‘Wait.’
Sofia ran out of the door but was back in seconds with some low-heeled gold sandals, and a long gold chain.
‘Try these with it.’
Maddie had to agree that it all went perfectly together.
‘Thanks, Sof. You’ve done a great job.’
Her friend blew her a kiss.
‘Just making the best use of the utterly fabulous raw materials.’
A message pinged on Sofia’s phone.
‘Taxi’s here. No changing our minds now.’
The winding road to the top of the hill made Maddie very glad they’d insisted Sofia didn’t drive. The twists and blind corners were still hair-raising, even more so as the driver chatted on his phone the whole time with only one hand on the wheel, but at least she was confident he knew the roads.
He finally pulled into a layby before a narrow road that led up to the church and beyond. Groups of people on foot were making their way up the final hill in the dark, using their phones as torches, and talking and laughing loudly.
‘This is as far as I can take you. You must walk from here. Too many people.’
Sofia handed over the cash and the three of them joined the back of the crowd. The atmosphere was friendly, people nodded and smiled at them, but the only voices she could hear were Greek. The idea that they were having an ‘authentic experience’ would please Charlotte.
At the top of the hill, people streamed past them into the venue, while they stood and took it all in. A vast outdoor stone terrace was set with long tables and benches, around a stage with a live band. Strings of lights in the trees round the edges illuminated the scene with ease. In front of the stage was an empty space which Maddie presumed would be for dancing. The noise level was already high, as friends and family greeted each other with extravagant hugs and kisses and nabbed a table as their own.
‘What do we do?’ Sofia looked at Charlotte.
A man approached them before she could reply and pointed them in the direction of a series of long tables to one side.
‘Eíste Anglídes?Are you English?’
They all nodded furiously.
‘It is simple. You line up here for your food and drink and then sit wherever you like.’
‘Thank you.’ Charlotte took charge as he walked off to greet a new arrival. ‘I did know that though.’
‘Of course.’ Maddie smiled at Sofia as they joined the end of the queue.
A whole army of women in aprons stood behind big bowls of Greek salad, huge chunks of bread and vast metal vats of a meat that Charlotte couldn’t quite identify, next to yet more vats of home-made chips.
She pointed at one of the vats of meat and tried out her very basic Greek.
‘Ti eínai aftó?’
‘Katsíki’ was the reply, which didn’t help her a whole lot.
The woman’s neighbour nudged her in the side.
‘Goat. It is goat.’
Charlotte turned to the others with a grimace.
‘It seems to be all there is.’
The memory of the cute goats at the cheese farm was uppermost in her mind. She’d looked at the photos she’d taken many times to study the animals’ movements in possible preparation for a series of oil paintings when she got back home. Every single face was different, and they all had their own distinctive markings. How could she possibly eat one?
