Around 8 a.m., everyone - except for Tom, Nikos, Sophia, and Heike – had breakfast in front of the tents. Georgios made a big pot of tea, others distributed bread, tomatoes, honey and jam. Half an hour later Alexander went with four boys to dig a new toilet in the little grove. Spiros announced he would run with Michael to the tavern and back and after that organize an hour's practice on the beach which would be finished with a few rounds of wrestling. He had to keep training anyway, and he thought a little workout would be good for everyone. Several boys and girls wanted to run.
Stelios was going to show Dave and Georgios how to steer the boat, which meant that they had to put it in the water first. A lot of strong men were needed for this, because of course they couldn't tow the trailer onto the beach by car. Sophia joined the others and invited the musicians to rehearse a bit at lunchtime. Her goal was to start a real band.
Everyone helped to maneuver the boat trailer into the water with the help of a few planks that were repeatedly moved toward the water which prevented the wheels of the trailer from getting stuck in the loose sand. The boat floated and they dragged the trailer back up the beach and parked it next to the tents.
Some of the youths ran, others did their first test laps in the boat, some shoveled a hole for the toilet, others cleaned the dishes with damp rags. When the "athletes" returned, Spiros was a little cross, because he wanted to use the training to finally teach Tom a little fighting, a few wrestling holds and some boxing, but there was no sign of Tom anywhere. Spiros asked around, but no one had seen him. Sandy offered to find him, and Spiros told him to hurry.
Sandy suspected that he'd find the two boys that were missing this morning somewhere in the dunes. He searcheduntil he found the right hollow. He crouched on the crest of the dunes and looked at the two. Nikos and Tom slept tightly embraced, and it was already eleven. As they lay there, he could imagine how the night had gone. However, his imagination had nothing in common with reality.
Finally he tore himself away from the enviable sight:
"Tom, wake up. Spiros is waiting."
Tom jumped up from the blanket. He stood stark naked in the morning sun and replied:
"Tell him I'll be right there."
Sandy stalked off, thinking his own part. And then he had an idea, a bold one, a crazy one, a daring one. It was time to take a risk, he decided.
Stelios let his two companions in on the secrets of the big inflatable boat. The engine was powerful, very powerful, and at full throttle and in bends They had to be careful not to go over the top - the bow of the boat reared up dangerously. Stelios said the boat would be easier to maneuver if there were more people on board. Then they mastered it to the point that the water ski tours could begin.
At the same time, some boys tried exercise along with Spiros and Michael, which was easy for some but very difficult for others. Sandy, who had returned in the meantime, tried his best because he had a fight with Spiros ahead of him. However, the Spiros and Michael regularly managed twice as many repetitions as he did.
The power training had just ended when Tom joined the other boys.
"Did you sleep well, young man?" Spiros quipped. "It's time I get you in shape a bit."
Tom's bones were aching and he didn't feel rested. The one large tomato he had had for breakfast hadn't really fed him sufficiently. Nonetheless, he bravely replied:
"I've waited a year for this."
Spiros and Michael practiced grips, throws and locks for half an hour. Tom was paired with Martin, who was a bit taller but just as untrained as he was. Spiros showed, explained, demonstrated, and corrected - he was a good teacher. Tom was fully awake now, and he was getting on well with Martin. He found it amazing what you can do with your arms and legs. He had fun.
The next half hour was reserved for boxing training. There were only four gloves, and so most of the boys had to engage in shadow boxing. Spiros embraced his coaching role. At the end of the morning session - the whole thing would be repeated in the late afternoon, and then there would also be a fight, he announced - he wrestled with Michael for fifteen minutes, which inspired the others to also scrap in the sand.
Then Nikos had finally woken up, too, and came laughing to the scuffling boys.
"You all look pretty dirty. Hey, is this naked beach or not?"
He ran into the water, and a pack of sanded, naked young men followed him.
The day flew by. Suddenly it was almost 5 p.m. Everyone was down on the beach hauling in the boat. Spiros was about to call for the day's fight when Georgios pointed in the direction of the tavern, from where a police car was approaching. Stelios took command:
"Stay here, I'll take care of it."
The car stopped at the tents and two policemen got out. They glanced inside. Stelios was already with them and showed them his ID. The police officers saluted, spoke to him briefly, saluted again and drove away.
Tom got jealous of the easy way Stelios had got rid of the police officers when he remembered his own experiences with the Greek police.
"How did you do that?" he asked him. Stelios grinned and showed them his passport in which he kept a copy of his father's ID card, the Admiral.
"By the way, they just wanted to know if boys and girls sleep separately. That's a law here."
"Ah, good to know," thought Tom.
Some time later a police officer on the island of Euboea dialed a number on Salamis.
"Mr. Admiral, everything is as it should be, one tent for girls, two for boys."
The Admiral smiled contentedly at his wife.
"So who is fighting me?" asked Spiros, and Michael also sought an opponent.
"What rules?" Randy wanted to know.
