The Good Deed by Helen Benedict

Author:Helen Benedict [Benedict, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636281131
Published: 2024-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

BOOK THREE

JULY 22, 2018

17

KOSMOS

“Kyria Hilma, you must listen to me. We have to take the child to the hospital. Now.”

Hilma is sitting in one of my deck chairs, glaring at me angrily, her arms around the little girl she rescued, who is huddled into her lap. I moved the two of them out of the wind and into the sun to absorb as much warmth as they can, but even though Hilma is in dry clothes now, the day is hot and the child wrapped in thick towels and even a blanket, they are both still shivering. The girl looks pitifully fragile, her face peeking out frightened and big-eyed, her hair straggling over her thin shoulders—a tiny brown flower shocked and battered by the sea.

“I know we do, you don’t need to keep saying that,” my guest snaps, cuddling the girl closer. “Just not yet.”

“Then I’ll call the police.” I’ve been telling the woman this for hours now, our argument going around and around like a carousel, but I repeat myself anyway. “If we don’t report that you found her, we’ll get into very big trouble.”

She looks at me sharply. “And I’ve told you to keep the police out of this. She needs nourishment and clothes and more rest before we expose her to any new traumas. Cops are too scary.”

I throw up my hands. I don’t exactly know why, but this Amerikanikh, with her gamine face, skinny legs and wide bottom, has me ensnared. So I’ve fetched them both warm mountain tea made from our local ironwort plant, the gentlest drink in the world; I’ve fetched them soup and I’ve fetched them bread. And all the while I’ve been checking the time. Hilma found the child at about eight this morning, it’s now eleven and we still haven’t contacted any authorities, which, given that under Greek law even offering a refugee a five-minute ride in your car can open you to charges of human trafficking, could get us—or at least me—clapped into jail.

Leaving Hilma to coax the child to take more soup, I drive as quickly as I can to my local supermarket to find some little girl clothes. My wife Eleni used to be in charge of all the shopping for our daughter, Sophia, when she was small, so I’ve no idea what I’m doing, but with the help of an eager if overly nosy salesgirl, I choose stretchy jeans, a red T-shirt, a thick blue sweater, white socks, and tiny blue shoes. We need to dress the child as warmly as possible.

Earlier, Hilma sent me down to the beach to fetch the mask and snorkel she left there, along with the girl’s dresses and leggings. The clothes looked so forlorn, scattered in tiny wet heaps over the stones, but I gathered them up anyway and carried them back to the house, along with her sodden life jacket. And even though the dresses were too tattered ever to wear again, I washed them carefully and hung them out

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.