The Last Nymph

Companions in Solitude

When Doc woke up that next morning he heard the shower running in bathroom. It was still quite early as the sunlight outside had just begun to slant onto the view below the hotel. The sea in the distance clearly revealed the island of Kalamos and the skies were clear.

It had been a memorable night, filled with Maera's encouraging reactions to his otherwise sinful human preoccupation with lust. These were merely rudimentary acts of lovemaking which he performed for both of their benefits—yet which he had not shared with a partner for years. While the experience had been enlightening and pleasurable for the curious Nymph, he found their late-night dalliance for himself to be rejuvenating and even validating of what Maera assured him was his attractiveness.

It was somewhat fitting then that in the aftermath of hours of warm cuddling and confirmation of their feelings for one another, Doc drifted off to sleep and Maera apparently retreated back to the comfort of water, albeit in the shower.

Not wanting to interact more than briefly with Jim and Diane again, Doc told his lovely partner through the bathroom door that it was best they left early, before their hosts awoke. He explained also that he would leave them a message of appreciation for their hospitality.

Wearing his original clothing, and Maera donning one of her new summer dresses, the two crept out into the living area where the professor scribbled a 'thank you' note on a small pad near the lamp. This he placed on the divan in plain sight and led Maera out the front door. Together they passed through the hotel lobby and out onto the street.

"That place was like a dream, Doc," she said looking in the early morning light back at the grand hotel. "And how you made me feel last night was . . . like nothing I ever had known. In all my time playing with the lives of men on the sea."

Doc just nodded, knowing too-well the history of Nymphs and their place in mythology for millennia in the Mediterranean Sea. He then put his hand affectionately to the side of her face. "You made me feel pretty special, too."

As a taxi approached, Doc flagged it down to return them to the town and port of Lefkada. While cruising down the hill, he asked the young driver how difficult it would be to get to a place called Nydri on the other side of the island.

"Beach taxi," the driver told him in Greek. "Kaikis. They leave every hour from the harbor. You spend the whole day on the beach you want . . . and the boat comes back every hour. Returns you when you're ready . . . right there at the yacht club."

"Excellent," he told the driver. "Drop us off at the harbor where the kaikis leave."

Maera just watched with amazement the verdant countryside speeding by outside the window. When they reached the harbor, Doc gave the driver the ten Euros he asked for plus two more for a tip.

"Bathing suits?" He asked the young man.

The driver smiled, looking at Maera, and pointed across the street at a series of shops that were just opening for the day. The two crossed the road and entered one of the stores with beach apparel in the window.

"We both need bathing suits and towels . . . for the day I have planned for us," he said. "We'll go back to Kalamos tonight. But I want to see if this amazing little cove on the other side of the island is still as beautiful as I remember it."

Inside the shop, Doc pointed to the rack displaying women's bathing suits, while he went immediately to the male rack. He quickly chose a simple pair of dark blue shorts. A salesgirl walked up to Maera and asked if she needed help choosing a suit. She nodded affirmatively, and the girl selected several bikinis in various styles and colors for her. She then pointed out the changing room.

"You'll leave on your underwear when trying them on, right, sweetie?" The girl asked.

Maera looked to Doc, confused.

"Yes," he said quickly to the girl. "She knows."

Maera then smiled and took the suits toward the curtained stall. She had by now become familiar with the process of trying on clothing while in Mytikas.

While Doc picked out two rather generic looking beach towels, Maera finally re-emerged in a bright pink suit and stood before the outside mirror. She turned to Doc, looking for his approval.

"Perfect," he said, trying to appear to give only a cursory look.

"So, is that your choice?" the salesgirl asked.

Maera glanced once more in the mirror and then stood in a flirtatious stance, unashamedly mimicking the photo of the girl in the window.

"Yes." She enthusiastically said. "This one!"

Doc nodded at the employee and handed her the shorts and towels while Maera went back in to remove her new purchase.

Leaving the shop and carrying their purchases in a large shopping bag, consolidated with Maera's other new clothes, the two crossed the street back to the harbor and located the beach taxi service on the yacht club dock.

The company employed three large and colorful kaikis, former Greek fishing boats, now converted to carry crowded groups of bathers around the island of Lefkada to its many beaches. Their itinerary was simply to beach themselves on a series of beautiful coves dropping off hordes of tourists and local swimmers for the day.

Loading onto the first boat to leave that morning, Maera took particular interest in the children that scampered aboard and excitedly fidgeted on the benches waiting with their parents or guardians to depart.

"They are so beautiful," she whispered to doc.

He simply smiled back at her and switched places on the bench so she could more closely observe a group of boisterous kids ready for their beach day. The entire entourage of little boys and girls appeared to be with a pair of energetic grandmothers.

When the beach taxi had a full capacity of some twenty-five people aboard, the low sounding engine throttled up and the seasoned Greek fisherman, who had over the years found a more lucrative business for his boat, carefully guided it out of the marina.

Over the next thirty minutes, the kaiki pulled into one paradisiacal turquoise cove after another, letting out numbers of beach-goers down a portable ramp and onto the sugar-white sand. Most had opted for the more crowded beaches that were closer to the populated side of the island. Doc seemed to be holding out for obviously one of the last stops on the beach route and asked the operator of the boat if it indeed made a stop at Nydri beach. The old man reluctantly said it did, and following the previous stop, Maera and Doc found themselves to be the last passengers in the boat as it slowly cruised toward one more obviously remote beach.

Approaching the cove with its unbelievably clear water, Doc reminisced about the time many years ago when he and his group of scholars and archaeologists on assignment from Stanford to Lefkada, had spent their non-working days at that very cove. There they consumed beer, listened to rock and roll, relaxed in the hot sun, and cooled down in the inviting Ionian Sea. It was hard to believe he was truly there again, but now with a creature he had spent so many years of his career as a mythologist, studying and only imagining.

"Life is so mysterious," he whispered to Maera, as they collected their belongings and left the empty kaiki for the little taverna on the beach. "And even more so . . . love," he added softly, perhaps too softly for her to hear.

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