LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post213

“They gave you the wrong cabin. This one is mine, get out.”. . . . . .

Previous Post 212

1246

He tried to shoulder his way past me. I stood firm, refusing to let him in. There were already a number of others standing in the corridor, all laughing and joking about me. As I resisted, they found it even more amusing.

I asked, “You want to stay in this cabin?”

“I’ve already told you. Now get out of my way.”

“Fine. You can have this cabin. After I leave.”

“Then I will have to make you leave now.”

I was not going to wait, allow him to hit me first, I’d have no chance. I put my fingers exactly where Tasso had shown me and squeezed. He squealed with the pain, but I kept up the pressure until he was on his knees. I bent over and spoke softly, but clearly, “You try anything with me again I’ll kill you. Now go back to your cabin.” I shoved and he fell backwards. I threw his bags out and closed my door.

I remembered what had been written in my diary about my eyes and when I came out for supper I sat silent, my face calm but stern, as if challenging them to try something with me again. Whatever the reason, they left me alone. As I was finishing my meal, I was asked to go to the captains rooms.

He was a short man, bald, his nose thin like a knife and his belly hanging in folds. There was a look in his eyes that told me he enjoys the suffering of others.

“Your passport.” I handed it to him. “You still owe me five hundred dollars.”

“I’ve paid the agreed sum already.”

“You did not tell us you would be attacking our men. Five hundred dollars or you leave.”

“Are you certain?”

“You are threatening me?”

I sat at his table. “Captain, you can have me removed from your ship. That is the easy part. You ask if I threaten you. It would be very stupid of me, I will be at your mercy once at sea. That does not mean I will not stand up for myself.

We are both men of the world. I am prepared to come to an agreement with you. I do not eat with the crew, I eat with the officers or yourself. Same food as you do. If I work, I do so because I am bored, it is not required, I am a paying passenger and will be treated as one. I see you have a tavli set. I will play with you, but if I am better than you I will beat you, I do not play to lose - ever.

I have sent most of my money onwards, to be collected on arrival in cash from Western Union. You may come with me and collect your five hundred, then. If you have treated me well, I will offer you a supper at any restaurant you want, we will share a good bottle of wine and then, god willing, we need never meet again. Those are my terms.”

His first anger dissolved as he listened and by the end I saw he was amused. He flicked open my passport and looked inside. “So, Mr Teller, we have an agreement then. Anything extra you want during the voyage, a beer or cigarettes, you pay for it in cash. If you are able to beat me at tavli I will give you a beer free for each time you win a set of seven games. In Mombasa you will give me the money, do not think of trying to break our agreement.”

“How much is a bottle of Johnny Walker, red label?”

“Twenty dollars.”

“Rather steep for duty free isn’t it? Here you are. One bottle please.”

“The duty free is sealed, once we leave I’ll get it for you.”

“We both know you keep some spare, hidden for ‘necessities’ shall we say? Please get a bottle captain. I wish to give it to you as a gift, to seal our bargain in a manner of speaking.”

He laughed. “Are you intending to beat up any more of my crew? Not that I object, most of them deserve it.”

“I think they will be leaving me alone.”

1247

He brought out some glasses and a bottle of whiskey. I hate the stuff but accepted the glass. “Yes, that Manolis, he is a mean bastard and the toughest of them all, they will not cause you problems. Manolis though, that is another matter, he will definitely look for a way to get his revenge.”

“I hope not, for his sake Captain. If he does I do not accept responsibility for you being short of one man to do the work.”

“I will speak to him, not that it will do much good. If he does hurt you, I do not bear the responsibility and you still pay me when we arrive.”

“You drive a hard bargain captain.” I grinned at him and he laughed.

“You are a pallikari, I like you little man.” Seeing he was so much shorter than me I was amused.

He got me to sign some forms wherein I absolved the company of responsibility etc, etc. As he said they were leaving late that night, I decided to have a few hours sleep. I wanted to be on deck and watch as we leave.

We had passed Gibraltar, turning down South and I had still not solved the problem of how to handle Manoli. His whole body spoke of his determination to get even. Some of the crew have become friendly and one of them told me a little about him. He is known as a troublemaker and most companies will no longer hire him. Though he is a bully, it is said he only attacks officers and he is not that unpopular, as he does more than his share of the hard work and stands by his fellow crewmen if there is a fight in a bar.

