Marina, The Daughter of the Sea (eBook)

Christophoros Papadopoulos (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
192 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-1-911352-96-9 (ISBN)

Infos

A fearless captain, Andrew sails off -with his crew- from a safe harbor towards his homeplace. Fighting the wild sea and the unpredictable elements of nature, he will be found in an unknown zone, where a big surprise is waiting for him.

Textauszug

2. A different morning

A new day dawned. That morning, Marina decided that it was about time she stepped out of her house in which she lived alone, trying to forget and avoid the world. She had to satisfy an urgent mental need of hers that could no longer wait. For a long time now, she wanted to visit the small chapel of St Anna but for some inexplicable reason that visit was always put off, as there was something that kept her from doing so every day.

Her circadian clock went off loudly that morning and woke her up at the most appropriate moment of the day. She got up slowly from her iron-wrought bed in her bedroom and went to the desktop of an old dressing table. On that elaborately-carved piece of furniture, there was a crystal pitcher with water and a built-in water basin. With slow, almost ceremonial, movements she takes the pitcher in her hand and pours some water in the bone-china receptacle. She dips her hands in the water and washes her face softly. She dries herself up with a pure white cotton towel that was carefully folded on the desktop and takes off her gossamer white nightgown. She goes in front of the mirror and she stands there still.

Something appears to be bothering her rather intensely. Deep in thoughts, she combs her long black hair as she is seeing her reflection in the mirror and starts observing herself more closely. She first focuses on her face. Her sorrowful blue eyes attest to the fact that she is missing something. Suddenly, her eyes look elsewhere and now focus on her body. She observes her breasts that have grown larger and then the curves of her thighs that have rounded evenly. Based on all that, she understands that her image has changed externally. Yet, internally, she keeps feeling a great vacuum.

Right at that moment, she comes to realize for the first time that from an adolescent, she has grown into a very charming woman. Then, she paces confidently towards the brown walnut wardrobe on the left of her room. She must prepare herself slowly and put on the fitting clothes for her assignment today.

She flings the doors of the wardrobe open and from its interior she pulls out a long black skirt, one black long-sleeved blouse and a black woolen cardigan. She puts them on and she slowly steps down the wooden staircase leading to the kitchen. She picks up a dark bottle filled with olive oil and starts off from her house at the direction of the chapel. She is determined to fulfil her desire and she is prepared to let nothing interfere in her way.

Her purpose is sacred and the road is fortunately open all the way. Besides, life in her small, quaint village was still flowing calmly and had remained immune to the poisonous clouds of war that were approaching ominously, and so, for the moment at least, she had complete freedom of movement.

After an hour’s walk, the devout pilgrim reaches the little chapel without a problem. She opens the small blue door that separates her from the sanctuary and enters the interior. She walks slowly to the icon of St Anna and after she kneels before her grace, she venerates with reverence.

She then joins the three fingers of her right hand and starting slowly but steadily from her forehead, she crosses herself three times, until her hand comes to rest softly upon her heart. She lowers the lantern that was extinguished, changes its wick and pours in the olive oil she has as an offering. She then lights it up and raises it back up to its former position. She starts praying. A murmur can be heard coming out of her, as if she is chanting something and at the end a clear ‘halleluiah’ is heard.

Yet, something inexplicable wrenches her out abruptly from the disorderly train of her thoughts and almost like under a trance, she steps out of the little chapel. Now she is walking downhill towards the seashore near the sea.

She descends the precipitous cliff following a treacherous narrow path. With great patience, she keeps on descending all the more towards the shore, taking care not to trip on her way down and fall on the dangerous, sharp rocks. Her gaze loses itself in the view of the vast sea that spreads across the blue horizon and suddenly stops at an unclear spot that she cannot make out very well. That spot aroused her curiosity at once as she senses that those ‘two spots’ placed there seem to be out of place with the rest of the composition of the scenery. To her eyes, those two spots on this makeshift frame of painting, seemed like two ‘brush strokes’ that had been hastily added.

