Orthokostá (11 page)

⁸
had arrived at Kýthira. From the BBC. That he had landed at Kalamáta. From the BBC and through word of mouth. We heard about Meligalás,
⁹
we learned about Stoúpas's death. However you look at it, Meligalás was one massive execution. An inhuman execution. But Stoúpas fought at Gargaliánoi.
¹⁰
To the last minute. He died with his pistol in his hand. They all died there. Not one of them was left alive. Not one man. Papadóngonas, in order to protect his units, and he did well, opted to bypass Mystrás. Where the Sparta Battalion was, that is. The rebels slaughtered them later on. Using cannons they had taken from us. After the capitulation. Kanellópoulos came to Trípolis accompanied by Tsiklitíras.
¹¹
Kotrótsos came out on his motorcycle to welcome him. Mihális Galaxýdis came out in his truck. Tsiklitíras, a ranking ELAS officer with the PEEA.
¹²
Something like that. A colonel. The bishop was there. They stayed at a hotel. Aris arrived. In the meantime, and before the people began the manifestations, the organized demonstrations, we were instructed to get ready to go to Spétses. Those of us
who chose to. We boarded trucks. With our arms, with our families and friends. And we went down to Ahladókampos, we arrived in Mýloi. We were at our wits' end as to how to arrange our trucks into a defensive system. We bolted our machine guns to the hoods. There was nothing else we could do. Nothing. We finally made it to Mýloi. A small vessel began ferrying us to the other side. In Spétses a British platoon undertook to guard us. The British. In the end they did this and more. They took our pistols away. Officers had the right to carry pistols. Then a group of ELAS rebels arrived by boat from Ermióni. They arrived by boat to parade right there in front of us. Provocatively. Then we routed them. We drove them away, they didn't set foot there again. And that was the excuse for the British to take our pistols away. Then an order came that we would be transferred to a detention camp in Athens. For our own safety. This must have happened around the end of November. I don't remember the date. I won't risk guessing. They were afraid that the Communists would wipe us all out. It would have been quite an accomplishment if they killed two hundred officers down there. Beginning with Papadóngonas. It would have been quite a feather in their cap. I mean in the context of the December Uprising. At the beginning of the Insurgency. They could have pulled it off too. So a minesweeper came. Two minesweepers. And they took us away to Piraeus. About two hundred of us were left. Possibly fewer. The Tavouláris brothers, Stravólaimos, a colonel, and some others. Quite a few officers, anyway. By nightfall we reached Piraeus. There they put us on trucks. They took us to Goudí. Escorted, once again, by the British and the state police. At Goudí, the big brass were housed in the Gendarmes Academy. Lower-ranking officers like us and civilians went to Sotiría Hospital. ELAS rebels were holding Sotiría. That was the company we kept. Garrison commander of Goudí was Manólis Léngourdas. A gendarmes colonel. From Roúvali. An apathetic sort, no interest in anything. Most of us men were from Kastrí. We were all fellow villagers. He showed no interest at all. Perhaps he couldn't. He had a small unit with him, very small, unarmed, backed up by about fifteen Brits. Those Brits played soccer all day. And at night they slept. It was more like we were protecting them
than them protecting us. That's when the December Insurgency broke out. We were roused to action. The history of the Uprising is well known. The Gýzi district was across from us, and they fired at us daily. Most of all, those tracer bullets and the mortars drove us half crazy. We were still unarmed, like cattle waiting to be slaughtered. At which point we planned an operation, we stormed Sotiría. In broad daylight. We took them by surprise. We shot a watchman they had posted on a pine tree. A sniper. We took him out. We took control of the Sotiría building with the help of a group belonging to the 3rd Mountain Brigade. We found arms, we took them. Enough for ourselves and for three hundred more men. We took them. We started distributing them. But the British came and stopped us. They confiscated them—the British, again. And so we dispersed. We began moving down toward the center of Athens. The stream of Ilissus was there, and we followed it down. It was supposed to be out of range of the crossfire. But of course it wasn't really. Because there was frequent mortar firing down there. At any rate, we kept moving along. We would go to Kolonáki,
¹³
which was a demilitarized zone. We'd gather information, and we'd give out information. We'd see fellow villagers there, we'd get the news from home. In the evening we'd go back. Some would stay there, if they had the means. Nikólas Makrís, Nikólas Petrákos. They stayed near the stadium, at Grigoríou's house. Thodorís Grigoríou. Yes, that's where they stayed. I would go back. And the story ended roughly like this. The ELAS troops were pushed back from the greater Athens area, and then the Várkiza Treaty was signed. We were free. We went to Argos. We couldn't go any farther. Later on we went to Trípolis. March came at last. And then we went up to Kastrí.

