368 - A moment’s space

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Athena Kehagias

It all takes place in a small room.
The atmosphere is very warm despite the apparent poverty.
A man alone, is seated at a table.
He is eating silently. His face bears the signs of sadness. He seems to have accepted his fate. As it is apparent from his gestures, some sympathy, without an obvious reason.
Silence. A young woman enters the room ….

Athena: directed towards the young man, who has not raised his eyes.
How can you eat.
Time. are you insensitive?

Sotiris: What else could I do?

Athena, surprised by his answer.
I don’t know …

Sotiris:
Man can not feed on unhappiness …
Time. He also loved this soup …

Athena:
I know …
More calm, she is approaching him.
After all, you’re right …

Sotiris:
The meal is the memory of the poor … We are left with nothing more than that …

Athena:
You have no right to say that  …

Sotiris:
But why? Time. .  One day we went to my village and it was my mother who had prepared our breakfast. I remember his smile while he was handing out the bread.
Silence.. .

Athena:
So it was you then, who showed him the Potamia village.

Sotiris: as though he felt guilty
Shouldn’t I?

Athena:
No, no, you did well. Time.. .  Tell me about your visit.

Sotiris:
It was a winter morning …
The young woman set next to him him. The sky was clear and the sun had changed the colour of the landscape.

Athena,. . ruminative
The colour does not come from the sun …

Sotiris:
We walked along the roads, through the ruins of the past …

Athena:
How was it?

Sotiris
His sadness was immense …

Athena: with a loud cry. . .
Why then, did you take him to that point?

Sotiris:
He wanted to know my past. Time. . . Looking at the space, he lived through time …

Athena:
Was the place enough for him … Time.. .  Did you go to church?

Sotiris:
Yes, that was the most painful moment for him.

Athena:
You shouldn’t have done it … Silence.

Sotiris:
Entering the church. .  time had changed its meaning …
Time.. .  I had the impression that I had sunk in my past … He seemed to have known that, as if he had lived through it.

Athena:
But this is impossible.

Sotiris:
But it was a reality!

Athena:
Was he observing the Byzantine frescoes?

Sotiris:
Yes, as soon as he crossed the doorstep …

Athena:
Then. . he knew,… silence. .

Sotiris:
He was born with … time.. .  Every detail of the landscape, every wound of the village was a trace …

Athena:
As if he was rectifying the past.

Sotiris:
His thought had found my mother’s memories  …

Athena:
His empathetic capability.

Sotiris:
But he did not know my mother at all . She represented nothing to him.

Athena:
She was like all the others. Equally important …

Sotiris:
For what reason?

Athena:
It is part of an oppressed nation. It was a piece of his memory.

Sotiris:
However, he was foreign in regards to our history.

Athena:
He belongs to Humanity. It was the only thing that matters to him.

Sotiris: pensive
I saw it in his eyes … he liked her …

Athena:
He loved all people without exception.

Sotiris:
He was an exceptional man .

Athena:
No, only a man, simply a man.

Sotiris:
Leaving the village, he had a knot in his throat, his heart was contracted.

Athena:
His spirit was engraved in our memory.

Sotiris:
Amongst the ruins, a new thought was born.

Athena:
He had lived through a new pain.

Sotiris:
A new life.

Athena:
The shape was changed again … She leans towards the young man. He gives her the plate and she uses it. They are sharing the same memories now: the same memory.