He paid and strolled along the waterfront looking for a taxi boat to take him out to Mina Dianopoulou’s house. It was a nuisance having to go to Hydra but he thought the trip might be worth the inconvenience. He found the handsome Theo and jumped into his boat.

  “Mrs. Mina’s house?” the boy asked. “I can’t wait for you there. You found me just in time. I’m taking the boat to Methana for two days.”

  “I must find another boat,” Carl said in his rough but serviceable Greek. “What if I go for a minute and come right back?”

  “You’ll be quick? Okay. For you, I’ll do it. I should be going.”

  “You had a fine time last night, I hear,” Carl said to test his suspicions after they were underway.

  The handsome boy grinned and squeezed his famous crotch. “Very fine. Did he tell you? He’s the most beautiful boy I’ve ever had. You tell him I won’t forget him. He’s my friend. Tell him to come back.”

  Carl filed the message away in the back of his mind for possible future use.…

  When Robbie came out on deck, blinking in the bright light, he found a party in progress. The good-looking German was there and doleful Johnny and their hostess of the night before. His appearance gave rise to playful remarks about sleeping his way through Greece.

  “I suppose I was quite late,” he said. “We went over there somewhere to a house where there were other people. We had more wine and swam.” And made love, he almost added, looking at Johnny. His father gave him a beer and Johnny indicated discreetly that he had something private to say to him. Robbie stepped up on deck and led him forward.

  “He asked me to give you this,” Johnny said, handing over a small object wrapped in crumpled brown paper. The loose paper fell away from a blue glass disk with a bull’s-eye bead set in it. It was strung on a leather thong. “It’s to ward off the evil eye,” Johnny explained. “He wants you to come back. Was it lovely?”

  “God, yes. Wonderful. Where is he? I’ve got to see him.”

  “He’s gone across to the mainland till tomorrow or the next day. That’s probably best, don’t you think? What could you say to each other except good-bye?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.” Robbie looked at the curious little pendant and felt warmed and loved and protected by his family of brothers. He had yet to acquire any sense of continuity in his lovemaking. Things happened with the sudden force of a bolt of lightning. Last night it had been forever, but it was no great shock to him to realize that he might never see the boy again. He supposed it had been the wine that cloaked it in a dreamlike haze but he could still feel Theo in him. They loved each other. “I wish I had something to leave him,” he said, his eyes misting slightly.

  “I’ll get some little thing for him and say you sent it.”

  “I haven’t any money.”

  “Never mind. I shan’t spend much but he’ll be pleased. He was very sweet and affectionate about you. He’ll probably always remember the beautiful American boy as one of the highlights of his life.”

  “Tell him I’ll try to come on the way back. Tell him to watch for the boat in about a month.”

  Robbie put the thong around his neck and they wandered back to the others. If anybody asked about the trinket, he’d say he’d found it on the beach.

  Drinks were replenished and drunk. Robbie learned that Carl was coming with them. Johnny escorted Mrs. Dianopoulou to the end of the gangplank. “I think perhaps you will regret taking a passenger,” she said oracularly as she bade Stuart good-bye.

  “Why? Is he badly behaved at sea?” he asked.

  “Oh.” She lifted her hand in an odd benediction. “I am an old woman and see evil everywhere.”

  The newly constituted foursome had lunch under the awning in the cockpit. The guest was so much the center of attention that not even Helene noticed Robbie’s pendant. He resented Carl’s preoccupation with her. He resented her appearing to enjoy it. He couldn’t understand why his father encouraged them. He felt Carl’s charm but thought him too slick and overconfident.

  From time to time the German caught his eye and looked at him with amused complicity, as if they shared a pleasant secret. It made Robbie nervous. There was a reference to some plan to meet Carl later at Delos. Stuart even tried to persuade him to stay with them until then.

  “No,” Carl said with robust good humor. “I shall go to Delos and wait impatiently for you.”

  “Not too impatiently, I hope,” Helene said lightly. “It’s so difficult for us to make any fixed plans.”

  “Oh, we’ll be there, all right,” Stuart put in.