The dogs turned on the livestock. Almost got their fangs into my wife too. She calls me, I go over. They had mangled two of my ewes. I tell her, Wait. I go up to Atzinás's storage sheds, I get my rifle. They were away, but I knew where they kept the key. I went in, I took the rifle, I took cartridges from the cabinet. I go back, and
bang
, I shoot one of them, then I shoot the other, they both fall to the ground. My wife asks me, Don't these belong to Askomaídis? I go to the village of Ayios Pétros, I find Askomaídis. His son, the father was away. I ask him, Where are your dogs? He tells me, They were just here. I take him with me, I didn't let on that I'd killed them. He sees them; I tell him, They almost bit my wife too. What could the boy say? He says, Not the bitch, you shouldn't have. Doesn't matter so much about the other one. I tell him, Shut up or I'll kill you too. They destroyed four ewes of mine. They wanted to take me to court. People told them that they'd be the ones who'd end up paying. They compensated me, and we reconciled.

They kicked him all the way over to the Unknown Soldier. There they walloped him and threw him down into Mákraina's yard. And they shot him full of bullets. And they threw him in Omorfoúla's vegetable patch. For three days they said, If anyone goes to bury him, we'll kill him. We got up, we looked around, no one going there. So I went with Stella, we had a hard time of it, we put him on a ladder. The two of us. And we carried him up to the school. His sisters were waiting there. I don't remember who else. We took him to the cemetery. I tell them, Do whatever you want, I can't help you any more. Do whatever you want. And I got up and left. They dug a hole and shoved him in. Like a dog.

And Mihális, they killed him down near Oriá, on the same day. Petroú was screaming. Maritsoyiánnis's wife went there, and Klaría went there. Petroú went there herself. I couldn't bear it. They went there, they found him, and they couldn't get near him. They washed him there. They tried to put him on the mule to bring him back but they couldn't. So they buried him down there. Just like that. Mihális. Right where they found him. His mother went there, his mother. All that during the big blockade. The village was burned down later. They had taken us in. But before that, before the big blockade. We had put on a play. We'd performed
Gólfo
.
