“Surely not,” said Grandma. “You did it before, you could do it again.”
“I was ten years younger then! But you are right, I can do it again if I must. I will try every other way first, though. What can I get you?”
“Now Melani, pull yourself together – you haven’t told us the specials yet. Jet will think there’s only the 500 things on the menu to choose from.”
Melani laughed, back to her old self. She reeled off a selection of mouth-watering possibilities as I realised that I had barely eaten since breakfast on the plane. She strongly recommended I try the briam. On previous visits I had seen it described as “vegetable stew” on menus and generally dismissed it as “just a few vegetables cooked together”, but I didn’t want to disappoint Melani, so I reluctantly agreed to give it a try. Grandma ordered the moussaka as Georgios brought over a flagon of red wine and two glasses, without being asked. Clearly he knew his customer.
As we waited for the food to arrive, I noticed Tassos get up from his table and gingerly approach Adrianna. He spoke a few words whilst smiling and nodding and she responded with a stiff, but brief, smile. He then gestured to his own table, still smiling broadly, but Adrianna gave a curt shake of the head and said something back to him. He gave a shrug and held out his hand. She offered a limp response but Tassos still managed to grasp her hand in both of his for a shake before returning to his family. His wife gave a little wave and a smile towards Adrianna, then spoke low and furiously to her husband. He waved her off like swatting a fly and silently resumed his meal.
Once our food arrived, I forgot all about the people around us and the dramas of the day. I wasn’t expecting much from the briam, but my first mouthful was a revelation. It was nectar of the Gods. Each vegetable was a burst of flavour and I was reduced to a few “mmm”s in place of conversation. Grandma was busily tucking into a large dish of moussaka and having similar problems forming words.
Eventually we came back to earth and I finally thought to ask Grandma about her botany exploits. She had always been interested in plants, foraging for leaves and berries wherever she happened to find herself. Whenever I came down with a cough or a cold, she always had a soothing syrup, and scrapes and bruises would be calmed with a balm made from her own herbs. Her airing cupboard held bubbling demijohns of home-made wine alongside the sheets and towels and I remember being allowed my first taste (elderberry) at the ripe old age of twelve, though I never told my mother, she would have had a fit.
“So, have you found it yet? The, er, the Sea, er, Sea Whatsitsname?”
“The Cretan Sea Pimpernel. No, unfortunately not yet. Despite its name, it’s only ever been found on the edges of shallow water, no more than puddles really, so finding them is key.”
“Hmm, and you don’t get many puddles on Crete, do you?”
“I have a theory that baby frogs are the pollinators – moving pollen from flower to flower as they crawl out of the water.”
“So you just need to find a puddle with frogspawn in it and wait for the flowers to appear?”
“Exactly. It’s just a theory though and…”
Grandma trailed off and turned to stare, along with everyone else in the taverna. A loud commotion had broken out around Adrianna’s table after several plates had crashed to the pavement. Melani seemed to be shaking Adrianna viciously whilst yelling something in Greek to Georgios. Another diner approached the table speaking rapidly in Greek and Melani released Adrianna and turned to him. As she did so, Adrianna slumped forward onto the table and I heard a woman scream. From where we were sitting, I could see Adrianna’s face turned slightly towards us. Despite one eye being practically on the tablecloth, both were wide open. She was dead.
Chapter Four – Monday evening
Melani quickly stepped between the table and the rest of her customers as Georgios and the unknown diner lowered Adrianna to the ground. I could see the man starting CPR as Melani tried to reassure everyone else.
“Please everyone, remain calm. We have called for an ambulance and Yiannis is a doctor and will take good care until it arrives.” She repeated this in German and in Greek. At least, I guessed that’s what she was doing. I have a little German from school, but not much Greek as yet.
Gradually everyone sat back down but I couldn’t see anyone returning to their food. I looked at the remainder of my briam wistfully but couldn’t bring myself to eat.
“Well, I say,” said Grandma, picking up her wine glass, seeing that it was empty, and pouring more wine into both our glasses.
“Indeed.” I couldn’t think what else to say so I simply joined her in drinking the wine.
We sat in silence for a while until I heard sirens in the distance. The taverna customers all turned towards the road, watching in the direction of Mires, as an ambulance appeared, closely followed by a police car.
The paramedics jumped out and one took over CPR as the other spoke to Yiannis, the doctor. Two policemen emerged from the vehicle. One stayed standing next to the car, the other took Melani to one side. He spoke briefly with her and then looked around the taverna as though searching for someone. Melani was vigorously shaking her head, waving her arms, and speaking rapidly in Greek but the policeman took no notice. He moved to where Yiannis was standing and started questioning him, as the second paramedic knelt next to