  “Darling, you’ve said all along we don’t want to follow a schedule,” she protested.

  “No matter,” Carl said. “You can’t leave without seeing Delos. I shall be waiting.” His eyes met Robbie’s again and this time seemed to contain a promise that sent a shiver down his spine. Was it possible that they understood each other? Could an older man be interested in a boy in that way? Was his interest in his mother only a camouflage?

  He was suddenly swept by a wave of condemnation of his father. He had practically forced him to be friendly with Rico. He had let him go off last night without paying any attention to where he was going. If he had done anything wrong, it was his father’s fault for not using his imagination. If he’d been running after girls he would have teased him unmercifully. Because everything had happened with boys, he ignored it. He remembered their embarrassed flight from that place in St. Tropez during their big night in town last year. If it was so terrible, why hadn’t his father warned him about such things? What had become of the paternal authority he had been taught to honor and respect? Maybe it didn’t matter if his mother behaved foolishly but what if the German’s attentions were really directed at him? He tried not to let himself be excited by the possibility. Couldn’t his father see the danger and take steps to eliminate it instead of befriending Carl? His father was all for freedom; maybe he didn’t care.

  Last night, everything had seemed so simple and natural, thanks to Johnny and the Greeks, and his whole being had responded with joy. Now, the initial guilt he had felt with Rico was getting a grip on him again and threatened him once more with despair.

  Was it possible to renounce sex? It would never again be so wonderful as it had been with Theo. He couldn’t imagine wanting to do things with a girl, and homosexuality, which hadn’t seemed to mean anything last night, was too abhorrent to think about, an affliction that would have already marked him as indelibly as leprosy. He couldn’t be that way. His three brothers were strong healthy men, not homosexuals.

  He would close his mind to whatever evil acts he had committed and the ecstasy they had offered him, cease to count on his father’s guidance, freeze out this insidious Stranger, and live in peace for his mother and his work.

  When they had cast off lines and hoisted sail Helene and Carl usurped Robbie’s place on the forward deck. Stuart started to join them but was arrested by the sound of Helene’s full-throated laughter. He hadn’t heard her laugh like that for years. Would he be an intrusion on their enjoyment of each other’s company? Nonsense. He started forward and stopped again. What was this? Jealousy? He made himself go back to Rico and take the wheel, thinking of Mrs. Dianopoulou’s last words, and wished the woman hadn’t put ideas in his head.

  They were all back in the cockpit having drinks when they sailed into the amphitheater of Hydra’s port in the late afternoon. Because of the way it was situated, they didn’t see it until they were in it. It was an impressive ruin. Mouldering carcasses of houses were strewn over the highest hillsides. Carl knew its history and told them about its eminence during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of Independence against the Turks when it had been an important maritime power. He pointed out the remains of fortifications on both arms of the port and the great stone mansions along the waterfront that had been built by pirate princes. He made it a colorful story.

  The alchemy of a small boat at sea had forged ties between them as strong as if they’d known each other for years. Even Robbie found it difficult to hold himself aloof from the guest. Their frequent insinuating eye contact was wearing down his resistance. He was almost sure now that Carl wanted him. He had the air of a man who usually got what he wanted. He couldn’t help seeing, in the light summer clothes Carl wore, that his body was still youthful and handsomely desirable. His crotch was bulky with promise. Robbie began to see in him the father he would have liked to have, dashing, playful, full of hearty laughter, vividly authoritative. He accepted his flirtatiousness with his mother as he grew more confident that he was the real object of his pursuit.

  There was no quai they could tie up to, only a steep pebble beach on which lay a number of caïques, similar to St. Tropez’s tartanes. They dropped anchor while a crowd gathered on the paved waterfront and Robbie helped Rico get the dinghy over the side.

  “You no come home till morning. I watch,” Rico said, taking advantage of the private moment. “Greek boys crazy. They like each other. No girls. You fuck with friend, I bet.”

  “Yes,” Robbie admitted, blushing.

  “Sure. You and me, too much danger in port. We wait. Hokay?”

