Free The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop Page A

Aphroditi was the only person in the room not acknowledging the brilliance of the performance. He knew that she still harboured resentment about everything to do with the Clair de Lune.
    ‘Very well,
agapi
mou
,’ he said patiently. ‘I just need to have a word with Markos and then we’ll leave.’
    ‘I’ll be waiting in the foyer,’ said Aphroditi.
    Even before the applause had died down, she had left. From the stage, Markos saw a flash of a green dress as she disappeared out of the back door. The whole evening was exceeding even his own expectations.

Chapter Six
    H ÜSEYIN ÖZKAN BEGAN work each morning at six when the sun was still low in the sky but already spreading a warm glow. Laying out sunloungers and stacking them up again was mindless work, but he was happy earning his own money and sometimes he even got overgenerously tipped. Many of the tourists seemed to have little concept of the value of the Cypriot pound, but he was not going to educate them.
    Hüseyin’s afternoon break gave him time to play an hour of water polo each day, and in the evenings a game of volleyball would take place. When the day was over, the increasingly athletic eighteen year old would buy a cool Keo beer. As the sun went down, he would sit on the sand with his friends and drink it. He felt he had the perfect life.
    The teams were mostly made up of Greek Cypriots, but some of the strongest players were Turkish Cypriot, and he often tried to persuade his younger brother, Ali, to come down to the beach for a game. The fifteen year old, who was taller than Hüseyin, though with a much slighter frame, was reluctant. The simple truth was that he did not want to play in a mixed team.
    ‘I don’t trust them,’ he said. ‘They’ll break the rules.’
    Ali spent more time at home than Hüseyin and had been more influenced by their father’s opinions. Ali knew that Halit Özkan often regretted the fact that they had moved to an area where they were surrounded by Greek Cypriots. He would have preferred to be in the old town, where they would not be in a minority. Ali was aware that his father feared trouble, and when they both read in
Halkın Sesi
of EOKA B’s new activities, he fully expected that violence would spread their way.
    As the holidaymakers reclined in the sun, sipped cocktails, swam or lost themselves in the latest thriller, Hüseyin noticed that they were always oriented towards the sea. The sunbeds had to be laid in rows, pointing towards the rising sun. These foreigners did not want to look inland. Even Frau Bruchmeyer, who lived on the island now, saw only its beauty and the paradise created by blue sky and sea.
    Although during their short conversations she never forgot to ask after Hüseyin’s mother, she seemed unaware of the knife edge on which the Cypriots were living.
    Markos continued to feel uneasy about Christos’ connection with the new movement for
enosis
. It seemed absurd to him that anyone should feel the need to disturb this tourist paradise. He could see from the way the girls sauntered up and down the beach in their bikinis, and how the men casually clocked up ludicrous bar bills, that these tourists, whether from Greece or further afield, did not have a care in the world. In spite of a constant battery of criticism from Christos, Markos maintained his position: why do the one thing that would upset their mother? But above all, why destroy this coastal arcadia?
    The Clair de Lune continued to enjoy a full house every night. ‘Marilyn’ sang three times a week, and on the other nights there was a selection of cabaret acts, all previously auditioned by Markos. One of the most popular was a belly dancer from Turkey. Another comprised three performers from La Cage aux Folles in Paris, who achieved the almost impossible feat of doing a cancan on the tiny stage.
    As the holiday season continued, and the reputation of The Sunrise and its nightclub grew, Markos brought in singers from all around Greece, some