5. Labyrinth

  

                                                                  LABYRINTH

 

     The Mbira’s dripping, sparkling tones lifted Dan awake. A breeze had picked up. Buck was nowhere to be seen. Lucia was asleep on the deck chair beside him. He rested his hand on her arm. She smiled and opened her eyes.
     “Daniel.”, she stretched her arms and legs. “You looked so comfortable, so I joined you. How do you feel?”
     “Better.”, he breathed, relishing the sight of her lying next to him “Have I been asleep long? ”
      “I’m not sure. I’ve been asleep too. What are you listening to?”
     He pulled the ear buds from his ears. “A chorus of Mbiras.”
     She frowned. “A chorus of what?”
    He plugged the buds into her ears. Her eyes widened. “Oh my God! That’s beautiful! What is it?”
     “African thumb pianos. What time is it?”
     “African what?”  A dreamy look came over her face. She looked at her watch. “Four thirty. Gladys and Nadine said we dock sometime early next morning. We’ll wake up in port. They’re going to stay on the cruise. They calmed me down. They told me the island people are always happy. It’s the Greeks on the mainland who are trouble. I think we should stay on the cruise as well.” She took the ear buds from her ears and handed them back to him. “You certainly gave an award-winning performance for them. Thank you. They are going shopping for jewelry tomorrow and asked if we would join them.”
     “No thanks”, he said, batting the image of the fanged shrews out of his mind. “Let’s not talk politics for a while. Let’s not see anyone for a while. Let’s get to know each other. We seem to have a comparable appreciation of Greek food. That’s two things we have in common. Tell me about yourself. Why are you taking a cruise all by yourself? A beautiful woman like you should have a consort. Don’t tell me you’re licking your wounds from a recent divorce.”
     “Yes!”, she blurted.
     “I’m sorry. Was it nasty? Are there children?”
     “No and no.”, she said, looking down at the deck. “It was a long marriage. It was a good marriage. Neither of us wanted children. We just grew apart and one day we realized it. He has a business, Real Estate, in L.A. for many years, then Palm Springs when that took off. He was successful for a long time so we weathered the recession. I have an interior design business. It’s been dicey these days but the settlement made me comfortable and now I’m starting all over again.”
     “We’re both at loose ends, it seems.”, smiled. Dan “I was in the restaurant business, owned a couple of bars, a restaurant, but booze and drugs and entertaining an endless parade of leeches almost got the better of me so I got a divorce too.”
     “You were a bartender?”, grinned Lucia. “I’ve always had a little fantasy about a bartender.”
     “Fantasy fulfilled and you didn’t even know it.”
     She climbed into his deck chair. “You must have had a lot of women.”
     He rolled on his side to let her in. “As many as there are stars in the sky.”
     “Tell me.”, she laughed as she rolled over on her back and threw her arms over her  head. “What drew you to the restaurant business?”
    “Nobody else would have me. Then I found that you’re on stage all the time. You
can reinvent yourself fifteen times a night. You have a captive audience: lonely men and women, angry men and women, men and women filled with the ecstasy of life, young, innocent souls still dripping with embryonic fluid. You’re a therapist, a very cheap therapist, a marriage counselor, a court jester, a cop, a clown, a whore, a politician but that’s redundant, a symphony director. A symphony director! On a busy night, you can look over the players, lift your arms, let the din fill you and sometimes, if you’re lucky hear the applause build and build.”
     Lucia placed her fingers on his lips. “That’s what it’s like when we make love.”
     “Ah come on, darlin’.”, he smiled. “You’ve had one too many. Time to go home.”
     Lucia took his collar in her hand. “And I’m there with you when the audience explodes.”
     He looked into her eyes. “You’re God damn right you are.”
     She leaned over him and kissed him. “We have something very special but there are worlds between us.” She seemed to catch herself. “Where was your restaurant?”
     “In San Francisco.” He took her chin in his hand and changed the subject. "Are you an interior decorator?”
     “I know a lot of people, a lot of society.”, she said, lifting her nose slightly.  “I like antiques. They bring history into the home. It can be very difficult but very rewarding. Now, because of the economy, it’s difficult. A friend suggested a cruise, something to take my mind off the divorce and the business.”
     That comment brought Dan back to Patmos. “I thought you came to Greece to see where Democracy began before it ends.”
     The smile faded from her face. She gazed at the sea. “I don’t know why I said what I said. I don’t believe all that.” A strained look replaced the contemplative. “I mean, I do believe it.  Everyone does. Everyone I know does. I don’t know why I said it all to you. Maybe I was hoping you would agree with me but just looking at you, listening to you, I knew you wouldn’t. Maybe I wanted to drive you away because I was so scared of my attraction to you. But when you took it as a challenge, when you grabbed me and seemed so turned on, I just kept going. And it was wonderful, wasn’t it, Daniel?”
     “Wonderful in a dirty sort of way.”, He muttered.
     Lucia put her hand on his leg and offered a shy grin. “I’ve never experienced anything so - dirty.”  She stood up from the deck chair and stretched out her hand. “It’s getting chilly out here. Would you like to give me your side of the argument in my suite, in bed?”
     He took her hand and stood. “No more politics, no more arguments, no more lifeboats, just you and me, just us.”
     This time it wasn’t phosphorus and Armageddon. It wasn’t stinking rage and stinking arrogance. It wasn’t diving in and wallowing like pigs in shit. It was embers, glowing coals. It was a smoky dance sipping and inhaling each other. It was twisting, repetitious harmony. It was poetry. It was Kerala.
     Lucia insisted they dress for dinner in her suite. He relented and knocked on her door with his dinner clothes in one hand and a bottle of scotch in the other. He poured two shots and gave her a glass. She reluctantly accepted it and after touching glasses took a sip. She screwed her face dramatically and swallowed. She offered a dainty cough. There was no drama on the second taste, or the third. They dressed completely self-absorbed and without a word, not looking at each other until she finally tore herself away from the mirror and joined him on the balcony where he was waiting for her. She complained that she was not used to drinking before dinner. He rolled his eyes. They sat silently for some time looking at the sinking sun. He rose and offered his arm. He told her they had to stop at the bar for a drink. There was someone he wanted her to meet.
