We got scared for nothing. It wasn't the rainy season. In the end, that damned rain finally stopped.
"Achoo!"
"Bless you, Tiberiu!"
"Thanks. Fucking cold!"
The clouds scattered, but they left us chilled and sick. I'm sneezing nonstop, and I get this wave of misery thinking everything's destroyed and we'll have to rebuild the whole island fishing industry from scratch.
First things first: I help Eva make another shade. This time we work side by side; nobody's the boss of anybody anymore.
The girl sees I'm not in the mood to talk, so she works in silence too. For someone so short, she's got a ridiculous amount of strength in those little arms.
In the afternoon, I manage to take a nap and I wake up in a better mood.
Eva is collecting shells, sorting them, trying to put our chess set back together.
"Don't bother, it's pointless!" I say. "I'm not playing anymore. Not with you."
"Why?" she asks, smiling.
"I'm a good chess player, but you beat me every time. Either you're a chess genius, or around you I turn into an idiot."
She laughs. It's nice when she does. She should laugh more.
"I've been playing chess since I was about six," she admits. "I'm good. I played pretty often, especially online. My grandpa on my dad's side taught me. After my parents died, he took care of me."
Toward evening, I make a little fuss, but she talks me into playing. The sun's going down and it's hard to make out the pieces. The sky behind her is blazing--purplish red. I point it out.
"Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" I say, mesmerized.
She turns her head toward the sunset and answers, indifferently:
"Yeah, I have. Two years ago, in Kauai. It was just as beautiful, maybe even more."
"And where is that, exactly?"
"Kauai? It's an island," she explains. "In Hawaii. Now you're going to ask me where Hawaii is?"
"Oh, drop it! I know exactly where Hawaii is. It's in the Pacific. So it's not the first time you've seen the Pacific?"
"Of course not. I've traveled to a lot of places. In the last three years, I've been out of Germany more than I've been home. But it was worth it! Basically, I've seen pretty much everything there is to see."
That 'Of course not' really gets under my skin. Looks like she's getting a little full of herself. Yeah, she's a tiny bit stuck-up. What a snob! 'Of course not.' Hmm!
Fine, Eva. So if I haven't traveled the world, what--I'm abnormal now or what?
"You're exaggerating, dear," I answer, grumpy. "There's no way you've seen everything there is to see. Look at her, bragging..."
"I didn't mean it like that," she smiles. "I've visited the most beautiful places in the world, though. But to see all of them in detail--you're right--one lifetime wouldn't be enough."
"You've been to... let's see, I've got you now... India?"
"I've passed through India too, of course. Last year, around May. India is too big to visit all of it. But I was lucky--it was my second time. Last time I was impressed by Gujarat."
"Uh-huh!"
"On my first visit, Sandakphu really stuck with me. Ring a bell?"
"Not at all. What were you doing in India? Looking for... yourself? Some spiritual journey?"
"No, I went out of curiosity. Actually, I was just passing through. I was traveling from Oman to Burma."
"What a thing. 'Oh, I was just passing through...' You live like a nomad, huh."
"What's your problem?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But the Egyptian pyramids--you've seen those?"
"Oh, yes, I've seen them. I spent almost three weeks in Egypt. For the Valley of the Kings and the Nile, it would've been worth staying longer. There's so much history there, you feel... pulled into the past. When you touch those columns and stones with your fingers, you can almost feel the breath of dozens of pharaohs on your cheek, you hear the noise of war chariots, you feel the exhausting labor of the fellahin. Yeah, that's the feeling. And you should know I also visited the Aztec pyramids. Not all of them, only two. Anyway... that's another story and another continent."
She's starting to piss me off. I swear to God she's starting to piss me off. She's doing it on purpose.
"Spain?" I press.
"Yes. Of all of Spain, I love Palma de Mallorca the most. Don't ask me about Europe. I've been pretty much everywhere in Europe. What country are you from? I can't place your accent."
"Doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
"I'll tell you later. But Russia? Have you visited Russia?"
"Russia, Mongolia, and China."
"I've been to China too," I say quickly. "It's kind of a dark country. At least Shanghai."
"You're joking?" Eva laughs. "China is gorgeous. I'll admit it--Russia didn't really do it for me. I don't know why, but Russia felt very foreign to me. In China, though, I went to a ton of places and I'm telling you, it's fascinating, and the people are warm, friendly. I spent a month there, but I really regret I didn't stay longer. Maybe another time."
"Now you're going to tell me you've been to Antarctica too."
"No, I haven't made it there," Eva laughs. "You got me! And not Australia either."
"I figured you hadn't really been everywhere. It was impossible."
"Well," she says in a nasty tone, "I didn't make it to Antarctica, but I've been to Alaska. I think it's just as cold there as Antarctica. It's up near the Arctic Circle. What do you say? Does it count?"
"So you've seen both Americas."
"Both Americas, Japan, and Tahiti. In general, I tried to avoid countries with cold climates and traveled more through the ones with lots of sun. I love the sun."
"When did you have time to travel so much? You're young."
"In the last few years I've been bouncing around the world. Back home in Germany we don't really get much sun and that's not pleasant."
"I get it. But out of all the places and countries you bounced around, what's the most beautiful, the one you love most? Where would you like to settle down and live?"
"In my beloved Marburg, of course. At home, in Germany."
"Okay, but... you said you don't really get sun back home in Germany."
"Doesn't matter. Germany's what I love most--and Marburg most of all. Same for you, right? Home's what you love most."
I frown.
