“Aren’t you jealous?” she asked.
“Of the Count?” Larry laughed.
And Catherine suddenly understood. During the time she and the Count had spent
together, he had never made an improper advance toward her or even given her a
suggestive look. “He’s a homosexual?” she asked.
Larry nodded. “That’s why I’ve left you in his tender care.”
The Count picked Catherine up early, and they started driving south toward the broad
plain of Thessaly. Peasant women dressed in black walked along the road bent over with
heavy loads of wood strapped to their backs.
“Why don’t the men do the heavy work?” Catherine asked.
The Count shot her an amused glance.
“The women don’t want them to,” he replied. “They want their men fresh at night for
other things.”
There’s a lesson there for all of us, Catherine thought wryly.
In the late afternoon they approached the forbidding-looking Pindus Mountains, their
rocky crags towering high in the sky. The road was blocked by a flock of sheep being
herded by a shepherd and a scrawny sheep dog. Count Pappas stopped the car as they
waited for the sheep to clear the road. Catherine watched in wonder as the dog nipped at
the heels of the stray sheep, keeping them in line and forcing them in the direction he
wanted them to go.
“That dog is almost human,” Catherine exclaimed admiringly.
The Count gave her a brief look. There was something in it that she did not
understand.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
The Count hesitated. “It’s a rather unpleasant story.”
“I’m a big girl.”
The Count said, “This is a wild area. The land is rocky and inhospitable. At best the
crops are meager, and when the weather turns bad, there are no crops at all and a good
deal of hunger.” His voice trailed off.
“Go on,” Catherine prompted.
“A few years ago there was a bad storm here and the crops were ruined. There was
little food for anyone. All the sheep dogs in this area revolted. They deserted the farms
they worked on and gathered together in a large band.” As he continued, he tried to keep
the horror out of his voice. “They began attacking the farms.”
“And killed the sheep!” Catherine said.
There was a silence before he answered. “No. They killed their masters. And ate