     Buck was at the bar as Dan expected. He was alone with Snezhana. A smile creased her stoic face for a fraction of a second when she saw the two of them walk in.
     Buck turned slowly as Dan pulled up a stool next to him and offered it to Lucia. He grinned as she sat down. “Hiya, doll. Enjoyin’ the cruise?”
     Lucia seemed taken aback. Dan introduced them. “Lucia, this is Buck. We had a couple of pops before dinner last night.”
     Lucia put on the charm. “It’s very nice to meet you. I am enjoying the cruise very much indeed. Greece is so beautiful and I am very happy with the ship. My accommodations are more than adequate and the restaurant is quite good. Have you been to Greece before?”
     Buck’s face went blank. He stared at her for a moment then turned back to his drink. “Yup.”
     So much for first impressions, thought Dan. “Lucia, I would like you to meet Snezhana. She is from Bulgaria.”
     Lucia tried again. “Snezhana! What a lovely name. I’ve never heard it before. Is there an equivalent in English?”
     Snezhana poured a double scotch on the rocks and set it on the bar in front of Dan. “Snow woman.”, She grunted. “You want drink?”
       “I’ll have a gin and tonic, please.” Lucia turned to Dan with a confused look on her face. “Well, what did you and Buck have to talk about?”
     “Music.”, said Dan sheepishly as he pulled the iPod out of his pocket and handed it to Buck.
     Lucia’s eyebrows arched as her eyes followed the exchange. She turned to Buck. “Music? What kind of music?”
     Buck looked into her green eyes. His face was expressionless. His brown eyes seemed to darken. His voice was low and rich. “Goldberg Variations.”
     Snezhana was about to set the gin and tonic on the bar. She paused. A smile slowly spread across Lucia’s face. “I love the Goldberg Variations.”, she whispered. “Each one is a wonderful world. When I listen to variation five, I see the parched earth rejoicing at the pattering of rain that grows and grows into a deluge.”
     Buck turned on the bar stool and leaned toward Lucia. “I see a man kissin’ away his baby’s tears in fifteen.”
     Lucia seemed entranced. “In variation eleven, two lovers talk with bated breath on a summer’s day.”
     Buck’s voice was a hushed basso profundo. “In sixteen, hands all over each other’s bodies slow at first, testin' and proddin’ and gigglin’ then faster and faster ‘til you move into seventeen and you really get goin‘, kissin’ and grabbin’ and -.”
     Snezhana slammed Lucia’s drink on the bar. “Gin and Tonic!”
     Lucia jumped. She looked at Snezhana and smiled. “Thank you.” She picked up her
drink, turned her back to the bar and leaned over to place a hand on Buck’s shoulder. “You know, Buck, I don’t think I have ever met someone so familiar with the Variations. Cheers.”
     “Cheers!”, Dan announced a little too loudly. “Buck is a font of knowledge when it comes to music. We had quite a talk over a couple of drinks.”
     “You’re not going to tell me that two guys talked about nothing but music over a couple of drinks, are you?” , laughed Lucia. “What else was so interesting?”
     “Greece.”, said Buck abruptly.
     “Well of course!”, Lucia eyes widened. “Here we are on a wonderful cruise of the Greek islands and those hooligans in Athens have to ruin everything just because they’re greedy and they got caught.”
     Dan put his hand to his forehead and glanced at the bartender. He didn’t like what he saw. She was staring at Lucia with an astonished look on her face that was quickly turning to anger. Her voice was low. “Who tell you that, lady?”
     Lucia jumped again. This time she was annoyed. “It’s common knowledge. Everyone knows it, at least everyone I know.”
     Dan felt a bout of ptomaine poisoning coming on. “Lucia, please. No politics.”
     But it was too late. Snezhana leaned across the bar and put her face close to Lucia’s. “Greeks not greedy. Fascists steal Greece from Greeks.”
     Lucia was clueless. “Fascists? What on earth are you talking about? Italians?”
     “Fascists bastard child of big money and big power.", growled Snezhana. “Fascists like roaches. Hide in kitchen. Wait for dark. Give Fascists food because lazy and no clean kitchen then Fascists everywhere. Greece lazy. America lazy. World lazy. Must close kitchen and poison. March around with signs, Fascists laugh. You have great black man in America that march around with sign and Fascists laugh. Great black man get bullet in neck. Black people rise up and burn cities and Fascists listen. Fascists not listen to signs. Fascists listen to fire and guns. Fascists listen when Fascists dead. I read about America. Americans children. Americans always win, never lose, never see boots of enemy. America think America belong to Americans. America belong to Fascists. Everyone think free, free at last. Is joke. Fascists steal money, break country and get more money. Fascists think break more, steal more. No Fascists in jail. No Fascists hang from lamp posts. No clean kitchen, no kitchen.”
     Lucia took a long draw from her drink. A broad smile bloomed on Buck’s face. He began to slowly clap. Snezhana turned her chin in the air, picked up a glass and began to polish it. Dan heard the door of the bar swing open. Before he could turn to see who was coming in, Lucia jumped from her stool. “Gladys! Nadine! What a surprise!”
     The two hags made a regal entrance. Their evening dresses shimmered. Their jewels flashed and their pearls glowed. They floated toward the bar, heads rotating slowly, arms moving from side to side like clockwork automatons. Dan sighed a silent sigh. Snezhana offered a stiff, professional smile. Buck turned on his stool. His face went blank. He turned back to the bar and his bourbon.
     They touched down at Lucia’s side. Nadine swung her arm grandly and offered Dan her hand. “Daniel, darling. We are so glad to see you again. How handsome you look. I trust you had a relaxing afternoon?”
     “I did, and you?” He helped her on to a stool where she perched her grand ass and swayed slowly, almost imperceptibly like a dozing vulture.
     Gladys stood staring at Buck’s broad back waiting in vain for him to offer her his stool. “We had a problem with the food.”