"No, actually."
"You got quiet," she says, watching me carefully. "Where have you been, Mr. Secretive? Tell me! You like traveling and seeing new places and people too, don't you?"
"I do, sure. I've been to Thailand."
Eva laughs out loud.
"Obviously you've been to Thailand. We took off together from Phuket, remember? But besides Thailand?"
"Nowhere. Until a month ago I'd never left my country and, to be even more honest, I'd never even left the city where I was born."
"Are you serious?" she says, studying me.
"Yeah. What's so surprising? I was born, I grew up, I lived in the same city. All my life. Until not long ago, I thought I'd die there too. Anyway..."
"You're kidding?"
"Stop looking at me like I'm some circus freak! What's wrong with you? You've never met a person who's never left the city they were born in?"
"I'll admit I haven't," she says calmly. "It's the first time I've seen a case like that. You're rare."
"Come on, Eva, stop! There are millions and millions of people who live like that."
I shouldn't have let the conversation go this far. I'm kind of pissed I ran my mouth.
"And anyway, why would I have left my city?" I say fast. "I had everything I wanted there. A home, food, stores, movie theaters, parks, universities, museums, bars... I had everything I needed."
"And still, in the end, you left."
"Yeah. I had to. I always wanted to see what a country looks like where summer never ends."
The turn this took makes me uncomfortable. I was an idiot. I shouldn't have been so open, shouldn't have put my soul on a plate. What did I gain? It's like a chasm opened between us.
"Why are you quiet?" Eva asks.
"No reason. I was thinking. Wondering if maybe you're rich. That would explain all your traveling. Me, I'm not rich. It takes a lot of money to wander wherever your heart wants. I envy you a little. Anyone would like to travel... it's nice that you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want. You're rich, aren't you?"
Eva looks surprised.
"Rich? Depends. What do you mean by rich, Tiberiu? At what point do you call someone rich?"
"I don't know. You tell me."
She shrugs.
"Well, I'm not complaining. I'll admit it, I've got enough money to keep traveling for a long time, if I feel like it. If I want that."
"Enough that you never have to worry about bills?"
"Of course!"
"And enough that you never have to work?"
"I do work, but only when I feel like it. I don't have a boss or anything like that. I work only for myself and only because I like what I do."
"Bravo! And... not that I care, but how much money do you have?"
"Well, look at you," she snaps. "You're asking how much money I have? Like... in my bank account?"
"Uh-huh."
"I think that's the weirdest... no, not weird, it's the most shameless question anyone has ever asked me," she says, offended.
"Why shameless?" I ask, calm. "What's so shameless about a straight, honest question. For example, I sold my apartment for sixty-one thousand dollars. That's how I bought myself about 400 days of loafing around in Thailand. You, on the other hand, say you don't worry about bills and you only work when you feel like it. That made me ask. Curiosity. Your parents were probably rich. Or maybe..."
"Maybe what?"
"Nothing. Something stupid."
"Say it."
"I was wondering if you and Doctor Baumgartner were..."
Eva presses her lips together until they turn into a white line. Now her lips don't look so attractive anymore.
"If we were together, you mean?" she murmurs.
"Yeah. Were you? When I first saw you two next to each other, I got the impression you were a couple. You seemed pretty close. Later, though, I thought maybe he was your father. But you told me your father is dead, so that option is out too."
She looks at me with pity.
"We weren't together," she says, shrugging. "We were just traveling together. I first met him two weeks ago at a bazaar in Istanbul. After that, both of us used the services of the same travel agency. I recommended the agency to him."
"The travel agency Jean-Louis worked for--what's it called?"
"'Trips to Paradise.'"
"Very inspired name," I mutter. "So damn inspired! It almost came true. Anyway... now I get why you two were together, you and the doctor. Sorry. I don't know what possessed me to ask you that. It wasn't my business."
"You thought I was with Doctor Baumgartner for his money?" she asks, half amused, half irritated.
"Yes. And what's the big deal if you were with him? You're a free person. Were you or weren't you his girlfriend?" I ask suddenly, looking at her with a grin.
"You're a huge piece of shit with eyes!" she screams, pissed off. "How could I be?"
"Why are you getting so mad? It's just a conversation."
Eva jumps to her feet.
"You're disgusting!" she says. "You're a... a..."
"A what?"
"An idiot. I'm sick of people like you who imagine a girl can only have money if she inherited it or if she sleeps with some rich old man. You disgust me!"
"I know. Sorry."
"I think all that masturbating washed your brain out. Take it easy!"
"Eva!" I shout, choking on indignation. "That's below the belt."
"That's exactly where your problem is!" she yells. "Below the belt! That's where it comes from!"
She kicks sand and walks off. Then she comes back and sits down in front of me. She's got the look of a snake with its tail stepped on.
"A million and about two hundred thousand!" she screams, right in my face.
"Dollars?"
"Euros, loser! So yeah, I really am rich! Come on, say something now, you goddamn jerk-off! I shut you down, didn't I?"
"Oh, yeah!" I snap back. "You shut me down... What can I tell you? Look at me, I'm floored!"
"I think that's the rough number," she continues. "And you know what? Nobody gave it to me as a gift and I didn't earn it with my ass. I worked for it and I made it myself."
"Show-off!"
"Shameless bastard!"
I start laughing. She storms off. After a few dozen steps, she stops again, turns back one more time, cups her hands around her mouth, and yells:
"I was wrong! I forgot about the interest. I think it's a million and a half! Go on, laugh now too!"