"No rules, I have to let off steam."
Randy chose Michael as his opponent because he thought he might have a chance against him. Sandy had a promise to keep and put his hand up, but Spiros declined:
"You and Tom need to practice first. It'll be your turn in three days. So who?"
There was another with an open bill, so Alexander, who had lost against Spiros the year before, volunteered. Spiros asked him:
"Tell me, back when I knocked you out, what was that feeling?"
Alexander could remember it well:
"It was weird, it didn't hurt at all. I was gone for a short time, then everything felt like I was walking on cotton wool, but not for long."
"Okay," Spiros replied, "anytime again."
But he fought with the handbrake on: he wanted to spare Alexander a second knockout humiliation.
Michael had to fight harder than expected because Randy pulled out all the stops. Dave and Rudy didn't spare each other anything either. Tom made an uncomfortable opponent for the taller Martin because he was quick and, after his experience from past year, had no qualms about hitting full force.
The beach was all scuffling and shouting until Georgios called them to eat. There was orzo with a tomato sauce that didn't taste like tomatoes but was red.
"I'm going to go shopping in the village in the morning," Sandy announced. Their supplies were running out, and drinking water in particular was scarce. Nikos had advised them not to drink the tap water at the tavern.
Despite the general good mood and a cozy atmosphere around the big campfire, people began to retire at 10 p.m. – the day had cost a lot of energy. Tom, Nikos, Heike and Sophia said goodbye around midnight, and finally only Sandy was sitting by the fire. He promised Manny he would join him soon, but he wasn't sure if he would keep that promise. Two hours later he smothered the remains of the campfire with sand and slowly moved towards the dunes.
He had memorized the way to Tom's blanket. Even though it was pitch dark, he found the spot straight away. Everything was silent, at least there were no human sounds. He stalked cautiously, lifted the top blanket and slipped under it. Tom stirred briefly, but continued to sleep. Gently, Sandy began stroking his arm. Tom mumbled in his sleep but didn't wake up.
Suddenly a girl's voice shrilled into the silence:
"What's going on here?"
Tom was instantly wide awake and found himself sandwiched between his girlfriend and someone else. He grabbed the stranger's arm, shouted "Who are you?" and immediately struck. Sandy groaned.
"I got lost," he stammered, " I was tired, drunk too much, just wanted to sleep, didn't find the tent..."
Tom was still holding him. Sophia caught herself first:
"Sandy! Are you crazy? What are you looking for here? Did you want to seduce my boyfriend, or Nikos, or both of them, or what?"
Sandy was still trying to tell her that he had just got lost, but Sophia quickly came up with a punitive action: "Don't fool me. I know exactly what you wanted. Tom and me, we have a big heart, don't we, Tom? You'll get what you wanted. Tom, put him in the middle."
Tom followed his girlfriend's instructions and watched in amazement as she undressed the motionless Australian, as she began to caress him rather lewdly, and as she turned him on with every trick in the book. It didn't take long for Sandy's body to show a reaction that he wasn't expecting, after all Sophia was a girl and he actually thought... well, thinking is such a thing sometimes.
"Tom, help me," Sophia asked her boyfriend, and as soon as he joined in the caressing, Sandy's little friend moved.
"So you're only into men," commented Sophia wryly. Sandy didn't answer. What was he supposed to say? Sophia noticed that Tom was now quite heated. She quickly put a condom over his dick, and they made love briefly but fiercely. Sandy glowed with shame and excitement at the same time.
As soon as the two were done, he couldn't stop himself and started stroking Tom again.
"What a rude person," complained Sophia, and a short time later no one knew who they were actually caressing or who they were being caressed by. It was fun, for everyone, and they couldn't stop.
At some point Sophia asked:
"Sandy, tell me, would you like to sleep with me?"
Tom was on red alert. Sandy's face was red:
"Hmm, yes, actually why not, yes, I think I would."
"But you can't," Sophia told him and kissed her boyfriend passionately.
Nevertheless, they continued their mutual pleasantries for a while longer, until they gently fell asleep.
In the first rays of the morning sun Nikos stood at his and Tom's blanket and couldn't believe what he saw. His night with Heike had been satisfying, but also a bit annoying because she had complained that he was doing too much with the boys and not taking care of her enough. She made it clear to him that she expected more attention. He envied Tom.
"Hey, got you," he yelled. Three guilty young people suddenly woke up.
"Well, Nikos, some women need more than one man," Sophia said mockingly, kissed Tom and Sandy on the mouth and got up. Tom would have liked to have slept a little longer, but Sandy's body told him that he was ready for sex again, so Tom got up and got dressed. Together they ran to the beach, giving Sandy time and peace to cool down.
A little later Sandy appeared at the tents where Manny was already waiting for him. He went with him to Georgios and asked him, in his capacity as Minister of Supply, to go shopping with him. It would certainly be good to have someone with him who spoke Greek. It also saved him from being alone in the car with Manny.