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As a benefit for the rebels. Then they came looking for Eléni. Eléni had come back from the detention camp. From Orthokostá. They thought she'd helped the Kyreléis women to escape. We found that out later. So in come the rebels, Where's Eléni? She's not here. She was up at Athiná's. I went up and
warned her. Rigoúla saw me, she went and told them. They come back, they say, Where's Eléni? I don't know. I left word for her to come back. That's all I know. That's what I told them. Eléni left, she went and hid. It was dark out now. They put two rebels at our house to guard us. My father, my mother, and Phaídros. To guard us. I always had a sixth sense. A voice inside me kept telling me: Go, go. Just before dawn, that voice woke me up. Go to the marketplace, go to the square. I race to the square, I find Yiórghis Haloúlos there. They had put him in charge of the village. How are you doing, Yiórghis? He says, Christina, take your mother, your father, and Phaídros and get out. Because they're coming to round you up and take you to Ayios Pétros. Because of Eléni. I go home and wake them. Get up, we're leaving. The rebels were fast asleep. The two who were guarding us. Sleeping that heavy morning sleep. We get going, we leave. Mavroyiórghis turns off, I don't know toward where. Toward Karátoula. Our mother went to Lambíris's place and started gathering greens. The rebels went past, they called out to her, they didn't recognize her, she kept on pretending. I wonder if she's found peace now. Phaídros and I headed toward Kékeris's mill. Stella was in Astros. I knocked on the door of the mill. There was an Italian there, Petro, one of the fugitives. Petro, I shouted, Petro. Nothing. We left to go to Pródromos Monastery, Phaídros and me. I say, What if there are rebels in the monastery? We find a rock jutting out there, I held on to Phaídros, he grabbed on to a branch and jumped down. He tells me, There's a cave down here. I held on to a branch too and jumped down. We stayed there in that cave. The sun was nice and bright. We could see the village of Perdikóvrisi across from us. We saw the Nikoláous, our koumbároi, on their way to grind their wheat. I tell Phaídros, Go down there and ask them for some bread. Phaídros goes down, our koumbára says, They came looking for you last night. They gave him bread, they gave him olives, and they gave him water. They tell him, As soon as it starts getting dark, go down to the river, we'll be waiting for you. We go to the river. Kóstas was waiting for us, or maybe it was Dimítris. I don't remember. One of our koumbáros Mihális Nikoláou's sons, our uncle the doctor had baptized their daughter Telésilla. He led us along till we came to
a certain spot. He says, Follow the riverbed to the end and you'll come out on the far side of Karátoula, just below Bakoúris's house. Knock on his door. He sent us back. Because he got word that our father had stopped there and left a message. We went and knocked on the door. We didn't know if it was Bakoúris's house, but it was the last house. It was nighttime. They opened the door. We went inside. They tell us, Your father's on his way to Atzinás's cattle pen to find you. In Xerokámpi. But here, take this old blanket and throw it around you and go to Spílio. So-and-so will come by to get you. I don't remember who he said. We didn't know Spílio. We went there, we saw a hole, an opening, Phaídros snuggled up to me, I covered him with the old blanket. All night long we heard the ice cracking. It got light out, we waited for them to come and get us, but no one showed up. I told Phaídros, Get up and whatever happens to us happens. We came out from there, the villagers in Karátoula saw us. Two of them tell us, I didn't know them, they say, Don't be scared, we'll take you to your father. They all knew that the poor man was looking for us. And they took us up to Xerokámpi. They tell us, Take that road, it will lead you straight to the pen. We went to the cattle pen, we found our father. The pen was just a hovel partitioned in the middle. The animals on one side, a small room on the other. They had a fireplace, and they slept one next to the other. All of them. They'd milk the cow, we'd churn the milk to give them a hand. We'd make butter. Those people had nothing. They'd mix up some flour with water and bake it over hot coals. Our father told them, Go to Douminá and find Koupadélis. Tell him that Mavroyiórghis is at the cattle pen. And to give you supplies, and ask if he can come here so I can see him. They went and found him. He filled up their shoulder sacks and he tells them, Now go. And tell the man who sent you here that the rebels came through here looking for them. They came back and told us that. We stayed for three days at the pen. On the third day Koupadélis showed up. He tells him, Yiórghis, things have calmed down. You can come to my place. And we left, at night. We arrived at his house. The women had boiled up some coarse ground wheat, and they sat us down to eat. Then we hear a lot of noise outside. Like the trampling of feet. Get up, says Koupadélis,
