Their corner had livened up. Maya was lying on the floorboards as if ready to do push-ups and making some strange movements with her right leg, Spartacus and Sirma were watching her, their arms folded over their chests, while all around them people were knitting their brows and shaking their heads. Krustev also knit his brow in confusion, then he realized that she was demonstrating some yoga exercises, this asana is called tiger, Maya panted and got up, brushing the dust off her hands, is there a hamster asana, Sirma asked. Spartacus explained that Maya had gotten really into yoga and she wanted to recruit them as well, but they won’t give in, Maya said, it’s a lot more fun sitting in the park drinking beer, because you never so much as sip a beer, right, Sirma smirked, you know what, if you can drink a beer in that pose you were just in, then you win, I’ll start going to this yoga of yours. Krustev was intrigued. Are you not supposed to eat meat, he asked, well, Maya replied, this is what our teacher says: A man can climb a mountain with a bag of rocks on his back, except it’ll be a whole lot easier without it, I still eat meat, but I’m cutting back and trying to give it up, not just because of yoga, but still… Enough proselytizing, Sirma interrupted her. We’re here. Krustev looked ahead, the island really was very close, a scowling crew member with a megaphone appeared and gave a spiel in an equally scowling tone, so they went back downstairs and got in the car, ready to drive off, well, Krustev said, we had to wait a while before getting on, but now we’ll be one of the first ones off. Oh man, said Spartacus, I can’t wait to pitch my tent. I’m sure you’re going to have to help me with mine, Krustev smiled, because it looks so simple. Back in the day there was a whole philosophy to it and I can only pitch complicated tents. Fiberglass, he said to himself again, it sounded pleasantly cold.
The ferryboat spewed out its contents on land. They had no reason to stay in the city, so Krustev headed straight for the campgrounds, following Sirma’s directions. It turned out to be very close and enormous, but practically empty. Krustev wondered to himself if it still wasn’t a bit early for a tent on Thasos. The campground was situated at the edge of a vast but thin pine forest, the beach was surely a whole kilometer long and tents and RVs could be seen only here and there among the hedgerows dividing the sites. An RV, Krustev said to himself, now that’s what we really need for this trip, it would’ve been perfect. But by the time he thought of this, it was too late. They offered them four neighboring sites for one-man tents, until now, Krustev, without even giving it a second thought, had imagined that the three of them would sleep together in one tent, one of those big ones, and was surprised at this betrayal of their constantly declared unity, but Spartacus explained the obvious fact that if they wanted to sleep together in one big tent, somebody would have to carry it. It was much easier for everyone to sleep in their own. What’s more, you snore, Maya added. They set about pitching the tents, while their not particularly numerous neighbors watched them with the routine curiosity of old hands towards greenhorns, and to his satisfaction Krustev managed to pitch his tent with no more difficulty than the others, albeit more slowly. He set his mat and sleeping bag inside, which he had just bought from the store in Datum, and lay down for a bit to see how it was. The hard ground beneath him suddenly took him back in time, he had forgotten that feeling. Someone coughed outside and he came out, it was Maya, beaming and sunny, to find out whether everything was all right and Krustev felt as if they had the right to exercise certain fatherly concern towards him rather than the other way around, or else he was misinterpreting things, it’s great, he said and looked at his watch, it was three, so if we settle up the payment quickly, we’ll have time to hit the beach, Maya shrugged, even though here you’re always on the beach in any case, and Krustev told himself he was being stupid, of course that’s how it was, they weren’t going to hurry off somewhere else, lugging striped bags of towels, sunscreen and other beach gear, the time when he had almost constantly lived like that really wasn’t so far off in the past, but you get used to conveniences and the conventions of a life of luxury so quickly. Would he really look so different from them when they stripped down to their bathing suits, maybe not, his body really did feel a bit clumsy and stiff, but he didn’t have a paunch thanks to his quick metabolism, his toenails were trimmed, everything should be fine. The campground attendant came back and they paid for four nights for starters, Krustev didn’t offer to pay for them because he knew they would never let him, besides, if the trip stretched out sooner or later they would surely run out of cash and then they would have to fall back on his, he liked treating them and thought that if twenty years ago he had found himself in such a situation, he, too, would have resisted the other person’s attempts to pick up his tab, yet deep down he would have been very pleased at such luck. How they had studied the finer points of the art of traveling with a barebones budget back in the day, of course, prices were a whole lot different back then, as were their requirements, yes, from a certain point on they had wanted to buy comfort and, in fact, he thought now, that made traveling as much like staying at home as possible, nothing from home was lacking. He came out of his tent in his swim trunks, feeling a bit awkward and constantly looking over his body, moles, hair; while waiting for the others to come out he wondered whether he should put on sunscreen, it was still mid-May and the sun caressed his skin, the breeze was even a little cool, but perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea to take some precautionary measures, he again looked at the mole on his shoulder which seemed to be growing, but the more he looked at it, the more convinced he became that he was seeing things, until the next time he got undressed. Spartacus, who had taken the spot next to him, appeared in his trunks, let’s see how the water is, he said, the ladies will undoubtedly dawdle for a while yet, and he strode down towards the sea on his long legs, he really was quite skinny, he didn’t have a swimmer’s figure, but he was quite wiry, Krustev, however, said to himself that perhaps in swim trunks he actually looked better than the young man, and strutted towards the water. He tested the foam with his toes, it was pleasant, white and soft. Spartacus warily waded in up to his ankles, it’s fine, he said, what, asked Krustev, he had spaced out for a moment, listening to the rumbling of the sea, like in a seashell, he said to himself, like in a seashell, the water’s warm, Spartacus declared and pitched forward, because the girls, who had snuck up behind them, were trying to knock him into the water, Krustev froze, because Sirma was topless, her brown nipples jutted up inquisitively, challenging the sun and the wind, shit, he said to himself, now I’ll have to figure out how not to look at her, Maya perhaps sensed his anxiousness, because she left Sirma to horse around with Spartacus, on whom the sight clearly made no impression, and went over to him, how is it, are you happy, she asked, he was looking into the sun and he shaded his eyes with his palm, well yeah, he nodded, I’m happy and almost meant it, but only almost, because one part of him was still back at the house, the empty, sleeping house with the family portrait on the wall, with Elena in America and Irina in the graveyard, in the crumbly, drowsing dirt, which the worms wiggled out of, abruptly, rudely awakened by the shovels that came bursting in, and thought to himself that it was like an hourglass that someone was constantly turning over so that the sand moved continuously through the two glass bulbs, he poked at the sand with his thumb, remembering how as a kid he would build sandcastles with thick walls and an obligatory moat, spanned by a bridge, but the bridges often collapsed, come on, let’s go in, Maya said to him and carefully waded in, in the meantime, Spartacus had fallen to his knees in the water and kept egging Sirma on, come on, push me over, now I’m your height so you’ve got nothing to complain about, she tried to kick him, but he grabbed her foot and she ended up in the water with a screech, is it warm, Spartacus asked, you’re gonna see for yourself soon enough, Sirma threatened, I’m gonna get my revenge, just you wait. Krustev sank in up to his chest, the water really was amazingly warm and pleasant, he felt relieved, now the sand was flowing into the bright bulb, a short distance ahead of him Maya was floating on her back, Spartacus and Sirma had also started swimming and were going further out to sea, and he regretted not being able to take off with them, he was left behind, carefully watching their heads, which protruded up over the blue graveyard like exotic fruit.