Eternity (eBook)

DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN CRETE

Samuel and Sarah Kramer actually just want to spend a relaxing beach vacation on the Greek island of Crete. They felt so at home there that no other place in the world could hold a greater attraction for them. Sometimes they flew to one of the Canary Islands during the winter, but they never found the same relaxation as they did in Crete. They had no objective explanation for this; after all, they could make themselves understood even better in Spanish than in Greek, because the Romance vocabulary was simply closer to them than the Cyrillic. For this reason alone, Spain would have been the more comfortable choice for them. But they chose the largest Greek island again this summer, and at the beginning of their trip they had no idea that the true reason for this magical attraction would be revealed to them this time. As in previous years, they stayed near the small fishing village of Georgioupolis on the north coast. Georgioupolis belongs to the prefecture of Chania and is located about a hundred kilometers west of Heraklion, the island's capital. On June 25, they landed at 4:30 p.m. on a Small Planet Airline flight at Kazantzakis Airport near Heraklion. After Sam picked up their bags from the carousel, they went to the Autocandia car rental counter and picked up their car. This time it was a white Fiat Panda, and Sam was looking forward to driving around the island in the little stick. He thought it would be a change from the automatic car he drove at home. He was always amazed that as soon as he turned the key and the little engine coughed, he could shift from automatic to manual. After a brief familiarization with the vehicle, they were off. They left the parking lot of the car rental company and, after two turns, reached the New Road, the main artery of Crete, connecting the eastern and western parts of the island. After about an hour and a half of driving, they reached their accommodation and were greeted by the loud cries of cicadas. "Isn't that incredible background noise?" beamed Sam. And when he realized how loud he had to speak to drown out the insects, he laughed, "Hard to believe these critters are also called chirps. I guess it can't have anything to do with the noise they make around here. It almost sounds like a rural disturbance of the peace." Then, with a happy sigh, he pulled the suitcases out of the back of the panda: "Home at last. After checking in at the reception of the small, family-run hotel, they had the usual welcome drink on the hotel terrace. This year, they both spontaneously opted for a freshly tapped Mythos beer. "Yummy," Sam remarked happily as he licked the foam from his upper lip and let his eyes wander over the peaks of the Lefka Ori, the White Mountains. Why the second highest Cretan mountain range was so named was obvious. In winter, the snowcapped peaks gave off a white glow, and in the summer months, the rocks were especially bright. Sarah watched him and smiled, knowing how much he was looking forward to this summer vacation. She could hardly wait to drive around the island with him, even though in Germany she tended to shift nervously in the passenger seat whenever Sam exceeded their agreed-upon speed limit of 100 miles per hour, or when the traffic was heavy and the road seemed much narrower than it really was. "I know I'm a terrible passenger. I'm really sorry," she usually regretted, "but I can't help it." In Crete, however, they never drove faster than 100 km/h. It was more of a gentle glide, not the aggressive testosterone racing they were used to on the German autobahns. Even overtaking was done by mutual agreement and without any stress. If a car was faster than the one in front, the faster one would honk briefly so that the slower one would notice and then move to the right edge of the lane to let him pass. It just seemed that most drivers left their egos at home and didn't define themselves by the horsepower of their car, but rather saw the vehicle as a utility. Sarah especially enjoyed the trips to the south coast, each of which was unique. Sometimes thick clouds would hang from the peaks of the White Mountains and they would be caught in heavy showers, other times angry goats would block the road with their bleating and Sam would laughingly blow on the horn with the flat of his hand to scare the animals away with the tinny drone. If the goats and sheep were too stubborn, he would get out and either gently nudge them or gently pull them off the road with his horn. Usually they would give in, even if they looked grumpy and grumbled even louder than before. The most beautiful part of the last mountain trip was when they could suddenly look down on the south coast and the Libyan Sea from far above. Even though they had done this trip several times on every vacation, pushing the small engines of their rental cars to the limit, they were always amazed at