Climbing the Great Pyramid (eBook)
388 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-9951-8 (ISBN)
Lia Giannakis is a first-generation Greek American and a Christ-follower who has traveled the world. She lived in New York City for ten years, and has worked as a journalist, book editor, secondary school teacher, and college professor. Now, her mission in life is to bring the love of God and the joy of laughter to others. Lia strongly believes that faith and humor are the answer to a world gone mad. Lia is also the author of the comedic farce, 'Foreign Friends,' published in 2022.
Friends Maria and Yasmeen are highly educated intellectuals of diverse ethnicities, religions, and cultures. Motivated by a genuine desire for universal harmony, they embark on a global journey to promote peace and reconciliation. Their travels take them to ancient sites, conflict-ridden communities, and involve them in an unexpected mystery. As unfamiliar experiences change them, they realize their idealism is no match for the deep-rooted animosities and traumas of the people they encounter, including family members. Their mission to transform the world becomes a personal quest to address their own profound needs and confront their respective faiths. Will they find what they've been searching for? If so, at what cost to both women?
Chapter One
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
~ St. Augustine of Hippo (5th Century)
Wednesday Evening, May 21, 1975
Heads turned and approving eyes appraised the two young women as they strolled arm-in-arm along Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side: that patchwork of elegant, sculptured 1920’s limestone apartment buildings, stately brownstones, shade-giving trees, Hispanic bodegas, Korean produce markets, Lebanese falafel stands, Indian restaurants and trendy cafés. And of course, the best bagel shop in all of New York City.
They might have been sisters with their shiny dark hair, deep brown eyes, and olive-toned skin. One was tall and thin, the other shorter with a more zaftig figure. Both had dressed lightly for spring in the City, the tall woman in a flowered sundress and comfortable clogs; her companion looked more Far-Eastern in a gilt-embroidered kurta tunic over white capris with a pair of jeweled sandals twinkling across her red-lacquered toenails. Gold hoop earrings peeked out from beneath her fashionably bobbed hair, and her trademark sandalwood scent mingled with her companion’s musky rose perfume wafting on the afternoon breeze.
“Hey, Maria!” came a friendly shout from the outdoor café near 108th Street. The willowy long-haired brunette turned to see her friend Marc Gagnon, a book editor at Simon & Schuster, seated with a man and a woman who were both attired in standard New York black (hides the dirt and is considered chic). Marc wore his work uniform: a striped dress shirt with a natty bow tie and neatly pressed chinos, as well as his ubiquitous thick-lensed, horn-rimmed glasses.
“Hey Marc. This is my friend Yasmeen Erkal,” announced Maria Ailouros, bowing with an elaborate sweep of her free arm to introduce her companion. “Yasmeen’s a Turkish Muslim and I’m a Greek Christian. Consider the history behind that statement, yet we love one another!”
“That’s right,” continued Yasmeen, in a charming, British-tinged accent, her arm firmly around Maria’s shoulders. “If we can be best friends, why can’t the rest of the world get along?”
“Amen to that!” said one of Marc’s table mates, as the fair-complected man with black hair and dark eyes raised his glass of iced coffee in a gesture of assent.
Marc began to laugh in a silly high voice—hefting an early cocktail—and proclaimed with a flair: “I’m a French Canadian, lapsed Catholic, single gay man; while Zev Friedman, here, is a married Israeli Jew with kids; and Sheila Jackson-Brown is a Black ex-Baptist from South Carolina. So if we can coexist in a friendly way, what’s wrong with the rest of the world, eh? Join us for a bit, why don’t you.”
Zev stood to pull up two more chairs for the women as he inquired, “How did you come to know one another, and how are you and Marc acquainted?”
“Marc and I worked in publishing together before I moved to Teacher’s College Press, Columbia University. That’s where I met Yasmeen. She studied for her Ph.D. at Columbia and needed a good editor for her dissertation.”
“We spent a lot of time together because Maria’s such a stickler for detail”—she elbowed her friend playfully—“but in the end, she helped me graduate!”
“Oh, sorry, I should have introduced her as “Doctor Yasmeen Erkal, or Professor Erkal. She’s returning to Istanbul to teach English at Sabanci University starting in the fall.”
“I’m not surprised. Your English is excellent,” Zev observed. “Did you study in London?”
“Yes. For lower school and high school, I attended North London Collegiate School in Harrow. Later, I received my undergraduate degree in English and American language and literature from Istanbul University’s faculty of Letters. By the way, your English is quite good, as well. Learn that in Tel-Aviv?”
“I’ve been in the States for some time,” Zev commented in an offhand way, declining to mention the real reason he lived in New York City instead of the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod where he came from.
