— I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know about that.
— Was it you who found your mother? Did anyone bring her down?
— No one did. We couldn’t. Later on we went there. But they had buried her. They buried her in the bed of a stream, and the stream carried her off in the winter, there was nothing left of her. Some shepherds showed us the place.
— Whereabouts did they execute her?
— Somewhere below Prastós.
— That’s so vague.
— I only know what the shepherds told us. They wanted money. At a place where two streams met. Right there.
— All because you’d left for Athens.
— Because we’d left. And because of my brother Kóstas.
— Is Kóstas alive?
— He died last year. In Corinth.
— Alone?
— With Semní.
— What did they have against Kóstas?
— He was in the Organization. And as soon as he left, that’s when they turned against us.
— Hold on a minute. Kóstas was in the Organization?
— Yes. As a noncombatant. Not as a rebel. And when they realized that he didn’t want to stay with them, they began turning against us.
— I didn’t know that.
— They took Kóstas to perform an execution. They’d brought someone from some other village there, name of Nestorídis. They took him up to Zygós. And then Kapetán Kléarhos said to him, Braílas, let’s see what you’re made of. If you’re a fighter. He had a.45-caliber pistol. Hey, what did you just say, he tells him. Me kill people? What did you say? Is this what our struggle is about? Well, anyway. Kóstas got up and left, and they killed that man just like that, those horrid little rebels. He came back and he tells us, Tonight you’re leaving, it’s finished here. You’re leaving tonight. Imagine, telling me to leave that night. With my money, with my store, with my things. You get the picture. And I’ll take you there. He knew his way around and everything. But he stayed behind, in resistance to those rebels to collect some money, to take care of some business. And after that he got up and left. He came and joined us. Two months later. They didn’t manage to turn him into an executioner, and he became their worst nightmare. Because that was their method. To project an image of power, an image of strength. But of course the others did the same, now didn’t they? Absolutely. What else can I tell you?
Chapter 15
That was in 1946. Around then. Ten or so men come down here. I hadn’t fixed the house yet, it was just a shack. And right when I moved in there, I hear tap-tap-tap on the door. I grab a rifle I had. Who’s there, I say. Nighttime. Who’s there? It’s me, Mítsos. It was Mítsos Fotiás. What are you doing down here in Karátoula at this hour, Mítsos? Is that you, Loukás? It’s me. What do you want? He says, Listen, we’re looking for Panayótis Laganás. You know, Verémis. And why would you men be looking for him, I tell them. Well, anyway. I moved to the side and I knocked on my brother Tássos’s door. He opened it. Tássos, it’s me. He opened the door. I tell him, Listen, they’re looking for your brother-in-law Panayótis. But they have no right doing what they have in mind, I say. I tell them, Panayótis doesn’t live here, let’s go to his house. We went there, we knock on the door. Maria was there. She opened up. They want Panayótis. But even if he’s here, they can’t take him. Maria opened the door. Those men wanted to search through his storage trunk. I tell them, Hey, what do you think you’re doing here? Get the heck out before we all get killed in here. And they left. Mítsos Fotiás and Vasílis Kólias, who was still just a kid, God rest his soul. The men from Kastrí tried to get them to take revenge on the men from Karátoula. From Karátoula. And they saw I was strongly against that. For no reason, how should I put it, out of spite. And the next day they gave me a good talking-to. Why was I resisting them? Because Panayótis was in charge, EAM had forced him into it. Shame on you men, I tell them. But Nikólas was the head man then. Konofáos. Who it was that sent them I don’t know. But he was the leader. He and the Trýfonos brothers.
— Don’t go naming people and things, Loukás. It might stir up trouble again.
— Yeah, all right. But that’s the truth.
— It’s the truth, but why should people hear it from you?
— Yep, no reason at all. I’m done talking.
Chapter 16
Tzímis Boínis says to me, We have to take part in the Resistance and work for our country. I agreed immediately. The meetings were held in Ayios Vlásis. Beginning of 1943, in March. I called my friends, we went. Hotblooded men. We went to the country chapel. We asked where to find arms. It’s easy, Magoúlis tells us. Tzímis Boínis and Níkos Magoúlis. Seems they were the ones in charge. We knew they were Communists. But we didn’t know what communism was. They tell us, About the arms, it will all be taken care of. The next evening we went: Thanásis Kosmás, Tákis Pantazís, Mihális Tatoúlis. Lots of men. So we went, we were mostly concerned about getting arms. They tell us, We’ll take care of that. They’ll bring us arms, there will be drops by the British. On the third night, Tzímis Boínis says, We’ll also be working for the Party. What party, we say. We’ll be working for the Organization. For EAM, says Magoúlis. That’s what we’ll call the Organization. At the time we still hadn’t heard anything about it. And the party meant the Communist Party. We’ll try and bring in as many men as we can. Each of us will bring in two, three, ten men. As many as he can. I listened to this carefully. We left, I was upset. The next night I didn’t go. The other men went. They tell me, Antónis, you didn’t come. I tell them, No. I came for the Resistance. Not for the Party. When they took over in Kastrí, when they were in complete control, they arrested me. That was the reason. They came to my house at night. They tell me, We’re going to Mángas’s place. That’s where they had their headquarters. Langadianós’s brother was there. There were two of them. I don’t remember the other one. They took me to Mángas’s place. They already had a lot of men there, from Kastrí. And a few from Ayiasofiá. The next day they marched us over to Ayios Pétros. And from Ayios Pétros to Kastánitsa. A few men at a time, so we wouldn’t suspect anything. So we wouldn’t put up a fight. From Kastánitsa to Prastós. And finally to Orthokostá. To the monastery. And that’s where they interrogated us. The charge had already been prepared. We had been linked to Trípolis. To the Battalions that were being organized then. In April of 1944. I say to one of them, You’re in control everywhere and you bring us here. Why didn’t you interrogate us in Kastrí? And find us guilty, and hang us from the village plane tree? That’s exactly what I told him. He stood there, a man named Tóyias from Mesorráhi. He gave me a punch on the back of my neck. I’d never fainted before that. Everything went dark. Then he whacks me again in the face. That was all the beating I got. I don’t know about the others. The other prisoners. There were about a hundred of us, maybe more. The camp commander was Tóyias. There was someone else from Kastrí, Stratís Karadímas. The Braílas woman’s nephew. Later they said he was the one who killed her. And someone from Oriá, Goudontínos’s brother. Níkos. They were our guards. Fifteen of them all together. There were also five or six monks, we never saw them, they stayed somewhere separate. For a month they held us there. Then the cleanup operations began on Mount Parnon. They began letting a lot of men go. They freed them a few at a time. They kept us until the end, thirty-two of us. They took us up to the mountains, up near Ayios Vasíleios. Where a battle took place later on, in 1948. With LOK