Anastasiia Deniz Mitchell
© Anastasiia Deniz Mitchell, 2021
ISBN 978-5-0053-3884-6
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Anastasiia Deniz Mitchell
Nikos
Oh, Cyprus, if only you knew how I love you! Y Kiprou mou, se agapo!1
And my love for you doesn’t extend only to
my visiting you over and over again.
My love means that I am to devote my whole life to you.
***
Rhodes, 1821.
“Ermina! Come here! Your breakfast is served!”
That was my Mother. She always cooked meals for the whole family.
We were five in our family: Father, Mother, two my sisters and me. We were ordinary peasants. My family lived in Rhodes, in a small village called Archangelos.
We lived at the time when both Rhodes and Cyprus was under the Ottoman Empire. Although we lived a peaceful life, it was quite a hard time for common people. But something changed my life forever. As it’s said, one day can change everything. And I had to be grateful to this “something”. Because otherwise, I wouldn’t have become what I am now – the happiest person. I need to be thankful to this change.
1
Today, it was my birthday. I turned thirteen. But, even if it was someone’s birthday, they still had to fulfill their family duties.
For dinner, Mum promised to bake a meat pie for me today. It was my favorite one. I also liked tiroptita2, which we ate in the summer. Now, it was autumn. So, why not try a delicious meat pie…?
“Ermina! Come here! Your breakfast is served! For how many times shall I call you?”
I was in the attic watching birds fly. Thirteen years! I was already thirteen! Almost an adult. Time flew, not just passed by.
I went downstairs. We had two floors in the house – the first floor included the living room and the kitchen. My sisters and me lived in one room, together with our parents: the second floor was the attic. We all slept on benches. Dad made them for us.
“Thank you very much, Mummy! Thank you very much!”
“And happy birthday to you, Ermina!” Mum hugged me. “Sa gineis dekatria hronon simera!3”
“Evharisto poli, i mitera mou!4”
“Parakalo, agapiti Ermina!5”
I ate my breakfast, which was usual milk and bread, and left to graze goats. That was my family duty. Each of us had their own duty. For example, Father was a market seller. He went to the neighboring town to sell the products: goat’s milk, cheese and bread that we made at home. Mother cooked and did housekeeping. My sisters, Nicoletta and Georgia, helped me. They were younger ones. I was the eldest. But, to be honest, I even liked this. I liked being responsible for someone else. You can do many things yourself and help others!
The weather was lovely, and the goats were obedient, as usual. The soft breeze was blowing. In fact, I loved watching how they ate grass, chewing it carefully and, maybe, thoughtfully. They are those innocent creatures whom you can tell practically everything; and – guess what! – they won’t tell your secret to anyone else but you yourself, and only because it is you that have delivered the message!
I also had a secret for them to tell. “Have you got any dreams?” I asked a goat, looking straight into her eyes. “I’m sure you have! Now,” I looked at the sky, “you see, I’m already thirteen years old. And one day, I want to do this. I want to fly away like a bird. A free bird. Birds are always free. And we, people… No, we aren’t. We’ve got a lot to do. A lot of things. You know, my family duties… I’ve never been free from them. Every day, I must do something for my family. Even if it’s my birthday,” I sighed. “So, do you know what I want most of all?” I looked at the goat I was talking to again. “I want to be free. Just free. And happy.”
The goat seemed to understand my words perfectly. She munched the grass like-mindedly. I thought she even meant to say something like, “I totally agree with you. When you’re eighteen years old, you’ll find your husband. And you’ll be free. And happy. Because you’ll fly away like a bird.”
Maybe. Life is long.
The sun was climbing to the zenith, and I felt sleepy. I mustn’t have fallen asleep, though, because I had to watch the goats. I decided, “Well, let me take them back to the shed and then go for a walk. No one will notice anything. I’m far away from my house now. Father has left for the town. Mum won’t see me. Nicoletta and Georgia are helping her.”
So I did. I got the goats to the shed and went to the meadow again. Fortunately, no one saw me.
This time, I was without my animals. I jumped with joy at the thought of my being free all day long. I found a quiet place to sit down in. Now, I felt more than just sleepy. I felt exhausted. It was so peaceful and calm there…
I lay down and… fell asleep…
I woke up already when the sun was about to set. My family would start to worry about me! Fee mou6!
Where was I, by the way? In the middle of a tremendous meadow, which was getting dark now!
I looked about and saw nothing. Just nothing but grass. What should I do?
I started wandering along the field. Finally, the sun was down. “Don’t panic,” I said to myself. “Everything is going to be good. You’ll soon be found and rescued, Ermina.”
By saying this, I cheered myself up. Anyway, nothing bad had happened. I just got lost. At least, I was alive.
However, an hour or two passed, and I still couldn’t find my way home. “Ermina,” I went on talking to myself, “don’t panic anyway.”
Why had I gone so far? Why did I fall asleep?
I didn’t want to excuse myself. Sleeping during the day was all right, but not to that extent!
“There, there! Calm down,” I patted myself on the shoulder.
I went another hundred miles, maybe. I didn’t count them. Now, I became so exhausted that I couldn’t move at all.
“Poor Mummy! Poor Daddy! I hope they aren’t worrying that much about me!”
But, in fact, they were. And a lot. If only I had been able to come to them right now and tell them I was all right! But I couldn’t. Now, I was stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Finally, when I walked a little bit more, I saw the sea. It meant that my home wasn’t that far from me!
The sea! I got closer to the coast, for me to breathe in the fresh air. I thought it would put me in good heart.
Suddenly, I heard two voices. Men’s voices. They were speaking the language that I couldn’t understand in any way. The Turks…!
I hid behind the tree standing on the beach. The men didn’t see me. They were coming closer to the tree and talking loudly. Judging by their voices, they were quite young. I looked out from the tree. The men were soldiers – they were wearing the uniform and boots.
One of them began heehawing, the other one following his example. Were they drunk…? If they were, I would better not betray myself and wait for them to go away.
But the matter was that they didn’t want to go away. They sat by my tree and started a fire. I couldn’t wait for the moment I’d go for the whole night!
I was