Game of Scones

by Samantha Tonge

  ‘That’s beautiful!’ I said, pulling down my cap, as one of the beaming men, in Hawaiian shorts, pulled a large fish onto the boat. It had yellow and green stripes – the next was red and white, caught by the passenger who wanted to throw his back. So, wearing gloves, Niko gently removed the hook and obliged. My chest burned when I thought how Henrik had genuinely implied Niko was stupid. My Greek friend made the handline fishing look easy, but having talked me through it, I knew just how much of the detail Niko had prepared. And indeed, during the two hour journey, we caught two grey mullets, three sea bream and one sea bass. The passengers were thrilled and with each success cheered and punched the air.

  At one point, a wave made me slip and fall backwards against Niko. His hands grabbed my shoulders and he steadied me until the water calmed down. Slowly his fingers ran down my arms and held me firmly by my waist. My pulse sped up and a sudden thirst dried my throat. When I finally gained my balance, I removed his hands with mine and turned around.

  ‘Thank you,’ I muttered, feeling breathless.

  ‘Just doing my job,’ he replied, mocha eyes intense, blood in his cheeks. For a second his hands held mine back and then abruptly, he bent down and showed us how to pour alcohol into the gills and afterwards I placed the fish in the ice box. Later, whilst Niko drove, I was happy to take photos of the beginner fishermen, with their mobile phones, and handed out water bottles. Glad to have brought my sun lotion, I reapplied another layer, and passed it to one of the men who’d fallen asleep on the beach the day before.

  ‘A well mint day – efharisto,’ said the man in the Hawaiian shorts, with a thick Mancunian accent, as the sun set. He and his friends had learned how to gut the fish and grill them on the barbecue, whilst they finished off the Greek brandy. Sophia had brought over salad and bread and a camping table and chairs. Niko shook the man’s hand and nodded to the rest who gave the thumbs up. A wide smile spread across his face and they left, declaring they would recommend the trip to their friends.

  I sat down next to Niko on the sand, and for a few moments we watched the luminous tangerine sun sink beneath the horizon.

  ‘You were amazing today,’ I said. ‘Really skilled.’

  ‘No need to sound so surprised,’ he said. ‘Where’s Leila?’ He stood up. As villagers flocked onto the beach, carrying beach bags, rugs and cooking equipment, she headed straight over to us, violet coloured skirt swaying, black blouse showing off her gold earrings, red lips and exotic curls, all topped off with a yellow flower behind her ear.

  ‘How happy you look,’ he said and stroked her arm, as if no one else was there. ‘Is Grandma coming tonight?’

  Her face broke into a smile. ‘Yes, I just can’t believe how she continues to improve, every hour of every day.’ They spoke briefly in Greek before hugging each other tight. I coughed, got to my feet and headed over to Sophia, a slice of pain cutting through my chest. Was it wrong that I still wanted Niko’s arms to wrap around me? Clearly my arrival in Kos had simply unsettled him for a while, and now his strong feelings for Leila were back on track.

  ‘Pippitsa? You okay? Is Henrik coming?’ said Sophia and stopped walking.

  I gave a wry smile. ‘No. This morning… didn’t Grandma tell you? We split up.’

  ‘Oh, dearest… sorry to hear that. You okay?’

  I nodded. ‘But please, only you two know. I’d prefer it to stay that way.’

  I couldn’t face a barrage of questions from everyone and what was the point of telling Niko now?

  Sophia put down her bags and patted my arm. ‘Of course. Now help me with this rug.’ I took one end and between us we lay it on the sand. ‘How did the fishing trip go? Better than yesterday?’

  ‘Niko was brilliant and the passengers loved every minute – said they’d spread the word amongst their friends.’ I put my sun cap and glasses into my rucksack and placed it on the rug. ‘The way he handled the fish… with such respect. I’d never heard of killing them with alcohol.’

  Sophia passed me a ripe fig. ‘Because he’s a fisherman, you expect him not to care?’

  I bit into the fruit and wiped sticky juice from my chin. ‘No. I remember when we went crabbing as youngsters – how he’d insist we gently return them to the sea, not carelessly lob them back like other children. And when Ajax died…’

  We looked at each other and nodded. Niko had worked day and night for a week, trying to tempt the dog with tasty titbits. And talking of tasty titbits, a couple of hours later, I sat on that rug, in the dark, scoffing lamb kebabs with the most delicious crusty bread. Leila insisted she and Niko join me on there, too, whilst Georgios, Sophia and Grandma borrowed deckchairs from friends.

