Lucky we managed to hang on to these two islands, Maya chimed in from the front seat, we could’ve ended up with no islands at all. Lots of luck, Spartacus said, adding: And a li’l thrashing, imitating the thick Illyrian dialect of a certain prime minister who had made his mark on history with that phrase alone, which illustrated his style of government: With kindness, with gentleness, and with a li’l thrashing. Elena’s father again said how easy it was to travel now, they didn’t need visas, and they could hop from island to island. Island-hopping, Spartacus put in, the Swedish retirees show up and start hopping from island to island, we could hop to some other island afterwards, too, Krustev suggested, let’s go to Rhodes, Sirma said, to check out my roots at the source, oh what, so you’re from Rhodes now? Spartacus was confused, from somewhere there, Sirma replied, didn’t I tell you, from Lydia, some great-grandfather of mine came from there, he could’ve been from Rhodes, they say it’s a nice place and that knights stroll around the streets, she finished with a yawn. That’s a pretty serious hop, from Thasos to Rhodes, said Maya. Hic Rhodus, hic salta, Spartacus declared, Sirma looked at him in confusion, what? Nothing, said Spartacus, it’s a Latin saying. There might be some ferryboats, Krustev suggested, again drumming his fingers on the wheel, there must be a way to reach Rhodes from Thasos by sea, you’ve got time, right? We’ve got time, Sirma said, but money is a slightly different story, don’t worry about money, Krustev said, come on now, Maya cut in, you offered us a ride, not an allowance, Krustev shrugged and said that he was having a good time with them, that he had enough money, not that he meant anything by it, just so they knew if need be. Don’t you have a yacht, Sirma asked, now that would’ve been a catch, to hitch a ride not only from a car but from a yacht to boot, they sold off the factories and bought themselves yaaachts, her father would say in disgust when talking about his former fellow party members, well, if only you’d bought yourself one, too, she would reply, whereupon he would explode briefly, then suddenly fall silent, muttering fine. Actually, I don’t have a yacht, Elena’s father said, and I can’t even swim, we Slavs are rather suspicious of any surface that can’t be plowed and planted, I was kidding, Sirma said, as was I, he said, but it’s the truth, we’re landlubbers. You really can’t swim, Spartacus wondered, I mean, swimming is the whole point of going to the beach, otherwise what are you gonna do there, just fry in the sun or play cards? And yell at your kids, Krustev added, I’m sure it would be more fun if I could swim, but in any case I never learned, but back in the day going to the seaside and sitting on the beach for at least half a day, that was our idea of a vacation, I’m talking about when I was five or six, that was something new for my parents, I don’t know if they really even liked it or just went along with the trend, we’d rent an apartment on the seaside and go to the beach with our own umbrellas so we wouldn’t have to pay for them, that was an option back then, all this hysteria about hotels and private beaches hadn’t yet begun or was just beginning, I had fun, all kids surely have fun at the beach, and later, of course, whole crowds of us would go, huge groups with tents, guitars, girls and some more dubious things as well; we took Elena to the seaside ever since she was born, that’s how much sense we had, but be that as it may, I’ve got a fair amount of experience with camping, never mind that it was a while ago, true, back then we didn’t insist on having electricity and running water, at least not before Elena was born, so he’d seen her in the mirror, Sirma thought, he had seen her smirk when he asked whether there was electricity and running water at the campground and she felt a little ashamed, maybe this person had actually had a much wilder youth than they had. He had gotten so carried away with his monologue that he was waving his right hand in the air. Okay, we’ll teach you to swim then, she said. Krustev started laughing, it’s too late for me to learn anything whatsoever, don’t give me that, Sirma said, if you want, we can make a deal, we’ll teach you to swim, and you think up something to teach us. We really got lucky with him, she thought, and he really got lucky with us, but let’s just see what will come out of this whole lucky story. Rhodes, she whispered to herself, a name that digs into the mouth like a drill, it sounds brutally seductive and Krustev seemed serious, but there was that awkward moment again: since she had gone to college, she had often found herself talking to older men and even when one of them would pick up the tab for the whole table’s coffee, she still felt that same hesitation, now with Elena’s father it was much sharper, this person had money, he had a car, he had time and clearly needed their company, he could drive them wherever they wanted, on top of everything that was exactly what he wanted, but still, how much could they take advantage of all that, not for his sake, but for their own sake, how much would they let him spoil them, she was sure that Spartacus and Maya were thinking the same thing at that moment, but on the other hand, when else would they have the chance to go to Rhodes, plus she could call her dad and ask him about that great-grandfather, besides travelling with the guitarist from Euphoria was not bad at all. They were already entering Datum. The car in front of them was driving slowly, uncertainly, and Krustev, suddenly impatient, laid on the horn, Sirma again stared at his hands and suddenly realized why her gaze had been returning to them the whole time, she had subconsciously grasped the little detail, the tragic aberration, she remembered very clearly how when her grandfather had died, almost the first thing her grandmother had done was to move her wedding ring from her right to her left hand with a sigh, Sirma took a deep breath, as if drinking in her grandmother’s sigh: like her, the widow, Boril Krustev was wearing his wedding ring on his left ring finger.
[5]
The young people insisted on splitting the bill and he gave in, once he realized that they took his insistence on treating them as aggression. He had been to that little restaurant at the port before and liked it, as a whole he liked Aegean cuisine, with its Mediterranean tang, on the surface, they looked like the same dishes as from the interior of the country, but now look, a pinch of cumin and a little fennel turned them into something completely different, and besides, the little restaurant had held out against the surge of mass tourist-fare, which meant stuffing everything you can get your hands on in the fridge into the microwave all at once, Rhodopaise surprise served jack-ass style, chicken julienne in a clay pot with soy sauce, blue cheese, and peas.
After lunch, they divided into two combat units, Sirma and Spartacus went to find out about the ferryboats, Krustev and Maya looked for an outdoor store to buy a tent, but how can you just go and buy a tent, as if it were a pound of cucumbers, confused they went to a tourist office and asked: there, of course, they had no idea where such a store might be, but on their way out, Krustev caught sight of a brochure for a store called Montblanc, the brochure was in Thracian and English, and the store was on the next street over. Krustev thanked the fat woman behind the window, who indignantly raised her eyes from her crossword puzzle, and they went to Montblanc, Maya and the salesman picked out a dark-blue tent with fiberglass poles for him, whatever that meant, reliable, light and easy to pitch, that’s what the kid said, can I put it on my card, yes, of course.