Everyone's Dead But Us (24 page)

We spent two days on Santorini. We’d talked to a long series of government officials. Everybody was very polite and very firm. Nobody found any treasure.

In the plane on the way home, I said, “They’re never going to find it.”

Scott still had a bandage over his stitches on his head. I had pain pills for my ankle. Scott said, “Thasos is going to recover completely. I heard they were going to let him do a full investigation. I’m not sure who believes who about what, but there is all that real artwork that was displayed. That’s gone, too.” We’d stopped by his hospital room, but he’d still been out from all the drugs. I was relieved he was going to make it.

I said, “I think we lose them when we describe the Maltese Falcon. People have seen far too many movies.”

If Thasos and the others hadn’t survived, I’m not sure we wouldn’t have been arrested.

I said, “We’ve seen too much stupidity and death. You’ve seen the headlines?” I held out the
Sex and
Sex and
There were lurid headlines about the island of gay death. “It’ll be another excuse for ...”

Scott stopped me. He said, “I know you aren’t going to say either sexual orientation has a monopoly on violence and stupidity. Can you say weapons of mass destruction? Can you say foreign oil? Can you say belief in a supreme being who wants people to kill the unbelievers? There’s no limit to violence or stupidity.”

“But to see so much of it up so close. I may never forget some of those images.”

“I’ll always be glad I feel revulsion. I just hope at some point those images don’t come back to me every time I wake up.”

What we’d seen would stay with us for a long time.

Somewhere over the Atlantic, I said, “I want to curl up in my favorite armchair with my favorite book and I never want to move again.” I glanced down at the ocean. “Damn thing is too phlegmatic.”

“What?”

“The ocean. All that goddamn water.” I shivered. I asked, “Are we ever going to take a vacation again?”

He took my hand. He said, “We’ll be fine. Maybe not back to normal right away, but in time we’ll be fine.”