  ‘So…’ I said to the crowd, when most of the food was eaten, and the smell of wood smoke replaced the aroma of barbecuing meat. ‘This week – how confident do we feel that our new ventures could eventually support the village?’ I gazed around. Thanks to small fires dotted along the sand, I picked out familiar faces. ‘Demetrios?’

  Demetrios finished chewing and wiped a hand down his striped shirt. ‘We’re only a few days in, but so far I’m impressed. The pet-bowl painting went down well, as did the clay turtles – and the jewellery. Over the winter I can build up a supply of prettily painted ceramics ready to buy and I have new ideas… During those quiet months I could offer training sessions to people around the island, who want to learn pottery. Plus hold lessons for small groups of school children.’

  ‘Excellent.’ I scanned the crowd again. ‘Cosmo?’

  He took a swig of cloudy ouzo and grinned. ‘Cycle tours good and on these clear August days a view of Turkey is going down well. I need to find more to say though about things of interest as we pass by. The old graveyard up on the cliffs, for example – I have no idea who is buried there. Plus need to brush up my nature knowledge.’ He looked at Georgios. ‘Perhaps my friend from Taxos Taverna can help with that.’

  Georgios nodded and twisted one end of his moustache as Mrs Dellis spoke up. ‘Early days for us, but children visiting our pet farm this week have had fun. Adults too laughed a lot, trying to milk our friendly goats – and sales of cheese were good. Over the winter I will experiment with new recipes and stock up.’ She shrugged. ‘It has given me the confidence to try to sell it to shops in Kos Town.’

  ‘Brill! That would provide income all year round,’ I said. ‘Pandora – what about you?’

  But a noise distracted me – cross Greek voices and loud derisory snorts.

  ‘This is all very heart-warming, but a waste of time,’ slurred an English voice. I swallowed as Henrik staggered into view. He pointed a finger at me and from nowhere, Niko stood by my side. ‘Don’t trust a word this woman says… Pippa doesn’t care – not about anyone.’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘Your “Pippitsa” has already agreed this feeble attempt to save yourselves will fail and when it does she’ll stand swiftly by my and Stavros’ side.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  The crowd took a simultaneous intake of breath.

  ‘It’s not true!’ I said. ‘I mean, yes I agreed to stand by them, but only because–’

  ‘Because you don’t believe in us, Pippa?’ shouted a voice.

  ‘ No… No! I can’t think that,’ said Pandora and folded her arms.

  ‘Of course she believes in us,’ said Grandma.

  ‘Absolutely I do, but Henrik and Stavros… I was put in a difficult position.’

  Henrik laughed again and leant on a stranger’s shoulder. Wow. I’d only ever seen him this out of control once before – when his Dad didn’t bother turning up for his twenty-fifth birthday. He drank a whole bottle of champagne, and several gins, all by himself. Fitting, isn’t it, that Dutchmen are supposedly tight-fisted, but are so tall they have to spend loads on alcohol if they want to get drunk?

  ‘But do you have honest doubts?’ said Demetrios and loosened his mustard cravat. ‘I mean… lovely Pippa you would tell us – is this help all partly for show? Is your heart with ThinkBig?’ />
  ‘No! Don’t even consider, for one second, that my heart is anywhere but with this village.’ My chest tightened at the sight of the doubting faces.

  ‘The truth is, Henrik and Kos Town mayor, Stavros, bribed me into an agreement.’

  I looked down at a movement by my side – Niko’s fists had curled into balls. I swallowed. Even he didn’t believe me.

  ‘Bribe – that a rather strong word, be careful what you say,’ said a smarmy voice and out of the crowd appeared Stavros. ‘Henrik and I heard about this meeting – in fact whispers have wafted our way all week about the success of your plans here in Taxos. And look at Miss Pattinson, fooling you all into thinking you stood a chance, when she knows as much as anyone that you fight a losing battle.’

  ‘What is he talking about, Pippa?’ said Georgios.

  ‘Nothing – he’s just trying to scare you,’ I mumbled back.

