The Messenger of Athens: A Novel by Anne Zouroudi Page A

know. We’re from the mainland. Not far away, but far enough…”
    “Far enough for what?”
    “Far enough for these small minds to think us foreign. Anywhere not here is foreign to them.”
    “But does that matter, if you fit in? Did she fit in?”
    Nikos hesitated.
    “Let me tell you my view on life. Everyone wants to be happy. Happy Ever After. But life’s not like that. We all know that. Just some people accept it better than others. Happiness is something that comes along in little bits, not in ever-afters. The day your kids are born, you’re happy. Ecstatic. Two days later, when you haven’t slept and the brat won’t stop bawling and your wife’s in tears, you’re miserable. You’re so miserable you want to throw the kid at the wall, walk out the door and never come back. But it’s too late. You can’t put them back where they came from. So you soldier on. And sure enough, the kid brings you more bits of happiness. The first time my son called me ‘Papa,’ I cried, I was in tears. Then they throw up all over you. All in all, you wouldn’t be without them, but there are sacrifices to be made. Sometimes, those sacrifices are… significant. Do you see what I’m saying? What people should be looking for is… shall I call it ‘contentment’? Knowing that, on balance, highs and lows taken into account, they’re probably better off where they are than anywhere else. Not looking over the fence all the time to see what the other guy’s got that you haven’t. That way lies heartache. Settle for what you’ve got.”
    “That’s one point of view, friend,” said the fat man. “But what would happen if everyone settled for their lot in life? What about Man’s great discoveries—medicine, literature, art? Without people who refused to settle, we’dstill be thinking the world was flat and the seas awash with dragons. We’d still be waiting for some other guy to invent the wheel.”
    Nikos smiled.
    “Touché,”
he said. “Anyway. Irini had done things the wrong way around—married, then decided she wasn’t ready to settle. She had the idea that she could persuade Andreas the money he’d been saving for years was best spent seeing the world. He didn’t see it that way. All he wanted was a quiet life—a house of his own, a couple of kids, dinner on the table. But she was stubborn. If there was something she wanted to do, she wouldn’t give up the idea, and if there was something she didn’t want to do, she didn’t do it. She wouldn’t go to church, said it bored her. But it bores everybody, doesn’t it? Bores the pants off me. No one goes to church because they
enjoy
it. The women here go to church, it’s what they do. Gives them an interest outside the home. It’s their social club. But she wouldn’t go.”
    “She wasn’t happy, then?”
    “In the beginning she was. Andreas was a good match, in many ways. I wouldn’t have had her tied to anyone who wasn’t right for her. He’s a simple man, uncomplicated. He makes enough to be comfortable. He’s no debts, and he pays his bills on time. So when my sister was looking for a match for Irini, I vouched for him. My sister and I arranged the marriage together.”
    “And Irini was happy with your choice?”
    “She showed up at the church. I took that to mean she was happy enough.”
    “Our friend Zafiridis seems to have discovered almostnothing useful in investigating Irini’s death, but I have inferred from him that your niece was late in marrying—that she was, in fact, for these parts, almost an old maid. Was there a reason for that?”
    Nikos hesitated.
    “There’d been someone else,” he said at last. “Someone she’d waited for. Someone she wasted a lot of time on.”
    “A broken heart, then.”
    “A broken promise. He’d had her heart and all her wits some years before. But by the time he left her on the shelf, it’s my belief she cared no more for him than he did her.”
    “Is it possible, then—forgive me—that