One Step Ahead

by J. J. Kapka

  “I need to use a phone,” Maddie pleaded. She then rushed on to explain what had happened to her, but the more she spoke, the more the young man knitted his brows, obviously lost after the first three or four words. Backtracking, Maddie said simply, “Telephone?”

  “Yes, yes. There is phone,” he answered, happy that he could at least understand one part of what she’d said. He took her back behind a curtain to where the kitchen was. Waving and gesticulating to the cook, he led her to a small desk with a circa 1950s phone sitting on it.

  Maddie stared blankly at it, realizing she had no idea who to call. “Santorini?” she said helplessly.

  “Yes, Santorini. Who?” the man replied, picking up the phone as if to dial.

  “I…don’t know,” Maddie said helplessly. “Boat? Marina? Rescue?” She just couldn’t figure out how to convey her meaning. How stupid is this? Maddie thought to herself. How could she make a phone call when she had no idea how to reach Becker? Of course, there wasn’t a phonebook in sight, not that she knew how to read Greek even if there was one.

  Reluctantly, Maddie admitted defeat. Tossing her hands in the air, she turned on her heel and headed back out the door.

  Scratching his head, the bewildered young man followed her. He stood leaning out the door to see where she went. When she turned up the side street, he ran down to the corner to see which house she went into. When he saw her go down the path of the old fisherman’s house, he shook his head in confusion and went back to the tavern to spend the rest of the evening speculating with the others as to exactly what Maddie might be doing here and what all that business with the phone was about.

  ~~~

  July 24—Morning

  After all she’d been through the previous day, and despite her uncertain future, it hadn’t taken long for Maddie to sink into a deep, exhausted sleep. When she woke up and looked at her watch, she saw it was nine o’clock. It was easy to get ready for the day, since all she had were the clothes on her back. Opening her bedroom door, she expectantly listened for sounds of the old man. Not hearing a thing, Maddie stepped into the kitchen and found that he’d left her a hard-boiled egg and some bread, butter, and tea. Maddie realized he must have long since gone out on his boat.

  Oh, how sweet, Maddie thought, her heart melting. This poor old man really did take such good care of me. Her heart welled with gratitude, and she felt a tear spill onto her cheek. Settling onto the stool, she slowly ate her breakfast, all the while trying to figure out how exactly she was going to get back to Santorini.

  She was deep in thought when a slight movement caught her eye. Startled, she looked up to see a man peering in the kitchen window at her, motioning for her to come outside. Maddie recognized him as the man from the night before. Jumping up, she ran into the bedroom to grab her fanny pack before dashing back into the kitchen and out the door.

  “Come,” the man said.

  “What’s going on?” Maddie asked, not wanting to simply go off without knowing why.

  “I…you…phone,” the man suggested, trying to be as helpful as his limited vocabulary allowed.

  Maddie took a deep breath and hoped that what he meant was that he had a number—any number—for her to call in Santorini. That was all the convincing she needed before setting off eagerly by his side while they walked back to the phone.

  A fair-sized crowed had gathered on the street outside the humble restaurant, and the sight of Maddie sent up a buzz of busy conversation. A great deal of pointing and whispering ensued, as the man parted the crowd to lead her through the doorway and back to the phone. Consulting a slip of paper in his pocket, he picked up the heavy handset and proceeded to dial a number. When the connection went through, his face lit up, and he commenced a long conversation, followed by what felt like a very long wait. Meanwhile, the crowd had migrated inside and gathered in the kitchen, waiting expectantly for something to happen, whatever that might be.

  At last, the young man holding the phone handed it over to Maddie. “You talk,” he managed.

  “To who?” she asked, but the phone was already in her hand, so she raised it to her ear and simply said, “Hello?”

  “Maddie,” a voice said excitedly, “it’s Theo.”

  Maddie nearly dropped the phone in surprise. “Theo?” she asked, “How did you find me? Where’s Becker? How can I get out of here?” The questions came out in a rush, and Maddie’s heart was ready to soar out of her chest.

  “There were search parties sent out of here yesterday to look along the coastline where you’d disappeared. Becker and I had gone out in a motorboat to look for you, but all we found was your Hobie Cat. Becker had binoculars and saw a little fishing boat too far away for us to catch, but on the chance that maybe you were on it, the word was put out to all the harbors on the neighboring islands. The place where you are is too small even to be part of that network, but a fishing boat from a bigger town on your island pulled in there this morning to pick up a relative. When he told the relative about all the commotion, the guy got all excited, because apparently you’d been the talk of the town last night. So, one thing led to another, and they just called me over to talk to you to determine if you’re the same one who went missing.”

  “Yep, that’s me,” Maddie said guiltily. “Oh, Theo, I should have listened to your first instinct not to let me go. It was stupid of me to think that I could handle the Hobie on open water all by myself on the same day I had just had my first lesson.”

  Theo tried to reassure her. “Look,” he said, “that’s not important anymore. What’s important is that you’re safe. Becker is a wreck. He’s practically hysterical and hasn’t slept all night, hoping that some word of you might come in. I’ve been running between the boat and the office here to see if there were any updates. I’d just left the office when they ran out to bring me back because of the phone call. Wait till I tell Becker the news.”