     Lucia helped Gladys on to her stool. “No! You weren’t sick were you?”
   “Oh, Gladys!”, admonished Nadine. “It was just a little indigestion.”
     Gladys shuffled her shoulders and surveyed the room. “I made my complaints known to the purser.” She gave Snezhana a cold once over. “Bourbon and water.”
     “I’ll have a strawberry daiquiri!”, Nadine chirped. “Can you make me a strawberry daiquiri?”
     Snezhana was pouring the bourbon and water. She did not look up. “No berries in bar.”
     “No berries in bar? Well, what can you make me that’s light and fruity?”
     The bartender pushed Gladys’ drink toward her. “Vodka stinger.”
     “Why that’s not fruity at all!”, sniffed Nadine. “A vodka stinger? I mean, really.” But before a frown could form on her face, her eyes opened in reminiscence. “A vodka stinger! I haven’t had one of those in years and I used to drink oodles of them at lunch! Why I think that’s a grand idea, young lady. I’ll have a vodka stinger.”
     Lucia broke in. “Nadine, Gladys, I would like you to meet Snezhana. It means Snow Woman in Bulgarian.” She shot the bartender a quick, condescending smile.
     “That’s so exotic.”, Nadine cooed as she watched Snezhana pour her drink.
     “Snow Woman. How romantic.” Gladys snipped. She turned to look again at Buck’s back. “And who is the large man with the large back?”
     Lucia put her hands on Buck’s shoulders and turned him to face the music. “This is Buck. Buck, I would like you to meet Gladys and Nadine, two very dear friends of mine. Buck and I were discussing the Goldberg Variations before you came in.”
     Buck touched a finger to his forehead. “Ladies.”
     “The Goldberg Variations?” Nadine looked him up and down, took a swallow of her vodka stinger and cleared her throat. “That’s Bach, isn’t it?” She offered a coy smile. “I am very pleased to meet you, sir.”
     Gladys lifted her drink to him. “Still waters run deep, they say. So, big man, are you just going to ignore me?”
     Buck turned back to his drink. “You takin’ a step down not orderin’ call bourbon?”
     The old bird dug her ass into her bar stool and squared her shoulders. “You must have been impressed with me to size me up so thoroughly.”
     The blank look on Buck’s face cracked. “You ain’t so bad.”
     “You, on the other hand are a miserable bastard.”, Gladys sniffed.
     “Guilty as charged.”, said Buck to his drink. “I think under all that attitude might be what’s left of a rosebud.”
     “Touche.”, said Gladys, her eyes blinking in charmed retreat.
     “I’m glad you’ve recovered enough to have a drink before dinner.”, offered Dan.
     Buck’s blunt charm had warmed Gladys’ frosty arrogance but for only a moment. “Well, I’m going to need something to get myself through dinner. I tell you, the service on cruise ships has gone to hell these days.” She caught Snezhana looking at her and turned up her nose.
     Buck shook his head. “I don’t mind an old dinosaur or two to add a little flavor to the pot. The problem is, I seen plenty of young people who fit right in with you, your highness.”
     Gladys pressed her lips. “I should think so. Why there are two right here in the bar with us, aren’t there Lucia? Tell me you run a hedge fund, Daniel. I just know you do.”
     “You’re down right psychic!”, smiled Dan, giving Buck a sidelong glance. Lucia gave him a dirty look. “I am a member of an under the radar team that specializes in commodity speculation. Oil has been a gold mine, though that’s not going to last. We’re getting into food speculation now. All of Wall Street is. The handwriting is on the wall.  Sovereign Wealth Funds are jumping at buying up third world farmland, bumping the local peasants out and filling it with genetically modified monoculture. My fund opened its farmland portfolio to investors this year.”
     “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Daniel.”, beamed Gladys. “Those people have had all that land for eons and they never knew what to do with it. If they can’t make any money on it then somebody should.”
      Gladys’ enthusiasm chilled Dan but he kept spinning. “What they need is some good old American know how. Ninety percent of our corn and soy and potato crops are genetically modified and we’re producing more food than any other country. A little taxpayer subsidy helps of course and why shouldn’t it?  We’re developing GM crops of every kind. We’ll soon be eating nothing but. And don’t worry about those naysayers warning it might not be good for you. The EPA and the FDA have cleared all the studies on the safety of GM crops that have been done by the giant chemical companies who create them.”
     Buck offered a sinister smile. “They’re even buyin’ up all the seed banks in the world. They’re gonna have control of the world’s food faster than shit through a tin horn.”
     Nadine was engrossed. “My God, I’m going to have a talk with my broker when I get back.”
     Lucia was flustered. “Oh, Nadine, I think they’re taking you for a ride.”
     “They are not.”, snapped Gladys. “How can you go wrong with a company that owns the world’s food supply? What’s the name of your under the radar hedge fund?”

     Dan hesitated for a moment then whispered, “Guzzleswill, Chunder and Spew. Invitation only.”

     Gladys arched an eyebrow. Buck choked on his drink. Lucia patted his back and rolled her eyes.

     Nadine’s eyes took a slight cross under a frown. “Chunder and what? Spoo? Spyoo? That’s not Chinese is it?”
     “One hundred percent American! The most profitable angle of all this is the volatility.”, Dan continued. “All these commodities didn’t used to be very volatile at all but now everything is volatile so we might as well cash in on it. And the wonderful thing is, the more we cash in on it, the more volatile it gets. Life is dangerous. We’re all in a lifeboat in a storm. We could sink any minute or land in El Dorado. So, what do you do? Sit there and piss and moan or open a bottle of champagne and make love?”
     Lucia blushed. Buck raised his glass.  “Here’s to America, the greatest country in the world.”
     “And here’s to all of us!”, beamed Nadine.  “And to this wonderful cruise, to these two young lovebirds, and to bravado in the face of impending doom!”
     Gladys shot her a look. “Impending doom? Oh, Nadine, put a cork in it.”
