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The dirt road takes us along the edge of hills to the beach. We turn lean around curves, and my mouth is wild with a grin I don’t hide. This is my favorite part when we goof off and just have fun. It was freedom. As a kid me, and my brother would love going on trips out camping because it meant we got to ride around on four-wheelers for a weekend.
Our legs are dusty by the time we reach our first destination. We walk a little while until I hear the crashing of the waterfall into the pool below it. It’s green moss
“So this is where the goddess bathed?” It isn’t much, the tree branches strung across the rocks and a dark cove hidden in the back. When we get there, there is a crowd of a few other people surrounded by a local guide.
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you sure? Did you test the water for her DNA? Maybe gods and goddesses don’t have DNA, Phoebe.” I whisper the last part in her ear. “What time does she usually come here? Do we have to pay extra for a show? Is it full-frontal or partial nudity?” I pull out all the jokes I’ve been coming up within my head on the ride over.
“The locals will have you killed if you keep making fun of their beloved goddess. Aphrodite will probably curse us too; I mean, she is the goddess of love.” Phoebe bites her lips, trying to keep them together as the man continues to tell a group of tourists about the area.
We separate ourselves from the strangers. We move along the path and try to see it at a different angle. Before long, Phoebe is lifting my sweaty arm to place herself underneath it. I load us back on and head to the Blue Lagoon.
We see it come into view, and it is a standing ovation, one thousand percent celebrated for its beauty.
“Hey, wait, stop here.” Phoebe taps the side of my stomach, and I pull off the road to the side. We are sitting at the top of the hill, and down below us is the beach. “Let’s hang out here for a bit.” She grabs a jacket from her backpack and lays it on the ground. Phoebe holds mine from around her waist and puts it down for me to sit.
“We should go down there and swim.” The water looks pristine and epically filled to the brim with oasis.
“Okay, just look out for sharks.” Phoebe starts getting our lunch, letting the little fact slip out of her cute mouth.
“Wait, are you joking?” The water doesn’t look too friendly now. Not like I could bathe in it and walk out strutting my stuff like a swimsuit model. Not with a shark hooking its teeth in my ass.
“I don’t know, am I? It is the Mediterranean Sea; there are bound to be sharks.” Still fumbling in the bag for mealtime, there are more important things to think of than food. Like sharks, are they down there? Are they hungry for my flesh? Is paradise an illusion, but they tempt us with a view and a beautiful beach, expecting us to believe we aren’t shark food?
“For real, Phoebe?”
She points to a boat not far from the cove, and it looks like they are pulling out a finned shark fish that looks a lot like a shark to me. These suckers are down here fishing for them for sport? They want to know who is on top of the food chain.
“You’re right. This is a better view.”
“We will go swimming tomorrow. Look, there are tons of people swimming over on that beach. They aren’t afraid.”
“They also aren’t from Philly and probably started swimming with sharks when they were toddlers. So it’s like a spider to them.”
“You’re scared of spiders.”
“Listen, let’s not focus on me. Let’s sit and wait for your perfect moment to catch the perfect picture.” I sit back down next to her on our jackets as we share a snack.
“I didn’t bring my camera,” Phoebe says as she swallows a piece of pita bread.
“What do you mean, where is it? Did we leave it on the plane by accident?” I started thinking about it when I saw it last; it was on the bed at the hotel. I jump up because that is her livelihood, our livelihood, we have to find it.
“No, no, nothing like that. I left it behind. It’s in the safe, so don’t worry, no one will steal it.” Phoebe pats my leg and draws a smiley face onto the dirt on my leg. “I thought it might be nice if we took a day where it was just our vacation, our memories. Ones where we didn’t have to share with anyone else.” She follows my legs up to my hips, then torso, neck finally to my eyes. “Is that okay?”
“Babe, it’s perfect.” I sit back down, and we sit there and watch the color of the lagoon blind us with its bright blue color. Clear water for miles, so clean and pure. I put my arm around Phoebe, and we lean our heads against each other.
“So, I bet you are dying to tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“The history, dufus, so spill it. Tell me all the things you researched about Cyprus.” It’s an innocent smile. She blinks away, her gaze over the rocky white edge on the water.
“Cyprus has two official languages, as we found out. Greek and Turkish. It is the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest of course being…” I wait for her to answer the trivia question.
“Sicily.”
“Bingo! We have a winner. Do you want a campfire chicken dinner or a microwave one?”
