Troubled Waters

by Jerry Cole

  He got out of bed and stretched. God, that felt good. But he needed a shower.

  “Ness,” he called out.

  Ness came to the door. They were both still naked and they looked admiringly at each other and smiled.

  “I’m making coffee. It’s just about ready.”

  Darren smiled. “How are you? Not too overwhelmed, I hope.”

  Smiling back, Ness answered, “I’m more than fine.” He indicated by pointing to the kitchen. “Can’t let the coffee boil over.”

  Darren nodded. “Go. I’m jumping in the shower.”

  “Ah… no shower, I’m afraid. But there’s a sink in the bathroom.”

  “Oh… Okay.”

  “Poor neighborhood. Sorry.” Ness left.

  Darren found the tiniest bathroom he’d ever seen outside of a dingy sailboat where one pissed in a water bottle. He washed as best he could, and went back to the bedroom, dressed, and joined Ness in the kitchen.

  “Here.” Ness offered Darren a cup of Greek coffee, which he’d just poured from a briki, the brass coffee pot with a handle.

  “I like your coffee,” Darren said. “It’s more like an espresso than American coffee. But I’ve not gotten used to the coffee grounds on the bottom yet.”

  By then Ness had dressed and he gave Darren a big smile. “I hope that’s not all you like about Greece.”

  Was the boy fishing for a compliment? If so, he was more than willing to give it. He went over, after putting his coffee down, and took Ness in his arms. He leaned in and whispered, “After last night, could you possibly believe otherwise?”

  Ness leaned his head forward, resting it on Darren’s shoulder.

  “I’m scared, Darren,” he said softly.

  Darren disengaged from Ness and pulled back, but holding him by the shoulders. “Whatever for?”

  “I’m afraid I won’t see you again. I’m afraid now that you’ve had me you will move on. Another boy in another port.”

  Darren shook his head. “Ness, Ness… I thought you knew I am not like that.”

  “I don’t know. I hear gay men have many sex partners but aren’t interested in loving one person.”

  Darren became irritated. “That’s total hetero bullshit. I know gay men that have been together in committed relationships for many years. In fact, one couple I know has been together for more than thirty years.”

  “Really?” Ness asked with a smile.

  “Really and truly.”

  “And you? Have you been in a relationship?”

  “So far, just my marriage. But I’ve not been fortunate enough to find the man I want to spend my life with. Until now, maybe.”

  Ness looked at Darren with his smiling eyes. “I guess we’ll have to see won’t we?”

  Darren nodded, then turned and looked around at his surroundings. “Now… how do we get out of here? Won’t your friend be coming back here soon?”

  Ness suddenly pulled up short. “Oh yes, hadn’t even thought about that. He’ll be going to work soon so I don’t know if he’s coming back here first. We’d better leave.”

  Ness scurried around the kitchen cleaning up the briki and cups. Darren went to the bedroom to see if he had everything and came back with Ness’ shoes, socks, and guitar.

  “I’m ready when you are.”

  Ness put on his shoes and stood up. “Okay, let’s go.”

  “Can we get a taxi?” Darren asked as they scurried down the narrow stairway.

  “Oh… I doubt it. Almost no taxi service in this part of Athens. Bus, maybe metro. But I don’t know the routes.”

  Darren began to laugh. “How far to walk?”

  “Many, many miles. Best to find a main street, and I’ll ask around. Someone will be able to direct us to the nearest metro. That’s faster even than a bus or taxi with all the traffic.” As they were leaving the block, Ness nudged Darren and pointed to a man coming around the corner. “That’s my friend. We got out just in time.”

  Darren looked over. “Too bad. He’s cute. Maybe he’d like a threesome.” Ness looked appalled. “Hey, just kidding.”

  “You’d better be. Already you are making me jealous.”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t joke about those things with you. You haven’t learned the absurdity of gay humor yet. I’ll be good.”

  Eventually, they found the metro and headed back to central Athens.

  “What do you have to do today?” Darren asked Ness as they traveled.

  Ness sighed. “First I need to meet with Philippe when he gets back from France, then, I don’t know. So much is going on with the music just now.”

  “How can I reach you?” Darren asked.

  Ness jotted down his phone number. “Here, call me later this morning, and I’ll know more.” He looked at Darren, questioningly. “Maybe we can meet again this evening?”

  Darren rubbed his forehead. “I’ve got to go out to the Marina again this morning to see about my chartered cruise. The sailboat was not there yesterday and nobody could give me any useful information about when it would arrive. If it’s still not there I’ll come back to the B&B, and then, of course, we’ll meet this evening.”

  “I don’t think we can go back to my friends this evening, though,” Ness said sadly.

  “Not to worry, I’ll make sure we can go to the B&B, or I’ll find us a place where we can.”

  ***

  “So who’s this Thornton Davis?” Melissa asked as she was going through the phone messages.

  “He’s my brother-in-law,” Loretta said. “He’s helping us with the Water Unlimited set up.”

  “Hmm. He leaves some rather aggressive messages.”

  Loretta laughed. “Oh yes, that certainly is Thornton. I guess you could call him the original bull in the china shop. But he’s been very generous with his help so far. He did all the legal work for us as we were starting up. It was his attorneys who drafted our incorporation papers and the water agreement.”

  “I see. Well, he’s been sending us messages suggesting possible board members.”

  “That’s considerate. I remember asking him once if he knew of some influential people who might be interested in serving on our board,” Loretta said.

  Melissa suggested, “Let me make a list of his recommendations. I’ve also been putting together some names of my own. I’m very familiar with a lot of folks in the environmental community.” She paused. “But, if you don’t mind, I’d like to do some research on Thornton’s recommendations. I don’t recognize any of them as being environmentally active.”

  “That’s a good idea. I was afraid we wouldn’t attract enough board members. But we seem to gaining a lot of interest, so maybe we’ll be able to pick and choose. That would be nice.”

  “Have you heard from Darren?” Melissa asked.

  “I had a text message. Evidently, he lost his boat, so he’s been delayed and is staying in Athens.”

  Melissa chuckled. “How do you lose a boat?”

  “He went to the boat slip, and it hadn’t arrived yet.”

  “Ah, the joys of travel.”

  ***

  Darren stood on the dock once again. And again, still no sailboat. He called the number the booking agent had given him for the captain, but he got some kind of announcement in Greek, that he figured must be telling him that there no service, or it was out of range.

  He turned and paced the dock and went to the end and peered out over the harbor as though he expected to see the boat coming into port. But he didn’t know what the damn thing looked like, so that was a futile exercise.

  He thought about calling the booking agency. But they were in the US, and probably knew even less than he did. But he had to do something so he called.

  “Around the World Vacations, how may I direct your call?” the operator answered.

  “Ah… ah… I forgot her name,” Darren said.

  “What department?”

  “I’m in Greece and supposed to meet a sailboat for a two month cruise, an
d it’s not here.”

  “One moment, please. I’m connecting you with Judith.”

  Ah yes, that name sounded familiar.

  “This is Judith. How may I help you?”

  “Judith, this is Darren Davis. I’m in Greece. I was supposed to meet my sailboat yesterday and it hadn’t arrived. So I’m back again today and still no boat. Do you have any idea what’s going on? This is really frustrating.” But then he thought that if it had been here yesterday he’d not have met Ness.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Davis. I’m going to put you on hold. Let me enquire.”

  “Wait…” But he was already on hold and listening to smooth jazz.

  Being on hold made Darren nervous, as he didn’t know how good his phone signal was. He could be cut off at any moment and he’d have to start the call all over again. He looked around and saw a coffee shop across the street that led along the quay. If he was going to be on hold, at least he could enjoy the moment.

  The jazz had now morphed into some indistinguishable fuzzy instrumental that sounded like it was coming from a speaker immersed in pea soup.

  “Please hold. All of our operators are serving another one of our valued customers. Your call is very important to us. Please continue holding, and the first available operator will be with you shortly.”

  Had he been directed to some transcontinental service provider, where the native speakers spoke English like the fine print on the instructions of a Chinese-made put-it-together-yourself backyard playhouse? His mind was spinning out of control. Coffee. Coffee.

  He scooted across the road to the coffee shop and sat at an outside table. He was still on hold.

  “Coffee, please,” he said to the waiter, who then asked him something in Greek.

  Oh dear… he probably wanted to know how sweet he wanted his coffee, but he didn’t know how to respond, so he waved his arm and just kept repeating, “Coffee.”

  Finally, the waiter shrugged and walked away.

  “Mrs. Kaplin?” the voice on the phone returned.

  Darren sighed. “No, this is not Mrs. Kaplin. I’m Mr. Davis, and I’m on hold with Judith.”

  “One moment please,” and back came the music.

  The waiter brought out a coffee and a glass of water. On the saucer was a small brown, hard looking, cookie.

  Darren sipped at the way too sweet coffee and, broke up and feed the cookie to a flutter of birds.

  He was just about to give up and take the first flight back to New York when Judith announced. “This is Judith, how may I help you?”

  Darren’s head fell forward in utter surrender.

  “Judith, you are supposed to be already helping me. This is Mr. Davis about the sailboat in Greece.”

  There was a long pause. “Oh yes, I remember. Let me see what I can find out.” Then the music again.

  Darren couldn’t take any more and he shut the phone and threw some coins on the table for the coffee. He stood up and looked back across the street at the dock. And to his great surprise, he saw the sailboat docking at the slip.

  He dashed across the street and ran to the dock just as the last line was being tied off. It was a nice sixty-foot, two-mast schooner. He looked for the captain, but all he saw were several passengers disembarking. They were Germans, and totally disregarded Darren as they passed by with their luggage.

  Finally, Darren climbed aboard and called out, “Captain. Captain.”

  A man appeared from the entrance to the cabin.

  “Yes, sir.” He came over.

  “I’m Darren Davis. I arrived yesterday. And I was scheduled to meet you here.”

  “Captain Nikas.” He offered his hand. They shook. “I so sorry. We had bad weather off Santorini and had bad delay. Had to go around storm.”

  “So, are we ready to sail? It will only take me a couple of hours to retrieve my luggage in Athens, and I’m ready to go.”

