Chapter 5

Nadia

The white dress.

Nadia  awoke with a start, did not remember where she was, and even for moments, who she was. She was maybe not awake, maybe still dreaming, or in the half awake state of woman oracles. She felt her body stretch of it’s own accord under her. She felt strength she had never felt, felt suppleness that was unknown to her pain racked, before self. What was going on she thought, what was happening to me? Then, she heard a voice, a voice of a woman, “Wake up, beautiful woman, wake up to your life, it’s time.” Startled again, she looked around the small room she was in. There was only the thin bed, a small window and mirror. No woman to be seen. Ummm. She stood up very slowly like she was standing up from a dream. She danced slightly and moved as a dreamer dancing as she slowly got out of bed. When she was fully awake she became herself again. She remembered now, the day before. She remembered the map, Delos, and how good she felt yesterday in her vision. She went downstairs and asked the man in the lobby where the ferries to Greece left from and where she could buy  tickets. He asked her exactly where she was going and made a phone call for her. He told her the boat she needed left in several hours, she had plenty of time to wander down to the port and buy her tickets. She left the hotel and started walking down to the port. The curvy steep streets went downhill and around each curve she glimpsed the huge ferries sitting in the harbor. As she walked she passed lines of huge semi trucks, cars with roof racks full of suitcases and bags, motorcycles with people and backpacks, and campers all going to the ferry.

On the way,  she was attracted to a window of a small shop. The window looked like it was from another time. it was dark and had statues of figures dressed in clothes from the past. There was what looked like a ancient Greek statue of a woman. This statue was dressed in an elegant white ancient Greek dress. Nadia was drawn into the strange small shop but walked in with hesitantly with trepidation. It was dark and musty, it’s  one aisle was narrow and cramped between tall racks of old clothes. She felt herself pulled directly to the back of the store and there was another white dress, like the one in the window, hanging on the back wall. An old woman came up to her and spoke to her in Italian. Nadia told her she spoke only English. The woman smiled and watched her. Nadia asked in English if she could take the dress down and try it. The woman nodded and went over to the wall and took the dress carefully in her hands. She stroked it several times before taking it off the wall. When she touched it Nadia could see the white dress’s  boundaries blurring, then some colored lights come from it, and dark shapes that looked like bats flew out of it. The woman looked deeply into Nadia’s eyes and stroked the dress. The woman said in English, “You saw?” Nadia nodded as if in a dream. The woman continued, “The dress is yours. A special gift from her to you.” She took the dress down off the wall carefully and walked slowly to Nadia and put it over her like to look like she was wearing it. The dress seemed to move like an animal making itself comfortable until it covered Nadia perfectly.  She stood there in the semi darkness with the dress on. As she stood there, she left. She began to travel, first in space, then in time. As she voyaged, she closed her eyes and opened them at once. She started to see mountains, rivers, soft tropical foliage and then she abruptly awakened and found herself back in the shop. The woman looked at her and smiled. “From this moment, you will see things differently in your life and be in a new reality.” Nadia asked if she could put the dress on. The woman directed her to a closet in the back of the shop. It was a dark space with a small window up in one side towards the ceiling. Out of the window Nadia could see a church steeple with a cross on top of it and the blue sky and softly blowing white clouds. She took off her Jeans and sweater and put on the white dress. Again she could seem to feel the dress moving to make itself comfortable on her body. It adjusted itself slowly and deliberately until it fit her perfectly. It even seemed to get smaller and tighter in places to fit the curves of her young lithe body. When it was finished, it stopped. She looked out of the window again, the only light in the small closet, and this time saw an eagle flying from one side to the other and then circling and landing on the steeple. She came out of the dressing room and the woman looked at her. “It is done.” , she said. “You can leave now for Greece.”

Nadia walked down the crocked streets, down stairways that curved like a huge serpent with beautiful views of the sea, down past ancient buildings, elegant old doorways, and finally she arrived at the port. At the office she did as the hotel clerk had told her, she bought a ticket to Patras Greece, deck class. The ticket agent told her that this would mean she would sleep on the deck or in a lounge chair, it was much cheaper than a cabin. She boarded the huge ferry and took the elevator  up to the top deck. There, many young people were already camped in the large flat area on top of the boat. People had blankets, sleeping bags, small cooking gear, piles of clothes. They  had made small comfortable camps on the deck and were awaiting their journey. There were families with young children, men and woman with backpacks and gear. People were dressed informally like they were going hiking. Some were reading, some looking at their phones. It was a soft happy scene of peace and pleasure. It was people on holiday, having fun, relaxing, going to Greece with thousands like them, for summer holiday.

She found an empty space, put down her gear and made her camp. As she did this she became tired and then exhausted. Even though it was early in the day and she had slept the night before she was drained. She put down her backpack and found her sleeping pad. She lay down on the deck and took out a soft fleece sweater for a pillow. She put all this neatly on the deck, lay down and fell fast asleep.