excerpt
Their hospitality and zeal for honour and nobility were boundless.
This rock, this island, their home, has taken thousands of years
to be created, with blood and courage.
These people, accustomed to climbing their rugged mountains,
through difficult ravines and crevices, to sleep with a rock as a
pillow, with their weapons by their side, extensions of their bodies,
and rebellious always like their insubordinate mountains. They
knew they had to struggle for life and for death. The willingness
for sacrifice was ever-present in the depths of their existence; these
people who had veins swollen with anxious, boiling blood, these
people had eyes with a sweetness you couldn’t express with words.
The island always welcomed the good-mannered stranger with the
Same zeal as it fought its enemies. It was its story, its tradition, its
song, to be warm and sharp like the blade of a pirate’s sword, its story,
its tradition, its song with a quick eye and winged feet, while its goat
shepherds passed their nights close to their small flocks, up on the
rough hills. It was a story, a tradition, a song of this island, which
became spirited at the necessary times and fought with claws and
teeth to reach its zenith.
Hermes’ thoughts were interrupted by loud voices a few yards
away. He turned and saw two officers restraining three young men;
a bit farther away, a girl was lying in a sun chair who looked foreign.
The young men were ardently defending themselves, pointing at the
girl who was wearing nothing more than her bathing suit. A young
woman, a very pretty one indeed, aroused the interest of the young
men, who most likely called her names, resulting in her complaint
to the officers.
“Idiots!” thought Hermes.
Hermes Dragakis’ handsome features complemented his
twenty-seven years. His dark complexion, eyes, hair, and body had
this melodious balance like a well-built athlete seen in brochures and
ancient books. His girlfriend, Eleni, of the last two and a half years,
escorted him to the harbour before he embarked on the trip to Crete,
contrary to his uncle’s wish of taking him there himself.
Mayanaam
vequinox
Manolis 