all in a fright. And he squeezes us up against a wall, behind the door. The tramping stopped. We went to sleep. The next day he got us and took us to Melíssi. Chrístos Kapniás was spending the winter there. First time I see this: There was a very bright moon, and all the houses had stone-tiled roofs. Slabs and slabs of stone. A while later he takes us from there. It starts to drizzle. He takes us to the river. To a footpath. That path would take us to Másklina. My father knew it, he knew his way around there. And Koupadélis tells him, Yiórghis, now I've brought you as far as the church, just below it. You'll come out at Másklina in about an hour. And go to Moúdros's place. Not to Yiánnis's place. To his brother's. Yiánnis was in Athens, he hadn't married Vássio yet. We went there. We went to Másklina, we found his house. My father knocks. Who is it at this hour? It's me, Mavroyiórghis. They couldn't believe it. They open the door, they saw my father, and they let us in. Soaked through. They took us inside, we ate, they lit the fireplace, they sat us down on a mattress, all undressed. The women took our clothes, they dried them. We put them back on. In the morning, one of the two brothers goes and finds the Germans. They were the railroad detachment. He tells them, There's a family here, the rebels are after them. And we have to get them out, so they can go to Trípolis. You needed permits for everything. The German says, Bring them at such-and-such a time. And he came to get us. We went to the station, we got on the train, and we went to Trípolis. Chrístos Haloúlos was there, and Kóstas Dránias, all friends of my brother. All of them in the Security Battalions. But where could we stay? Three lost souls. Mavroyiórghis, Phaídros, and me. Our mother down in the village gave and gave whatever she could, and she made it back home. They didn't harm her. Why would they? Yes, well. Then Kóstas Braílas comes in. Or was it Vanghélis? I don't remember. Whoever it was, he says, Uncle Yiórghis, you'll stay at our place. They had got themselves a place near Kolokotróni Square. On the way to Sparta. A low one-story place, almost in ruins. His sister Chrysóthemi was there too. Chrysóthemi. They brought us something to eat, we slept all in a row. Vanghélis, Nikítas, my father, Phaídros, me, and Chrysóthemi. Kóstas didn't come round there much. He had his team, they'd comb the
mountains all night long, in the morning they'd come back to Trípolis. We were worried about the rebels. For about a week. Then they sent word to us that Eléni had appeared in Kastrí. And they wouldn't harm us, we could go. I don't remember how we got there, but we made it to Kastrí. We got there. They'd learned that it wasn't Eléni who helped the Kyreléis women to escape. And they lost interest. We stayed there in Kastrí. Then came the big blockade. The Germans arrive. God must have been protecting me from it all. I realized this later. Someone shows up with a pistol, he says something to me. You scumbags. And he drags me down toward Katsandrís's fountain. Just below Kóstaina's house. He was from the Security Battalions. I was scared. But what could I do, how could I go back? Then another man comes rushing over, he says, The Germans want that girl. At Haloúlos's inn. I go upstairs. There was a man there, he spoke Greek. He starts asking me who is this one and who is that one. Wanted information. He says, You took part in a play for the rebels. I say, Yes, I did. What could I do. And I'll take part in a play for you too if you ask me to. Whatever it takes. And his answer to me was: Do you have a friend? I say, I have lots of friends. Kóstas Dránias, Chrístos Haloúlos. They're in the Battalions, they're our friends. Listen, says the German, I didn't mean that kind of friend. We're asking you if you're in a relationship with a man. I say, I'm not. He says, We're going to examine you, and if it turns out you've been exposed to anything, tell us now where and how, or else we'll send you to Náfplion with the whores. I say, I don't have a boyfriend. Then, during my interrogation, a man comes in, I tried to find that man later on and thank him, a man from Tegéa, named Kóstas Karatzás. He came upstairs and he told them, I'll be responsible for this girl, her brother's my friend. Karatzás from Tegéa. Her brother is my friend. And they tell me—they were doctors, the one who spoke Greek too—they tell me, Off you go. Then an order came, for them to leave immediately for Ayios Panteleímonas. They had arrested two girls in Ayios Panteleímonas. Somewhere around there. Two sisters, both pretty girls. They had come to the village for us to sew them some dresses. They were with the rebels but they came to us. And look what happened, they killed them. They arrested them
