Green Neon

40 I'm waiting for you

"Let's leave the adults alone for a bit," suggested Nikos. "Let's go outside with the others."

Stephanos didn't object, so everyone under 18 moved out of the tavern and onto the street. They headed to the end of the harbor opposite the ferry terminal and Nikos in particular had a lot to report. Although he did not mention his courier service as a supplier of chocolates, he did mention the poster campaign, for which he received plenty of recognition. Georgios promised to go on such a tour with him soon. Spiros and Michael listened carefully. They were of the same opinion politically, and both were very keen to take part in the undertakings.

Tom took advantage of the other boys' intense debate to step a few meters out of the streetlight with Sophia. They were alone for a few minutes, kissing gently, whispering nice things to each other, but both knew that they shouldn't push their luck too far.

"Wouldn't you like to introduce me to your girlfriend?" Petros appeared out of nowhere behind Sophia. He smiled at both of them in turn and then said something to Sophia in Greek. Turning to Tom, he translated: "She's even more beautiful than you said."

Sophia beamed at the flattery, but Tom felt a small twinge of pain. He knew there was no point in being jealous of Petros, but a lot of boys, or worse, a lot of men, would see his girlfriend that way. As if to shoo that thought away, he hugged her tightly and kissed her, ignoring their surroundings.

Petros turned to the other boys, who looked at him expectantly and at the same time a little shyly. They didn't know him, but Stephanos had introduced him as "a brave fighter". The mysterious man was apparently underground, which instilled respect in them.

Nikos described to him in detail his action on the country road and the courier trip with Georgios.

"Just be very careful," Petros admonished him again. "Georgios, it was a good idea to accompany Nikos. Always take good care of him. I'm glad you're one of us."

Georgios beamed.

Suddenly, three short honks sounded from the direction of the tavern. Everyone quickly ran back, because by now the entire company had gathered on the street. Petros stopped Tom and Nikos:

"You surely remember Basilis, who brought us to the beach on Mykonos. When he gets back to Crete he will also work for us. I'm going to join my comrades in the north. I hope we'll meet again. I would be glad."

"Me too," Tom replied. "Good luck Petros."

The street in front of the tavern was buzzing. Everyone said their goodbyes, and many had apparently forgotten to say important things, so it was almost one o'clock by the time all the cars left the small town one after the other.

Georgios was of course placed in the middle of the back seat so that Sophia and Tom wouldn't get any silly ideas. But the adults in the front had so much to talk about that no one cared what was happening in the back of the car.

Sophia took Tom's hand. Her fingers caressed his palm, and Tom's fingers caressed hers. Although the headwind was pleasantly cool, he got hot. Georgios looked stubbornly straight ahead and didn't comment on what was going on next to him, but then he whispered in Tom's ear:

"If this gets worse, I'll scream!"

Tom grabbed his hand and put it on Sophia's, who caressed her brother's hand for a brief moment, then tried to pull away in horror, but Tom held her tight:

"Hey, we're the Aces, he's one of us."

And so they drove the last few kilometers to Piraeus, all three holding hands, until they arrived at the siblings' apartment. Stephanos and Christina stayed in the car while Tom politely said goodbye to Sophia, her brother and her mother. On the short way home he barely managed to thank his hosts for the evening before his eyes stung and tears ran down his face. Stephanos glanced at him in the rear-view mirror:

"You really are a girl. You're crying again."

Christina turned and added:

"Stop it now. I'm a girl and I'm about to cry too."

Luckily they reached home a few minutes later.

After breakfast the next morning it was time for Tom to say goodbye to Christina. Almost four weeks ago he had been sitting very shyly next to this wonderful woman on the balcony. Now he hugged her and kissed her on both cheeks. He wanted to say thank you, but no words seemed to fit. He would never forget how Christina helped him when he was downtrodden when the secret police had threatened him.

"Stop it, stop it. This is my girlfriend," Stephanos protested. Tom went along with his teasing:

"What's the penalty for kissing a married woman? After all, I can't get engaged to her."

"There's only the death penalty, my friend, remember it well."

Laughing, Stephanos and Tom went to the car.

On the way to the airport, Stephanos kept glancing in the rearview mirror and finally turned to Tom in an ironic conspiratorial way:

"Take a look in the mirror. What do you see?"

Tom noticed a Ford in which, despite the green sunscreen stripe at the top of the windshield, two men were blurred out, their foreheads flashing the familiar letters: "POLICE."

"Do they actually have nothing else to do?" said Tom. He didn't feel like talking, and Stephanos showed enough empathy not to force a conversation on him. Tom sat with music playing in his head and he tried to inhale the smells of the big city into his lungs one last time.

The airport was hectic. The holiday was not only over for Tom - many Greek families were also on their way back to their workplaces in Germany with loads of luggage. They didn't have to wait long at the LTF counter. When he got his boarding pass, they went to a restaurant and ordered coffee.

"Hey Gangster, can I come with you?" Tom jumped up and hugged his friend who had come to the airport with Yannis and his father. He was indescribably happy to see Nikos again. The farewell the evening before had turned out to be quite short in the turmoil of the party.

Nikos took him by the hand, said a few words to Stephanos and then led Tom back into the entrance hall. There, Sophia and her brother were waiting in their best Duckburg uniforms. Nikos handed Tom over to his girlfriend and took a few steps away with Georgios.

Tom put his arms around Sophia and kissed her tenderly on the mouth, very lightly, and then the two held each other silently in each other's arms, until a voice declared:

"FIRST CALL FOR LTF FLIGHT TO DUESSELDORF. PASSENGERS ARE REQUESTED TO PROCEED TO GATE 4."

"This is not the end," Sophia whispered.

"No, this is not the end," Tom replied.

***

The secret policeman watched the farewell scene through the one-way mirror in the "O" of the huge "Olympic" lettering above the scoreboard. His summary was modest. This German boy Tom had cost his agency more than 200 man-hours and the result was almost zero. He was sure that Tom had made several courier trips and spied on places right under their noses. More than once he had led his agents astray. Where did he get this training from? Oddly enough, the secret service agent wasn't upset. He was almost looking forward to the second round of their game, because he was convinced that he would encounter Tom again.

***

Tom stared out the window until the scattered clouds merged into a soft white carpet over Yugoslavia. He fell asleep and dreamt he was floating underwater, surrounded by colorful fish and all the people he had come to know and love over the past few weeks.

Suddenly, however, he was sitting in the tall grass of the African savannah. A hyena with a light spot over its eyes snuggled up to his knees. He scratched the soft fur behind her ears, and her voice rang in his head:

"I'm waiting for you."