chapter5-page_90-101

5. The new villa sat on a hilltop among olive trees. It was white as snow and had a big veranda

on one side. In front of the house there was a tiny walled garden filled with wildflowers.

In the middle of the garden was a magnolia tree that cast a deep shadow on the whole garden.

We had liked the villa the moment Spiro had shown it to us. It was very old but very elegant.

I liked the house when I discovered a bat in one of the rooms hanging upside down. I had hoped

that he would continue to live in the house but he left when we moved in. I was sorry about this

but having many other things to occupy me I soon forgot about him. It was at the white villa that

I really got to know the mantids. I had occasionally seen them before but I had never paid much attention.

Hundreds of them lived on the hilltop where the villa stood and most of them were larger than any

I had seen before. They sat on the olives among the mertals and on the leaves of the magnolia tree.

At night they flew into the house attracted by the lamp light turning their heads from side to side

in search of prey staring at us from big round eyes in triangular faces.

I had never realized mantids could grow so large for some of them were 10 centimeters long.

These monsters feared nothing and would attack something bigger than themselves without hesitation.

They seemed to think that the house belonged to them and the walls and ceilings were their

hunting areas. But the geckos that lived in the cracks in the garden wall also considered the

house of their hunting area. So the mantids and the geckos were constantly having fights

Most of the battles were small fights that were not very interesting. However occasionally there

would be a battle worth watching. I was lucky enough to witness one of these big fights.

During the day most of the geckos lived under the plaster on the garden wall. As the sun went down

they would appear out of the cracks. They would move cautiously across the wall

until they reached the veranda where they would wait for the sky to go dark and the lamps to be

switched on. Then they would climb the wall of the house to choose their hunting area,

which were the rooms of the house. There was one particular gecko that had chosen my room

and I got to know him quite well. I called him Geronimo since he was an expert hunter.

Geronimo seemed to be superior to the other geckos. He lived alone and did not tolerate

other geckos anywhere near his home or my bedroom. When it got dark and a light was brought in

he changed color from ash gray to a pale pink. He would come into the room and climb up the wall

to his favorite spot the left hand corner of the ceiling. He would wait there upside down for his

evening meal to appear. Soon the food would arrive. Slowly the mosquitoes, ladybirds, flies and moths

appeared and Geronimo would start hunting. Most of the mantids that flew into my room were quite

small. Geronimo always ran to them eagerly but they were too quick for him. Unlike the other insects

the mantids seemed unaffected by the lamp light. They would calmly settle in a convenient spot

and hunt there. They would spot Geronimo and move away hurriedly long before he could approach them.

However, the night of the great fight was different. This time he met a mantis who went to meet him

instead of running away. For a long time I had wanted to find some mantis eggs and one day

when I was in the hills I found a large female mantis in the grass. Her belly was big and round

so I knew that she was carrying eggs. I decided to pick her up and take her home.

As soon as she realized that I wanted to take her she turned around, stood up and spread her pale

green wings in a defensive way. When I held her on the neck her sharp arms closed on my thumb

and it felt like half a dozen needles had gone into my skin. I dropped her and sat back. The wounds

were really deep and tiny drops of blood appeared. My respect for her increased and I really wanted

to take her home. I grabbed her very carefully with one hand and held her dangerous front arms

with the other. I carried her home and put her in a cage decorated with ferns and rocks.

I called her Sicily and caught lots of butterflies for her. Her stomach got bigger and bigger

but one day she found a hole in the cage and escaped. I was sitting in bed reading one night

when I saw Sicily fly across the room and land on the wall not far from where Geronimo was eating

a moth. When he saw Sicily he paused and looked at her in surprise. I am sure he had never seen

such a large mantis before. For Sicily was bigger than him. Sicily pretended not to notice him

and turned her head from side to side. Geronimo decided this rude insect had to be taught a lesson.

Geronimo suddenly moved forward toward the mantis and stopped about a meter away from her.

Sicily noticed him for the first time. She turned her head round and looked over her shoulder.

Geronimo ran forward a little and moved his toes and his tail. Then he jumped towards the

mantis and a strange thing happened. Sicily leaped suddenly into the air, turned around,

spread out her wings and landed. Geronimo had not been prepared for this. The mantis as he had met

before had always run away when they saw him but Sicily was willing to fight. He ran forward,

crashed into the mantis and bit her neck. Sicily's sharp arms closed on his back legs.

They fought like this for some time on the ceiling and down the wall. I thought about interfering

because I did not want either of them to get killed, but it was a fascinating fight.

For some reason, Sicily was trying to get Geronimo down the wall to the floor.

While he was trying to pull her up to the ceiling. They kept fighting like this. Then

Sicily made a fatal mistake. She tried to fly across the room, carrying Geronimo in her claws.

But Geronimo was too heavy and she could not cope. They fell together onto the bed.

The fall surprised them both. They let go of each other and sat, staring at one another.

I was just about to come between them and end the fight, when they suddenly jumped on each other again.

Geronimo got one of Sicily's sharp arms in his mouth. She grabbed him around the neck with the

other arm. They struggled in this way for some time. By now, both animals were hurt and exhausted.

