I stop by Mitsos and Konstandina’s house in Aliveri to find the front door wide open. No one responds to my call: “Yeia sou! Yeia sou!” Then Konstandina appears ambling across the side lot through the weeds with her skirt tied up, lugging a big bag of potatoes.The kids are all gone—Eletheria with her grandma in Karditsa, blue-eyed Christos unaccounted for, and the other 2 in school 8-1 every day. The school all the Roma kids attend, or most anyway, is just around the corner from the Aliveri community.
Konstandina and I chat as she speedily peels and quarters a mountain of potatoes. I ask when Eletheria, now 15, will marry. (My ulterior motive: I’m always looking for that elusive “gamos,” wedding to photograph.) Not yet, not yet, she tells me emphatically and goes on to say she married Mitsos at 11-years-old and he 13. My mouth drops open and I hold up ten then one more finger to make sure my Greek is serving me well. Yes indeed, 11. I knew Roma marry young—17 or 18— I’d heard. It is not uncommon for younger couples to live several years with the groom’s family until they can get on their feet. Konstandina invites me to have lunch with her and the kids. They will soon arrive home from school.