NOELLE AND CATHERINE
Athens: 1946
14
Men mold some cities, some cities mold men. Athens is an anvil that has withstood the
hammer of centuries. It has been captured and despoiled by the Saracens, the Anglos, the
Turks, but each time it patiently survived. Athens lies toward the southern end of the great
central plain of Attica, which slopes gently toward the Saronic Gulf on the southwest and
is overlooked on the east by the majestic Mount Hymettus. Underneath the shiny patina of
the city one still found a village filled with ancient ghosts and steeped in rich tradition of
timeless glories, where its citizens lived as much in their past as in the present, a city of
constant surprise, full of discovery, and in the end unknowable.
Larry was at the Hellenikon Airport to meet Catherine’s plane. She saw him hurrying
toward the ramp, his face eager and excited as he ran toward her. He looked tanner and
leaner than when she had last seen him, and he seemed to be free of strain.
“I’ve missed you, Cathy,” he said as he scooped her up in his arms.
“I’ve missed you too.” And as she said it, she realized how much she meant it. She
kept forgetting the strong physical impact that Larry had on her until they met after an
absence and each time it hit her anew.
“How did Bill Fraser take the news?” Larry asked as he helped her through Customs.
“He was very good about it.”
“He had no choice, had he?” Larry said, sardonically.
Catherine remembered her meeting with Bill Fraser. He had looked at her, shocked.
“You’re going to go off to Greece to live? Why, for God’s sakes?”
“It’s in the fine print of my marriage contract,” she had replied lightly.
“I mean, why can’t Larry get a job here, Catherine?”
“I don’t know why, Bill. Something always seems to go wrong. But he has a job in
Greece and he seems to feel that it’s going to work out.”
After his first impulsive protest Fraser had been wonderful. He had made everything
easy for her and insisted that she keep her interest in the firm. “You’re not going to stay
away forever,” he kept saying.
Catherine was thinking of his words now as she watched Larry arrange for a porter to
carry her luggage to a limousine.