     Nadine took another swallow out of her vodka stinger. “But it’s true, Gladys! Heavens to Betsy! The Greeks are rioting, the British are rioting! They surrounded Prince Charles and Camila’s Limo and screamed ‘Off with their heads!’ All of the Arabs are rioting! Even that horrible Clinton woman was aghast that the ‘dear friend of her family’, President Mubarac was arrested. Goodness gracious, I’m aghast! And at home there are all those idiots in Wisconsin taking over the capital and threatening the governor just because he had to cut the bloated salaries of the public-school teachers. That sort of thing is only going to spread, Gladys when you have a Communist, Socialist, Nazi, Bolshevik in the White House!”
     Buck grinned devilishly at Nadine. “I can just see the look on your face when they lay you out on your belly, clamp your head in the guillotine and you get a good look at all them heads in the basket below you.”
     All the color in Nadine’s face slipped away. Gladys’ mouth dropped open. “You know, that sort of speech under the Patriot Act could be considered support for terrorism, material or otherwise. If I were you, I’d watch what I say. Someone could report you.”
     “Why don’t you have another chat with the purser? Be my guest, Comrade Battle Ax.”
     Dan heard the door to the bar creak open. Everyone turned to see Bob and Sally make their entrance. They were grinning broadly until they saw Dan. They stopped in their tracks. Then Sally offered him a warm smile. “Dan! I owe you an apology!” Bob heaved a sigh of relief. The two of them walked toward him. He welcomed them in and introduced them to everyone.
     Sally gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned to Gladys. “It’s just so silly. You see Dan was having dinner with us last night when politics came up and before we knew it, things got a little heated, if you can imagine that.” She paused for a moment then turned to Nadine. “I swear your pearls are larger than mine and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for that!”
     The image of bodiless heads staring up at her flew out of Nadine’s brain and the safe thoughts of jewelry embraced her.
     Sally looked at Lucia. “And I am so happy to meet you, Lucia. You just swept us off our feet with that stunning performance last night.”
     Bob gave Lucia a lusty smile. “Boy, did you ever.”
     Gladys winced. “What in the world are they talking about, Lucia?”
      Lucia ignored her. “What will you have? This is Snezhana and she pours a mean drink.”
     “Well, that’s a mouthful!”, leered Bob. “I’ll have a vodka on the rocks and Sally here will have a vodka stinger.”
     “A vodka stinger?”, squealed Nadine. “That’s what I'm having! I’ll have another one, bartender! Who else is thirsty? Why don’t you pour another all the way around? I think we all could use one!” She reached out and touched Sally’s shoulder. “Where are you two from?”
     “We’re from a lovely little town on the Peninsula just south of San Francisco. We’ve lived there for years, and it’s gotten quite exclusive these days.”, Sally answered with a satisfied grin.
     Gladys warmed a bit. “Ah, California. You know it used to be so pink, if you know what I mean, a tax for this and a tax for that. I know several people who have relocated to Florida because they just couldn’t keep a home in tax crazy, socialist California, let alone two or three but it looks like you are finally starting to wise up. I read just the other day that you are thinking about having a holiday for people who put their money in offshore accounts.”
     It was Bob’s turn to smile. “I sure hope so! It would be just great. All you have to do is pay the money back you owe, no penalties or fines or …”, he lowered his voice. “prosecution of any kind.”
     Sally jumped in. “It’s like Christmas in September! I’ll bet you don’t even have to declare anywhere near the money you’ve, well, you know, not declared.”
     Nadine was intrigued. “That’s fabulous. Just throw them a couple of bones so they can support some senior center somewhere or pay off a few Welfare parasites and you’re clean as a whistle. I know congress is going to give the corporations another tax holiday, pennies on the dollar as long as they invest in America.”
     Gladys tittered. “I’m glad someone is finally wising up and giving the private citizen, or should I say job creator the same break.”
     Bob gave Nadine a knowing wink. “And they don’t apply it to everyone. You can’t claim hardship or ignorance.”
     “Ignorance of the law is no excuse!” Nadine burst out laughing. The other three joined in.
     Buck snorted. “Job creators! You gotta be kiddin’ me.”
     “But we are job creators!”, exclaimed Nadine.
     Buck shook his head. “I guess she means the maid and the chauffer.”
     Nadine turned up her nose. “And the gardener. I’ll bet everyone here has some sort of staff. Then there’s the staff at the restaurants we go to and the cast of the plays we go to and the salespeople in the shops and all the people on this ship we employ. I could go on and on.” She gave Snezhana a dismissive glance.
     Gladys smiled at Buck condescendingly. “How many people do you employ, Mr. Holier Than Thou?” She turned back to Dan. “We’re having a fine cocktail hour and, with the exception of the large man at the bar -”. She shot Buck a look. “everyone is having a splendid time!”
     “In vino veritas.”, muttered Buck. “Let’s change the subject.” He looked at Dan. “What are you and your girl gonna do tomorrow on Crete?”
     Dan smiled with relief. “We haven’t discussed it but I hope I can talk her into seeing the ruins of Knossos.”
     “The ship is offering a tour tomorrow.”, said Bob. “Sally and I are going. How could you pass on King Minos’ Palace? It’s so mysterious, you know, Labyrinths and Minotaurs and all.”
     “We are going shopping for jewelry.”, announced Gladys. “Are you going to join us, Lucia?”
     Snezhana was pouring a bourbon and water for Gladys. “Go to Gyorgios in Heraklion. Best place to buy gold in Crete.”
     “I’m sure it is. Did you buy that lovely ring there? “, Gladys sniffed, turning her back on Snezhana before she could reply.
     “Mayka ti duha na mechki v gorata”, muttered Snezhana under her breath. She cut off the water and let the bourbon fill up the glass. She dumped the ice in Nadine’s rocks glass and made her next vodka stinger in a double Old-Fashioned glass.
     Lucia’s interest was piqued. “Nadine, Gladys, why don’t you join us on the tour? We can all go together. I have always had this thing for Minotaurs. We can go shopping later in the day.”
     Sally jumped in. “Oh come on, Ladies. It’ll be awesome!”
     Gladys gave Sally a cold look and took a swig of bourbon. “Awesome?”
