I think it’s three in the morning, but I can’t sleep at all. I slept during the day and messed up my schedule. It’s okay, it’s enough that I’m lying on the sand. I’m lying on my back, with my hands behind my head, analyzing the constellations. There are the Pleiades, there’s Orion’s belt. Further on is… what is it? I’ve forgotten what it’s called.
In my past life, I didn’t have much time to do this, to look at the sky. I was always on the run, always chasing after various kinds of crap, always busy. It’s clear, if you really want to change your life, you have to leave home. At least sometimes. But you need courage to do it. Or you need a couple of pills stolen from a stranger’s purse in a hotel room.
I wonder if I would have left if I hadn’t been drunk? What would have happened if Ana hadn’t crossed my path? That whole strange story that happened between her and me in the hotel room had a purpose. God doesn’t do things for nothing.
Probably everything that happens to us in life has a purpose, even if, at the moment, we’re too blind to see it. For example, what’s the purpose of me being awake now? Isn’t God watching me? All these things, the accident, the shipwreck, are part of a plan… What’s your plan for me, Lord?
I listen carefully. I hear footsteps approaching on the sand and I don’t need to open my eyes to know who it is. Eva stops next to me, looks at me intently, then whispers:
“You can’t sleep either.”
I look up at her. The girl sits cross-legged next to me.
“Can I rest my head in your lap, Eva?”
“Put it there,” she replies indifferently.
It’s been so long since I rested my head in a woman’s lap that I’d forgotten how good it feels. The girl silently runs her fingers through my short hair. She has small, warm fingers. They tickle me. They feel like little gentle animals kissing and caressing my skin, bit by bit.
I close my eyes and feel like sighing. The pleasure is dizzying. I deeply inhale the scent from her lap and I like it so much that I stretch my lips and kiss her there.
Her fingers clench in my hair.
“I want to,” she whispers.
I open my eyes. I understand, she’s playing with me. In fact, she’s in a joking mood. I look at her. I try to see the real Eva. I haven’t forgotten the humiliation I felt a few days ago.
A woman shouldn’t play like this with a man. It’s cruel.
“I want to,” she repeats.
“I’m happy for you.”
“I said I want to,” Eva repeats sharply. “Take off your swimsuit now! Don’t forget it’s mine, I won it fair and square, at chess.”
Is this who you are, Eva? When you want something, you stomp your foot and expect it to come on a silver platter?
I reply, irritated but calm, without lifting my head from her lap:
“With that cheap attitude, you won’t get anything.”
She leans over and looks at me with sparkling eyes. She smiles and starts to act like a spoiled cat.
“Meow! I offer you something and you offer me something else. Maybe we can come to an understanding,” she says, smiling and hiding her claws. “What do you say?”
“No.”
“I’ll let you close your eyes and imagine I’m a hippo-woman, like the ones you like.”
“No! No way!”
“You know,” she whispers in my ear, “you might actually like it.”
I let her bite my ear gently. My erection betrays me, totally contradicting my words.
“No,” I repeat, not very convinced by what I’m saying.
“Meow!”
“Stop it with the ‘meow’. You need a lesson in good manners. So… no.”
“Fine, old man!” she huffs like an angry seal. “I don’t need you to tell me twice.”
She gets up from the sand, her eyes shining with anger, and leaves. I like the way she sways her hips. This girl has class.
“Are you sure?” her voice echoes as she walks away. “No? Really no? Is it that kind of ‘no’ or the other kind of ‘no’?”
“Good night, Eva!”
“Bravo! You’re a gentleman! A true gentleman! Good night, sir! You’re a bit of a fool, sir! You have no idea what you’re missing… sir!”
I hear her angry voice getting farther away, then silence falls abruptly.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe she wasn’t joking. You know what? I think I just missed out on some sex.
Sometimes I wonder how stupid I can be.
***
It’s been about half an hour since she left. Sleep doesn’t come to me.
Her presence stirred me. Her angry departure disturbed me. I imagine her sitting next to me on the sand, beside me, over me, and this image torments and pleases me at the same time.
Finally, I get up like a sleepwalker and start walking along the shore. I find her snoring. I wake her as gently as I can.