One of Sicily's wings was lost and one of her back legs was broken.

While Geronimo had many bloody scratches on his back and neck. Then, Sicily made a second mistake.

She let go of Geronimo's neck and seized his tail instead. I don't know why she did this.

At that moment, Geronimo dropped his tail and bit off Sicily's other arm.

Sicily was too busy holding the tail, maybe because she thought it was a vital part of her

opponent. Geronimo dropped the arm and suddenly jumped forward and his mouth closed on Sicily's

head and neck. He waited like this until Sicily stopped moving and that was the end of the fight.

Not long after this, I received the unwelcome news that they had found a new teacher for me.

He was called Krelefsky, a person from a mix of nationalities but predominantly English.

The family told me he was a very nice man and was interested in birds, so we would get on well together.

I was doubtful because I had met people who said they were interested in birds,

but they did not even know the difference between a black red start and an ordinary one.

I was sure the new teacher was someone who had had a canary when he was 14 and knew nothing

about birds. Krelefsky lived in the top two stories of an old house outside of town.

I climbed the stairs and knocked on the door. I was about to knock again when I heard soft footsteps

and the door was opened. I decided immediately that Krelefsky was not a human being but a gnome.

He had a large egg -shaped head and a curved back. On his face he had a long bridged nose

and extremely large eyes and a wide thin mouth.

Jerry Dural, he asked, nodding. Jerry Dural, isn't it? Come in, my dear boy.

I walked past him in the dark hall, the floorboards creaking under the carpet.

Here, this is the room we will work in. Said Krelefsky, as he opened a door.

I put my books on the table and sat down in the chair he showed me. He leaned over the table and

smiled at me. I smiled, not really knowing what he expected.

Friends, he exclaimed. It is very important that we become friends. I am quite certain that we'll

become friends, aren't you? I nodded my head seriously, biting my cheeks to prevent myself from

smiling. Friendship, he said, shutting his eyes happily. Friendship, that's the ticket.

His lips moved silently and I wondered if he was praying. A fly sat on his nose.

Krelefsky opened his eyes, sent the fly away and blinked at me.

Yes, yes, that's it, he said. I'm sure we will be friends. Your mother told me you have a great

love of natural history. We have something in common, you see, a bond. He put his finger and thumb

into his waistcoat pocket, pulled out a large gold watch and looked at it. He put it back.

I am an avoculturist, but an amateur one, he said. I thought maybe you would like to see my collection.

I think we can spend half an hour on the birds before we start work.

We went up the creaking stairs to the top of the house and paused in front of a green door.

He took out a set of keys, searched for the right one and opened the heavy door.

Sunlight poured out of the room and with it a loud chorus of birdsong. It was as if Krelefsky

had opened the gates of paradise. It was a big attic, uncarpeted and the only piece of furniture

was a large table in the center of the room. On the walls there were rows of cages containing

dozens of birds. Fascinated by the number of birds, I slowly moved around the room,

pausing to look into each cage, while Krelefsky picked up a large watering can and started filling

the water pots. I first thought that the birds were all canaries, but I was mistaken. There were

gold finches painted in bright red, yellow and black, green finches as green and yellow as lemon

leaves, linens and chocolate and white, and many other birds.

In one corner of the room there was a door that led me out onto a balcony.

There were two large cages that housed some other birds there.

I noticed a bird with the most amazing blue feathers.

Rock thrush, said Krelefsky, poking his head out the door and pointing at the beautiful bird.

I had it sent from Albania last year. He went back inside. The bird looked at me and made

some clucks that almost sounded like laughter. I went back to the attic where I found Krelefsky

still filling the water pots. Would you like to help me? He asked, staring at me. A task like

this is much easier if two pairs of hands work at it. Now, if you hold the watering can,

I will hold out the pots. Excellent. So, while I filled the little pots with water,

Krelefsky placed them carefully into the cages. As we worked, he talked both to me and the birds.

Yes, they're in good form today. It's the sunshine, you know.

As soon as the sun gets to this side of the house, they start to sing, don't you.

Do you like this new seed? Do you have any birds?

Don't do that in your clean water. Finally, the watering was done. Krelefsky looked at his

birds for a moment, smiling to himself and wiping his hands on a small towel. Then, he led me round

the room, explaining each bird's history one by one. Suddenly, we heard a loud ringing sound.

I thought it came from a bird, but I was wrong. It came from somewhere inside Krelefsky's stomach.

Oh, no. He exclaimed in horror, turning to me. Oh, no.

He took out his pocket watch, turned a switch, and the ringing sound stopped.

I was a little disappointed that the sound had come from the watch, and not from inside Krelefsky's

stomach. He looked at the watch carefully. Oh, no. He repeated. 12 o 'clock already. Time flies.

You leave at half past 12, don't you? He put the watch back into his pocket.

Well, we cannot get much schoolwork done in half an hour. Why don't we go to the garden instead,

and pick some groundsel for the birds? So we went into the garden, and picked flowers until

Spiro's car honked. I think it's your car. Said Krelefsky, you have helped me a lot today.

