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Eléni & M Move to Athens - Part 2

Two More Reunions and One More Hello

By Patrick M. OhanaPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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Photo by Eladia Henning (CC0) on Pixy

This new series has its history in the form of several short stories, several poems, and a 13-part series that is linked at the bottom via Part 1 of this series. Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed once again to appear as a fictional character in this new series.

Earth proudly wears the Parthenon as the best gem upon her zone. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It took over half an hour for the hotel porter to bring all our luggage to our room, but it was to be expected given our twelve suitcases, not including the carry-ons. It was a move after all, not a vacation. We were officially on our way to become Greeks, which could take at least three years if all went well. Goddess Athena could speed things, of course, but that was not official so to speak ((giggles)). Everybody should be in love with her.

It was late afternoon and the Sun was still out with all its eminence. We were close to the Aegean Sea that was actually part of the mythical Mediterranean, though it was as real as Goddess Athena. Everything was blue and white around us, colours that could soothe any spirit. No wonder that Zeus had chosen Greece for his realm. I felt at home within minutes, rapidly grasping what had happened to my Cryssarina, and Patrick before her, when they arrived here. And if Anthi represented Greece, then Greece was the place to be. Greece was heaven on Earth.

It was also strange to feel someone else inside. Back in Canada, with all my love for Cryssarina, I did not feel her inside. I felt my love for her in my mind and therefore in my heart. But here, I felt both her and Anthi inside me, as if we were connected somehow. I finally understood what Cryssarina had meant. I did not meet Goddess Athena and she already included me in her circle. I never thought that such power was even possible. I looked at Cryssarina and Anthi and we understood each other without having to say a word. It was almost intoxicating.

Anthi even knew that we did not want her to leave but to accompany us a few hours later to meet Goddess Athena and Patrick, as well as Bubo her owl, though his real name was Glaukopis, which means “little owl” in Greek. I was too excited to think straight, yet my eyes kept scanning every wall and hollow for the possibility of a roach. I was hoping that Goddess Athena could cure my phobia but then remembered that she could not cure Patrick, keeping the roaches away as the best second resort. If she could make Athens roach-free, it would truly become Heaven, at least for me, and Patrick.

Refreshed and excited, all three of us, after also spending some time to get to know each other, especially Anthi and M, I mean me, we took a taxi to Goddess Athena’s place. Patrick never described its whereabouts and Cryssarina could not either, since Goddess Athena in her wisdom chose to keep it secret and not let them remember where it was. The taxi driver did not need to ask us where we were going given that he somehow knew where to take us. We figured that he would forget the address as soon as he left. Even now, I cannot describe where we were and neither can Cryssarina. (Anthi could leave a comment in case she remembers, but even if she does, she will surely not, knowing that it is a secret.)

I was not sure how to greet Goddess Athena, so I bowed and kissed her hand. She smiled and kissed me on both cheeks, also lingering on the right one. Her beauty was out of this world. I have no words to give it justice. It was not human. I can say that it was divine. (I can see Anthi smiling.) Patrick barely looked at me at first, but seeing the love in Goddess Athena’s eyes, he changed his stance and shook my hand before finally embracing me, and believe it or not, crying. It did not take very long for me to join him. What a couple of crybabies we are! That, I easily remember as if it occurred while I was writing about it.

I kept looking at Goddess Athena, unable to easily accept her existence. And yet, she was there in front of me in the flesh. I wanted to kiss her again, and she sensed it, of course, asking me to come near her and kissing me on the mouth, as she had done to Cryssarina during her first visit to Greece. I felt pure love. There was no hint of lust in it and perhaps the reason why Patrick did not seem to mind. The problem was that I could not get enough. It was like a drug. I wanted to kiss her again. She smiled and spoke to my mind, and like Cryssarina, I suddenly understood Greek. She told me that she loved me almost as much as Patrick, but that he was, of course, the man that she was in love with, but that she knew that I was the one who had loved her from the beginning. Patrick was the one who took the trip and won both her mind and her heart. I knew that I had my own goddess, and Goddess Athena mentioned it, knowing that I knew it and loved my Eléni. My Cryssarina, she added, aware that it was the name that I preferred. Yet, I suddenly felt that Eléni was the right name for my love, deciding at that moment to always call her Eléni from then on.

Glaukopis looked at me strangely, probably trying to figure out how come Patrick and I looked so alike. I heard Patrick explain to him that we were like twins, except that he was luckier. I could not stop laughing and everyone joined in, which made the little owl even more confused, at which point it flew away to its perch on an olive tree near one of the windows. I figured that I would converse with Glaukopis some other time. I wanted to hear it recite the French curse from The Matrix Reloaded. It is surely the funniest part of all the trilogy.

We had a feast fit for a queen, yet we were eating with a goddess. I had known happiness before, but this evening was pure happiness from beginning to end. I finally understood Patrick. He was right to leave and try his luck. But I was right to stay and live with mine. There is no single way to reach a state of happiness, as the real Anthi had written more than once. Many paths can lead to it, but we have to be on one, and sometimes we are on it without knowing it. This last phrase was never truer than in the movie (and novel on which it is based), The Hours, which, by the way, I consider to be the best movie ever made. And whoever said that it was a chick movie was but a foolish fool. I will even go further and add that I cannot imagine a better movie ever. If you have not seen it, make time, and once is not sufficient. It is the perfect movie in every sense, and the music by Philip Glass is simply breathtaking.

At one point we discussed the fact that Eléni and M, I mean me, needed to find a place to live. We had booked the hotel room for two weeks, hoping that it will give us enough time to find a home. Goddess Athena would not hear any of it, offering us a wing of her place, which again, I cannot seem to be able to describe except that it is very large, probably the equivalent of a large three-bedroom apartment with all the amenities, imaginable and not. She had spoken to our minds and we agreed on the spot. It seems that Patrick already knew it and just pretended not to. A prick will always be a prick. (I bet that this “prick” sentence will be highlighted soon enough.)

...

I would like to thank Anthi Psomiadou for her continued participation as a fictional character called Anthi based as much as possible on the real flowers of Greece. Why would an atheist write about a Greek goddess? is the question that seems to come up in my mind again and again. I think that I know the answer, but it is not one that has to be intimated to anyone.

...

fantasy
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About the Creator

Patrick M. Ohana

A medical writer who reads and writes fiction and some nonfiction, although the latter may appear at times like the former. All my stories (over 2,200 pieces) are/will be available on/via Shakespeare's Shoes.

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