  ‘So it’s not true that, ultimately, you will stand by ThinkBig?’ he asked and ran a hand over his bald head.

  I surveyed the beach and nothing moved apart from a few gulls gratefully pecking up crumbs. My throat ached. ‘I had no choice – unless I agreed to stand by them if our plan fails…’

  Stavros snorted. ‘You mean when!’

  ‘If,’ I repeated in a firm voice and gazed around the crowd. ‘They were going to make it impossible for you to even try to save the village from the developers, unless I said I would be on their side, in the end.’

  ‘What you mean?’ said Mr Dellis, youngest son asleep in his arms.

  ‘Stavros threatened to delay approval of the paperwork for all the extra permissions and licences we needed.’

  Niko turned to face me. ‘Do you really believe our appeal can win?’

  ‘I… To be honest, I didn’t know at the time. But I reckoned you’d all feel better about your village’s future if you knew you’d put up a fight, and that was enough for me to give it a go.’ I shrugged. ‘And if we do fail, then I will have no choice but to stand by ThinkBig in any case because, as we’ve all agreed, Taxos can’t continue as it is. So I didn’t feel agreeing this with them betrayed the village in any way. Believe me, I detest the idea of quad bikes and nightclubs, and will do everything I can do in the time I have left here, to push our case forwards. But I see ThinkBig’s development as a very last but necessary resort. Otherwise people will have to leave the village to earn a living. Taxos will, indeed, become a ghost town.’ I straightened up. ‘We can still win this. I feel much more positive, now we’ve started to instigate our various ideas.’

  ‘Yes, carry on this little game, if you wish,’ said Stavros to the crowd. ‘I’m impressed. Honestly. So much so, I’m staying here in the Vesteros’ hotel to keep an eye on things. However, you are only putting off the inevitable – and by then I might have sold some of the franchises to outsiders.’

  He disappeared into the back of the crowd. Minutes later, I spotted him on a sand dune talking to a very thin man, who, from his outline, I could tell he had a ponytail and the collar of his shirt upturned. I’d seen him before at one of the meetings – perhaps he’d been a spy.

  ‘Why would the Vesteros family let him stay?’ muttered Sophia.

  ‘They live on the outskirts near the proposed quad bike track, don’t they, and were one of the first to be interested in ThinkBig’s offer. We can’t really blame them.’

  ‘So what next?’ called out Pandora.

  ‘Think sensibly and think big,’ said Henrik and sniggered. He staggered over to me and I looked up, wrinkling my nose at the stench of ouzo. ‘Almost lost your fan club then, didn’t you, little Miss Protector?’

  Niko’s fists curled tighter and I realised that drunk Henrik was the cause.

  ‘Be quiet!’ said a female voice. The crowd hardly seemed to hear. ‘Quiet!’ she repeated in a harsher tone and people hushed as Grandma got up from her deckchair and came over to me. Under any other circumstances it would have been humorous to see her standing next to my giant boyf… ex-boyfriend. Grandma had never been blessed with height and had shrunk a centimetre or two since my last holiday here.

  ‘We are not afraid of you, big man,’ she said and folded her arms. ‘You turn up here, falling sideways like an inexperienced eighteen year old tourist. You show no respect. You laugh at our tradition.’

  ‘Now wait a minute…’ he slurred.

  ‘Shut up, you overgrown beanstalk!’ hissed Niko, eyes on fire.

  Henrik sniggered again. Grandma turned to the villagers.

  ‘Of course we won’t give up. Yes, we face obstacles…’ She said something – probably a translation of this – in Greek. Then it was back to English. ‘Honourable Pippa is right – without putting up a fight we would feel twice as bad. One step at a time we do this. That’s how we’ve survived the last few years.’

  Georgios translated this time.

  ‘By paying one bill at a time… providing one meal… buying one pair of shoes – we take it day by day,’ she continued and shook a finger. ‘And you know what? I think Stavros is here because he’s really worried. Word must have spread that Taxos is offering good tourist services. He wouldn’t bother coming to this meeting if we were no threat.’

  Georgios translated again.

  ‘Taxos people are strong,’ she said and shook her small fist. ‘The developers are weak – they rely on their money, whereas we count on loyalty, friendship and community spirit.’

