OLGA GRUSHIN
The Daughter of Kadmos
C
ONSTANTINE ARRIVED IN INOS in the early summer. It had not
been his choice, but rather an unlucky draw. The island of Lev–
kothea lay on the surface of the sea like a tiny, bright, overripe
fruit that had fallen so far from the tree it deserved to be overlooked by
the rest of the world . Constantine was the first outsider to come here in
a long time, and, after his many years in Athens, he was finding it hard
to get used to his new existence, so shapeless, soft, and sleepy it seemed
like sinking into a pile of cotton.
The inhabitants of Inos, most of them fishermen, moved lazily and
laughed heartily, and had animal craftiness in their eyes. There were no
cars on the island, and thus no traffic jams to regulate. The mornings at
least were filled with men busily dispersing to their tasks, but during the
unbearably hot afternoons, Inos's crooked streets grew deserted, and
Constantine often would pace in solitude past the whitewashed walls
and closed green shutters for hours on end. His gun beat against his hip
uncomfortably, his new uniform's fabric was heavy, and rivulets of
sweat snaked down his neck continuously, staining his co ll ar's edge–
and still he walked, furtively touching his recently mustachioed upper
lip. He found the emptiness vaguely sinister, almost as if some angered
god had risen from the depths of the wine-colored sea and wiped out
every trace of human life on the island. There were only the toneless
braying of donkeys, the distressed cries of darting sparrows, and the
painfully bright air.
In the late afternoon the glare would dim a little, and Constantine
would begin to imagine the first stirrings of life inside the houses: bare
feet of invisible wives slapping sleepily against the stones of their closed
patios, timid tinkling of water running into flower pots, scraping of a
chair being pushed further into shade. Sooner or later Nestor, the old
owner of the Leaping Oyster, emerged yawning from his damp, stale cel–
lar and one by one dragged a few ramshackle tables onto the terrace
where in a couple of hours all the men of Inos would be gathered, drink–
ing dense homemade brews, playing backgammon, and talking about