     Bob laughed. “You know how it is, Gladys. Your kids have their own vocabulary just like we did. They have ‘awesome’, we had ‘far out’'. You’re always around your kids and you can’t help picking it up. What do you say, Nadine? When are you ever going to get the chance to meet a Minotaur again?”
     Sally smiled lovingly at her husband. “I think it will be wonderful. It’s so nice to get away. Things have been so difficult lately in spite of President Obama’s heart felt effort to get the country back on track again.”
     Nadine raised her double vodka stinger. “We’ll be there! I don’t know about all the rest of you but I’m on this vacation to forget about the fact that my portfolio is in the toilet, that I’m down to a bare bones staff and that we have a Hottentot in the White House!”
     Buck let out a laugh. Sally jerked involuntarily and looked around the room wildly. Snezhana smirked, picked up a glass and began polishing. Bob rolled his eyes. Lucia just stood there with her mouth open. Dan caught Buck looking at him. He smiled. Dan smiled. He grinned. Dan grinned. He started to laugh. Dan followed.
     “What are you laughing at?” It was Sally.
     “They’re laughing at you.” It was Gladys.
     Buck grinned. “I ain’t laughing at her, Comrade. I’m laughin’ at the parrot on the barstool next to you.”
     “Parrot?” squawked Nadine, looking around.
     Sally gathered herself for battle. She glared at Gladys. “Don’t tell me a sophisticated woman like you thinks our President is a Hottentot?”
     “Labels, labels.”, chuckled Gladys. “They come, they go.”
     Dan couldn’t help himself. “Careful, Sally. This one bites.”
     Nadine took a long, delicious draw from her double Old Fashion glass. “Look, Sally. I know what I’m talking about. Obama is a communist. I was no blessed child. My husband and I worked our behinds off to get where we are, where I am. I even spent time in public schools! I saw a report on television the other night about the high school I went to. They’ve turned it into some sort of welfare school for black girls who are pregnant. They baby sit the little bastards and they baby sit the mothers who couldn’t manage to keep their legs together!”
     Lucia frowned. “Nadine, please! I saw that report! It’s for children who are pregnant, young girls!”
     Nadine swayed on her bar stool, her vodka stinger dangling from her fingers. “And those girls are going to tell all their other little pregnant friends to come on over for free room and board. Are we supposed to take care of everybody now?”
     Sally exploded. “What the hell are you going to do with those poor girls, throw them in the garbage can?”
     “That’s where they came from in the first place.”, hissed Gladys. “Maybe you could declare a little more of your offshore money and have them over for dinner.”   
     “Good God, mother!”, exclaimed Bob. “You do bite!”
     “I’m not your mother!”, shot Gladys.
     “I have elected a President who is going to do something about it!”, Sally said proudly, slamming her empty glass on the bar and waving at the bartender for a fill up.
     Buck let loose another burst of laughter. Dan joined him.
     “Why are you laughing?” Sally turned to Dan. “Are you going to just sit there and listen to this? Whose side are you on?”
     Dan picked up his glass and raised it to Sally. “On the side of those who might make an ignorant mistake because of their hardship.”
     “Where did that come from, Daniel?” Gladys’ voice was shrill. “That doesn’t sound like something a member of a hedge fund would say. Showing your true colors, are you? You really do support that, that…”
     “Hedge fund?” Bob was impressed. “Why didn’t you say so? I've got some money sitting around in a savings account collecting point zero percent interest.”
     Sally frowned.  “No wonder you don’t like president -.”
     Buck glared at Gladys. “I don’t think our boy here supports the Yes We Can Clown in the White House any more than you or me, Comrade.”
     Sally whirled around. “The Yes We Can Clown? THE YES WE CAN CLOWN?”
     Gladys was starting to come unhinged. “Stop calling me Comrade! I will make some calls if you are not careful! We don’t tolerate people like you anymore! We don’t have to!” She sucked long and hard on her bourbon and water.  
   Dan gave Buck a concerned look. “Careful, Buck, you don’t want to be disappeared.”
     Gladys’ eyes were beginning to cross. She launched herself at Dan. “You are one of those Wall Street buffoons who gave that Kenyon all that campaign money! You are on thin ice, young man! You threatened to slit my throat this afternoon!”
     Sally put a hand over her mouth. “Why that’s crazy! Dan would never say such a thing!”
     Dan had had enough. “What the hell is it with you people? You should love Obama. He’s one of you! He lied to angry Americans desperate for someone to lead them out of the stinking swamp we’re sinking in. We elected him and he betrayed us!”
     “He wants to help us, Dan!”, pleaded Sally. “He is on our side! You know that! It’s the republicans! It’s the republicans!”
     The vodka stingers were taking Nadine to a wonderful place she missed dearly. “You’re not sending this big, handsome man anywhere, Gladys! Buck, honey, if they send you to Guantanamo, I’ll wait for you!”
     Buck blew her a kiss. “I know you will, gorgeous.”
     Nadine sighed and blushed then turned to Sally and Bob. “But as for you two, what the hell are you doing voting for that, that thing? Are you traitors to your class? Don’t you see these people want to take everything we have all worked so hard for away from us? Buck was right! They want to put an end to us! There will be another French Revolution if we don’t stop them! We have to stop them before they kill again! We have to put them in their place! There are two kinds of people in the world, the powerful and the rest!”
     “This idiot!”, Gladys roared. “This idiot is trying to take us back to the days of that cripple in the White House!”
     “For God’s sake, shut up!” Lucia commanded. “What the hell is this all about? Just because you two are having a little bit less of a grand tour than you usually have, why do you have to spoil everything?”
     Sally looked at Lucia and suddenly came to herself. “Things aren’t so bad that we have to yell at each other.”
     Gladys turned to Lucia. She paused for a moment of venomous sobriety and offered a sticky smile. “Lucia, why are you getting involved? You have no need for politics. All those criminals will keep you in Chanel for the rest of your life.”
     Dan looked at Lucia. Her eyes began to fill. “Lucia, what is she talking about?”
