Dark Odyssey Page #5

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they're alone.

I've heard people

are different here.

You're different

too, Yianni.

I've met many people from Greece

and you're not like any of them.

I come from

the hills.

Life is very

hard there.

We don't have velvet

sofas or A trains.

I don't think

it's that.

In the mountains we have

to depend on ourselves.

Each one must go his

own way, be his own man.

I suppose so.

You're so quiet,

so thoughtful.

You never seem

to listen.

It's though you have

something on your mind.

Is that what it means

to be your own man?

How can you ask me that when

by myself I've come here?

I stand just two

blocks from Pano Coupas.

He will not question

if I'm a man.

My father will

know I'm a man.

Oh, I've said

the wrong thing.

I didn't mean

to make you angry.

You're very kind.

I often come up here

and dream.

Dream?

Daydream, I guess

you'd call it.

About what I'd like to do

tomorrow or next week.

Or what I'll be like

ten years from now.

Don't you

ever wonder?

Looking too far ahead

is something I've

learned not to do.

You mean you've never,

ever dreamed about

something you want?

A long time

ago, yes.

I dreamed as boys do.

Being a soldier,

a doctor.

Many things.

Often I'd dream

just of growing up.

My father made me

want that.

When I was a little boy

I used to tend our sheep.

One day toward dusk,

I was leading them home

when a wolf jumped

out of the thicket

and grabbed one of

the sheep by the throat.

I started to yell

and scream.

My father heard me

and came running.

He struck the wolf, his strong

arms swinging a big stick.

The wolf ran off badly hurt,

leaving the lamb behind.

But it was dead.

I began to weep for I felt

I had failed in my duty.

My father put his

arm around my shoulder.

The same arm that

had held the stick.

"It's enough that

you shouted," he said.

"When you grow up, you will be

able to strike at a wolf."

That night,

we ate the lamb,

and I was happy,

for I felt that one day

I would have the courage

of my father.

Well, you must have

made other plans too.

Will you work on

ships all your life?

The sea

is not for me.

Then you'll have to

settle down someplace.

I will go back

to the mountains.

But you said you had

no family in Greece.

Why don't you

stay in America?

I don't think

that will be possible.

Maybe Pano Coupas

can help you.

He has a good business

and knows a lot of people.

If you wanted

to stay here,

maybe he could

help you get a job.

Help me--

Coupas?

You mean he wouldn't

want to help you?

(mama)

Nike, where are you?

I'm up here, mama.

It's getting late.

I hope it's all right if I stay

here a little while longer.

The view is

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