Jewel of Eros

Ari and I solemnly left the conference room, and went into the lobby to sit together on a sofa in an isolated corner. We managed to maintain a sober, businesslike demeanor until we were alone and unnoticed. Then, he kissed me on the cheek, and burst out laughing.

“Thalia, you were amazing! You must tell me, because your performance was so convincing. Are you and Alec connected with government intelligence?”

“Good heavens, no! But that telephone call sure scared the shit out of Mr. Delacroix, didn’t it?”

“Who was it that you talked to?”

I explained the conversation with my mother to Ari, and he thought it very amusing how statements by a grandmother about a teenager and a ten year old boy could be misinterpreted by the Frenchman.

“Bullshit is only believable when the listener wants to believe, Ari.” I said.

Shortly, the Italians approached us. They informed Ari that Alain Delacroix had agreed to release them from the terms of the existing letter of agreement, and they were now at liberty to negotiate with Ari independently. His alternative appeared to be attractive, and they requested that Ari schedule a meeting with the Greek manufacturer for a plant inspection and beginnings of contract negotiations. Then they looked at me, asking if that arrangement satisfied my conditions.

“Gentlemen, my job is done here. What you and Mr. Themopodi agree together is perfectly satisfactory with my government. I can assure you that you have seen the last of me.”

* * * * *

“And that, ladies,” I said to Katherine and Elena, “Was the end of my career with the company from Maryland.”

“You are something else, Jeanine,” said Elena. “No wonder you can be like Wonder Woman in business meetings. If you had any, your cajones would be like baseballs.”

“What did you and Aristotle do after you left your business associates?” asked Katherine.

“Well, let’s see,” I replied. “We celebrated our success with a drink at the bar, then went to dinner. Afterwards, Ari took me to the casino, where I lost a couple hundred dollars of his money.”

Katherine must have seen my smile as I recalled that evening to myself.

“And after your dinner and night out, I suppose you went back to your hotel, to two rooms on different floors.”

“No, Katherine, we both slept in my room. Ari demanded to see what kind of woman was underneath that power suit. May I have some more champagne, please?”

* * * * *

The third bottle of champagne was now a ‘dead soldier,’ as they say, and I was fatigued from talking and laughing so much. Katherine tossed the empty bottle into the metal wastebasket, making a loud clunk. All three of us reacted to the noise like it was the clock tower chiming one o’clock, time for the party to cease.

I began picking up the empty cups, paper plates and wrinkled napkins, stuffing them into a plastic supermarket shopping bag. The bag joined the three bottles in the wastebasket. Elena did likewise, gathering the leftover cheese cubes and chip dip and covering them with plastic wrap. Cleaning up after a good party inevitably makes me feel melancholy, and this time the feeling was even more acute for me.

The three of us performed the cleanup chores in silence, each of us thinking private thoughts. Mine were directed back to those five wonderful days on Xirokis. I tried to picture some of the island scenery, with its blue ocean water, almost blindingly white sunlight, and pastel colored houses and boats. But faces kept jumping into the foreground of my daydreaming landscapes, especially one face – Ari.

I am bonded with Alec, I know. Our lives together have produced two fine sons, and he is my spouse, lover, and best friend for life. We fit so well together, and I mean that physically as well as spiritually. Yet I feel that that we are congruent because our cultural and national backgrounds are the same. Ari and I became close friends, and lovers briefly, bonding because we learned from each other about human feelings and instincts that came from backgrounds that are worlds apart. And by embracing some of each other’s nature and philosophy of life, both of us have improved our lives.

I missed him very much at that moment. While telling the stories of our fun and high jinks in Greece, I felt that I was once more with Ari and Olympe, celebrating life Grecian style. I was Thalia again, and even though the January gloom of Pennsylvania was dominating the views from the windows, my body felt like it was being warmed by the Aegean sun as I lay naked on my back on a black sand beach. I was lonesome for my Greek friend, and he had forgotten me at Christmas. I began to cry.

“Oh, Ari!” I murmured. “Why did you choose Christmas to forget me? Now our magic moments are all in the past, and we shall have no more.”

Katherine overheard my lament, and put her hands on my shoulders.

“Jeanine, why do you say that he has forgotten you? There are lots of good reasons that his Christmas gift from Greece would have been delayed.”

“No, Katherine, Ari never leaves anything to chance. If he wanted me to receive a gift on Christmas Day, as he promised, it would have been on my doorstep on Dec. 25, come hell or high water. No, the fact that it didn’t appear on that day convinces me that he wants to back off on our friendship.”

Elena also commiserated. “I just can’t believe your Aristotle would want to forget you, Jeanine. After all, since your trip to Greece last summer, look at all the things he’s done for you. Or should I say us. This company owes its existence to your friend. And he keeps sending business our way, like Pelonnika Chemicals. There has to be another explanation for his not sending you a Christmas present.”

I was not cheered up by my friends’ attempts to explain away Ari’s thoughtlessness.

“No, Ari no longer wants me in his inner circle of friends,” I said, convincing myself. “We had our summer of great times and marvelous memories, but now the new year means going separate ways. We three graces are on our own, ladies.”