  ~~~

  The Becker Chronicles—July 24, Morning

  Becker saw Nick look over at him after their all-night vigil, and he could feel the pity in his glance. He knew how he looked from glimpsing himself in the mirror in passing when he went to the galley for the umpteenth time to refill his coffee cup. His eyes were lost in dark circles and the bags surrounding them, and the lines furrowing his brow had gotten deeper and deeper as the fruitless search had drawn on and then been abandoned after darkness fell. He knew deep in his heart what Nick must be thinking, but he wasn’t ready to confront that inevitability just yet. Instead, he kept downing the coffee and scanning the horizon as though Maddie would miraculously come out of the rolling blue, and everything would be whole again.

  Grimly, he sipped the latest hot cup, grateful that it burned his tongue and distracted him from the awful pain in his heart. A million times he’d replayed in his head what should have happened the day before. He should not have let Maddie take the Hobie Cat out solo in the first place, or he should have grabbed a motorboat sooner to go out and rescue her. Or, better yet, he could have split up with Theo, with one going to tell the authorities and the other heading out in the small boat. No matter how many ways he sliced it, he knew that he had failed Maddie by letting this happen, although he still couldn’t think about what “this” was. He tried with every fiber of his being to avoid that thought.

  “Becker!”

  Startled out of his introspection, Becker turned to see Theo barreling down the docks, leaping and waving his hands.

  His heart in his throat, Becker jumped up and leaped over the seat backs, nearly crashing into the deck in his hurry to make his way to the dockside of the boat. By the time he had recovered from the near-fall, only to stumble over a rope, Theo was at his side.

  “They found her! They found her!”

  Becker fell to his knees, weeping uncontrollably. The dreaded outcome had happened.

  A look of horror crossed Theo’s face at Becker’s reaction. Bending down, Theo scrambled onto his knees, too, and shouted into Becker’s ear, “She’s aliv
e!”

  Unable to believe what he’d just heard, Becker tried as best he could to stop sobbing and looked beseechingly into Theo’s eyes. “What?”

  Theo grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Maddie’s alive!”

  Becker started trembling, as wave after wave of relief began pouring through him.

  “Get up,” Theo commanded. “She’s on the phone in the office, waiting to talk to you.”

  In a blur, Becker was off his knees and sprinting down the dock as though he’d been shot out of a cannon. He flew through the office doors and looked wildly around for the phone. A huge grin on his face, a man at a desk held the receiver aloft. Becker rushed over to grab it, his hand shaking so badly that the receiver knocked against his ear and his chin. “M-Maddie?” he stammered.

  “Oh, Becker.”

  He’d never heard sweeter words in his life.

