We went over to his table of produce, at the edge of the bustle. Odd-looking fruit and vegetables were on display. Among them were giant pumpkins, all kinds of dried beans, herbs of every description, mounds of lemons, buckets of what I thought were damsons but I learned later were olives, and many things that were new to us. He gave us a handful of the biggest brown dates I’d ever seen, something neither of us had tasted before. They were wonderful, sticky and so sweet, like gigantic caramel raisins. Some medical staff had left the ship to buy cigarettes from pedlars that gathered at the end of the gangway.

The crowd parted for a youth wearing a red tarboosh with a long black tassel on his head. He also wore baggy striped trousers that gathered around his ankles. The boy had a tambourine hanging from his back and pulled a brown bear on a chain. He tied the chain onto one of the mooring rings, then started playing the tambourine and singing. The bear immediately stood on its hind legs and started dancing, nimbly hopping from one foot to the other.

I was thrilled to see such a thing and knew I would be telling my father all about it when I got home. ‘Look, Josephine, the bear’s dancing so nicely! I’m going to give the boy a little money.’

‘Don’t you dare!’ she cried vehemently. ‘They burned the bottoms of that poor bear’s feet when she was only a cub, a baby, in order to make her do that. Look at her face, she’s terrified, poor girl!’

‘They burned her?’ I looked into the bear’s eyes and yes, clearly, she was in torment.

‘When she was very young, every time the boy beat the tambourine, they would stand her on hot charcoal, giving her terrible burns under her feet. Now, with every beat of the instrument, she expects that same pain again, so in pure terror she hops onto the other foot. Sometimes, a bear will go mad from the dreadful horror, so they tie her down and rip out her teeth and claws so she can’t hurt anyone. It’s obscene.’

‘That’s made me feel quite sick,’ I said. ‘Shall we go on board?’ She nodded and we moved towards the gangway.

‘Wait, koukla mou. Come back!’ Manno cried as I started up the runway.

My heart skipped at the sound of his voice and I realised I didn’t want to be parted from him. I turned and saw him striding towards me. Oh! I wanted him to whisk me up into his arms and carry me away. Confused by my foolishness, which unsettled my quest to become a nurse, a great feeling of happiness raced through me. I rushed towards him.