The Song Eleni Almost Forgot

A fictional remembrance story set in Greece.

In Thessaloniki, Eleni’s father used to whistle while he repaired things around the house. After he passed away, she thought she would never hear anyone answer those little tunes again.

Then she brought home a yellow canary named Nikos.

Whenever Eleni played an old recording of her father, Nikos would begin singing. His notes never quite matched the melody, but he joined in with such enthusiasm that she sometimes laughed through her tears.

Over the years, she stopped playing the recording only when she felt sad. She played it while folding laundry, watering plants or making Sunday lunch.

Nikos had helped a painful memory become part of ordinary happiness again.

When he eventually passed away, Eleni struggled to explain how much she missed him.

“He was only small,” she told her sister.

Her sister shook her head. “You never loved him a small amount.”

Eleni bought a Small Animal Mini Urn from FurLunea to hold his ashes. She placed it beside her father’s old radio, with a little handwritten card:

Nikos. You gave the music back to me.

One Sunday, she played the recording again.

For a moment, she waited for Nikos to answer. Then, softly and a little out of tune, she began singing herself.