  “I’m so sorry.” Maddie had started sobbing. “I can’t imagine what I’ve put you through. Are you okay?”

  Becker laughed through his tears, the warm sensation of utter relief having taken over his body. “Am I okay? That’s one for the record books.” Maddie’s crying made him want to reach through the phone and somehow pull her close to him so they could comfort each other and never let go.

  “Becker, I love you,” Maddie whispered through her tears. “I need you,” she added.

  “I love you, too, Maddie, I love you, too. And I’ll show you how much as soon as we can somehow get back together again.” Becker paused, trying to think clearly. The problem is, how are we going to do that?

  ~~~

  July 25—Athens Airport, Early Evening

  Maddie scanned the arrivals board for the hundredth time, willing Becker’s long-delayed flight from Santorini to finally arrive. She’d been standing in the arrivals lounge for six hours. Apparently a summer lightning storm had forced the island’s airport to close, and as far as she could tell, it still hadn’t reopened.

  She herself had spent the better part of the last day and a half trying to make her way to this reunion with Becker. After much consultation together on the phone and then again with the locals, with translation assistance from Theo, they had finally come up with a workable solution.

  First, the owners of the sailboat had arrived shortly after Becker and Maddie had their first phone call, and they had decided on the spot to move the boat back to Mykonos for the remainder of the repairs, which were mostly cosmetic in nature. The work crew on Santorini had made it stable enough for sailing, and the owners were anxious to move it out as soon as possible so that they could keep an eye on the rest of the repairs before they needed it for their own sailing holiday the next week.

  That had left Becker trying to locate local accommodations at the height of the tourist season, which turned out to be impossible. Every hotel was booked solid. Though a few locals who’d been involved in the rescue efforts were willing to open their homes to them, Maddie and Becker weren’t willing to spend their reunion night under the watchful eyes of a sheltering family.

  Casting about for other options, Becker had proposed going to Maddie’s island, but she’d only laughed and informed him of the severely limited facilities in her little town. So, they both agreed to simply meet up again in Athens. As much as they’d enjoyed most of their sojourn in Greece, the previous day’s disastrous events made them anxious to move on to their next stop, Bangkok. Consulting with a travel agent there on Santorini, Becker had been able to secure their onward bookings from Athens to Bangkok. But seats together were hard to come by at this late date, and the best he could do was the following night.

  While Becker was fleshing out the details of their onward flights, Maddie learned that it was going to be no small task to get off her island. The locals didn’t share her sense of immediacy and weren’t anxious to go out of their way to make a trip to Santorini, since it would cut precious hours out of their fishing day. They were, however, willing to shuttle her to a bigger town on the next island over. Since the fleet had already departed for the day by the time Maddie had reconnected with Becker on the phone, she couldn’t get out again till the following morning.

  Becker arranged with the Santorini travel agent for Maddie’s onward plane connection from that town into Athens and for his own trip to Athens the next day as well. Rather than go through the bother of flying to Athens and getting a hotel for just the one night, he decided he might as well sleep over at the house of one of the locals. Maddie won’t be with me, anyway.

  At last, they thought they’d worked out all the permutations and had regretfully bid each other goodnight. Knowing they were going to see each other again the next day after all they’d both been through made the intervening wait almost unbearable. Maddie had tossed and turned throughout the night and was more than ready to be underway by the time the fisherman came knocking for her at 5:00 a.m.

  The trip on the fishing boat to the next island and from there via plane had been uneventful. Becker’s flight had been due only two hours after her own, but with a sinking feeling, Maddie had watched as the summer storm interfered with their best-laid plans, and Becker’s arrival time suffered one delay after another.

  Nervously looking at the departures board, Maddie saw that they were now calling their flight to Bangkok. She headed over to the counter to explain their situation and to plead for a late check-in for Becker, but it was just her luck she’d chosen the agent who was having the worst day. The elderly woman steadfastly shook her head and refused to consider any departure from the rule that check-ins would be closed one hour before the flight.

  Looking for a solution, Maddie asked to move their flight to the next day. The woman consulted her computer and informed her that the flights were solidly booked for the next two weeks. However, she did have one seat for the next night due to a late cancellation.

  Maddie thanked her and stepped back to try to think things through. What can I do? She’d been expecting Becker to bring her baggage, and so she wasn’t prepared to spend the night alone in Athens. But then again, she couldn’t see them hanging around the city for the next two weeks, either. As much as she hated to admit it, they would once again have to travel separately. She stepped forward and changed Becker’s reservation to fly out the next night. Before going through customs, she left a message with the local airline to be passed on to Becker when he arrived.

  Maddie moved on to the gate, still hoping against hope that Becker might make it in the nick of time. With the flight due in thirty minutes, the airline began seating passengers. Just as her plane took off, Maddie suddenly realized she’d forgotten to mention in the message to Becker how they would meet up in Bangkok. Damn. She finally concluded that she’d just be sure to come back to the airport and meet him since she already knew what flight he’d be coming in on. It made her nuts to think they’d have to be apart for yet another day, but Maddie resolved to make it up to him. If it wasn’t for her foolishness, they wouldn’t be in this situation.

