MOAB

Chapter 2i^3

Chapter 2i^3

“No man. No.”

“Come on!”

“I said no. And even if I were to come present my apodeixis, I would need to get a presentation ready. Not everyone has your charisma, some of us need to actually work on stuff instead of just relying on our smile,” said Yanni and instantly regretted that last remark.

Nikos did not really take offense but got the hint to back off. “OK. Sorry. I’m only pushy because I care. And I do actually work sometimes.”

“I know you do, I didn’t mean to say that. I meant that I need to be prepared to get my confidence up,” said Yanni.

Nikos acknowledged in silence. He turned the car around.

“Just pull over here and let me walk. It’s just a couple of blocks,” said Yanni and got off the car. He was more embarrassed than offended, ’cause of the earlier slip of the tongue. They didn’t say anything and that was okay. Men can depart in silence and leave things unspoken. Next time they met they would be old pals again. He walked back to his house, taking the longer route through a park he liked.

It wasn’t a long detour, a mere five minutes longer. As he was about to turn around to his home street he heard familiar voices shouting.

He ran to his house and saw a few of the neighbours gathered in the yard, a bit of smoke coming out of his lab/office window.

“Oh, skata! The laser…” he said and dashed through his yard.

His heart pounded for a couple of seconds that seemed like weeks. He was about to grab Miss M… (Margaret? Molly? What’s her name, who cares?) by the shoulders and shake her to find out where his family were but moira saved him some dignity and Thalia came around the house with the baby in her arms and Georgie holding tight onto her skirt.

He raised Georgie in his arms and hugged Thalia, feeling relieved. “Thank God you are ok, I couldn’t see you in the yard.”

“Yeah, I was checking the back of the house. It’s ok,” she said calmly.

“What happened? I-I know what happened, I’m such a vlakas. What did you do?” he asked, slapping his forehead.

She pointed at the man coming out of the house with a fire extinguisher in his one hand and holding a greased t-shirt over his mouth with the other. “I took the kids out, shouted for Mr. Andreas next door. He had a fire extinguisher nearby and rushed up the stairs.”

Yanni walked next to Mr. Andreas and thanked him. The neighbour took a whiff of fresh oxygen and said, “Heh, its fine. I had the fire extinguisher in my toolshed,” while raising the red canister high. “I hope that makes up for all the noise I make with my power tools!”

“It sure does!” said Yanni and laughed in relief along with the good man.

“The fire was small, especially since I got it in time. My fire extinguisher is not suitable for electronics, but I tried not to spray your setup too much. As soon as I pulled the plug the fire pretty much went out. I don’t know a lot, but that thing looks expensive.”

Yanni did not care about the laser at that time. His family could have been hurt, but any harm was avoided. That was all that mattered. He told the good man so and sent him off with a promise to pay for the refill, an offer Mr. Andreas of course refused. That is the Greek way.

He told Thalia to stay in the yard and he went up to see if the smoke had cleared. Mr. Andreas had opened the window, leaving just the smell behind. Some burnt wiring was especially irritating, but it was safe. He leaned out the window and said, “OK, come on up. The smoke is gone.”

As soon as he nodded to her that it was ok, his wife took the kids and came inside. She had to reject various offers of help from old ladies, replying politely each time. Miss M-what’s-her-name offered to put them up in her house. “We are fine, Miss Meropi, thank you very much. It was more smoke than flames, we will be okay,” Thalia said and finally managed to get inside.

Meropi. Yes, that’s her name. Yanni never could remember the damn thing.

The rest of the neighbours waited around for a while but slowly dispersed, since the couple had nothing more to show. Yanni could swear he saw two of them whispering to each other, as if this was his fault.

Which it was, actually.

Oh, what a dodged bullet that was. Yanni left the window wide open and closed the door behind him to contain some of the burned material’s smell. Thalia was oddly calm about the whole thing, but her patience was sure to run out after the initial shock. He didn’t dare look her in the eye and he said, “I’m sorry honey, I really am…”