The nearest shop was over half an hour away, so they reached the camp with the breakfast supplies after the others had already returned from their morning run. Today everyone but the supply squad and the toilet digging department had taken part in running along the beach, which made Spiros a little proud.
Sandy bought a plastic ball from the store, which earned him a round of applause. No one had thought to pack a ball. Now that they could play football, the days would be even sportier.
After dinner - bean soup and bread, for a change - all but Sandy and Manny went to the tavern and ordered dinner for 24 people for the following night. Some showered while the others sat down in front of the tavern and drank retsina. The innkeeper promised them fresh fish for tomorrow's dinner, and around 10 p.m. they bought some more canisters of wine and trotted back to camp to find two Australians sitting far apart by the fire and looking unhappy. No one dared speak to them because everyone sensed what had happened.
Nikos grabbed a jam jar with green herbs in it from his rucksack and made a "funny cigarette" fusing five cigarette papers. The band started to play, and the youths sang, danced, smoked, drank and kissed a lot in the semidarkness of the fire. Dave and Anna had been seen together all day, so something was obviously going on there. Jürgen was in an intensive conversation with Helena. Manny found himself in the bachelors' group, where he didn't feel comfortable at all as most of the conversation was about girls, a topic that only minimally interested him.
Heike pouted because Nikos was playing a drum instead of entertaining her. "Cotton Fields" became the song of the evening, which resulted in a long jam session. Guitars and harmonicas improvised wildly. Nikos waved Sophia and Sandy over:
"There's a song on my cousin's cassette from England that you could play too. I think it's so beautiful, it's called "Bridge over troubled water".
"Let's hear it." said Sophia. Nikos started the recorder. The conversations immediately fell silent. Sophia whispered to Tom:
"If there are angels, these must be their voices."
Everyone listened spellbound. When the song, which had begun so quietly, ended with a massive orchestra, there was applause for the first time for music not played live. Sandy wrote down the lyrics, Manny discussed with Sophia where the harmonica could replace the piano, and apart from Sandy, who would play the guitar from the beginning, all the other instruments only came in at the end. The first attempts at playing the song were difficult which even put Sophia's voice to a real test but after half an hour it sounded nice.
The song hit Manny hard. He felt lonely after he had been dumped by Sandy. Stella and Monika noticed his sad mood and took him between them. They listened to his story and since it was about a problem with a boy they could relate to him. They comforted him with words and caresses meant in a completely non-erotic way, and they actually managed to cheer him up. He'd never discussed anything like this with women before, but it felt really good.
Sandy asked Tom if he could come back to his blanket that night, but Tom referred him to his girlfriend. He had nothing to say on this point. Sophia gave him a rebuff. She wanted to be alone with Tom for a night, but said there might be a chance the next night.
Nikos escaped from Heike again. He had gotten to the point of deliberately provoking her. He took the opportunity to talk to Tom - he hadn't done so all day in the hustle and bustle. He reported that his morning phone call with his contact in the resistance group had yielded nothing new, and then inquired about what had actually happened under Tom and Sophia's blanket last night. Tom told him everything he could remember.
"I wouldn't have thought Sophia was like that," Nikos admitted. "I guess she thinks she won't get for a year what she can get now. Weren't you a little jealous when she made out with Sandy?"
"No, I'm not afraid of Sandy. That was just fun, six hands instead of four is really something different."
"Do you always sleep in threes now?"
"Absolutely not. Although, if I just got Sophia right, Sandy might be back tomorrow."
"Can't you use two more hands?" Nikos asked quite harmlessly.
"Sure, especially yours. But you better ask Sophia. In that regard, she's in charge."
They stared into the fire and both saw a similar movie.
Dave's diary
Evia, Aug 13
1. I have a girlfriend.
2. I think Tom is sleeping with Sophia, not Nikos.
3. We're 24 people and I love them all.
4. Tomorrow I need to take a shower. Too crowded today. I stink.
Sandy's diary
Evia, Aug 13
Difficult to be brief today. I broke up with Manny. Hurts me as much as him, I still love him very much. But it's no longer working. The night was so embarrassing at first and then it became the night of my life. It was great fun. Why am I going off like that with Sophia? I don't know what's really going on with me at the moment.
It's great to make music with so many people. We sometimes jam for half an hour. I have to go water skiing tomorrow, I haven't gotten to it yet.
Tomorrow night with Tom and Sophia again??? Today I have to sleep alone somewhere in the sand.
Martin's notepad
Beach, August 13th
I love Sophia. She sings so beautifully. Too bad that she's with Tom. The bean soup tonight was delicious. I never eat bean soup. The singing is great too, it's all fun. The first lovers' drama, among two of the gays. Poor Manny.
Training with Tom is exhausting. It's pretty tough. I'll ask him tomorrow to have a real fight. I would like it. Doesn't have to be as violent as Spiros and Michael's, although I don't think Tom will give up so easily. I won't anyway.
I have now flirted with every girl (except Moni), and the only one who really flirted back was Sophia. Of all people.