Just then, the office front door opened, and the brown-uniformed UPS deliveryman entered. We all greeted Delbert, and offered him some of our cheese leftovers. He accepted a slice of cheese on a cracker, ate it, and then asked for assistance.

“If one of you will hold the door open, I can muscle this damn crate into your office. God, it must weigh two hundred pounds. Oh, and, Mrs. Jameson, it’s addressed to you. Will you please sign the shipping order?”

I looked at the Bill of Lading while signing for delivery. The article had been sent from Athens, and had several official looking stamps for Customs approval, plus one document that stated that the government of Greece authorized the export of a reproduction of an antiquity, with the estimated value of $5,500 Euro.

Katherine held the door, while Elena went to help Delbert wheel in a large wooden crate on his loading dolly. The crate was over six feet high and about four feet wide and a foot thick. There were large stickers indicating that the monster object was to stand vertically. We cleared out floor space by wheeling our office chairs to the conference room, and Delbert gently off-loaded the crate from the dolly, letting it stand by itself against a wall, between two of our desks.

Delbert fished a large screwdriver from his belt, saying, “I figured that you ladies would not have a tool to open this crate, so I brought this up with me from the truck. You want me to open it for you?”

I nodded, curious as to what was inside the crate. The crate was constructed of panels made of plywood, framed with 1”x3” lumber. The sides were fastened to each other with heavy gauge wire clamps, so it was easy for Delbert to remove the clamps holding the front panel to the top, bottom, and sides. Carrying it like a door, he set the front panel against the wall, next to the crate. Inside, all we could see was packing material of wood shavings stuffed inside brown paper, and Katherine eagerly began to pull the packing out of the crate.

We all gasped as the object was revealed. It was a piece of an old plaster wall, approximately my height of five feet six inches, on which was a fresco of the Three Graces, painted in the ancient Roman style. The three women were nude, plump by today’s standards of female anatomy. The graces were posed in the traditional arrangement, facing each other in a circle, with the one in the foreground having her backside exposed to the viewer. The hairstyles were the classic braids encircling the tops of their heads, and the flesh colors on their faces and bodies were fresh and pink, highlighted by the artist’s interpretation of illumination by sunlight streaming down from the viewer’s upper left. In some ways, the fresco looked over two thousand years old, yet the colors and condition were almost perfect, like they were modern. The effect was stunning, and the four of us admired the piece in awed silence.

After a few seconds, I noticed a manila envelope at the bottom of the crate. I opened it, and inside were a white greeting card envelope with my name on it, a certificate of provenance for the fresco, a CD ROM, and a newspaper clipping. The provenance authenticated that the piece came from a villa on the island of Niasandrakos, built in the 1920’s, and which was demolished in 2002 for a modern structure. The newspaper clipping showed photographs of the villa demolition, and the sculpture, ironwork, and frescoed walls that had been saved. Among the artifacts was my fresco of the Three Graces. I was enthralled by the idea that I now owned such a beautiful work of art, with the nostalgic romance of its origin on a Greek island that I had visited.

“Well, Jeanine, aren’t you going to open the gift card?” Katherine asked.

My fingers were shaking as I slipped my thumb under the sealed flap, and removed the card. It was a lovely Christmas card with a Greek message, signed by Ari. Tears came to my eyes, and I couldn’t read the handwritten note on the left side of the card. He hadn’t forgotten me; it must have been shipping delays. Katherine took the card from my hand, asking if I wanted her to read the message. I nodded while searching for a tissue to dry my eyes.

My loyal Grace, dear friend, and amusing Thalia,

It was Olympe who discovered this fresco, and we both knew immediately that it was the perfect Christmas gift for you. I had it delivered to your business office address, presuming that you would wish to use it as the centerpiece display of your new and successful business. I had a professional photographer make images of the piece, thinking that you should replace the icon on your current stationery and business cards with one that matches your wall decoration. There are many that he took, but my favorite is the fifth one on the computer disk. It is your choice, however.

Also on the disk are some of the photos that were downloaded from the digital camera on Xirokis. There are some that we took, of the two of us, as well as some of the four of us. These are VERY private, and are for yours and Alec’s enjoyment alone. In addition, there are pictures that you took of the stars through the telescope. On cold winter nights, or when you feel overly pressured by the modern world, look at these and know that there are places within your reach that can transport you to the halls of the Gods. You and your partners in your company (your real company, Thalia, not that one in Maryland) are welcome in Greece anytime. Olympe is curious as to what the new Anglaia looks like.

Olympe and I have fond memories of the time on the island with you and Alec. Our souls and bodies are bound to Olympe and Alec, but I will always think of you and me as being inter-twined Greek spirits, me a mortal, and you a minor goddess, my lovely Grace, Thalia. I gave strict orders that this gift arrive on the Day of Christmas; I hope that you enjoy it.

With all my heart,

Aristotle

By now, I was bawling like a baby.

“But it didn’t come on Christmas Day!” I wailed. “It would have been perfect if it did.”

“Beggin’ your pardon, ma’am,” said Delbert. “But it did arrive on Christmas Day. This thing came from Greece, and there, the Greek Orthodox people celebrate January 7, as their Christmas Day. December 25 ain’t nothing to them, like it is for us.”