The Island of Screams

17 Lucky to meet the right people

Excerpt from "Never on Sunday"

Again Tom was woken up by the song from "Never on Sunday".

"This is amazing," he thought, because even though it was only an instrumental version, it reminded everyone of Melina Mercouri and the other exiled artists. He wondered if the Greek shipowners might be secret supporters of the opposition.

He quickly stuffed his things in Dave's bag, leaving only the documents in his. They handed the cabin key to the purser and climbed to the upper deck to observe the docking maneuver. It was just getting light when the ship's engines stopped. Nikos, Yannis, Sophia and Georgios awaited them in the rising sun.

Sandy watched Tom. "He must be nervous now," he thought, but somehow it didn't show. Tom scanned the docks for people with neon writings on their foreheads, but he could only see a couple of officials standing bored near another ship.

When the youths were back on solid ground, Sophia and Tom hugged each other. Nikos broke their kiss harshly when a sudden panic attack hit him. Smuggled deserters and a bag full of secret papers meant long prison sentences if they were caught. He took Tom by the hand and ordered the Irishmen to come along while Yannis went to his car with the others.

Sandy was curious and followed Nikos and Tom unnoticed, who left the port at high speed and headed for a car on a side street. The driver greeted everyone with a handshake, but without many words, put Tom's bag in the trunk, let Sean and Pat climb in the back and drove off with them.

Nikos was now completely calm again. He looked at Tom, and Tom looked at him. They didn't notice Sandy at all when they hugged tightly. Sandy saw Tom start to twitch. The whole burden of the past few days fell away from him. Tears ran down his face. Nikos whispered into his ear, which gradually calmed Tom down. Then they kissed. Sandy would have liked to sneak away, but he had no idea where Yannis had parked his car. So he huddled in a corner until they finally broke apart.

"So, where do you come from?" Tom asked him.

"I must have misunderstood something. I thought I was supposed to come with you, sorry, I didn't want to disturb you. I didn't see anything either, honestly."

"You little voyeur." Nikos smiled sweetly at him. "Will you accept your punishment for spying on us?" "What punishment?" Sandy was upset.

"Next time we meet Spiros, you'll volunteer as his opponent. I'll tell him not to spare you."

"Okay, accepted."

Sandy braced himself for his future pain.

"Let's go. Yannis is waiting," Tom said.

They went to Yannis' car. Nikos got in with Andreas, who was to spend the next few days as his "Swedish cousin" in Agios Andreas. Nikos leaned out the window and said to Tom:

"I'll come to the hotel in the evening. Then we'll go to Piraeus together, so wait for me."

Sophia took Tom, Dave and Sandy to a coffee shop where they drank coffee and ate sesame cookies until they were full. Then she led them to a park that Tom had already seen in the dark. She sent the others to the neighboring amphitheater while she and Tom ducked into the back of the complex.

Between a hundred kisses she asked him about his experiences, and Tom told her about what had happened in Crete. The world was perfect for him: everything had gone right, no one had been arrested, and he was finally back with Sophia.

Dave was happy too. Georgios had a thousand questions and Dave enjoyed his admiration. He emphasized Sandy's role, and against his will, the Australian felt a bit of pride when the much younger Greek slapped him on the shoulder: