The Island of Charon. Playing Another Reality. Antoine de Saint-Exupery Award

We quarreled in all these years only twice. Not even quarreled. I took offense. The first time I didn’t like his cynical words about… Or rather, the tone of expressing his opinion. I agreed with him, of course, Michael as always was absolutely right, but I disliked the way he said what he said… However, after a couple of days, Michael realized the reason of my bad mood, came into my office and asked to forgive him. How many people asked your forgiveness for the tone of expressing their opinion?

The second time he persistently asked me the reason of the offense for two days in a row just before my departure to Ammouliani. I even sent him a joking threat, “I’ll write a novel about you!”

And I received a letter as the answer of not a boy, but a man.

“No-no-no, this is not a novel, and not even a story, and not an episode, but just a moment in life of two adult self-sufficient people, who simply misunderstood each other. Sorry, I did wrong when I disappeared without explanation. I had a black streak, problems with money and in general… But as soon as life began to improve, I allowed myself to approach you again.”

And that “I allowed myself to approach you…” was imprinted in me once and forever, instantly connecting kilometers of memories into a single whole picture.

“I don’t even know how else to surprise you!”

“Oh my God, I am already a grandfather!”

“I’ve lost some kilograms! Now I’m like a boy!”

I smiled…

“Listen,” I responded quite seriously, “you don’t have to be a superhero! If you have no money to rent the whole five-stars hotel for us, we can just walk around the city. If you become impotent, pat my head, and I’ll be pleased. Life is too short to waste time getting hung up on its loosing streak!”

Someone pulled my hand.

Half asleep, lying on the snow-white sand, I opened my eyes and cried out in fright. Instead of the usual Sky, before my eyes appeared a grubby face of… the very same Boy!

He was laughing.

“Lantern! LANTERN!!!” he shouted the cherished word, running away from the shore towards the village.

I got up, sighed and looked at the Ocean…

Water… all around… water…

“The Ocean comes here silently…”

4.2. Athos rosary

“Alice,” I heard Yanis’ voice, although for a moment it seemed to be the voice of another person, whom for some reason I couldn’t remember.

I turned around. No, it was Yanis.

In fact, who else could be there?

“How did you sleep?” he asked.

“Thanks, fine… Listen, Yanis… It’s the fourth day since I’ve been here on vacation, and there’s nobody on the beach. You have no customers in the cafe, don’t you? It isn’t high season, is it? Have you enough money to live? Maybe it’s better to go back to Greece?”

“It’s low season everywhere,” Yanis answered laconically, and we wandered towards his cafe.

Yanis brought me some water (dead? – ha-ha-ha!) and sat down across from me.

“Do you have friends on the Greek islands?” he asked.

Apparently, the memories of a cozy and completely non-witchy Greece warmed our souls.

“Do you miss Greece, Yanis? It’s great there! A real Paradise. Despite they write on the Internet that Paradise is here, on Camotes… I do have friends in Greece, of course! The last few years I went only to Ammouliani. So the whole village knew me very well. Sometimes I tried to walk along the ‘secondary’ roads, but even there I became recognized, and people greeted me. It’s customary in Greece to stop at a meeting to exchange a couple of phrases, but I am not a sociable person. By the way, you can find a lot of Greeks among my friends on the social networking site. However, there was also a totally reserved guy, let’s call him the ‘Confectioner’.”

“Are you fond of sweets?”

“No, but sometimes I visited his shop for cookies.”

“Would you like to marry a Greek?”

“Perhaps!”

“And what about living in Greece?”

“Yes, on the island!” I laughed, remembering. “My friend from Ammouliani, Sofia, said, „As long as you are on the Island, nothing will happen to you“!”

“Why is that?” Yanis was surprised.

“The last time I went there, the news was full of murders. Men killed their wives and mistresses. The Greeks themselves considered the pandemic to be to blame. They say, self-isolation was driving people crazy. Every day someone killed someone. But not on Ammouliani, thank God! The only person who theoretically could become the ‘executioner’ among the locals was the same Confectioner. He is of my age, by the way. The gloomiest creature! Unfriendly, neither married, nor having relationship with either women or men, he lived with his mother, but she died that year. Once I entered his shop in the evening and asked for coffee. ‘What coffee?! No coffee! You have to sleep at night! Look at your watch!’ Then I asked for sparkling mineral water. And he grumbled again, why ‘sparkling’ and why ‘mineral’? ! I should have learned long ago that in Greece they say ‘Soda’!”

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Примечания

1

The newspaper “Literary News” / (“Literaturnye Izvestia”) No. 11—12 (197—198), 2021, “The results of the literary awards 2021” by the press-secretary of the Moscow State Organization of the Union of Writers of Russia,

2

The most famous novel of Alexander Grin is called “Scarlet Sails”. The main character, named Assol, lives in a seaside village and believes that one day a ship with scarlet sails will come to their pier, and the captain of the ship, named Gray, will marry her.

3

All poems are published only in the original edition. Only one of them was included by the author into English version of the book.

4

Ammouliani is the only inhabited island of Chalkidiki. Located near the peninsula of Athos (Aion-Oros), until 1922 it belonged to the monasteries of the Holy Mountain. It was electrified in 1973. It has ferry service with the villages of Trypiti and Ouranoupolis. The population is about 540 people, the area is 4.5 square kilometers.

5

Protagonist of the famous book of Alexander Grin “Scarlet Sails”. Assol lives in a seaside village and believes that one day a ship with scarlet sails will come to their pier, and the captain of the ship, named Gray, will marry her.

6

The Camotes Islands is a group of tiny islands in the Philippine archipelago. If you prefer solitude and are ready to sacrifice the benefits of civilization, you will enjoy Camotes paradise, lost among tropical palm trees and sandy beaches.