Situationship

3. Female role models

At the first light of dawn, Mary abandoned every earlier effort to sleep. What was the point anyway? Thinking how badly Babis treated her, she didn't manage to fall asleep all night, plus she had to be awake by no later than nine, so she got up at seven and had a good breakfast, which included a piece of cheese pie, a banana, a croissant and some orange juice. Then she tried to straighten her incredibly curly hair with a comb and dressed in a simple daily set. She was not in the mood to beautify herself any longer. Under such circumstances, the only thing able to distract her from her feelings was eating.

At nine o' clock, Mary left her house and headed for the nearest bus stop. Eftyhia's house was in Thessaloniki city centre, so it would take her half an hour to get there – possibly even more, as the public transport routes had diminished dramatically. Eventually the bus came quickly, so Mary arrived in time.

"You're early!" said Eftyhia as soon as she opened the door.

"I woke up too early and had nothing to do, so I considered coming here."

"Nice thought, but I don't have much time to chit-chat right now. I have to do the laundry."

"As if I cared," thought Mary, but she only said "Okay. Then I'll just wait..."

"Make yourself at home. You can make some coffee if you will."

"Yes, I will..."

Mary went into the kitchen. She decided to have a mid-morning brunch right after Eftyhia left.

"Oh, no!"

Mary, once again absorbed in her thoughts, moved carelessly, which resulted in the half of her coffee being poured onto her. It was at that exact moment when her niece appeared in the kitchen. At the moment when she saw the coffee stains on Mary's clothes, she burst into laughter and ran towards her mother so as to divulge her aunt's clumsiness.

"Don't run, little one!" Eftyhia scolded her. "Be careful! You could slip on the tiles."

Having just finished the laundry, she entered the kitchen to see what happened.

"Good Lord! Jeez, Mary! What's got into you?" she exclaimed. "Please change! And fast! You can borrow clothes from my wardrobe. Now I can see why the little one has become so clumsy. She is imitating you..."

Mary thought that Eftyhia was too judgemental. Well, "her house, her rules", but did she really think that she was a right role model for her daughter by being so cruel and authoritarian? Of course, this could be partly justified, since the situation she was going through was not very pleasant. Her husband was obliged to go on many business trips, thus leaving Angelica's upbringing entirely to Eftyhia, who was feeling such anger that she had to take it out on someone.

After Mary put her stained-with-coffee clothes into the laundry basket, she went into her cousin's bedroom in order to try on some of her clothes. Angelica followed her. She liked watching her mother dress too. Then she would go to her room and try on her own clothes. She was probably at this stage when a child discovers their sex and body by mimicking their same-sex parent's behaviour.

Eftyhia's wardrobe was so orderly that Mary was embarrassed, realising that her own closet, compared to Eftyhia's one, was a huge mess. The clothes on the hangers were arranged from lightest to darkest. There was a small gap between the T-shirts and the blouses, as well as between the latter and the dresses. On the shelf below, the trousers, followed by the skirts, were folded and sorted lengthwise. Mary chose to put on an ordinary white T-shirt and the only shorts she found. She didn't like wearing a lot of clothes. When she was done, she saw Angelica running back into her room to wear something similar.