“Yasmeen’s a big fan of American culture, too, but now she’s going back to Turkey and I’ll miss her,” Maria pouted.
Assessing the vibe the two friends projected as they sat close together, Sheila asked: “What if you went with Yasmeen? I mean, to visit Turkey.”
Yasmeen and Maria regarded one another with raised eyebrows and half-smiles. “Now there’s an idea,” Yas murmured.
Maria pounced on the suggestion. “It’s only mid-May. We could go early, say, June, and visit your family in Istanbul, then go on to Patras and visit my relatives in Greece before you have to start teaching.”
“What about your job?” Marc interjected.
“I’m quitting!” Maria revealed with a mischievous grin. “In September, I’m starting a joint Master’s and Ph.D. program in philosophy at Columbia, specializing in biblical hermeneutics.”
“Her-ma-what-ics?” Sheila was puzzled.
“Hermeneutics is etymologically linked to the Greek verb hermeneuô and the Greek noun hermeneia. Hermeneuô refers to the act of explaining, expressing, and translating; hermeneia is an interpretation or translation. So, hermeneutics is the branch of epistemology—or theory of knowledge—that deals with interpretation, particularly biblical, theological, or literary texts.”
“Holy moly!” Marc said with widened eyes and arched brows. “You keep talking like that and pretty soon we’ll be calling you Doctor or Professor.”
“I’m not sure I want to teach,” Maria frowned. “I don’t know what I want to do. Dad hoped I’d become a physician or a lawyer. The creature that masquerades as my mother ordered me to ‘make money or marry it.’ It may be that some obscure text I will study and exegete for a few more years will suddenly provide a life-changing revelation.”
“Then perhaps time away is exactly what you need,” said Marc.
“What if you went farther than Greece and Turkey?” Zev suggested. “After all, Israel is a pretty interesting place.”
“Oh sure,” interjected Sheila. “Back in March, Al-Fatah seized the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv and in the end eight hostages and three Israeli soldiers were killed. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the Palestinians rocket-launched missiles at Jerusalem that struck close to the Knesset parliament building. Interesting, all right.”
Zev frowned darkly. “Sheila, you journalists eat sensational headlines for breakfast. You forget that Israel has good beaches, delicious food, beautiful crafts, and fabulous historical sites.”
“I would like to walk where Jesus did . . ..” Maria mused.
“There you go,” said Marc. “All the more reason you two—the ambassadors for reconciliation and good will—should travel around the world promoting the cause.”
“Around the world?!” Maria and Yasmeen cried simultaneously. Yas placed her hand under her chin and over her mouth—something she tended to do when thinking—and murmured, “It might be fun.”
Marc continued, “Think of it. You’ll both be working hard and under a lot of pressure, come fall. This is your last chance to see the world . . . and go wild!”
“Oh my gosh . . ..” Maria bit her lip as she considered the possibility. “Think of all the cool stuff we’d experience! But would it be safe for two women to travel like that?” Her forehead wrinkled with worry.
Zev opined: “Just stay out of trouble spots.”
“Like Israel,” Sheila parried.
“And get your shots,” Marc added.
Yasmeen sputtered, “Our parents would have a fit!”
“Hey, we’re adults,” said Maria, without the conviction her remark conveyed.
“Wouldn’t it be expensive?” Marc asked.
“Um . . . you forget my Dad left me a bunch of money,” Maria said, her eyes filling at the memory of her beloved father, a magnate in the export-import business who had died the previous winter. “But y’know what? I had thought of flying to Greece sometime before fall to inter Dad’s ashes in the church cemetery of his village. Kostas Ailouros definitely did not want to be laid to rest in Atlanta, Georgia!”
“You’re from Atlanta? You don’t have a southern accent,” Zev noted.
“Oh, Betty—my mother—drummed it out of me. She insisted, ‘If you speak that way, people will think you’re either stupid or poor.’ And Lord knows, no one in the Ailouros family could ever be thought of as anything less than brilliant or rich—”
“—Why would you spend some of your inheritance running around the world?” Yasmeen interrupted.
“Look,” said Sheila, “instead of flying, y’all can save a lot by booking passage on a freighter to North Africa, visit Morocco, go across to Egypt, on to Turkey and Greece, etcetera. Once you arrive at your destination you can take public busses or trains, and when you’re not visiting family you can stay in youth hostels.”
“Huh! A third-world camping trip,” Yasmeen sniffed, removing the Louis Vuitton sunglasses perched on her head and positioning them...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 21.5.2025 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen |
| ISBN-13 | 979-8-3509-9951-8 / 9798350999518 |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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