  “We’d better.” He was glad to shelve that problem for the time being. If Carl stayed aboard for the night, he would be free for any eventuality.

  Carl pointed out a dilapidated house high up on one arm of the port and told them that he wanted to take them up to meet the Hamiltons, an English writer and his wife. As far as he knew, they were the only foreigners who lived on the island. When the time came to go ashore, Helene emerged looking radiant in a simple summer dress. She was more carefully made up than usual and had arranged her hair softly around her face in a way that made her look younger. Carl was carrying the small bag he’d brought with him.

  “Why’re you taking that?” Stuart asked. “Aren’t you spending the night with us? There’s an extra cabin.”

  “No, no, my friend. You want to get off first thing in the morning. The Hamiltons will always give me a bed. I’ll make my way back to Poros in the next day or two.”

  “Suit yourself.” Stuart admired the German’s independence. He would never be a nuisance to have around.

  Robbie felt cheated. What had Carl’s eyes meant if he wasn’t waiting for a chance to have him? He had filled his mind with unwanted thoughts and led him to the point of acquiescence. That settled it. He wasn’t going to let himself think about sex anymore.

  They were rowed ashore by Rico and climbed a steep difficult path to the house. Carl was as agile as a goat; the others labored in his wake. He was greeted by the Hamiltons like an old and valued friend. A man identified as a famous Greek painter with a house on the island had also brought a group, including the startlingly glamorous Lady Diana Cooper. Ouzo and retsina flowed. Food kept appearing in a succession of exotic appetizers. Lamps were lighted as it grew dark. There was no electricity except around the port, no telephones, no cars, no daily papers, only spasmodic mail. The Coslings had the impression of an enchanted outpost of civilization, remote and timeless. Stuart issued more invitations to St. Tropez. Lady Diana knew the admiral and expected to be there in August if there wasn’t a war.

  Robbie was much younger than the others and Helene watched with delight as he charmed them all with his good looks and quiet intelligence. His fastidiousness, which she credited herself with cultivating in him, was in marked contrast to Carl’s slightly coarse if beguiling geniality.

  “For me, this has been the most momentous encounter of many years,” Carl said to her when the party was showing signs of breaking up. “I can’t wait for our reunion in Delos.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t make it sound as if you were arranging all your plans around it. So many things can change on a boat. Everybody says we’ve been lucky with the weather. Our luck might not hold.”

  “No, no. The Coslings lead charmed lives. The weather will be perfect. If you don’t meet me, I will know you are afraid of me.”

  “Oh really, Carl,” she said with exasperation. Nothing had occurred between them to justify this challenge. She found him attractive but he was a fool.

  He had a private word with Robbie during a general move toward departure. “You must make sure your parents keep our date in Delos. I’ll expect you in no more than three weeks. It is a place of special meanings for you. It will be exciting to share it with you.” His eyes were once more full of promise.

  Robbie didn’t understand what it was supposed to be leading to. It made him impatient of his own lack of comprehension. “It’s one of the places we’ve planned to go to all along,” he said dismissively. “I don’t think there’s much doubt we’ll get there.”

  Carl lighted them down the hill with a flashlight and waited with them while Rico brought the dinghy in for them. They thanked him for a charming evening and exchanged pledges of future friendship. Stuart told him that he would expect to fix dates for his visit to St. Tropez when they met next. They stepped into the dinghy and waved as they were rowed off into the night.

  They wandered on across the legendary sea, through days of reverberating light, past bare islands of rock, putting in at gleaming whitewashed villages where the natives received them with grave kindliness and offered them glasses of water and little dishes of sweets.

  At the classical site on Santorini, high on a windswept hill, an attractive young guide with impudent eyes managed to separate Robbie from his parents to show him a stone plaque covered with crude lettering with a phallus incised at the bottom. The guide explained that it was a dedicatory offering from a rich merchant to a beautiful dancing boy. He ran his forefinger along the phallus.

  “You like?” he said. “I show you.”