Tomorrow, you will be here at 9 o 'clock, won't you? We may think this morning was not wasted.

It was an introduction, and I hope we have started a friendship. Yes, that's very important.

Well, see you tomorrow then.

When I got home, the family asked me if I liked my new teacher. I did not go into the details,

but I said I thought he was very nice, and that I was sure we would become good friends.

When they asked me what we studied, I replied that we had spent our time studying ornithology and

botany. The family seemed satisfied. I soon found out Mr. Krelefsky was a strict teacher.

He used 18th century teaching methods, and his lessons were boring. He taught history in a very

boring way, making me memorize and repeat dates and events. His teaching of geography was limited

to Britain, and I had to draw many maps and memorize the names of counties, towns, rivers,

products, populations, and other useless information.

Once a week, we spent the morning on French. Krelefsky spoke French beautifully, and it was

painful for him to hear me killing the language. Very soon, he realized that it was useless to try

to teach me from normal textbooks, so we read bird books instead. Even then, it was a painful

experience. I had worked some weeks with Krelefsky before I discovered that he did not live alone.

Sometimes, during the morning, he would suddenly pause in the middle of a math problem.

Excuse me a moment. He would say, I must go and see Mother.

This puzzled me because he was too old to have a living mother.

After thinking about it for some time, I came to the conclusion that this was his polite way of

saying that he wished to visit the bathroom. One morning, I had eaten a lot more at breakfast

than usual, and I felt like I needed to use the bathroom in the middle of a history lesson.

I decided to tell him this politely. Excuse me, but I would like to visit your mother. I said,

my mother? He repeated an astonishment, visit my mother, now? I nodded my head.

Well, he said doubtfully. I'm sure she would be happy to see you, of course, but I should go

and see if it's convenient. He left the room, still looking a little puzzled, and returned in a few

minutes. Mother would be very happy to see you, he said, but she says, will you please excuse her

being a little untidy? I thought it was a little extreme to talk about the bathroom, as if it were

a human being. But I did not want to upset Kolevsky.

I don't mind if your mother is a mess. Ours is frequently in a mess, too.

Yes, yes, he said, a little shocked. He led me down the corridor, opened a door,

and to my complete surprise, showed me into a bedroom. The room was a forest of flowers,

vases, bowls, and pots containing beautiful blooms. At one end of the room,

there was an enormous bed, and in it lay a tiny person, not much bigger than a child.

She must have been very old, for her face was covered in wrinkles. The most amazing thing

about her was her hair. It was extremely long, and a beautiful all -burn color, the color of autumn

leaves. Mother dear, Kolevsky said softly, sitting down on a chair by the bed. Mother dear,

here's Jerry, come to see you. The tiny figure in the bed lifted her eyelids,

and looked at me with great bright eyes. She lifted her small hand covered in rings,

and held it out to me, smiling. I'm so happy that you asked to see me. She said in a soft voice,

embarrassed, I said something, and the bright eyes looked at me and gave a soft laugh. Please sit down,

she said, and talk for a minute. I sat on the bed next to her. Her hair was soft, silky, and heavy.

This is the only thing that's left of my beauty, she said, smiling. She looked at her hair, smiling

happily. In the silence, Kolevsky's watch chimed, and he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it.

Oh no, he said, jumping to his feet. Those eggs should have hatched. Excuse me a minute,

mother. I really must go and see. Go, she said. Jerry and I will chat until you come back.

Don't worry about us. Kolevsky walked quickly across the room, between the flowers and left.

Mrs. Kolevsky turned her head and smiled at me.

They say, she said, they say that when you get old, your body slows down. I have a theory that

you do not slow down at all, but life slows down for you. You understand me? Everything moves slowly,

and you can notice so much more when things are in slow motion.

She took a deep breath and looked around the room. For example, flowers, she said,

pointing at the blooms that filled the room. Have you heard flowers talking?

I shook my head. The idea of flowers talking was quite new to me.

Well, I can assure you that they do talk, she said. They have long conversations with each other.

At least I presume they are conversations, because I don't understand what they're saying, of course.

When you're as old as I am, you'll probably be able to hear them as well, if you keep an open mind.

She paused and looked at me. Do you think I'm strange? Crazy?

Talking about flowers having conversations?

No, I don't, I said. I think it's more than likely that flowers talk with each other.

Bats produce very small sounds, which I can hear, but an elderly person may not hear them because

the sound is too high -pitched. That's it, she exclaimed delightedly. It's all about wavelength.

The door opened and Kreleski came in, smiling proudly.

The eggs have all hatched, he said. All four of them, I'm so glad.

Good, dear, I'm so glad.

Said Mrs. Kreleski, delightedly. That is nice for you.

Well, Jerry and I have been having a very interesting conversation. At least I found it interesting.

Getting up, I said I found it very interesting as well. You must come and see me again, she said.

You will find my ideas a little bit strange, I think, but they are worth listening to.

She smiled up at me, lying on the bed. I followed Kreleski across the room,

and at the door I looked back and smiled. She lifted her hand and waved.