Prologue
“I don’t deserve a soul, yet I still have one. I know because it hurts.” (Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief)
As the two young people got rigged out with their scuba gear, the boat owner was busy, so not paying too much attention. A young man had hired the boat, The Eleni, very late the night before. The nights were drawing in, the weather was getting less predictable, and the number of tourists around the island was not sufficient to continue. Danny, the boat owner, had not planned to take the boat out again that season and was clearing down and tidying up on the wharf when the young man had approached him. Danny explained that he was finished for the season and that all the diving apparatus had been removed by Danny’s co-boat owner, Nick, to enable a thorough clean before putting the boat to sleep for the off season. Nick Charalambous, a long-time friend of Danny’s and now his business partner in this venture, had gone home to the U.K the previous day and Danny himself was returning to his father’s olive grove further inland on the island, to help out there until it was time to shake out the sails and hit the tourist trade again.
Danny rarely went to sea with passengers without Nick and was not inclined to change that pattern of behaviour. However, nothing seemed to deter the man who gave his name as Kendal Campbell-Welles. He had pleaded very touchingly that this was a dream of a life time; and playing to what he imagined was a Greek weakness for romance, he confided that he and his new wife were on their honeymoon. He seemed to brook no argument, and nothing seemed to deter him. He waved away the absence of the diving gear and said that it was no problem and that he could easily provide it himself, indeed, with all due respect to Danny and not in any way showing any lack of confidence in his equipment, he would actually prefer to do so. So, he would not take no for an answer, and as an extra inducement, and one that would play on Danny’s mind long afterwards, he offered a significantly higher rate of remuneration than Danny was used to and had ever dreamed of charging. He just could not turn that kind of money down it was the difference between a mediocre season and a celebratory one. So the deal was agreed. They would meet up the next morning, 7.30 a.m to get in a full morning’s diving, returning to shore in time for the man and his new bride to easily prepare to catch an evening flight.
