You Then, Me Now by Nick Alexander

Author:Nick Alexander [Alexander, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Coming of Age, Women, Family Life, General
ISBN: 9781503958623
Google: kALZvAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1503958620
Barnesnoble: 1503958620
Goodreads: 42121977
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Published: 2019-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

Pyrgos was simply gorgeous – a labyrinth of medieval streets which, when occasionally they opened out, provided breathtaking views over the whole of Santorini.

There was a beautiful domed church, which we visited, talking in quiet whispers while we looked around, and at the highest point, the ruins of a castle which, Leif informed me, dated from the fifteenth century. We paused in a café, gulped down glasses of Coke, then continued to the top to explore it.

Afterwards we walked around the outside walls, pausing to take photos of each other in front of the views with Leif’s camera. When he suggested we leave, I found myself strangely reluctant to do so.

‘But your passport,’ Leif said. ‘We need to get it, yes?’

I sighed. Today did not feel like the right day to tackle that particular monster and I wasn’t quite sure why. Perhaps I was just fed up with trying to get it, or perhaps I had some inkling of what was to come. Maybe I’d just been enjoying thinking about something else for a bit.

‘It’s easy,’ Leif said, mistaking my reluctance for laziness. ‘It’s downhill.’

‘I can’t bring myself to leave,’ I said. ‘It’s just so peaceful up here.’

We were standing looking out to a distant island floating on the horizon in a sea of wispy blue. Above our heads, a Greek flag was flapping from a pole.

‘Then let’s stay for a while,’ Leif said, sinking down to sit with his back to the castle wall.

‘Everything’s so simple with you, isn’t it?’ I said, looking down at his smiling face.

He pulled a puzzled expression. ‘You think too much,’ he said. ‘You want to stay some more, we stay some more. No?’

I laughed and, saying, ‘I think you’re right, I do overthink things,’ I sank to the grass beside him.

After a minute or so, I was suddenly overcome with fatigue. I’d barely slept for two nights, after all. When I shuffled forwards and stretched out across the grass, Leif quickly followed suit.

‘Here,’ he said, pushing his backpack towards me. ‘For a pillow.’

‘No, you have it,’ I told him.

‘No, you.’

‘Please,’ I insisted, and so Leif gave in and pushed it beneath his head.

‘You can put your head on me, if you want,’ he said. ‘You can use me as a pillow.’

‘No thanks. I’m fine.’

It took me less than a minute to overcome my shyness about that one. Because I wasn’t fine at all. The ground was rough and stony. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ I asked, as I shuffled around.

‘Not at all,’ Leif said. ‘I think I am sleeping, anyway.’

‘Me too,’ I said. ‘I’m shattered.’

I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the flag flapping in the breeze above us and to the tweeting of a nearby bird and the occasional whistle of the wind around the flagpole until finally, soothed by the rise and fall of Leif’s chest, I fell into a surprisingly deep sleep.

I woke up with a start. The sun had moved around far enough that we were no longer in the shade but were warmed, instead, by the early-evening sun.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.