“Sorry. Um… I changed my mind.”
“Go away, sir,” she says sleepily and turns to the other side.
I look around, bewildered, like an idiot.
“That’s just great! I came all the way here for nothing?”
“I’m sleepy,” she moans with her eyes closed. “Go take a swim. That will cool down both you and your friend.”
“What kind of jokes are these, really?! We’re not getting anywhere like this!”
“I said no!” she yells. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know how to take a ‘No’?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then, bye! See you tomorrow!”
I’m so angry that I don’t bother to go around the whole beach. I cut straight through the forest, through bushes and vines. After two hard falls, I get back to my piece of the beach and lie down on the sand like a mortally wounded animal.
I fall asleep cursing and dream of how I will take revenge on Eva and what I will do to her. The most horrible plans surround me in my sleep. My revenge will be cruel. I’m surely grinning as I sleep.
***
“Wake up! Wake up, Tiberiu! Get up!”
Eva shakes me vigorously.
“Go away, woman from Hell! I’m not in the mood for sex!”
“Neither am I,” she quickly says, “but wake up! I saw a ship!“
I jump to my feet and look at her.
“Are you sure?” I ask in a whisper.
“Very sure!” she yells, running. “Come on, faster!”
Wings grow on my feet. I catch up with Eva, even surpass her. When I reach the beach, her side of the beach, I also see the miracle.
“Extraordinary!” I shout happily. “It’s a passenger ship!”
The ship’s horn sounds three times, and it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
The passenger ship is lit up like daytime! Blinding lights! There are lights everywhere, on all the decks! They don’t economize on electricity.
Even from a great distance, it can be seen that it’s a very large ship. A huge cruise ship, perfectly visible. It’s only about four or five kilometers away.
So I was right: God doesn’t do anything without a purpose. My insomnia, my quarrel with Eva, all had the purpose of keeping us awake so we wouldn’t miss this ship. Lord, you are smart! Lord, you are great! I love you!
“Eva,” I shout, “we need to light the signal fire quickly! Where is the lighter?”
Eva reaches me, panting, and hands me the lighter. The wind is blowing quite hard. It takes me a while to light the pile of dry wood, but I manage eventually.
In less than two minutes, the flames rise wildly towards the sky. It’s a wonderful fire, and our piece of the beach is lit up brightly. Impossible to miss us. Impossible not to notice us. I think even those in Japan have noticed us by now!
The ship’s horn sounds three more times.
“Eva, we’re saved!” I shout, crying.
“Saved!” she repeats, jumping like a kid on the sand.
We hold hands and jump around the beach like crazy. We shout, cheer, and do somersaults. Eva takes off her shirt and waves it frantically towards the ship. The ship’s horn sounds again. Three times.
The wind throws long showers of sparks into the air.
“We’re saved!” I roar like a hoarse donkey. “We’re going to eat everything! I’m going to eat like a pig! I’m going to drink like a pig! I’m going to have the biggest binge of my life! I’m going to have a headache for three days, but I don’t care!”
“Yes,” shouts Eva happily. “I’m going to drink too!”
“And we’ll be free! Free to go anywhere we want!”
“Yes, yes!” she confirms, wiping away her tears. “Oh God, what happiness! You haven’t forgotten us, Lord! Tiberiu, let’s pray, let’s thank Him for His goodness!”
“Let’s!”
We both fall to our knees on the sand, and the girl starts to pray fervently in German.
I cross myself and pray fervently, but from time to time, I still sneak a glance to check God’s plan. Hmm… that damn ship doesn’t seem to be getting any closer. What the hell? Oh, forgive me, Lord!
After fifteen minutes, neither Eva nor I are praying anymore. We look wide-eyed at the ship that is getting smaller and smaller. The lights on the deck are getting dimmer. The ship’s horn sounds three times.
“It’s gone,” the girl says, stunned. She rubs her eyes and looks again.
“It’s gone to hell!” I confirm, frustrated.
We both stand there, staring into the distance.
We stay like that until the first rays of dawn.
If God has a plan for us, this part I definitely don’t understand.
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