  Top lip curled, Henrik shook his head. Oh bugger. Under his breath he muttered “Honourable?” and “Loyal?” Then he glared at me.

  ‘Henrik,’ I whispered. ‘Please… if I ever meant anything to you, don’t mention how I felt – how I thought I felt about Niko. Leila doesn’t deserve it and Grandma… any negative fall-out from that could kill her.’

  ‘She looks pretty feisty to me,’ he whispered back. ‘Bet she was a right goer in her youth.’

  I stood back and wrinkled my nose in disgust. Henrik’s cheeks flushed and a sheepish look crossed his face – which meant he was just on the verge of apologising. However…

  ‘I heard that!’ snarled Niko and lunged forwards. Within seconds, both were writhing on the sand.

  ‘Stop this!’ I tried to pull them apart, but arms and legs flailed in all directions and before I knew it someone’s limb had hit me full-force in the chest.

  I flew back several feet and landed in the sand, gasping for breath, afraid I might never take another.

  ‘Pippa!’ shouted Henrik and Niko together. Fight forgotten, they ran over. Leila bent down and calmly counted to ten, trying to get my chest to match the rhythm of her words.

  ‘Help,’ I said in a strangulated voice, tears running down my face. I held a hand to my chest. ‘Can’t breathe…’ Terrified, I looked up as villagers crowded around.

  Henrik stood up. ‘Doctor!’ he shouted, in a panicked voice that suddenly sounded sober.

  Niko took my hand and stared straight into my eyes. His chin trembled as he brushed hair out of my face. During the fall, my ponytail must have come undone. ‘You’ll be okay, Pippa,’ he said, a break in his voice. ‘The air just knocked out of your lungs. Like a returning tide, it will come back. Don’t be afraid. Just focus on me. In and out… in and out… Getting better?’

  ‘Ow… it hurts…’ Heaving, I gratefully refilled with air.

  ‘Take your time,’ he said and held both my hands tight.

  I stared into his face, at that moment not wanting to be with anyone else in the world. And eventually, my breathing regained its normal pace, and somehow I stood up. ‘Just go, Henrik.’

  ‘Yes, this is your fault,’ spat Niko.

  ‘We’ll fight harder than ever against ThinkBig now,’ muttered someone from the crowd.

  ‘No one wants some long-legged drunken hooligan to decide our village’s future!’ shouted someone else.

  Henrik looked at me, but I turned away, and bent over slowly, hoping my chest would ache less.

  When I eventually stretched up again
, Henrik had disappeared and several villagers came over to give me a hug.

  ‘We believe you on our side, Pippa – we no give up our fight,’ said little Theo Dellis.

  I smiled down. ‘Thank you, sweetheart – that means a lot.’

  ‘Let’s meet tomorrow morning at Taxos Taverna, to take stock,’ shouted out Niko.

  Little Theo said something to his dad in Greek.

  Mr Dellis smiled. ‘Will there be scones?’

  ‘Yes,’ I managed a laugh. ‘How about chocolate wholemeal ones with… I know, orange-flavoured yogurt filling? Fighters need wholesome food to keep up their strength.’

  Theo seemed to understand the word “chocolate” and gave a toothy grin.

  ‘And you need a good night’s sleep, Pippitsa,’ said Sophia as the crowd dispersed. ‘Tonight you no go home to the villa. Henrik – he’s in a volatile mood.’

  ‘My, um, boyfriend,’ I said, noticing Niko nearby, ‘would never hurt me – he doesn’t even like to kill spiders.’

  ‘Still… you need good food and rest after that accident – and it will be easier to bake scones if you wake up at the taverna. I’m sure Leila could fetch some clothes from her house for you to borrow…’ She smiled. ‘Except for her trousers. They would be far too short.’

  I nodded and winced as I bent over to pick up my rucksack. Georgios and Sophia folded the rug. Leila hugged me and headed home with her parents, to collect some outfits. I walked towards the sea, slipped off my pumps and paddled in the water. I couldn’t believe Henrik’s behaviour and as for that slimy slug, Stavros…

  My eyes tingled, though, as only one (admittedly over-dramatic) thought had occupied my head since flying through the air, backwards. What if I died and had never told Niko how I really felt? Oh the irony, because now that I had survived and had all the time in the world, declaring my passion for him was the last thing I could do.