I wondered at the mixture of good and bad in him. The Greeks have a word, ‘philotimo’ which is difficult to describe in English. The second part of the word has to do with pride and the dictionary describes it as ‘jealous of one’s honour’. If I can find a way to appeal to his ‘philotimo’ I will be safe. To try to appeal to his greed would not work.

I was standing by the rail looking at some dolphins playing alongside when I sensed someone was staring at me. I turned and saw it was Manoli. I waved to him to come over. Maybe the thought crossed his mind that he could throw me overboard or maybe he was just curious as to why I had called him, but he came. I pointed at the dolphins.

“Whenever I see dolphins I am reminded of children and that makes me think of my daughters. Do you have any children Manoli?”

“No.”

“A real pity. They give more joy than anything else in this world. Manoli, I have been wanting to apologise, what I did was not fair. I felt you were about to hit me and I knew that if you did I would not be in a condition to fight back, you are obviously so much stronger than me. I was given training in methods of unarmed combat which most people do not have. Most of the training was how to kill someone. It has been honed into an instinct. If you had hit me and I felt truly threatened, I would have reacted and possibly killed you. I did not want that.”

“Why are you telling me.”

“I have the feeling you want to get even.”

“It is my problem.”

“And for me to worry about. One thing I know about you Manoli, you are not a coward, you would not attack me from behind or without warning. You need to know you beat me fairly. That frightens me. I already have some very powerful enemies who want me dead. I have lost my family, as to stay with them would have put them in danger. I cannot afford to get involved in new fights.”

“They would pay to have you killed?”

“Only if agreed from before. Manoli, they have already killed those who tried and failed. I cannot understand why anyone would work for them under those conditions.”

1248

“I do not understand why you are telling me this story, it has nothing to do with us and is not a reason for me to not punish you. I will tell you the captain has ordered me to leave you alone, I understand he expects to make some money from you at the end of your trip. He is not a good man to cross, especially if it causes him to lose money. I have agreed to wait till you have paid him.”

“We then have a truce till we arrive in Mombasa?”

“I told you.”

“Good. Manoli, I know quite a bit about you. I know the men respect you, they say you are a good man to have as a friend and deadly as an enemy. That you do your share of the work and even help others. Their descriptions of you do not fit how I see you. What you did that first day was not the way the man they describe would behave. It was the act of a bully. I know you have a temper, but I have not seen or heard anything about you that says you are a bully. Why did you pick on me?”

“It started off as a joke. You were the new one, somebody had to.”

“I thought so. Think of this. Nearly one month ago I was attacked in Athens, in my home. It caused me tremendous damage and forced me to run so as to keep my family safe. They found me in Italy a week ago and three men attacked me, hitting and kicking me. I was left on the side of the road to die. I spent days in hospital. I arrive on the ship and the biggest scariest man on board looks to pick a fight with me. How was I to know you had not been hired by them?”

I saw the contempt in his eyes as he said, “Now I know you are lying. If you had been attacked the way you claim, you would not be here. I saw you that first day in your underpants. You did not have any scars or bruises.”

“You have a knife, give it to me. Manoli, I want your word, stin timi sou (on your honour), that what I show you is not spoken of. Ever!”

Curious he handed me his knife, but without committing himself. I pretended not to notice.

“This is your knife so you know it is not a trick.” I put the blade against my forearm pressed until blood showed at the tip and then quickly slashed. The wound was deep and he saw it clearly. I saw also the horror on his face.

“You are mad!!”

“Watch the wound carefully. Do not take your eyes off it.” I had called to the healer and prayed it would react fast. It only took seconds for me to feel it closing up the wound. As the wound closed, from the deepest parts till only the skin was left open, I saw he was now shaking. The skin visibly closed and soon there was nothing but a red welter which faded over the next minute.

“Touch my arm if you want. Do you see how there is not even a scar left?”

He was shaking his head, not able to believe what he had seen.

“I hope you do not need me to cut myself again for you to believe, it hurts!”

“But how?”

“It is part of the training I’ve had. Manoli, you really want to be impressed? You would have to trust me though. Take the knife and cut yourself. It would not need to be as deep as my wound was. Just big enough for you to believe me.”

Next Post 214

I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)
^{6th April, 2019}

* posted on Steemit: 6th April, 2019



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