execution of VasÃlimis. It was a brother of his who killed VasÃlimis. A brother of his, and BouraÃmis. Mihális BouraÃmis, who now receives a pension for being in the Resistance. He killed the man and heâs getting a pension. They captured Yiánnis VasÃlimis, a big, tall man. Nice-looking man, good-looking. With young children, a son and a daughter. They arrested him with his father. His father went over to them. He tells them, Hey, you fellows, what did Yiánnis ever do to you? Then someone bashed him, we donât know who, and threw him down in some tall bushes. But the old man lived, he didnât die. They took Yiánnis up a ways, to a place they call Spathokomménoi, itâs farther up, on the road from Koúvli. It was Koúvli where they arrested him. His brother, Pavlákos, and the others. And they killed him in Spathokomménoi. The old man got himself out of those bushes, he went to his daughter-in-law. Miliá, Miliá, he shouts to her. They killed Yiánnis, you poor girl, go and collect him. Miliá took my sister-in-law Electra and they went up there and found him. My sister-in-law said he was beaten so bad heâd kicked up a footâs-length of dirt, thatâs what she told me, he was buried in that dirt. Seems he was beaten a lot before he died. I donât know if they knifed him or not, I donât know about Pavlákos, but that other fellow, the one from Galtená, went to prison for quite a few years. They had him in some prison somewhere. And now they say he gets no sleep, that bloodshed still hounds him.
Chapter 27
Thatâs how they captured Penelope Kaloútsis. It was Pikinós who got her. Iâm not all that certain, maybe YeorghÃa knows better. And someone else. There were two of them. And when he got hold of her she told him, Now listen here, you came here after
me
, you came to capture
me
, why, if you scratch
âAnd theyâd carry off the dowries.
âWhatever was in the houses. Burned down or not. The houses were looted.
âDid you see the mules leaving from where you were?
âWe saw them. After they freed us. Because a signal came that the Germans were coming from TrÃpolis. With the local men in the Battalions. Thatâs when they let us go. But when the Security Battalions got here the houses were nothing but ashes.
âAnd
they
burned the rest down.
âThey burned three or four houses. In retaliation. But not the same day. They came back later. To retaliate. Against Velissáris, and Mávros.
âYes.
âBecause NÃkos Mávros was also a ranking member.
âKapetán Foúrias.
âKapetán Foúrias. The worst, the most barbaric of the lot, here in KastrÃ. While the Velissáris brothers, we could say by comparison,they were restrained. One was a lawyer, and the other a soft-spoken type, he had actually finished high school, they kept their distance. But not Kapetán Foúrias. But the thing I remember is . . .
âAbout the fire?
âAbout the fire. Itâs that complete strangers came here, and they had their informants here, and they showed them where my mother or yours or this one or that one had hidden their things, and theyâd tell on them, and they went and opened those so-called shelters and took those things. And thatâs the story of the big looting.
Chapter 23
We loaded up the chestnuts. To haul all through the night. We passed Sourávla, we arrived down outside Ayios Pétros. Was it the devil playing tricks, or was it the smell of bloodâthree years since Fotiás was killed there, the mules wouldnât set foot there. We couldnât see a thing.
Chapter 25
Pavlákos was present at the execution of VasÃlimis. It was a brother of his who killed VasÃlimis. A brother of his, and BouraÃmis. Mihális BouraÃmis, who now receives a pension for being in the Resistance. He killed the man and heâs getting a pension. They captured Yiánnis VasÃlimis, a big, tall man. Nice-looking man, good-looking. With young children, a son and a daughter. They arrested him with his father. His father went over to them. He tells them, Hey, you fellows, what did Yiánnis ever do to you? Then someone bashed him, we donât know who, and threw him down in some tall bushes. But the old man lived, he didnât die. They took Yiánnis up a ways, to a place they call Spathokomménoi, itâs farther up, on the road from Koúvli. It was Koúvli where they arrested him. His brother, Pavlákos, and the others. And they killed him in Spathokomménoi. The old man got himself out of those bushes, he went to his daughter-in-law. Miliá, Miliá, he shouts to her. They killed Yiánnis, you poor girl, go and collect him. Miliá took my sister-in-law Electra and they went up there and found him. My sister-in-law said he was beaten so bad heâd kicked up a footâs-length of dirt, thatâs what she told me, he was buried in that dirt. Seems he was beaten a lot before he died. I donât know if they knifed him or not, I donât know about Pavlákos, but that other fellow, the one from Galtená, went to prison for quite a few years. They had him in some prison somewhere. And now they say he gets no sleep, that bloodshed still hounds him.
Chapter 27
Thatâs how they captured Penelope Kaloútsis. It was Pikinós who got her. Iâm not all that certain, maybe YeorghÃa knows better. And someone else. There were two of them. And when he got hold of her she told him, Now listen here, you came here after
me
, you came to capture
me
, why, if you scratch
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