The Most Beautiful Place On God's Earth

13 No !

Can you smell it?

Tom, Nikos, Sandy, and Phil were about to leave when Papa Michael entered the dining room. He wanted to speak to Philipos again. The others waited a solid hour, and when the monk brought Phil back, the boy's expression had changed. He looked more serious, more grown up.

On their way south, the four young men passed the 'robbers' route' without any problems. It was unusually quiet in the car.

"What did Papa Michael actually say?" asked Tom after a long period of silence.

"Confessional seal," said Phil, and that was all.

"Why are there so many raids here?" asked Tom. " This was the third time now."

"Father Michael said it was because of the border," explained Sandy. "There is a lot of smuggling. Smugglers are easy prey for robbers as they can hardly report to the police. The robbers go back across the border and nothing happens to them."

Shortly before they reached Athens, Phil spoke again for the first time.

"I promise you, I'm changing, in a lot of things. I'll never step out of line again. The mess with my girls will be over, too. I'll break up with Dora and Maria, and then I'll find myself a woman who doesn't just want to have sex with me all the time. Someone like Sophia or Xenia."

Tom, Nikos, and Sandy tried to pull themselves together, but they didn't succeed. They laughed uproariously. "You can laugh at me," said Philipos. "And Nikos, you can bet against me again, but this time you'll lose."

The two men who were to pick up the money and the car were already waiting on Yannis' porch. Sandy gave them the carkeys, Nikos gave them the wallet, and they drove off.

At the tents on Sandy's and Manos' property, the four young men were greeted with cheers. It was evening, and fragrant vegetables were simmering in the grill pan. Sophia and Tom hugged, Anastasia kissed Nikos on his scabby eyebrow and breathed,

"My strong hero."

When Sandy and Manos went into the house, Tom saw Phil out of the corner of his eye walk up to Sophia's friends Dora and Maria. Tom pointed to the trio and said to Sophia:

"Look, in a minute there will be tears."

"Which one's going to cry today?" asked Sophia, shrugging.

"Both of them today, and neither of them tomorrow," replied Tom.

Phil left the two girls, and Tom's prophecy was instantly fulfilled. Phil trudged towards Tom and Sophia and said:

"I need someone to fight right now. I need to let off steam."

"Ask Spiros, I'm indispensable now," said Tom and kissed Sophia.

Without further comment, Phil walked over to Spiros and presented his request to him. Spiros looked over at Tom, who indicated to him with implied punches what he had to do – punish the nosy boy from Salamis.

Phil had a plan. Papa Michael had given him a great deal of good advice after Phil confessed his wrongdoings. The monk impressed him greatly. One of Papa Michael's core tenets was that defeats make you strong. Phil's plan was to be knocked out which would be a defeat that would make him stronger. Tom would have been his perfect opponent, but he would also be able to get Spiros to inflict a real defeat on him for the good purpose.

Spiros had noticed that the youngest in their ranks was a problem child. Phil was constantly testing his limits, and he often exceeded them and got on the nerves of his fellow human beings. Spiros wondered whether to force Phil to submit by using his supreme technique, such as a choke hold, or whether to simply beat him up until he gave up? He opted for the latter because it would be more painful.