LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post054
“It was pure luck. With the first one, don’t forget I had some wonderful bait.” He chuckled again and suddenly swerved, shouting out of his window ‘malaka’. I too chuckled, though silently. Becoming younger has changed Alki quite a bit.
824
Chapter Seventy Eight
Three days passed without the girl being found. She must have really become frightened to forego (να αποποιηθεί) her income for so many days. The third night she did turn up at the club and was quietly bundled into a car and brought to us. I was shocked.
“How old are you.”
“Sixteen.” Her Greek was atrocious, though I did not find the accent unpleasant.
“You are lying. You are not older than thirteen.”
“She is twelve Robert.”
The doorman who was standing by waiting for his money spoke up. “She is a boutana (prostitute). Sometimes the patrons, older men, I see them give her money after taking her to the beach.”
“Thank you. Here is the money I promised you.” I got rid of him as fast as I could. There had been no pity in his heart. He did not know why I wanted her, cynically assumed the worst and did not care.
825
“Why did you run away three nights ago?”
“I had to go home.”
“So you threw away your flowers?”
She stared at me in terror and I sensed her trembling.
“Sit down” I ordered. “My loves, please make her sandwiches and,” I turned to her, “what do you want to drink, some hot milk?”
“I want to go home. Sas parakalo (please), I did not do anything to you.”
“Hot milk, tea or coffee.”
Crying she asked for coffee.
“What is your name? Mine is Roberto and this is Cherine.”
“You want to have sex with her and me?”
“I guessed you would say that. You know it is not the reason I brought you here. I just paid two hundred thousand for that man to find you. Would anyone pay that amount to have sex with you?”
“That was brutal!”
“Dommi, please.” I had not taken my eyes off her. “You have a gift. You felt us and ran away. The problem for you is that we also felt you. Stop trembling like that, we are not going to harm you. We just need to talk with you.” A thought crossed my mind. “Where are your flowers of tonight?”
“I dropped them.” That brought a fresh bout of tears.
“Forget them. I bought them all. How much were they worth?”
She gave me a figure and I knew she was lying. I pulled out the money and gave it to her.
“Half of the money is for the flowers. The other half is for your time, for having to sit with us and talk.”
She folded the money into her dress. As she pulled the top down to stick the money in there, I saw a bruise (είδα έναν μώλωπα). She saw the sudden anger and did not understand what had brought it on. She cowered again.
“I am not angry with you - just with the people who did that to you. Will you tell me your name now please?”
“Aganthi.”
“That is a Greek name. You are Albanian.”
“I am Greek!”
“Your Greek is worse than mine,” I smiled at her, “I am English. So Aganthi, I will only ask one thing of you, do not lie to me. If you do not want to answer, say so or keep quiet, but do not lie. That will make me angry. You are not Greek, so what is your name?”
“Aganthi. I am Greek. A Greek Albanian.”
“She is probably telling the truth. There are a lot of Greek Albanians.”
“Okay. Then I will call you Aganthi. Aganthi, you know I did not bring you here to buy your flowers and not for sex. Only for talking. Tell me, what is your gift?”
She shook her head, refusing to answer.
“Did someone tell you that your gift is evil, that it is a curse? Aganthi, your gift is something special and it is beautiful. Please tell us.”
826
She held a sandwich, not knowing if she should eat since she was not answering me. I gestured for her to eat and sat back. I chatted with the girls so that she would not feel we are examining her as she ate. When I saw her put five spoons of sugar in her coffee it awakened a pity in me that I was trying to control. It is the sort of thing people do when they have known starvation. Grab all nourishment where possible.
“I hope you enjoyed it. Next time I’ll see to it that you get a proper meal. This girl who ran after you at the club, do you know what her gift is? She feels love or hate in other people and can send love to them. Would you like to feel it?”
She shook her head, most emphatically a ‘no’.
“Cherine, are you still sure she has a gift?”
“Yes. It is strong too.”
“Tell me Aganthi. Who beats you, is it your father?” She tried to deny it, but no gift was needed to see it was a lie. “I told you. If you do not want to answer, you do not have to. You are lying and making me angry. Is it your father who beats you?” She now refused to answer and I gave her a grin. “That is much better.”
I saw doubt begin to grow in her. She was beginning to think this foreigner is crazy. Maybe an incentive would help, even though it will make me sound even crazier to her.
“I am going to make you an offer. Aganthi, do you like this house? Would you like to live somewhere nice like this? To have all the food you want. Pretty clothes. Ahh, I know, how about a CD player with lots of CD’s and a television of your own. A lovely bedroom with any furniture you choose. Also, you’ll never have to go out to sell again. No flowers and no sex, I promise. Only just to be a happy girl and enjoy yourself. Would you like to be in my family, with lots of sisters, all these lovely girls would be your sisters.”
Now her street smarts (η εμπειρίες της) were making her mind race. She knew from experience that this can only be a fairy story, good things like this do not happen to girls like her. The trouble was that she could not see what I really wanted and it scared her.
“One more thing - and this is my promise. You will never be hit again. Even if you do something to make me very angry, I will never hit you.”
I turned to my girls and spoke in English again. “Oh god, I do not think I can take this anymore. My healer says she has Aids. There is so much wrong with her. From malnutrition, from being beaten savagely, from being raped since early childhood. How can she be expected to understand, to believe us!”
I was shaking and weeping and the girls surrounded me, holding me tightly. I felt my healer rush to control the damage to me and angrily sent it to the poor girl. I told it not to return to me until she is fully healed. That means she is now included in my prime directive.
“Please don’t Robert, it must look after you.”
“I’ll survive. She will not. There is no choice, I have given her the same status you all have.”
They stared at me in dismay. Dommi got up and sat by the girl, her hands tender as she took hers, but her face stern. “He asked you what are your gifts. You are being stupid by refusing to tell him. He is a very powerful man. He has a gift. His gift is like a doctor. It can heal people who are sick. You saw his face, you saw him crying. It is because his gift told him that you are very sick. Very sick because of the things people did to you.
He is strong in his heart, but he needs his doctor to look after him or else he will die. His body is not strong, it keeps on wanting to die. He has ordered his doctor to leave him. It is not allowed to return to him until it has made you healthy again. We are all very afraid, you can see that. He may die because he wants to save you.”
“I do not feel anything in me.”
827
“Look at your hand. That cut you have, I am guessing it has been bad like that for a long time. It will not close. Keep looking at your hand.” The healer cleansed it and repaired the damage. The wound healed and soon even the scar had faded.
“That is what the doctor in you is doing to all your body. By tomorrow morning you will be healed. If he dies we will have lost the most precious man in the world. The man we all love. He will have died to save you. Please talk to him, tell him what he wants to know.”
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)6th October, 2018
* posted on Steemit: 6th October, 2018
@nikosnitza
If you wish to have your name added above, I would be honoured.
Molis to diabasa... ki auto mou fanike poli aplo!!! To katalava olo!!! :)))
Tha prospayhisw na diavasw ki to allo post simera... na mathw ki alla gia tin Aganthi!!!
Hairome pou sou arese pou to katalaves.
(Me epiase me surprise to upvote gia sena. Ef'oson to SP einai akoma 0.81c den perimena oti tha eho na sou kano 4c...makari na mporousa etsi syneheia).
Και εις ανώτερα!!!! :)))))))))