‘How is your arm?’ he asked, glancing at the bandage. I’d released it now from its sling.
‘Better.’
‘I heard about the woman found at the Mitsero mines,’ he said.
I nodded and offered him a seat.
‘Have you heard from Nisha?’
‘No,’ I said.
He looked out of the balcony doors but said nothing.
Then he unzipped a rucksack that he’d placed by his feet and took out a wad of money. From the look of it, it was much more than what he owed me for the previous hunt.
‘That looks around 10,000 euro,’ I said.
‘You’re spot on.’ He put it on the coffee table between us. ‘It’s yours,’ he said.
‘A bribe?’
‘Why would I need to bribe you?’
‘To keep my mouth shut.’
The little bird hopped up onto the table now and inspected the wad of notes that lay upon it. Seraphim frowned and glanced at me straight on.
‘You have a pet bird now?’
‘It’s not a pet,’ I said. I had no energy to say more.
‘The money is to help you get by, until you figure out what you’re going to do.’
I just stared at him blankly.
‘We go a long way back, don’t we?’ he said.
I nodded, apprehensive, wondering what dirty plan he had up his sleeve this time.
‘I remember when I used to come visit your farm with my dad, do you remember?’
I just shrugged, but he went on.
‘I loved being there, getting out of the city. I saw the kind of life you had and I was jealous. I was always so jealous of you and all that freedom you had. The only time I got to be out in the open was when I had a rifle in my hand.’
His eyes had drifted away for a while and they flicked back to me now.
‘The other day, when I saw how you reacted to the death of the mouflon, it . . . it reminded me of . . .’
I waited, but the sentence was never finished.
‘I’ll tell the bosses that you’ve been badly injured in an accident and won’t be able to work anymore.’
‘Thank you,’ I said.
‘I’ll reassure them that we won’t need to keep you quiet.’
I nodded.
‘You know, I wasn’t always such a pig. Don’t you remember?’
What I remembered was Seraphim running down that mountain holding the crow he’d killed by its feet.
He must have seen the doubt on my face as he said, ‘Come on, Yiannis! Don’t you remember? It was as soon as they placed that gun in my hands, that’s when I changed. Before that we played in the woods. You showed me all those creatures that crawled amongst the leaves. You showed me how to catch a snake and release it. We played dominos in the olive orchard. We made an igloo out of twigs and explored the North Pole! We fought sharks in the Pacific Ocean!’
He was right, of course. I remembered all of it. Those memories were exactly what had stopped me from despising him completely. I had a sudden image of him now, standing on the fallen trunk of a tree, encouraging me across a treacherous river of grass.
‘We made a catapult to knock the ripe apples off the trees,’ he said, ‘so that we could eat and survive in the Amazon.’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘You do know.’
I nodded, slowly.
‘Take the money,’ he said. ‘Please.’
‘OK.’
I didn’t thank him and I didn’t offer him a drink.
‘I have a new apprentice,’ he said, as he made his way to the door. ‘Young lad, very sharp. Exactly what I need. But, you know, Oksana wants me to stop all this stuff. She doesn’t understand there’s a huge price to pay. We are expecting a child. I cannot take risks.’
His eyes were so sad, so full of anguish.
‘How is Oksana?’ I said.
‘Very well. I finally finished painting the nursery and revealed it to her, grand opening, that sort of thing. She was beside herself.’
‘I’m so glad,’ I said, and for a brief moment I genuinely was.
‘If I’d really hurt you, I would never have been able to live with myself,’ he said.
‘I know.’
Then he was gone.
I glanced down at the money and I knew what I wanted to do with it. I would send it to Kumari, along with everything else I had saved.
As for me, I would start again. I’d get a job at a restaurant somewhere, maybe even at Theo’s if he needed any waiters. I would do this and start over again, and when Nisha returned, she would see that I had let go of my old life, that I had understood.