A Handful of Pebbles by Sara Alexi

said, Stella swings her bag as she heads down the steps and across the square towards what looks like a basic taverna with tables outside and unlit fairy lights wrapped around the tree that arches the door.
    The vegetables smell of the ground; the tomatoes are not an even red but have a strong , warm smell; the lettuces are wet, and one has a tiny slug near where it has been cut from its roots.
    ‘ These please, Marina, and a bottle of wine.’ She takes out her purse.
    ‘ Kokkino, lefko, rosé ?’ Marina asks, her toe tapping a long line of plastic bottles arranged up on the floor beneath the lowest shelf. Sarah had not noticed them before, with so much else to look at. She glances at the glass bottles of wine on the top shelf. There are not many of them and they are dusty, and Marina could not even reach them up there without standing on something.
    ‘ Sorry?’ She looks back at the plastic bottles.
    ‘ Kokkino .’ Marina taps a red plastic bottle with her toe. ‘ Lefko .’ She taps a pale yellow bottle. ‘ Ee rosé ?’ She taps a pale pink one.
    ‘ Oh.’ Sarah laughs with the relief of her comprehension. ‘One,’ she holds up a finger, ‘ kokkino and one,’ she tucks her purse under her arm and holds up a finger with her other hand, ‘Rosé.’
    Marina bags the bottles. ‘Finish?’ she asks.
    Nodding, Sarah pulls out some cash, examining the notes. Marina rings everything up on the cash register and points to the numbers. It is cheaper than Sarah could have imagined, and she counts out her coins to find she is twenty cents short in change and will have to break a fifty Euro note.
    ‘Sorry.’ She passes the note across. Marina pushes it back and cupping her hand she mimes that Sarah should tip up her purse.
    ‘ I am twenty cents short.’ She tips the change out. Marina’s fingers are swift to count.
    ‘ Okay, okay.’ She pours the change into her till.
    ‘ But it is short,’ Sarah insists.
    ‘ Ah, tomorrow.’ The word almost becomes lost in her thick accent but her smile makes everything clear.
    ‘ Thank you so much.’ Sarah’s cheeks are aching from smiling. She has not stopped since she meet Stella. Gathering her bags, she repeats herself, ‘Thank you, thank you.’
    ‘ Adio .’ Marina waves.
    Sarah hadn ’t realized there was air conditioning in the shop until she steps back outside, nor how warm the evening is. It would be nice to wander for a little, see where some of the streets lead.
    ‘ Hello.’ It is Helena. ‘I’ve just come down for wine, too.’
    ‘ Oh hi, is Finn with you?’ She looks up the side lane, but only an old lady in black follows.
    ‘ Sarah, this is my aunt Sofrona, Frona for short. Frona, this is Sarah.’ She raises her voice for the second sentence. ‘Finn’s mother.’ She keeps the pitch high.
    ‘ Ah!’ The old woman’s eyes light up and her arms extend, and she approaches Sarah on shaky legs. The embrace is gentle but heartfelt. ‘A good boy,’ she states in a Greek American accent, kissing Sarah first on one cheek, then the other.
    ‘ Nice to meet you,’ Sarah replies. The aunt says no more, so Sarah turns back to Helena. ‘I thought you were going to bouzouki clubs?’
    ‘ We are, but Finn is still asleep, and besides, it is early yet. But I am glad we have bumped into you. Tomorrow, you must come up to the house, meet everyone, have some lunch, spend some time, okay?’
    ‘ Oh yes, okay.’ Sarah quite likes the idea. Helena seems more relaxed this evening; maybe the village is rubbing off on her, too.
    ‘ Come about, oh I don’t know, eleven, twelve. We will eat around half two or three, if you want to stay at ours for a sleep at mesimeri , there are plenty of rooms.’
    ‘ Thank you.’
    Helena gives Sarah a little wave as she passes to go inside the shop, very relaxed, nice. The aunt smiles ‘A good boy,’ she says again and shuffles away.
    It will be nice to actually spend some time with Finn. His life keeps him so busy, his