{"id":51475,"date":"2024-10-20T06:42:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T10:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=51475"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:28:47","slug":"husbands-dream-my-nightmare-chapter-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/le-reve-du-mari-mon-cauchemar-chapitre-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Husband's dream, my nightmare - Chapter 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I didn\u2019t know what to do! I still hadn\u2019t heard from Husband, who was supposed to have gone to Cologne to find work. Our friend Thanassis, who was travelling with him, had come home a few days ago, but still no trace of Husband. Desperate, I decided to go back to the small village library to speak with someone who knew nothing about my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knock, knock. The old woman opened the door and recognized me immediately.
\u2014 \u201cWhat can I do for you, young girl? You were inquiring about Cologne the other day. Did you hear the big news?\u201d
Terrified, shivers went down my spine. My eyes teared up. Had something happened to Husband? Was there a sordid story I didn\u2019t know about? I finally uttered, \u201cDid something happen to a newcomer?\u201d
\u2014 \u201cHENRICH B\u00d6LL is no stranger. Born in Cologne in 1917, he is considered to be one of the greatest post-war German authors.\u201d He still lives in Cologne, the city you asked about a few weeks ago.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cWhat about him? Why is this important?\u201d
\u201cYoung girl, he just won the Nobel Prize for literature! Speaking of which, I have two or three of his books, translated into English, that I could lend you.\".
\u2014 \u201cThank you, but I only read in French for now.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cBut you speak Greek very well!\u201d
\u2014 \u201cI\u2019m French Canadian, from Montreal. I speak Greek because I married a Greek man who\u2019s originally from Krya Vrysi.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cAre you here on vacation?\u201d
\u2014 \u201cThe truth? My husband came back to his village supposedly to settle, but he hasn\u2019t found a job that suits him in the almost seven months we\u2019ve been here.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cHas he tried everything?\u201d
\u2014 \u201cShortly after we arrived, he wanted to export flokatis, but he quickly changed his mind. He's lazy to be frank. He prefers to live it up and doesn't like to work.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cOh, dear. Lazy men are all the same! Old ladies like me know them like the back of our hands. Certainly, many hard-working Greeks earn a good living in America, but all the laziest ones come back to cry on their mother\u2019s shoulder, pretending to be homesick. Isn\u2019t that what\u2019s happened to you? How many kids do you have? The information about Cologne, was that for your husband?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then poured my heart out to this old wise woman. Forget Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. I\u2019d never learn to speak German. I\u2019d never visit the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), taste an authentic \u201capfelstrudel\u201d (apple strudel). I swore I\u2019d never let Husband touch me ever again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at my mother-in-law\u2019s house, the first thing I saw were Husband\u2019s shoes. They were filthy and covered in dry mud, but I certainly wasn\u2019t going to touch them even though I was expected to clean them. When I walked into the kitchen, my mother-in-law whispered that Husband was sleeping upstairs. He\u2019d finally come home from his journey. After 20 days without a word, I had no desire now to hear how it had gone. To hell with him! My kids were at the neighbour\u2019s with their aunt Despina. I fought the urge to go to the rooftop and throw myself off it. Instead, filled with love for the children, I ran to them in search of their affection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were lying on the old flokati when I got there. They were screaming and playing. The baby was sleepy but wasn\u2019t crying. I noticed a platter of galaktoboureko (a syrupy pastry filled with custard) and a large pot of tea on the kitchen table. Having barely eaten anything in two days, I devoured the sweet cake she offered me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at home, Husband was still sleeping like a log. I was curious but had zero intention of waking him. I ran to Thanassis\u2019 home and found him there, thank goodness. He hadn\u2019t much to tell me since he had gotten into an argument with Husband on the third night they were in Cologne. I could easily imagine why. Thanassis had quickly realized that Husband slept until noon every day. When he\u2019d finally wake up, he\u2019d shower, get dressed, drink four or five coffees and only go out at 3 p.m. in search of a souvlaki bar. \u201cHis day starts around 3 or 4 in the afternoon!\u201d exclaimed Thanassis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tale he told came as no surprise. I had hoped naively that, once back in his homeland, Husband would finally act like a man.
\u2014 \u201cI was worried he\u2019d do the same thing as in Montreal! I\u2019m at a complete loss. We\u2019ve been in Greece for nearly seven months and the oldest one is already behind on his school year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO BE CONTINUED\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora
\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn\u2019t know what to do! I still hadn\u2019t heard from Husband, who was supposed to have gone to Cologne to find work. Our friend Thanassis, who was travelling with him, had come home a few days ago, but still no trace of Husband. Desperate, I decided to go back to the small village library to speak with someone who knew nothing about my life. Knock, knock. The old woman opened the door and recognized me immediately.\u2014 \u201cWhat can I do for you, young girl? You were inquiring about Cologne the other day. Did you hear the big news?\u201dTerrified, shivers went down my spine. My eyes teared up. Had something happened to Husband? Was there a sordid story I didn\u2019t know about? I finally uttered, \u201cDid something happen to a newcomer?\u201d\u2014 \u201cHENRICH B\u00d6LL is no stranger. Born in Cologne in 1917, he is considered to be one of the greatest post-war German authors.\u201d He still lives in Cologne, the city you asked about a few weeks ago.\u201d\u2014 \u201cWhat about him? Why is this important?\u201d\u201cYoung girl, he just won the Nobel Prize for literature! Speaking of which, I have two or three of his books, translated into English, that I could lend you.\u00a0\u00bb.\u2014 \u201cThank you, but I only read in French for now.\u201d\u2014 \u201cBut you speak Greek very well!\u201d\u2014 \u201cI\u2019m French Canadian, from Montreal. I speak Greek because I married a Greek man who\u2019s originally from Krya Vrysi.\u201d\u2014 \u201cAre you here on vacation?\u201d\u2014 \u201cThe truth? My husband came back to his village supposedly to settle, but he hasn\u2019t found a job that suits him in the almost seven months we\u2019ve been here.\u201d\u2014 \u201cHas he tried everything?\u201d\u2014 \u201cShortly after we arrived, he wanted to export flokatis, but he quickly changed his mind. He’s lazy to be frank. He prefers to live it\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":51479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Chapitre 7 : toujours sans nouvelles de son mari, Mme Cora ne sait plus quoi faire. La suite de son r\u00e9cit en Gr\u00e8ce.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"class_list":["post-51475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51475"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}