how beautiful the world was up here. The smell of the cedars, the thyme, and the sage bushes was an olfactory delight. As did the bright blue of the sky, the deep blue of the sea, and the ochre of the rocks, which combined to create a unique color composition. The senses were flooded in an unbelievably intense way. Unfortunately, Sam and Sarah also remembered a very unusual incident during their second vacation together in Crete. They were driving over the ridge when Sarah suddenly had some kind of seizure. They were discussing their latest findings on "eating without regret" - in retrospect, an ideal topic for any vacation - when Sarah suddenly began to have trouble speaking. Staring through the windshield, she struggled to find the words, "I, I, have ........ I, I, have, uh, word...uh, I have word finding disorder." At first Sam laughed and replied, "What, you and word finding disorder? That would be a first." But when he looked at her, he immediately realized that her condition was serious. She looked at him with wide, frightened eyes. He had never seen her like that before. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she made no effort to wipe them away. He slammed on the brakes and brought the panda to a stop on the shoulder. "What's wrong with you, Sarah? My angel, say something." But Sarah just looked at him apathetically. Drops of sweat appeared on her forehead and she seemed to scream silently in fear. "I'll drive you to the hospital in Chania," Sam suggested, but at that moment Sarah grabbed his wrist and stammered tremblingly, "No! Write it down! Words! Write it down!" Sam was very concerned for his wife's health. What was wrong with her? A stroke, perhaps? He told her, "Honey, I think that's dangerous. What if you have something serious? I would kick myself forever if I stayed up here in the mountains with you without getting medical help." Sarah searched for words again, rolling her eyes as if to reassure her husband and at the same time tell her mind to shut up and obediently provide her with the necessary letters. Then she spoke quietly, "Nothing bad! Trust me! Get pen, paper!" Sam looked at her with equal parts confusion and concern and started the car again. He drove as fast as the little panda could down the switchbacks towards Frankokastello, hoping to find a supermarket along the way where he could buy the writing materials he needed. Meanwhile, Sarah fell into a state that Sam found very frightening. As if in a trance, she would bend her upper body forward over the dashboard and then fall back into the back of the seat, her head hitting the headrest quite hard. As she did so, she spoke mostly unintelligible words that Sam could not understand even with the greatest of efforts. It was a mixture of single vowels and very archaic sounding noises. Only once in a while did she say something that at least sounded like a language, like the words "Neo Paphos" or "Okumani". Finally he saw a supermarket on the right side of the road, where he actually found some pens and a writing pad. After throwing a ten euro note on the counter, he quickly ran back to his wife without waiting for the rest of the money. The saleswoman looked after him and shook her head as he stormed out of her store, "Crazy tourists. Sarah was still sitting in the passenger seat, rocking her upper body back and forth and muttering something unintelligible. Sam almost panicked because she had told him to take notes and now he didn't know what to write. How can you write what you don't understand? How do you put into words something that doesn't even sound like a language? He decided to start by writing down the two words he had previously committed to memory. As he wrote, he spoke the words aloud to himself, "Nea Paphos or Neo Paphos?", he decided on Neo Paphos, it somehow sounded rounder, more pleasant. Then he wrote "Okumani". At that moment, Sarah stopped rocking back and forth and looked over at him in silence. Her expression changed completely, and Sam swallowed hard, his throat dry. Her eyeballs turned upward until only the whites were visible. What was happening to her? Was she possessed by a demon? Nonsense," he told himself, "just do what she wants“ As soon as he turned to her again full of trust and love, her nature changed again and after a few seconds she appeared clear and completely normal. She said, "Everything is fine. Just listen and write down what I have to say. Then she started dictating and he wrote as fast as he could, even though he didn't know what the words meant. From that moment on, she carried the sheet of paper with her, even on this vacation, always with the fear and, admittedly, some hope of returning to that state. Even though it was a very frightening experience, it was also exciting and moving. Anyway, Sam was annoyed that in his panic he hadn't thought to record everything with his cell phone. So from then on, every time they drove, they put one of their...