MYKONOS

    

    “Hey, Skippy. Look who’s here.”

    He looked where Danny pointed and saw another ferry full with passengers pulling in to Paradise Beach, scraping bottom in the shallow water. Climbing off the ladder, carrying a towel and beach mat, was Billie Durant, looking tanned and fine in a black one-piece bathing suit cut high along the thighs.

    He stood and brushed off the sand and was about to call her over. “No. Hold on a minute. See where she goes.”

    There was a taverna up the beach and a small store next to it where they sold paperbacks and tanning lotion. They saw her head for that. “Come on. Let’s go.”

    Michelle lay beside them sleeping in the sun. They didn’t wake her. They slipped on their trunks and walked up the beach. It occurred to Dodgson that they’d almost missed her. Had they gone to Delos as planned, if Xenia’s boat hadn’t developed leaks, they wouldn’t be on the beach today. The leaks were no longer disappointing.

    She was paying for a pack of cigarettes. Danny slipped up behind her. He whispered in her ear.

    “Before we begin. Do you have loud orgasms?”

    She whirled and he saw fury in her face before she recognized them. Then she burst out laughing.

    “You pair of rats! You gave me a turn!”

    “So how are you, English?”

    “I’m fine. Even better now you’re here.”

    “Well, of course you are.”

    “When did you arrive?” she asked Dodgson.

    “Just yesterday.”

    “Lelia and Michelle?”

    “Lelia we left home,” said Danny. “Michelle’s down on the beach. Come on. We’ll surprise her.”

    “Wonderful. Just let me pay for this.”

    

***

    

    The man behind the counter took her thirty drachmas. She slipped the cigarettes into her bag and took Dodgson’s arm as though she belonged there. It was noon and the sun was hot but the breeze was still good and strong. The beach was crowded. They walked past naked bodies browning in the sun.

    He liked her on his arm. She felt good there.

    At the mats the two women greeted each other like old friends and Dodgson thought how quickly an intimacy could spring up in this place.

    He thought of Xenia.

    They’d known each other a mere three weeks and that had been six years ago, yet last night at the bar it was as though it were only a matter of days and they’d been friends forever.

    She’d taken a break and they’d talked.

    “Listen,” she said to him, “this is my home and probably it will always be, but it gets no easier, Dodgson. Too damn many peasants here. You know what I mean, peasants? Especially the women.”

    “You’re strong. You can handle it.”

    “I am a sonovabitch, Dodgson. But who knows if that is enough? You know?”

    He understood. She was breaking all the rules and in all the Greek community of Mykonos she was alone at it. Much as he admired the old ways and worried about the new he thought she had courage and was glad of this intimacy with her.

    And now he was glad to see Billie too.

    He felt safer surrounded by friends, people who wished him well. Though with Billie it was already a little different.

    Christ! he thought. Haven’t you had enough? After Lelia?

    No.

    Because that was the whole point. After Lelia, getting interested again was almost a necessity. You had to keep going or maybe you’d get to thinking that the only way it could be was bad or crazy, that it would keep on being that way with women forever, one more Lelia- or worse, one more Margot-after another. And if that happened all the friends in the world weren’t going to help any.

    He watched her peel off the swimsuit. It was the first he’d seen her naked. He liked what he saw. The slightest bit soft in the belly-as he was-but barely noticeable. She had long shapely legs and her neck was lovely, her body tanned a light golden color-probably, he thought, about as dark as she got. There was no tan line.

    She was not in Lelia’s class physically but few women were and the important thing was that she carried her nudity without the slightest hint of self-conciousness or immodesty, with a nice easy grace. No coy seductiveness and no parade. What you had here was a straightforward woman with all parts intact, he thought, mind and body.

    And I bet her orgasms are deafening.

    He realized she was talking to him.

    “What happened? I mean with Lelia? If you don’t mind my asking.”

    “You don’t want to know.”

    She nodded. “I had a feeling that would be a bad one.”

    “It was.”

    “I saw you go by that night. I was sitting on my terrace. She looked…very determined about something.”

    “She was determined all right.”

    “She worried me. I thought at the time…”

    “Goon.”

    “I thought that she looked…ferocious. Honestly. That’s the word that comes to mind. Isn’t that amazing?”

    “Less than you’d think. I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

    “I didn’t mean to pry.”

    “You’re not prying.”

    “You’re sure?”

    “Yes.”

    She smiled. “In that case I’ll let you tell me. Sometime. Care for a swim?”

    “Sure.”

    They stood up. They used their sandals to weigh down their mats against the gusty breeze.

    “Did you make any plans for dinner tonight?”

    He had the sudden urge to lock her into something-into dinner, at least. She looked at him and smiled again.

    “Of course. I’m eating with your lot, aren’t I?”

    He laughed. “Absolutely.”

    “Good. It’s settled then. Last one in!”

    She bolted away.

    God knows I’ve been wrong before, he thought. I may be wrong again. But I think this one’s healthy.

    He glanced at Danny, who was looking at him, nodding.