‘It’s very early, isn’t it?’
Lucie looked at her watch in response to Meg’s remark. It was half past seven in the morning and at just after seven they had all been rudely awoken by a gong being hit outside the front door of Villa Psomi. Next there had been the shouting of Greek words that Meg had looked up in the dictionary she had brought with her and translated to mean ‘village meeting’ and the word ‘epikindynos’, which meant ‘dangerous’. Now they were here in the square, in front of the church, joined by what looked like the whole population of Sortilas. Greeks and holidaymakers alike all had confused expressions on their faces.
‘It’s half past five in the morning in the UK,’ Gavin commented. He was still wearing the silver hot pants and Lucie just knew he had slept in them. Despite not having a chance to really discuss or make up, things were pretty level between them. This meant that although she hadn’t yet told Gavin about her hot kiss with Michalis, she would as soon as there was an opportunity… and she would maybe say she was sorry for not telling him about Simon’s sexual preferences sooner.
‘That’s a pointless remark,’ Meg said, putting thumb and forefinger to her straw-hat-covered head. ‘You’re on Greek time now.’
‘And I need to be back in my Greek oven bedroom,’ Gavin said with a sigh.
‘The bed in the little yellow room was a bit soft,’ Meg said. ‘Not that I’m complaining. Thank you for putting me up last night.’ She drew in a breath. ‘But I am looking forward to seeing my apartment in Perithia and finding out what hasn’t changed.’
‘I’m sure this will just be about this Day of the Not Dead festival they have going on soon,’ Lucie said, shielding her eyes against the first rays of sun. ‘The village president seems to think that event is more important than a general election.’
‘I hope it’s going to be a lot more fun than that,’ Gavin moaned.
Lucie noticed the door of the butcher’s shop opening and she began fiddling with her short crop of hair. She wished it would grow a tiny bit quicker so she could do more things with it. If she’d had her semi-afro Sandra Oh-esque do she would be pulling all the weaving, plaiting, straightening, curling and crimping tricks to look her most desirable. The best she had managed this morning was pinching a little product into it before they were basically evacuated from the house. And there Michalis was…
He looked tousled in all the good ways. Hair slightly wavy and falling a little over his face, wearing a plain white T-shirt and black jeans, trainers on his feet. She closed her mouth up as she realised she was in danger of looking a bit too fan-girl… Nyx was next to come out, hair in space buns, a long tapered blade in her hand, apron on over jeans and feet in high wedged sandals. And there was an older man too, presumably Michalis and Nyx’s father.
Then everyone was reaching for their ears as an air raid siren sound filled the square and even the cats lounging outside the church pricked up their ears and put disdainful looks on their furry faces.
Melina Hatzi swept into the square, carrying a wooden pallet in one hand and a megaphone in the other, and everyone seemed to move to give her space. Apparently her authority continued unabated even when she was wearing a dressing gown and slippers… Lucie watched her put down the pallet and stand on it like it was a stage at a music festival.
She began to talk in Greek and suddenly a hush descended and people began to look at each other with concern.
‘What’s she saying?’ Gavin asked Lucie as if she were suddenly fluent in the native tongue.
‘I don’t know,’ Lucie said, continuing to watch people’s body language and hoping she could garner information that way.
‘I got the words “this morning”,’ Meg offered. ‘And then, I think, the word for “road” but nothing after that.’
This was mad. People were making noises of alarm now, then followed a low hubbub that suggested the main headline news had already been imparted. She was going to find them a translator.
‘All I really want to know is… when do you think we can go back to bed?’ Gavin asked.
*
Michalis saw Lucie approaching and he couldn’t help but smile. Last night, holding her in his arms had been the antidote to everything he had endured over the last year. The whole date had been a reminder of how beautiful and simple life could be if you let yourself embrace it. He had checked his phone last night after he had climbed into bed, all the places he used to hang out online and… nothing. Was it possible it could really all be over? He thought about texting Chico, getting him to check his locker at the hospital. But that would involve opening up and right now, while things were quiet and balanced, he didn’t want to tempt fate.
