Chapter 30 - 2013
Pappou caressed the leaves of the camellias in his hand perfunctorily and went on with his narration, “It was Mustafa who saw the Turkish ships in the distance first. ‘I’ll swim ashore,’ he said. ‘Keep rowing and don’t look back.’ But I couldn’t do that. My daughter and my son-in-law, Michael’s parents, were there.”
“What did you do?’
“We reached the shore at a nearby jetty. I told Michael to be silent no matter what he saw or heard. We went back to the village from the dunes. When we were close enough, I saw everything.”
A painful grimace spread across his face. “The Turks had rounded up everyone they could find in the village square. They separated the women from the men and then made the men watch as they r***d their women. I saw my own daughter being r***d, and I