  ~~~

  The Becker Chronicles—Blasted Santorini Again

  “Damn,” Becker said under his breath, as he stood at the gate and heard that his flight had been delayed because of the thunderstorm that had moved in just as they were getting ready to board. This definitely hadn’t been built into their plan, but luckily, he still had a few hours of slack, and this storm would likely pass right over.

  Unfortunately, the storm decided to dig in its heels and have its way with the island for several hours. As the day passed, hour by agonizing hour, Becker felt like he did nothing but consult his watch and continually calculate whether they’d have enough time to catch their flight to Bangkok. The point of no return came and went, with Becker furious at once again having a wrench thrown into the works in his attempts to be with his wife.

  The plane finally was cleared for takeoff at the very same moment that their flight to Bangkok was likely taking off from Athens. Looking out the window and down to the island where they’d experienced all manner of hig
hs and lows, Becker shook his head. He hoped when he saw Maddie again in Athens, she wouldn’t be too out of sorts because they missed their flight to Bangkok.

  Chapter 10

  Bangkok

  Tom Yam Soup—Spicy Delight

  July 26—Early Afternoon

  Maddie emerged, blinking, from the plane and started making her way toward customs. As always, she hadn’t been able to sleep a wink on the flight. That, combined with yesterday’s snafu with Becker’s flight, made her exceedingly cranky. It was all she could do to muster a smile for the immigration clerk. She figured she’d better smile to distract him from the fact that her clothes—and she herself—were starting to get a bit fragrant. She’d hoped to do a quick change at the Athens airport when Becker arrived, but of course, that wasn’t meant to be.

  Thank goodness for the airport’s frigid air conditioning. The agent, obviously not affected by her scent, smiled back and quickly stamped her passport.

  The ambient conditions turned against her, though, when she passed through the automatic doors onto the sidewalk outside. The heat and humidity hit her like a brick wall. Just working her way over to the taxi stand was enough to make her break into a sweat, something her overworked clothes definitely did not need. Sliding into a taxi, Maddie was grateful to find that it, too, was blissfully air-conditioned. She leaned forward and said, “Oriental Hotel.”

  With a knowing nod, the driver took off.

  The long flight had afforded Maddie the opportunity to formulate her plan for giving Becker the welcome he deserved. She was unashamedly going to steal a page from Becker’s playbook, but she wasn’t sure if one short day was enough time to make all the arrangements. She had hoped to spend the taxi ride organizing her thoughts, but once again, she found herself at the mercy of a kamikaze driver. The long trip into the city was a series of hair-raising maneuvers at the expense of all the other traffic trying to do the same thing. Maddie was only able to sit back and look around at her first glimpse of Asia when they got closer to the city and started hitting the bumper-to-bumper traffic for which Bangkok was notorious.