     “Didn’t she tell you?”, gurgled Nadine. “Her ex-husband made a fortune in the private prison industry.”
     “I thought you were an interior decorator.”, Dan blurted idiotically.
     “And I though you owned a restaurant.”, moaned Lucia.
     Gladys and Nadine cackled with savage delight. Tears flowed down Lucia’s face. “Shut up! Both of you shut up!”
     The tension in the air cracked as the door creaked loudly and opened once again. Everyone turned. An elderly woman walked into the bar. Her back was bent with osteoporosis. She was dressed in a kaleidoscope of antique tribal fabric. She moved carefully with the help of an intricately carved cane. Dan stepped toward her. “Would you like a seat?”
     “At the bar.”, she smiled.  The men got off their stools. Dan took her arm. “That won’t be necessary.”, she said quietly but firmly. She hooked her cane on the bar rail and lifted a leg to place a foot on the lower rung of the stool. Dan offered his hand. “Please.”, she smiled and with one hand on the bar rail and a palm on the seat of the stool, she lifted herself up. She raised her head to face Snezhana.. “Will you please pour me a Manhattan up with Maker’s Mark, twist, no cherry, no bitters?”
     Snezhana’s hard face glowed with admiration. She constructed the drink swiftly with a show of professionalism, as a gift. She filled a pint glass with ice then water and set it on the bar. She ran her fingers down a row of overturned stems before selecting one and flipping it over. She placed it on the bar with two fingers and filled it with ice. She emptied the chilled pint glass, refilled it with ice and glanced over her shoulder. One arm reached for the bottle of Maker’s Mark on the back bar while the other reached into the well at her waist to withdraw a bottle of sweet vermouth. She poured with both hands, snapping away the vermouth bottle and dropping it back into the well while the bourbon continued to pour. She turned her wrist and replaced the Maker’s Mark on the back bar without looking. She picked up a stir stick and tentatively dipped it into the Manhattan then slid it in. She slowly spun the stick, whirling the ice faster and faster. She pulled the stir stick out and slapped a sieve onto the top of the pint glass. With a deft flip of her wrist, she emptied the ice from the stem into the ice bin and placed it back where it was, this time twisting it ever so slightly with her two fingers as if to secure it to the bar.  Her hand passed over a glass of precut lemon twists and picked up a virgin lemon. She spun it to select a perfect side to slice and spiral a perfect twist into the stem. She slid the stem toward the lady then picked up the pint glass, holding it for a moment over the stem before pouring the Manhattan slowly but not too slowly until it shrunk to a trickle and filled the glass to the rim. With a final flourish, she snapped the pint glass away and stepped back, pausing for a moment to look at the lady before turning away. 
     The lady reached for the Manhattan.  Her fingers quivered slightly before stopping firm. She picked up the drink and brought it toward her. Just before it touched her lips, she paused, smiled and looked around the room. All eyes were upon her. Her eyes lit up. She lifted the glass. “Cheers, everyone!”, she announced then took a sip. She looked at Snezhana. “Excellent!” She took another. She swirled the Manhattan in the glass and took another. “Much better.” She stretched her arm out to the bar and set down the drink gently. Her fingers lingered for a moment on the stem before slipping away. Dan stepped up to her and introduced himself. She offered her hand. “I am Cesaria.”
     Nadine was now completely submerged in her vodka stingers. She was swaying rhythmically on her barstool. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ooga booga rags on one person at the same time in all my life.”
     Gladys frowned. “I think you’ve had just about enough.”
     Nadine clutched her drink to her bosom. “Nobody tells me when I’ve had enough, least of all you.”
     Lucia wiped away her tears and introduced herself. "These are my dear friends, Gladys and Nadine. I’m sorry if they seem a bit forward but we’ve all been having a lively conversation about politics and none of us seem to have any common ground.”
     Cesaria smiled graciously. “Lively isn’t the word. My goodness, it sounded like a bunch of cannibals dancing around the cooking pot.”
     Buck’s blank face broke into a smile. “You got that right, lady. A buncha cannibals. The name’s Buck.”, He stuck out a big ham hand. The lady placed her fingers on a large, stubby thumb. 
     Sally was jittery with embarrassment. “Please accept my apologies for all the ruckus. We’re not that way, really. Live and let live, I always say. To each his own. I’m Sally and this is my husband Bob.”
     “Chacun a son gout.” sighed Cesaria. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
     Nadine was rocking back and forth on her barstool. The stool’s legs were beginning to tip off the floor. Her face was beginning to dissolve. “So, what’s with the old hippie routine?”
     Cesaria took her time turning on her stool and raising herself to face Nadine. “Madame, if you are not careful, you are going to take a spill. Take it from the voice of experience. I was once so taken by Norma Teagarden’s flying fingers on the piano, I rocked myself right off a bar stool.”
     Nadine’s rocking came to a sudden halt. “Are you presuming I am intoxicated over my limit of one too many?”
     Gladys pounded her fist on the bar. “Why is it so expensive to drown these days?  What do you do when the car won’t start, when the lights don’t turn on?”
     Dan looked at the two of them and realized Snezhana had worked her revenge. It had sneaked up and smothered Nadine. It hit Gladys with a sledgehammer. Now Gladys was rocking on her bar stool, her bourbon and water clutched in her hands and anchored firmly in her lap, her face down. Some people blossom when the booze hits them. Some crumble into the miserable, self-loathing, self-anointed potentates they hide under a veneer of mock sophistication.
     Snezhana’s eyebrows arched. She tossed a look at Buck. Buck looked long at Snezhana and finished his drink in one gulp.
     Lucia gently guided the two tyrants off their barstools. “Is the party over with already?”, Nadine asked the ceiling.  
     Lucia gave Dan a reassuring look over her shoulder as she led them out. She shook her head when he stood to help her. “They’re performing The Marriage of Figaro tonight.”, mumbled Gladys. “I’m so looking forward to it.”
     “You know, Dan, you got a good girl there.”, Buck offered.
     “I seem to have come in at the denouement.”, Cesaria observed. She looked at Sally and smiled. “Was all that so necessary?”
