The old man was leaving… The old woman knew it, and she felt it in every fiber of her being, so deeply entwined with him. She accepted it calmly; on the outside, she seemed serene. But inside, she was afraid, though she knew she wouldn’t live much longer after Grandpa—she simply couldn’t. How? How could she live without Sakis, her beloved, her own, yet so distant? It’s snowing. Do you miss the snow? Who said feelings grow cold with time? Do the wise books say so? Don’t believe them, nothing ever cools! The soul still trembles like a bird at the sound of her beloved’s voice. It’s no joke—sixty years of life together, what can you say! They had grown so close, so bound together, so united that not even a minute could pass without the other. How could she leave him alone? How could she stay here, alone? And why? Why live? Without Sakis, there is no life.
This is what the old woman thinks, sorting through things from a board, throwing them into three different piles. These for the children, as a keepsake. Let them have something to remember their father. These for the neighbors, and these here, the smallest pile, these for herself, until she leaves, she’ll look at them and remember Sakis.
Mariaaa, Mariaaa… – the old woman hears the weak voice of the old man – Mariaaa!
I’m coming, I’m coming, Sakis, I’m coming, my dear – the old woman stands, smoothing her skirt, looking behind the curtain at the old man.
You woke up, Sakis? Do you want some pancakes? Do you want, Sakis?
Mariaaa… – the old man whispers, feeling the ceiling with his blind eyes – Mariaaa…
Yes, yes, my dear, I’m here, here – she takes his hand, once strong like a shovel, now dry and wrinkled, in hers, which resemble a dry bird – what, what, my dear, I’m with you?!
Mariaaa, I’m sorry… I’m sorry, my Marioula…
What are you saying, what are you saying…
I didn’t love you – the old man whispers – sorry… fool… if I could go back, everything would be different, Maria…
Come now, Sakis. What do you mean, you didn’t love me, you loved me, in your own way. Otherwise, how could we have lived sixty years together? Come now, stop…
Mariaaa, the children…
They’re coming, Sakis, they’re coming. I sent a telegram, well, not me, Nina the postwoman, she wrote everything. To Michalis, to Antonis, to Sotiris, and to Fotini. By evening, Sakis, they’ll all come. Sleep a little, sleep, and I’ll make you some chicken broth…
No – he whispers – give me your hand, sit with me for a while, sorry Maria!
I never got angry, Sakis, I never got angry. I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have held you, held you like a caught bird, maybe your life would have been different, my dear!
No, Maria – the old man shakes his head – no, Maria, it seems it was my fate…
A blurry tear rolls from the corner of the old man’s eye and, running down his wrinkled cheek, disappears somewhere in the folds of his purplish, aged skin.
By evening, the children had gathered, now almost elderly themselves.
The old woman thinks.
Michalis, the eldest, all his gray hair. Burdened, serious, he had been like this since childhood. The old woman fears him a little. Michalis, a professor, a learned man, lives in Athens.
Michalis, my son, you’re all gray now!
Yes, mom, the years do their work. I’m already a grandfather, don’t you remember that you became a great-grandmother? – he looks at her steadily.
Eh, my son, how could I not remember! Look at the photos, Tasia, your Tasia, sent them, there, under the glass table, everything is kept.
To the left, the glass, there we are all, and you little ones, and our parents with father, there, uncle Giorgos, Nikos, my brother, who never returned from the front, we never expected him back, not even a death notice, nothing.
My grandparents, the elderly, Sakis’s uncles and aunts there. Sakis’s brother Sotiris, oh, how happy he was! When he played the “Kamarinskaia,” his legs danced on their own!
And here is Mitsos, our neighbor, remember uncle Panousis? He’s the one who made the new glass, there, all the youth is there. And the grandsons, and the great-grandchildren. So, the old woman closes her eyes with a sigh, feeling Sakis calling her from afar, and her heart stops beating.