Chapter Two: The Start

Chapter 2: The Start

The story begins with pear thieves, a shot in the leg, a murder plot, and an infamous one-eyed bandit that just so happens to be my great great grand uncle. But before we get to that, an important fact must be recognized: Cuclis is not a traditional Greek name.
         
The original name Kuklakis, meaning little doll, was changed on the day that Lefteri's father arrived at Ellis Island in {insert date here}. Like me, my pappou had an international upbringing. Though the majority of his childhood was spent in Crete, Lefteri Cuclis was born in Santa Cruiz, California.
         
While many would be curious about the events that compelled the Cuclis family to move into Europe just as tensions were escalating and a certain fascist leader with a odd mustache was militarizing Germany, the even more extraordinary tale is how Lefteri's parents got to America in the first place. For this story, it is necessary to go back some years before the war, to the small village of {insert Demetrius's village name here}.
         
In {village name} an austere lifestyle prevails. Floors are made of padded down dirt, walls are made of stone hand laid by their occupants, and food is either home grown or an item of trade between neighbors. It is an agrarian society, build and managed for the purpose of survival.
         
In the early spring of {approximate date}, a man exits his house with a purposeful stride. In one hand he grips tightly an old rifle, its state well-worn from years of handling, its stock's varnish fading on the corners. It is one of his most valuable possessions, and on this day, bolstered by the confidence of a seventeen year old new to manhood, he intends to use it to great effect.
         
Like his one room house, the man is rather plain looking in his (description of cloths and typical grecian complexion), with a few notable exceptions. At 5'6 , he is short, even among Greeks, who are considered on average to be of a smaller stature than other Europeans. To make up for his lacking height, he combs his thick black hair upwards until it puffs out, adding at least two inches. His wide face is comely but not quite handsome, with a strong slant of a jawline leading to what will later be called the classic Cuclis cleft chin.
         
Though he only received four years of formal education, Lefteri's father, Demetrius Kuklakis, is known to contain a certain shrewd intellect. Perhaps it is this quality that prompts him to walk towards his pear orchard on this particular day. It had been an especially cold winter the past year , and all the pear trees in the surrounding villages had frozen over. Demetrius's pear orchard, an inherited right that, along with his small vineyard, made him one of the richest residents of {insert village name}, had somehow miraculously escaped the harsh freeze.
         
Demetrius knows that he could stand to profit many drachmas from the sale of his pears, now a scarce commodity. He also knows of envy, and suspects that some may try to rob him of his good fortune. Traversing out the village and through the fresh, scraggly grass of spring, he passes through a small gate. The rows consist of several dozen trees, spread out from each other by three meters in order to let the roots have room to writhe into the soil free of competition. The trunks of each are about the width of a grapefruit, rising from the ground a meter before splitting into a multitude of spindling branches. Many of these branches are sagging from the weight of the bulbous fruit at their end. Though most of the pears are still young and hard, which could be seen by their yellow green exterior, some were already blushing patches of ripeness, promising a sweet and juicy escape from the coming summer's heat.

 
         On {approximate date here}, a 17 year old Demetrius Kuklakis retrieves his gun, one of his most valuable possessions, and exits his house with a purposeful stride.
(describe house & village, segway with "like his house, Demetrius in his…  is rather plain looking, with a few notable exceptions.")

{verify height}At 5'8, he is short, even among Greeks, who are considered on average to be of a smaller stature than their European neighbors. To make up for his lacking height, Demetrius combs his hair in such a way that it puffs up in the front, adding at least two inches. He has a wide face that is comely but not quite handsome, with the strong slant of a jawline that leads to what will later be called the classic Cuclis cleft chin. Though he only received four years of formal education, the eyes of Demetrius Kuklakis contains a glitter of shrewd intellect which sets him even further apart from his neighbors.

Death by streptococcus, more commonly referred to as strep throat; a disease that by could be cured by a single treatment of penicillin, was fatal in {other date} for Demetrius Cuclis.