Walking slowly, she approaches ever so closely. The scene she comes upon is absolutely revolting and shocking for the young woman who has just become seventeen years old. For a moment she feels at a loss but she quickly regains control of herself, yet her heart is missing beats out of fear.

What she can see at first sight are two unknown men, unconscious on the sand who look like they have been washed ashore by the sea. One of the two in fact, for reasons that she, for better or worse was ignorant of, was wounded in the head.

Under these circumstances, the young girl – being quite upset by the sight of blood spilt from the head of the man – decides not to approach any closer and instead without further ado runs back to the village to ask for help.

Reaching the village almost out of breath, she knows very well where she must go. And that place is not any surgery since in her isolated village there is no doctor. For this reason, she immediately heads for the café of the village. There she finds enough of her fellow villagers who spend their time carefree, playing their beloved game, the classic backgammon.

As she enters the café, its customers are surprised by this unexpected visit. The dice stop rolling. The players no longer move their hands and they remain speechless at the sight of the girl who has just entered. They look at her with eyes full of amazement as it was a first in the conservative times of the male-dominated village society that a ‘woman’s foot’ was violating the off-limits particular male preserve the place was.

Next minute, the innocent girl, still oblivious to the fact that she had just invaded the last male fort, starts telling them breathlessly all the revealing details for this weird event that had upset her so much.

‘On my way to the chapel of St Anna, I came upon two unexpected visitors, lying down on the beach. I do not know where they came from; the only thing I know is that they are terribly exhausted and that they must be taken away from there’.

After she finished her story, the elderly men who were frequenting the café were for the moment speechless, understanding the gravity of the situation.

‘Dear Lord, what was in store for us to see and hear!’

…said one out of the crowd, while someone else rushed to calm the girl that needed it so much.

‘Take it easy, now lass, you really look flustered. Take a seat and have a glass of water to cool yourself’

‘There is no time for such niceties, old man’ Marina responded decisively and she went on:

‘We should all go down the beach immediately. Those men need our help. We have to take them out of there’.

Despite the comments raised by this incredible announcement, they all responded at once to the urgent call for help.

It was just about time for some action at last, something that was missing in their life and the idea of rescuing people appealed to them as something intriguing as well as pleasantly diverting.

They all got up and took to the street, and united as if in a team, they set off to meet the challenge. Marina was at the head of the marching group and was driving them gradually towards the beach, which by then had become everyone’s focus of attention.

As extra reinforcements, they recruited two donkeys that were deemed to be indispensable. That was in any case the only appropriate means of transport for the effective removal of the two men.

After walking for quite a few minutes, they eventually reached the precipitous cliff at the edge of the sea, right at the spot the two castaways were lying unconscious.

But their situation seems indeed serious. They really appeared as if the sea had just washed them ashore. Their clothes were all torn and their skin had turned blue from the sharp cold.

Without any delay, they gathered up all there was about them and put them carefully on the two animals before starting back for the village.

Once they arrived, they headed for the school – which, by the way, was the place all the emergencies ended up – since the small society of the village lacked both medical as well as police facilities.

Suddenly, there were two hard knocks on the wooden door of the school. A villager flings open the door, without waiting for an answer. Surprised because he was interrupted during lesson time, the teacher asks him what the matter was.

‘What’s the problem, my good man? What’s up?’

‘I need to talk to you in private’

‘OK, calm down and wait for me outside, I’ll be out in a second’.

Then he looks at the children and speaking calmly to them, he tries to explain to them what he is trying to do.

‘Just be quiet, I won’t be long’.

‘Gerasimos, get up and some sit over here at my desk and take over the class’

…he says to his best student and he approaches obediently.

‘I want you now...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.5.2017
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Historische Romane
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Märchen / Sagen
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: 20th century • clean romance • Death • Fairies • fairy • Greece • Greek • homeplace • love after death • Mariner • Mystery • Mysticism • Nature • never ending love • Rhodos • sea captain • Shapeshifter • Siren • Storm • Transformation
• ISBN-10: 1-911352-96-2 / 1911352962
• ISBN-13: 978-1-911352-96-9 / 9781911352969