In Athens, a taxi driver picks up a young woman from the airport.

She was a cultured woman from abroad, and he drives her to her home in Kallithea. Along the way, they are talking about the fare, and the driver thinks to himself what an extraordinary woman she is.

They arrive at the destination. She opens her wallet to pay, but she doesn’t have enough money. She says to the driver, “I’m sorry, I’ll be right back.” She gets out of the taxi and goes into the house.

The driver waits… and waits… but time passes. He begins to wonder what’s going on. Finally, he gets out of the car and knocks on the door of the house.

A woman dressed in black opens the door.

“Excuse me,” the driver says, “I just want the money and I’ll leave.”

“What money?” the woman replies.

“The taxi fare,” he says. “I just brought your daughter from the airport.”

The woman looks at him in shock. “Who did you bring from the airport? My daughter?”

Hearing this, she begins to scream and runs inside, crying.

The driver is confused and thinks the woman might have mental issues. But then he worries—what if something is wrong? What if he said something he shouldn’t have? Afraid she might harm herself, he goes inside.

There, he is confronted by angry men.

“What did you say to her?” they shout. “What have you done on such a difficult day for us?”

“I’m sorry,” the driver says. “You don’t know me, I don’t know you. I just want my money and I’ll leave.”

“How much?” one man asks.

“The fare for bringing your daughter from the airport,” the driver replies.

The man looks at him and asks, “Who did you bring from the airport?”

“Your daughter, sir.”

The man says nothing. He simply looks at the table. There is a plate of koliva — a memorial dish for the dead. On it, there is a photo of a young woman. It reads: two years since her death.

The driver is stunned.

He shouts, “What are you telling me? That I brought a dead woman from the airport?”

Then he continues, trying to prove himself:

“If that’s not your daughter, how did I know about your inheritance matters in Patmos? How did I know about your plans in Lefkada?”

He calls out again, “Sofia! Where are you?” He runs through the house, opening doors, shouting.

He comes back and sees the mother fainted on the couch, and the father shaking.

Later, at the memorial service in the church, relatives wondered who that man was—the taxi driver.