‘Good morning,’ Lucie said, arriving in front of them.
‘Oh hey!’ Nyx greeted enthusiastically. ‘This is the excitement you get when you decide to take your holidays halfway up a mountain, right?!’
‘Well,’ Lucie began. ‘We still aren’t quite sure why we were woken up so early and made to come to the square but—’
‘There has been a big collapse!’ Nyx told her. ‘Huge boulders of rock have rolled down from the top of Pantokrator and blocked the main road!’
‘What?!’ Lucie exclaimed, a hand going to her chest. That sounded really serious! ‘Was anybody hurt?’
‘I don’t know!’ Nyx exclaimed. ‘No one asked that!’ She punched Michalis in the shoulder. ‘Why did you not ask that? You are the village doctor!’
‘It is not as bad as my sister is saying,’ Michalis said in reassuring tones, his eyes still on Lucie.
‘How do you know this?’ Dimitri asked. ‘Have you seen the road for yourself?’
‘No, Papa,’ Michalis replied. ‘We have only just woken up.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ Dimitri groaned. ‘I am going with the others to see with my own eyes.’ He sauntered off towards a group of village men who seemed to be contemplating their next course of action in front of the taverna, with plenty of cigarette smoke circling between them.
‘If we are locked down people will need meat,’ Nyx announced excitedly. ‘I have been wanting to get rid of a couple of elderly cows for a while.’
‘Locked down!’ Lucie exclaimed.
Michalis drew her closer to him and spoke softly. ‘I am sure Nyx is exaggerating. In all the years I have lived here, the village has never been locked down in this way. Sure, there have been a few landslips, but the road has always been passable.’
‘But… what if it is worse this time?’ Lucie asked. ‘Nyx said “boulders”. Boulders aren’t little stones, they’re slabs that barricade things. What if they’ve barricaded the village and there’s no longer any connection to anywhere else?’
Michalis could see Lucie was close to panicking and he sensed this reaction wasn’t just to the fact there was something blocking the road. He knew it was the word ‘lockdown’ and what that meant to literally everyone on the planet. It spoke of fear and isolation and not knowing when it would truly end. But it was especially poignant to them as medical workers… It was a word that had signalled all the horrific things that followed for months and months.
‘Listen,’ he told her. ‘Whatever has happened, we Greeks are very resourceful. And, unlike a real lockdown, without government rules telling us to stay where we are, we will simply set about making this blockage disappear and all will be well.’
‘OK,’ Lucie said, taking a deep breath. ‘Because, as much as Meg likes Villa Psomi, she really wants to get to her rental apartment in Perithia and I want that too and—’
‘Lucie,’ Michalis said, reaching out and rubbing his thumb against her cheek. ‘Everything will be OK. I promise.’
Promise. The last word stuck in his throat and his insides suddenly stung, making him drop his hand from Lucie’s cheek and withdraw a step. He shouldn’t have said that. He quickly smiled to hide the real emotion he was feeling and was grateful when Gavin and Meg arrived outside the butcher’s.
‘Is it true we’re going into lockdown?’ Gavin asked, his face a little pale. ‘We came to Greece to get well away from all that.’ He shuddered and stood close to Lucie. ‘I got a flashback of that weedy Grant Shapps talking about travel corridors and quarantine. And, what I want to know is, does Corfu have to do what the rest of Greece says, or is it like England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, where everyone made things up as they went along and did something ever so slightly different?’
‘Gavin,’ Meg said. ‘A road has been blocked. It’s not another deadly wave and more “hands, face, space”.’
‘Knees and toes. Knees and toes,’ Gavin chanted in a sing-song way.
‘Meg,’ Lucie said. ‘I know you really, really want to get down to Perithia today.’
‘Lucie-Lou, what will be will be,’ Meg said, putting an arm around her shoulders.
Michalis felt his phone buzz in the pocket of his jeans and he drew it out as Lucie, Meg and Gavin left him for Melina and a group of villagers surrounding the president. There wasn’t a name on the display, just a number, but he knew exactly who had sent it. His heart dropped to the floor. So much for being in the clear. It was going to start all over again.