Eléni & M Move to Athens - Part 33

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 32 of this series. Anthi Psomiadou has agreed months ago to play the role of a fictional character also called, Anthi, starting in the first series, but with the name, Anthi Kanéna, in this when-is-it-going-to-end series, which she wisely chose herself. O Anthi! Which one? Does it really matter? I sometimes confuse them in my head.

We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. Nikos Kazantzakis

The road back was almost as soothing as when my Anthi drove us to the capital a couple of days earlier. Delphine held my hand again, but it seemed stranger this time. She kept looking at me and even called me, Maurice, once or twice. I never liked that first name, but I always liked cats. It was a perfect cover for the real name behind M. I even mentioned it to Anthi in her mind. Delphine is acting strange.

“Is everything fine, my dear Delphine?” Anthi asked with a voice I could sail on from Crete to Athens.

“Everything is fine, Mom. It is actually the best. I also love Uncle M,” Delphine replied.

“Yes! We all love him, and I think that he knows it,” my Anthi replied.

“I love you, Uncle M,” Delphine said.

I love you too, Delphine, I replied, unsure what to say next.

“I know that you love me, Uncle M. But can I call you, Dad, instead?”

Your Dad would not like it if you do, I replied, my wooden heart expanding from the heat that I felt inside.

“My Dad would not care too much. He loves another woman, and you love my mother,” Delphine replied, lowering her eyes.

I simply hugged her and she hugged me back. Anthi did not say anything, and Eléni disappeared, I mean, did not say anything either.

A long moment later, I said that I loved everyone in the car and the car behind us, and that I was in love with two women.

“I also love Anthi, and I understand that you are in love with her. I knew it since we arrived here. It must have started in Athens, but Crete confirmed it,” my Eléni replied.

“I am sorry, Eléni. I could never hurt you, but I love him too. I love your M,” my Anthi said.

“You could share him. The world has evolved. Dad cheated on you. You did not. You simply love Maurice. Am I right?” Delphine said and asked.

“Yes, my dear daughter! I only love him. We have never been together physically,” my Anthi replied.

“Eléni! Will you share Maurice with my mother?” Delphine asked.

“I already do and I do not mind. As I said, I love M and I also love Anthi. We are connected through Athena and we can only love each other. There is no place for jealousy or hatred. I love you too, Delphine. You look like your mother and now I know that you also have her heart,” my Eléni replied.

“I love you too, Eléni. You are so beautiful both outside and inside,” Delphine said.

I was, of course, in tears (writing it too). What did you expect? Laughter? I would not even call them, tears of joy. They were hot tears of gratitude to our Goddess Athena, and Delphine, of course. Why are the gods that we invented and designed, so heartless and jealous and mean like us? I think that I answered my question.

Delphine hugged me again and I did too, whispering in her right ear the name behind M.

“Oh my God! How cool! It is so much better than Maurice. You surely do not look like a cat,” Delphine replied, almost laughing.

This time, I kissed her on the forehead and promised to always be there for her if she ever needed my help, and to please stop calling me Maurice, and that M would be best.

“OK, M!” Delphine replied and put her head against my chest.

I felt myself melting. Anthi was in tears. Eléni was in tears. The car is going to be wet, I said. We can always tell them that it was because of a sudden wave. We do not exist in all the waves that precede our birth, and we do not exist in all the waves that follow our death, but we ride the waves of our life, and it is always higher with love riding with us. I love everyone in this car, I repeated, and you, Delphine, I will also love always like Eléni and your mother.

We suddenly heard Athena in our minds, Anthi, Eléni, and M, I mean me, telling us that she had nothing to do with it, that we were meant to be together before we were born, that she knew it all along and just helped us to see it until it became reality if it ever did, that she loved us all, and that our lives will be luminous from now on. I hugged Delphine again. She was the only one whom I could hug at the back seat of the car, and I did not mind it because I really loved her. How could I not? She was my Anthi’s daughter and she brought us together. I will be able to hold my Anthi in my arms and against my wooden heart from now on, and Eléni too, though my heart could only belong to one woman in this world; and in this life, I could only be in love with my Anthi, my beautiful Anthi, my meaning of life.

We reached the house in a different state from the one that we had when we left it. Let us have another feast! I declared. What do you say, Grandpa and Grandma? I kissed and hugged them. They smiled and agreed. And Grandpa, please make that olive dessert again! It is a dish surely served in heaven. And Grandma, everything you prepare tastes like paradise. This time, they kissed and hugged me. Food and words go together well, like love and time, like my Anthi and my heart.

Patrick left with Grandpa, Grandma, and Delphine to buy the necessary provisions, Athena conversed with Eléni about what happened between us, and Anthi and M, I mean me, finally kissed in broad daylight for the first time as soon as we reached the last stair going upstairs to any room, so we could touch each other’s skin in all the right places before taking the time to discover every centimetre offered to us by the stars.

The sea looked calm but bluer than the sky. I was in love with Anthi but I was also in love with Greece. You have to teach me, Greek, my Anthi. I do not want to learn it from anyone else. If Glaukopis can speak French, I can surely learn to speak Greek.

“I will, my love. I will also teach you all the meanings of Nous,” my Anthi replied.

You must know, my Anthi, that in French, Nous means Us.

Life cannot be this easy, I thought, while my face was buried in Anthi’s hair. Life was difficult from the start, but having arrived to my destination, our purpose, it was as if all the barriers and obstacles along the path, our paths, were ephemeral, even if they were there like walls of steel, since they turned out to be walls of flowers.

Je t’aime (I love you), Anthi, I finally said out loud. Je t’aime, Anthi, I shouted while kissing her stomach. Je t’aime, Anthi, I whispered to her pussy. Je t’aime à ne vouloir jamais mourir (I love you to never want to die).

“Je sais, mon amour ; je sais que tu m’aimes ; je le ressens dans mon coeur (I know my love; I know that you love me; I feel it in my heart).”

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I thank Anthi Psomiadou for her poignant comments and suggestions, and the words that she helps engender. I was thinking yet again that life was almost unbearable before COVID, but that through this unrelenting pandemic, I “met” wonderful writers and readers, and life became more bearable, and that one of them was Anthi, and I wanted to live forever, I mean, at least until 2082.

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