Anna was sent back to Athens, along with the severely wounded, to care for them at the Red Cross Hospital and Evangelismos Hospital, where thousands or more soldiers from the Italian-Albanian front were hospitalized.
On the boat from Heraklion, Anna felt the constant stares of a bearded, middle-aged man.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" asked Anna.
"Yes. My name is Dr. Tsipras. Vassili Tsipras. I am happy to see you again, Miss
Anna."
"Dr. Vassili Tsipras ... Vassili ... I remember the name, but you don't look familiar."
"Perhaps it is the beard." He cleared his throat.
"Yes, that's it. I didn't recognize you behind that beard."
"Whatever happened to your boyfriend? Is he still fighting in the war? Have you been able to find him?" he asked. She shook her head negatively. "I hope you do someday," he said, not very sincerely.
"I will," Anna replied. "I will. Please excuse me, I must go now."
"Fine, Miss Bouras, but we will be seeing a lot of each other. We will be working together," he said with a smirk on his face. "I have requested for you to be my assistant."
Anna walked away, as the doctor called after her, "Miss Bouras, it is always good to have a doctor as a friend." She paused for a moment and then continued walking.
By now, the German grip on all of Greece had shackled the life of the Greek people. Corruption was rampant on every level of most organizations, including the Red Cross, where food supplies destined for children were sold on the black market. Children were left to starve, but Anna was useful to the Germans because of her work in the hospital and so she was able to live well.
She had been assigned an apartment in the center of Athens in the fashionable Kolonaki neighborhood, just walking distance from the hospital. She often saw the streets of Athens littered with skeletal corpses with nobody to bury them. Many citizens had neither the strength nor the means to do so. She was saddened to see municipal garbage trucks used for this purpose.
Late one night, as Anna was about to walk home, a voice in the dark street said: "Miss Bouras, can I walk with you? I am going your way." Anna did not respond. "I presume that means okay?"
"No Vassili, it's not okay. That means no." Anna kept on walking.
"Actually, I am going to the Hotel Grand Bretagne. Don't you wish to have a drink with me?"
"Thank you, no," Anna replied negatively, but the doctor continued to walk with her anyway.
Three blocks into the walk, she heard a cry for help from the ground floor of an apartment building. Anna rushed in to find a woman in labor, with her frightened young husband looking on helplessly. Anna delivered the baby as Doctor Vassili watched and gave instructions. Anna handed the baby boy to his happy and grateful parents, and she and the doctor left.