Katerina lowered her head. ‘Less so than I used to be.’ She sighed. ‘Age catches up with us all.’
A look of dismay crossed Marina’s features but it soon passed.
‘She’s amazing,’ she said with a tinkling giggle, like wind chimes. ‘You should see her marching up and down the hillside, carrying her heavy bags of shopping. She’s very stubborn; she won’t let anyone help her. She’s fitter than me!’
Katerina frowned and opened her mouth as if to contradict, but she must have thought better of it and closed it again.
‘So,’ she said next, slapping her hands on her knees as if preparing to make an announcement. ‘You have all come to get well and healthy, yes? In body, mind and spirit?’
Once again, she fixed her eyes on Maya and Tash in turn, then on Cleo, who felt herself flinch in the spotlight.
‘Well, yes…’ Cleo said uncertainly, ‘I suppose so.’ It crossed her mind the old woman might secretly be making fun of them, but she didn’t think so.
‘I can see you are all facing a big challenge,’ Katerina went on in a serious tone. ‘You will be tested, but I have faith you will come through.’
It was an odd statement and Tash gave one of her characteristic squeals.
‘Ooh! That sounds scary! We haven’t come here for a big challenge. Not really. We’d like to get a bit fitter but we also want a rest!’
But Maya ignored her friend. Leaning forwards, she rested her elbows on the table and searched Katerina’s face, as if looking for clues.
‘What do you mean?’ she said with a frown. ‘Is there something we should know?’
At that, Marina broke into another of her tinkling laughs.
‘Oh no!’ she said. ‘Don’t worry. She just means you will be challenged by all the exercise and healthy living.’
She gave Katerina a playful slap on the arm. ‘Lighten up, Kati. It’s all right.’
Something seemed to pass between the women, some sort of understanding, and Katerina nodded almost imperceptibly.
‘You speak the truth, of course,’ she said in a whisper. ‘As always.’
The two strangers were starting to give Cleo the heebie-jeebies and she wished they’d go. She would have remained schtum, hoping they’d get the message, but unfortunately, Tash seemed to feel the need to jump in and fill the silence.
‘We visited the memorial to the twenty-six men killed by the Germans in Sfakia today,’ she said. ‘It was very moving. They must have been so brave.’
All of a sudden, Katerina seemed to stiffen and her lips tightened into a thin white line. She was like a simmering pot, waiting to boil over. Cleo wondered what on earth had upset her.
‘Kati,’ Marina said gently, touching the old woman’s arm, then she whispered something in Greek and Katerina seemed to calm down.
‘Her father was among those who were executed,’ Marina said simply, giving Cleo, Tash and Maya an apologetic look. ‘He was betrayed by someone close to him. Understandably, it still makes her upset.’
Cleo was appalled that they’d stirred up painful memories for the old woman, though they hadn’t meant to.
‘We’re so sorry,’ she said, speaking for Tash and Maya, too. ‘We didn’t know. We wouldn’t have mentioned it?—’
‘Please,’ Marina interrupted, ‘it is not your fault. She will be OK. She’s just feeling a little sensitive today.’
Cleo was about to apologise again when they were distracted by a blast of music. Four musicians had set up just outside the main restaurant and were playing a traditional folk song.
Dressed in black shirts and dark jeans or trousers, they were perched on stools, with their backs to the wall, allowing just enough of a gap in front for people to pass.
They had a variety of instruments, some of which Cleo had never seen.
‘That’s a Cretan lyra,’ Marina explained, noticing Cleo gazing at a small, pear-shaped three-stringed instrument on one of the men’s laps, which he was playing with a bow.
Another had a mandolin, a third a guitar and the fourth was playing something that looked and sounded like bagpipes.