     Sally took the last swig of her vodka stinger. “They said horrible things about our president. I know he hasn’t done all he promised. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’m disappointed, very disappointed, so very, very disappointed, so very disappointed.”
     Cesaria put a hand on Sally’s hand. “My dear, don’t let that worry you. The president of the United States is nothing more than a figurehead, like the Queen of England. Corporations run our country.”
     Dan understood now why a bottle of wine at the table last night was such an honor. Bob drank, Sally didn’t. Her two vodka stingers had taken hold. She gave Cesaria a broad, golden smile. “Tomorrow I’m going to meet a Minotaur.”
     Bob put his arm around his wife and turned her to the door. “Come on, honey. Let’s put some dinner in our stomachs.”
     “Minotaur?”, queried Cesaria as the bar door closed behind Bob and Sally. “Is she talking about the tour of Knossos tomorrow? I’ll be there.”
     “Everyone will be there.”, said Dan.
     “I love the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.”, said Cesaria wistfully. “It all started with a little bit of bestiality. The Minoans were the superpower in the Mediterranean thirty-five hundred years ago, a beacon of civilization so strong, so superior that they didn’t even need walls to protect their cities, so exceptional, so free that the rest of the world hated them for it.” Cesaria paused and offered a conspiratorial smile. “But this shining city on a hill had a dirty little secret in the basement and an even dirtier secret reason for it. King Minos, in his struggle with his brothers for the throne prayed to God for victory, well the God of the sea that is - they had so many back then. Our leaders only have one God to talk to these days. It makes things so much more convenient - and Minos asked Poseidon to send him a white bull as proof that God, or rather Poseidon was on his side. When the white bull arrived shortly after Minos vanquished his brothers, Minos was so impressed with the bull and so impressed with himself that he refused to sacrifice it. That was a mistake. Poseidon was very irritated. He made King Minos’ wife, Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. Pasiphae was so infatuated that she insisted that Daedalus, the fellow who would later be the first man to fly, but that’s another story, make her a hollow cow which she immediately climbed into in order to have her way with the bull and the result was the Minotaur - half man, half bull and completely pissed off. King Minos went running to the Oracle of Delphi for advice and was promptly told to have Daedalus build a Labyrinth in which to hide the unfortunate Minotaur. The Minotaur was the result of the power and the blind arrogance of the king of the greatest country in the world. And what is the result of power and blind arrogance everywhere? Corruption, making the pure un pure, the truth a lie, rot, decay, putrefaction, and what do you do with corruption? You hide it in the basement, at least at first. Why, the labyrinth itself can be a metaphor for the dark, twisted path of corruption, a mythological roach motel - the truth walks in and never walks out.”
     Snezhana was staring at Buck. “Good story. Bar close for dinner.”
     Cesaria paused, picked up her Manhattan and took a dainty sip. “I’m not finished yet, dear.”
     Buck smiled and waved Snezhana off. “Finish the story, your honor.”
     Cesaria replaced the stem on the bar. “Everything seemed to settle down until King Minos’ son, Prince Androgeus won all the medals in the Olympics in that dirty little backwater, Athens and somehow wound up dead. King Minos was not amused and he decided to put his sequestered stepson to use. He ordered Aegues, the king of Athens to deliver seven young men and seven young women to the Labyrinth every seven years to be sacrificed and eaten by the Minotaur. You see, there comes a time when the powerful become so arrogant, there is no need to hide corruption anymore. When the powerful break the law and are not subject to it because they are powerful, the result is tyranny. Resignation to that fear is tyranny’s greatest weapon. Luckily for Athens, Poseidon diddled King Aegeus’ wife as well and she produced a son. You know, this son of God thing goes back a long time. The son’s name was Theseus and he made his way to Athens heroically killing murderers and robbers along the way and dispatching the crooked courtiers of the king when he got there. Once King Aegeus took him as his son and prince, Theseus decided he wanted to sail to Crete as one of the sacrificed in order to kill the Minotaur and put an end to all the sacrificing. When he left Athens, he promised the king that if he killed the Minotaur, he would raise a white sail on his ship upon return as a sign that he was alive and well. When Theseus arrived in Crete, King Minos’ daughters, Ariadne and Phaedra fell hook, line and sinker for him. I tell you, that Minos should have sacrificed that bull. Ariadne talked Daedalus into giving Theseus a ball of twine to navigate the Labyrinth. Theseus descended into the maze, found the Minotaur asleep and murdered him. Ariadne and Phaedra joined Theseus on the ship back to Athens. Theseus showed his gratitude for Ariadne’s help and love by dumping her on the island of Naxos and sailing off with her younger sister. Whether it was the result of blind arrogance or divine retribution, Theseus forgot to raise the white sail when he returned to Athens. Maybe Theseus had a reason of his own. When King Aegeus saw the ship without the white sail, he threw himself into the sea which was ever after named the Aegean, and Theseus inherited the throne. I wonder what it was in the Greek mind that would turn the destroyer of corruption into corruption personified. Maybe the Greeks had a lesson for us all, that corruption is contagious, a pathogen that has no cure. It’s a wonderful story, isn’t it? And timely. Have we not placed the powerful above the law ourselves?” Cesaria smiled . “In 1979, Archaeologists found what appeared to be a Labyrinth in Knossis along with evidence of human sacrifice, butchery and cannibalism. Cannibalism. Isn’t that what people do when they have devoured everything and there is nothing left to eat?”
     Snezhana gave Buck a smoldering look. She turned to Cesaria. “You finish story? Bar close for dinner. Come back after.”
     Dan offered a smile. “Will you join me for dinner tonight?”.
     “I ain’t hungry.” Buck grunted.
     He turned to Cesaria. “Well then, may I accompany you to the dining room?”
     “It would be a pleasure.”, said the lady.