  The captain turned and shouted in Greek at a sailor on the bow. He turned back to Darren. “I’m sorry, not be ready until day after tomorrow. Maybe. We’ll see. We are completely out of provisions, and I need to work on engine.”

  Once again Darren dropped his head in frustration. “Why do we need an engine if we’re a sailboat?” he asked pathetically.

  “Believe me, Mr. Davis, you not want to be in a storm with no engine.”

  “You can call me Darren.”

  “Darren. I promise we’ll give you missed days at the end. You’ll get full cruise.”

  Darren smiled. At least two more nights with Ness—if he was lucky.

  “Very well. What time on the day after tomorrow?”

  “I call you when ready. I can’t say when right now.” He smiled. “We do want you to be safe. And we have exceptional cook. You will be pleased with all he can do with food. He goes to market before we sail.”

  Darren offered his hand. “Very well, I look forward to it. And may I have your phone number as well?”

  “Your phone?” the captain asked.

  Darren handed over his phone and the captain entered his number.

  “I have your number already,” the captain added.

  “May I look around?” Darren asked.

  “Of course. Take your time. You have cabin number one—and there will be only two more passengers.”

  “Would it be possible for me to bring along another passenger as well? I will, of course, pay his fare.”

  “We’ve got room. The more the better. More hands on deck.” He chuckled.

  “I’m not sure yet, but I will let you know.”

  “Will the gentleman need his own cabin?”

  “No. We’ll be sharing.”

  Nikas looked at him with a look of apprehension.

  “My boyfriend,” Darren stated firmly. “Is that’s going to be a problem? If so, I’m sure I can find another vessel that will accommodate us.”

  “Oh, no. No. We like all homosexual men.”

  “Excellent. I’ll be in touch.”

  ***

  In the taxi on the way back to the B&B Darren called Ness.

  “Hi babe,” Darren greeted.

  “You called me babe. That’s nice.”

  “I’ve great news.”

  “What?”

  “My sailboat is in port, but they won’t be able to leave until the day after tomorrow. That gives us two nights together.” There was a pause from Ness. “What?”

  “My father is sick. I have to go home.”

  Darren was shocked. “When?”

  “Next ferry.”

  “When will you be back?” Darren was struggling to think of a solution.

  “Can’t know. It depends on how he is.”

  “Do you know what the problem is?”

  “They think it’s pneumonia. He sits out on his boat all day, in any weather, and he’s not strong to begin with.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about your father, but I’m also sorry I won’t be able to see you.”

  “Me too.”

  Darren suddenly thought. “What if I went with you?”

  There was a pause. “But you have to sail soon. It’s a seven or eight hour ferry ride. It hardly seems worth it.”

  “What if I rent a plane? There must be an airport on Crete. It’s a big island.”

  “Oh yes, there is. You’d do that?”

  “Fuck, what’s the fun of having money if you can’t use it for ridiculous adventures?”

  Ness laughed. “You must like me, huh?”

  “Oh, a little bit.”

  “Only a little?” Ness sounded worried.

  “You still don’t get my warped sense of humor. Of course, more than a little. Do you think I’d charter a plane if we were only casual?”

  “Okay.”

  “Tell me, how was your meeting with Philippe?”

  “He never showed. But he called and said to hang cool for a few days. That’s why I decided to go home.”

  “But everything’s okay?”

  “More than okay. He sa
id the concert was a great success, and he’s working on several follow up ideas right now. He also said he’s got a copy of the American concert for us to view.”

  “That’s terrific, Ness. I’d like to see it too.”

  “Maybe, but won’t you be going sailing soon?”

  “Yeah, forgot. I’m so much more into you right now. Can’t think of hardly anything else.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “Well, not so nice. You’ve made me into a mess.”

  “A mess? How’s that?”

  “Dysfunctional. I can’t do anything I’m supposed to. I need to call my mom to discuss our new project, and I can’t even think about that right now. I just want to be with you.”

  “Well, you will be soon,” Ness said.

  Darren pulled himself together. “Not if I don’t get the plane reserved. I’ve got to make some calls. Let me secure the flight and I’ll call you back. Where are you now?”

  “I’m at Philippe’s hotel.”

  Darren had a thought. “Oh, and I need to arrange a place to stay near you. Where do you live? Do you know of a good hotel, where we can be together?”

  “Oh no, you’ll be staying with me and my family.”

  “Is that a good idea? With your father being ill? And what about your family? They don’t know you’re gay now, do they?”

  “No. But they will. My sister, Kori, is great. I’ll tell her first.”

  “But me staying there…? Don’t think that would look too good to them.”

  “My family would be offended if you didn’t stay. Hospitality is everything to us.”

  “Okay. But where would I sleep?”

  “With me, of course.”

  “Wouldn’t that freak your family out?”

  “No. It’s common. When there’s no room, men share beds. Women share beds. They will think nothing of it… until I tell them my news.”

  Darren laughed. “Okay, whatever is best for you and your family. But let me call you back. I’ve got to arrange this flight and it might take a while.”

  “Shall I come to your hotel?”