Moon of Aphrodite Read Online Free PDF Page B

could quite
    understand why. She wished very much that she spoke Greek, because she doubted
    very much whether the conventional phrase books on sale would provide a translation
    for 'Please stop driving like a maniac!'
    Her only consolation was that when Damon Leandros returned to look for her, and she
    had not the slightest doubt that he would, she would have vanished, she hoped without
    trace.
    The taxi stopped at last with a jerk which almost -hurled her on to the floor, and she
    stared doubtful y at the mass of figures on the meter, wondering which one depicted
    the fare. The driver didn't seem prepared to help. As she hesitated, he directed a sul en
    stare at her, and eventual y she produced her purse, peeled off a number of notes and
    handed them to him. Judging by the slightly contemptuous smile he gave her as he
    pocketed them, she had given him far too much, she thought angrily as she got out of
    the car.
    It was hotter than ever as she walked up the hil which led to the entrance, but near
    the car park was a large stal sel ing cold drinks and other refreshments. There were
    people everywhere, sitting under the shade of the trees as they ate and drank, most of
    them tourists, a lot of them students, propping themselves up on their bulging
    rucksacks. There were al sorts of accents, and Helen found she was eagerly listening
    for an English voice, as she made her way up the slope to the summit. She would have
    her cold drink later, she thought, because something told her that if she ever settled
    under the trees, her sightseeing would be over for the day.
    The stone slabs she was walking up were warm through the thin soles of her sandals,
    and above her the rock towered away, crowned by a cluster of buildings. She stood
    there for a moment , staring up, conscious of an isolation that went deeper than mere
    physical loneliness, overcome by the thought of time, and the generations of feet which
    had trodden this way before hers— tyrants, philosophers, soldiers, slaves and
    conquerors— suddenly aware as she had never been of her mother's Greek blood in her
    veins, and of a faint stirring deep inside her which went further than the ordinary
    excitement of the holidaymaker.
    Following the smal knots of people ahead of her, she made her way without haste
    through the Propylaea and out on to the vast expanse of bleached white rock which
    had served the city of Athens as a fortress and a religious sanctuary. The Parthenon
    dominated, as she supposed it had always been intended it should. Its great honey-
    coloured mass seemed to rear into the flawless blue of the sky, like some proudancient
    lion scenting the air, Helen thought, and smiled at her own fancy.
    She became aware that a group of people behind her were patiently waiting to take a
    photograph and stepped out of the way with a murmured word of apology. She knew
    that because of the wear and tear of thecenturies, and more recently air pollution from
    the great city which circled the foot of the Acropolis, the most she could do was look
    and admire from a distance. Some ot the buildings, she noticed, glancing round her,
    were already supported by scaffolding. It was a shame, but at least the authorities were
    doing their best to preserve them for further generations of feet to tread up the long
    winding route from the foot of the rock.
    She sat down on a piece of fal en masonry, and fil ed her mind with images to carry
    away with her, because she doubted whether she would ever come back. She had
    agreed to undertake this journey of reconciliation because her grandfather was elderly
    and il . It seemed quite likely that he was at death's door, she thought sombrely, and
    once he was dead there would be no reason for her to return to Greece ever again.
    That feeling of fel owship with the past, of homecoming even that she had experienced
    earlier, had disturbed her. She didn't understand herself. She had always regarded
    herself as English through and through, and