     Slowly, exquisitely Cesaria descended from the barstool. She unhooked her cane from the rail and took Dan’s arm. As they made their way to the dining room, she looked up at him from time to time with a smile but said not one word. A wistful mood descended on Dan and he lost himself in it. He shuffled along with the intrepid woman on his arm not thinking, just feeling as passengers streamed by in slow motion. The ship rocked gently forcing their weight from side to side, from foot to foot. There was a pianist that night in the lobby before the dining room. They stopped and listened for a moment. It was as if Dan’s mood had invented the scene: a warmly lit room, an exotic woman on his arm, the musician’s fingers rolling over the keys. The ship’s horn let loose an interminable groan. The pianist’s eyes lit up and his fingers flourished. Cesaria pulled at Dans sleeve. He looked down at her and she smiled grandly. They walked through the doors to the dining room. The room was full but quiet. Dan scanned the crowd and there against the far wall was Lucia sitting alone at a table, her back to him. Cesaria led him to her, pulling him along with an increasing urgency until they stood behind her. Lucia turned, looked into Dan’s eyes and seemed to recognize an old friend, someone she had thought of many times recently and missed terribly. She stood and gently placed her arms around him. She rested her cheek on his chest. He held her close and buried his face in her hair.
     Cesaria began to walk away. Lucia turned and called her name. “Cesaria, please join us.”
     The lady turned and smiled. “I think the two of you have much to talk about without me.”
     Dan looked at Cesaria warmly. “Please, Cesaria.”
     She shook her head. “I cannot and will not interject myself between two people who need to clear the air as much as the two of you do.”
     Lucia and Dan sat down and looked at one another. He took her hand. “I do not belong to a hedge fund. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself.”
     “And I am not an interior decorator.” Lucia lowered her eyes. “Though I want to be one. I plan to be one.”
     “And your husband did not make his fortune in Real Estate.”, he said.
     “He made his first fortune in real estate.”, admitted Lucia. “His current fortune, our current fortune was made less honorably. What Gladys and Nadine said was true. My ex-husband got rich representing, lobbying for and investing in the private prison industry.”
     “How did he manage to get himself involved in that?”
      Lucia shrugged. “The whole idea seemed to come out of nowhere but I knew some of his friends got him involved. One thing I didn’t know about was private prisons. What the hell was a private prison and who the hell cared? I turned out a lot of people cared. At first, my husband kept me out of it but when the money started to pour in, he had no choice but to include me. Then he was glad he did. He would get so excited telling me about it, about all the money that was in it. It was the details that started to confuse me. I am republican through and through. To hell with the liberals and their welfare state and their peace and love and tax and spend.”
    Dan shook his head.  “It was morning in America and the sun was shining on the shining city on the hill.”
     Lucia frowned. “But Daniel, things started to get very strange. Once the industry started making so much money, more money had to be made and how does the private prison industry make more money? With more prisoners. The largest company that operates private prisons offered to take over the prison systems in forty-eight states if those states commit to a ninety percent occupancy. Sounds like a hotel chain, doesn’t it?”
     “The Gray Bar Hotel.”, muttered Dan.
     “My husband and his associates started lobbying Congress for harsher punishment, more prison time for small time crimes like drug use, or prostitution. And why? For the labor. Private prisons all over the country are using their inmates as forced labor. I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I don’t think I’ve ever even articulated it. I couldn’t even explain my feelings to my husband though I tried. They aren’t making just license plates anymore. They make hardware for the military, processed food for the School Lunch Program. In Florida, the prisons are the printing industry. In Wisconsin, they are forcing the public work force out of business by doing city maintenance, landscaping. I tried to talk to some of my friends, but I always got the same answer: ‘They’re criminals, for heaven’s sake.’ But, Daniel, it just ate at me. Even I knew that anyone can end up committing a crime or that innocent people can be convicted of a crime. Who hasn’t smoked pot in college? Who hasn’t gotten behind the wheel after a couple of drinks? If you committed a crime, you went to prison to pay for it, but labor camps? That’s something out of the Soviet Union. I was tied in knots. I finally confronted my husband and he looked at me as if I were insane. Then he laughed at me. He didn’t care what I thought at that point. He was so caught up in the money and the power. He was traveling all over the country and meeting with all sorts of CEOs and politicians. It went to his head. It went somewhere else too and that at least got me a decent settlement in the divorce. It was quick. It was amicable and I am comfortable. But somehow I can’t get completely over it. Why would we Americans do that to ourselves?”
     “Is that why on Patmos when we met you said that we have feasted on the world and it tasted good so we have begun to feast on each other?”
     She looked at him. Her eyes welled. “I felt like Lady Macbeth sometimes, Daniel, washing the blood off my hands in my sleep.”
     He took her hand and gently rubbed it. “Out, damned spot. Out, I say.”
     Lucia placed her other hand on theirs. “One, two, why then, t’is time to do it. Hell is murky.”
     “Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him? Don’t tell me you do summer stock.”
     Lucia put a finger to his lips. “Speaking of blood on our hands, your hedge fund performance was quite good. Guzzleswill. Chunder and Spew? That’s not only hilarious, it’s downright brilliant. How do you know all those things you talked about? It didn’t sound like you were making them up as you went along.”
     Dan was caught off guard. He didn’t want to tip his hand, or lack of one. Maybe if he started with a little truth. “The bar business is down. I have a lot of time on my hands. I wanted to find out what went wrong the last couple of decades and I wanted to find out by myself. I’ve been doing a lot of reading.”
     Lucia didn’t push it. “Did the EPA really just take the industry’s own research and approve GMOs without any testing of its own?”
     Dan sighed. “Yes, they did. There has been a lot of independent testing but the scientists who conducted the research were discredited by the industry. They were fired and their lives were ruined. Studies all over the world have shown sterility and hair growth in the mouth occurs in rats and hamsters in only a couple of generations as well as immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin problems, organ mutations.”
     A waiter appeared. Lucia looked at Dan. Now he felt his eyes welling. “The entire country of Greece went GMO free in 2004. Greece is safe for now.” They picked up the menus. Dan looked up at the waiter. “I’ll start with the Gharithes Vrastes then I’ll have Stifatho, please.”
   Lucia gave him a grateful smile. “I’ll start with Salata Therini, please and I’ll have Kotopoulo Lemonato.”