and they killed them. The doctors left. They notified them that they found those girls and they left. They didn't come back. We kept the dresses. No one came asking for them. So we wore them ourselves. The other Germans stayed there for two or three more days. With the Battalions. I went down to the square. And then I see my father. A German was taking him to our uncle the doctor's house to go in and search the place. Mavroyiórghis tells me, They'll come to our house too. I run over to the house. I found a pistol. I had found it under Márkos's bed. Kapetán Achilléas had slept there. During the first blockade, when the Germans arrived on bicycles, and they all ran away. Delivoriás, Broúsalis, Achilléas. We kept it. I take it and hide it. I open the hatch that goes down to the store. I put it behind the stairs. The German comes in. He searches the house. He says, Get the keys, we're going to the store. As soon as we walk in, there's the pistol, in plain sight. Oh, Lord, I say, put a quilt over it, cover it up. A quilt, a quilt. Did he not see the pistol? Did he see it and not say anything? Thinking they might kill us all. Who knows. He left. Then I go and I take it. I put it up against my breast. I was afraid it might go off, I go down to Omorfoúla's vegetable patch and wedge it into the stone wall. Later, when things calmed down there, I went back for it, and it was nowhere to be found. And the year before last some children were playing, and they started shouting, A pistol, a pistol. They picked it up and took it to the police. It was all rusty, of no use. And that was the end of that. The Germans were getting ready to leave. Stávros Karvouniáris arrives. He takes us away, all of us. He came and he threatened us. He took our goat, and our sewing machine, and I think he was the one who took my granny's fur-trimmed jacket. Took everything we had. Whatever the others had left us, he took. Well, anyway. They took us to Trípolis. Márkos's friends were there. Dránias and the rest. They left our old man and our old lady. Mavroyiórghis and Mavroyiórgaina. They went to Athanasiádis's place and he kept them there. They sent Stella to the slaughterhouse. Don't remember where Phaídros went. Phaídros was just a kid. Maybe it was Ménis Kaloútsis's place he went to. They were using it as a jail. Today it's a bank. And Eléni and I were sent to the county jail. By the Germans. Until
the beginning of August. Alexandra Boínis was there, she tells me, Let's go peel potatoes. Over here, at the barracks. Go do chores. The barracks were just behind there. They'll give us chocolate, she says. They'll give us cigarettes. We didn't smoke. We'll give them to the men. At least we'll see a few people. Poor woman. We went. I was thin, they had me setting the tables. There were two German women there, worked like machines. While they were cleaning they had on linen aprons and caps. Then they took those off and wore a solid-color cotton dress, spanking clean. And when they were serving they wore white. Bright white uniforms. And they moved so fast. We went back. I tell Alexandra, I'm not going back there. There was a boy in with us, a prisoner. He took a liking to me. He'd come and sweet-talk me. Come on, now, Bábis, cut it out. His name was Bábis. He was from Trípolis, that Bábis. He'd become friends with the guards, and sometimes they would let him go to his house. They'd take him there. Imagine what he was giving them. He'd call me, Come on let's go to my mom's house, so she can see you. I think they executed him later on. I went there once. I went outside and the world looked different. His mother had cooked a meal for me. And what a meal it was. She saw me as a bride, or something, for her son. Then the time came and we were separated. To take us to Germany. About that time they killed ten Germans somewhere in an ambush. They made a list of people to be killed, I was on it. Kóstas Dránias came and erased my name. They took Alexandra. She was also on the list. We were all on the list. And they took the whole bunch of them to Ayios Nikólaos and they executed them. That happened first. Then they put us on the train. I think it was August 2 when they took us. We were wearing these canvas shoes. We'd made them ourselves. We'd made a sole and wound some rags around it and that's what we were wearing. So they took us away. They put us in boxcars, all of us. And Eléni was swearing at them. And off we went. We arrive at some station, and they let us out. As we start walking the rags come off our shoes. We were left in our bare feet. They took us to Haïdári. With the sun beating down on us, on the day of the Feast of the Virgin. Eléni quickly scribbled a message with the address of our relatives in Kifisiá. Saying where they