My Family and Other Animals

On the bay near the villa is an area known as the Chessboard Fields. Gerry enjoys hunting for aquatic life there, especially because his friends own the surrounding fields and he's always guaranteed food and gossip. One afternoon, Gerry takes the dogs to the Chessboard Fields to try to capture Old Plop, an old terrapin who has eluded him for a month.

Just as Gerry reaches Old Plop's favorite place at the water's edge, Roger, Widdle, and Puke take off after a lizard. Old Plop isn't there, so Gerry waits for the dogs until he hears them barking like they found something. Gerry pursues them and finds them gathered around a pair of big water snakes coiled in the grass. This is a thrilling find. One snake races into the water, and Gerry notes that it seems as though the snake buried itself in the mud. He captures the one in front of him easily and then decides to wade into the mud, feel for the snake, and pounce when he finds it.

Gerry wades into the mud towards where he saw the snake disappear. Suddenly, he feels the snake underfoot and grabs for it. The snake resurfaces a yard away, and Gerry leaps and manages to snag it. When he turns back to shore, Gerry realizes there's a man (Kosti) watching him with the dogs. Gerry assumes he's a fisherman from down the coast and greets him politely before wrangling the snake into the basket.

Gerry pulls out his grapes and shares them with Kosti. They eat silently and only then does Kosti ask about Gerry's family. Instead of the usual line of interrogation, he just asks if Gerry is a foreigner. Gerry gathers his things and politely asks Kosti where he's headed. Kosti is headed to the sea as well, so they walk together. Gerry asks Kosti where he's from and is perplexed when Kosti says he lives on Vido, the island where convicts live. Kosti confirms he's a convict and explains that trustworthy prisoners are allowed to sail home on weekends. Gerry doesn't find this strange at all, as anything can happen in Corfu.

At the coast, Gerry sees a huge gull tied to Kosti's boat. Entranced, Gerry reaches out to pet the bird, and it indignantly allows Gerry to touch him. Kosti is surprised; he explains the bird usually bites when touched. Gerry buries his fingers in the gull's feathers and scratches it, and the bird looks dreamy. Kosti explains he found the gull on the Albanian coast the year before. The bird was cute then, but is a "great duck" that bites now.

Kosti and Gerry eat cockles in the boat and Gerry asks if Kosti could get him a baby gull the following spring. Kosti is surprised and offers Gerry his own gull. Gerry is shocked that Kosti would give away such a magnificent bird, but Kosti explains he can't feed him well enough and nobody likes him. Gerry hastily prepares to leave before Kosti can change his mind. As Kosti tucks the bird under Gerry's arm, he says that the bird's name is Alecko. Before Gerry leaves, he asks why Kosti is in jail. Kosti answers that he killed his wife.

Though Alecko feels light at first, he soon becomes dead weight. Gerry rests under a fig tree and then tries to pick Alecko up to resume their journey. Alecko has no interest in moving and when Gerry persists, Alecko bites him, drawing blood. Gerry angrily throws his butterfly net over Alecko, ties his beak shut, and wraps him in his shirt. Gerry is thoroughly angry by the time he gets home.

Gerry puts Alecko on the floor of the living room and is annoyed when Mother and Margo think that Alecko is an eagle. Alecko ferociously makes noise as Gerry tries to untie his beak, which brings Leslie and Larry downstairs. Leslie is intrigued, but Larry is terrified and believes Alecko is an unlucky albatross. As Alecko looks at Larry, Larry yelps that Alecko is attacking him. He refuses to listen to anyone's reassurances that Alecko isn't doing anything, and he and Mother argue about which bird species are unlucky. Mother insists Alecko seems very tame.

Dodo finally notices Alecko and curiously approaches him. It's sheer luck that she turns her head, as Alecko snaps at her and narrowly misses her nose. He does hit the side of her head, which causes Dodo's hip to pop out. She begins screaming and Alecko screams with her. When everyone finally calms down, Gerry tethers Alecko on the veranda and sets about dividing the Magenpies' cage.

At dinner that night, Larry again insists that Alecko is an albatross, is bad luck, and will bring the family to ruin. Gerry explains how he got Alecko and leaves out that he also captured snakes, as Leslie hates snakes. Mother is aghast that Kosti is a convict and killed his wife, but Leslie explains that in Greece, there is no death penalty: a murderer gets three years in prison, while someone caught blowing up fish serves five years. Finally, Gerry convinces Mother to allow him to go fishing with Kosti, provided Leslie meets him.

Gerry invites Kosti for tea, and Mother forgets the few Greek words she knows in his presence. Gerry translates for them as they sit on the veranda and when Kosti leaves, Mother remarks that he didn't seem at all like a murderer. Larry insists Kosti totally acts like a murderer, since he gave Gerry an albatross.