  Robbie’s heart was beating rapidly as he followed the young guide around ruined walls and along a weed-choked path to a pile of masonry that formed a sort of enclosure. The guide opened his fly and showed him the real thing, not very big but commandingly erect. Robbie unbuttoned his shorts and displayed his conspicuously bigger one. The guide smiled approvingly and put a hand on Robbie’s shoulder and exerted pressure. Robbie dropped down and worshiped male potency with his mouth. If it wasn’t the done thing here, he wondered how the guide had guessed that he was willing to do it. Maybe it was expected of foreign boys. Receiving the copious ejaculation gave him an unassisted orgasm.

  At Crete, they left the boat for a few days because the harbor was hot and hideous. They stayed in a seaside hotel. Late one afternoon, back at the hotel after a long day of sightseeing, Robbie took a refreshing swim and lay out on a deck chair to dry off. He was aware of a man pulling a deck chair over quite near to him and facing it in his direction. He sat and Robbie felt eyes on him. Robbie’s cautious glances took in a mature body that was still fit and trim and a cock that was clearly outlined in brief trunks. His eyes lingered on it, enthralled as he watched it lengthen and thicken. Robbie’s responded. He lifted his eyes and met a gaze of magnetic intensity. The man’s features were clean-cut, with an unsmiling air of command; he inclined his head slightly toward the row of little bathhouses provided for changing.

  Robbie consented with his eyes. The man rose with a little nod at him and strode away. He watched him unlock one of the bathhouse doors and leave the key dangling outside as he went in. He waited for the beating of his heart to subside and tried to resist the temptation that had been offered him. He had promised himself to stop thinking about sex but he couldn’t help it if his cock was straining for satisfaction. The man had singled him out and was waiting for him. He gathered up his towel and rose and followed him.

  He pulled the key out of the lock and handed it to the naked figure standing behind the door of the tiny cubicle. A crisp white uniform with a great deal of gold braid was hanging on the wall. He felt a little shiver of awe at having been chosen by a man of high rank. The officer’s erection wasn’t as impressive as he had expected; it conformed to what he was beginning to think of as the norm—about the same as Rico’s and the twins’. It was already oiled in preparation for him. Robbie stripped off his trunks and delivered himself into the hands that reached for him, one completing the preparations, the other making an appreciative assessment of his cock.

  The officer nodded at the floor where a towel was spread. Robbie dropped down to his hands and knees. The officer moved in behind him and inserted himself and drove fully into him. He gripped Robbie’s hips and pulled him back with him onto the floor and straightened his legs and lay out full length with Robbie seated on him, impaled. Hands still guided him and Robbie swiveled around and threw a leg over the body beneath him and straddled it on his knees. The officer sat up and lifted Robbie’s arms and folded his hands on top of his head. He held Robbie’s hips and moved him up and down on himself. In this position, being arranged like an object for the other’s use, Robbie felt indecently naked and exposed. Compelling eyes seemed to burn into his soul. He choked back his shame and moved his hands to the back of his neck and lifted his chin and arched his back to display his cock, offering himself wantonly.

  He swayed his body and ground his hips down in lascivious surrender. Grasping hands moved on him, not caressingly but with a craving to seize every part of him, his armpits, his chest, his cock, his buttocks. It made Robbie feel as if his youth were being torn from him. The officer pulled him close and lay back and opened his mouth with his tongue. Their teeth clashed as the tongue lunged for his throat. Robbie let his mouth go slack to become the passive prisoner of the other’s. They writhed against each other and Robbie’s body grew frenzied in its service to his master. They were engaged in a conspiracy to goad each other to the limits of their endurance. The body beneath him bucked and jolted him with the power of its thrust. He could feel them rushing toward orgasm. At the last moment, the officer pushed Robbie up and seized his hand and moved their joined hands rapidly on Robbie’s erection. The supine body leaped and a shout broke from it and Robbie could feel its spasms in him as his own ejaculation was scattered on his partner’s face and shoulders and chest. The officer lifted his knees and Robbie sank back against them with his eyes closed, feeling sick with shock. They had shared in each other’s degradation.