Vera hadn't particularly wanted to travel on vacation anyway. Easier to stay in her room. But here she was in Albania. It made a kind of sense. Cheap. Wikipedia had pointed out that it was scenic. Beaches, forests, mountains, glacial lakes. There were even glaciers. Caves. Lots of places where there weren't many people. Not that many tourists. The article mentioned "the wild and peculiar atmosphere of the countryside" which didn't quite sound right, but then -- cheap.
And an online travel agency got her to a village in the middle of Theth National Park. She would board with an Albanian family. Grad students, studying wild plants in the park. Surrounded by mountains, many hiking trails. She wanted to get more exercise. The people were christians, not muslim, and they didn't do blood feuds. They would stay out of her way. At least that was the idea. It was a cheap deal.
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Fatmire was two. She followed Vera around and stared at her. She raised her ams to be picked up. She was unbearably cute. Her mother Teuta apologized. "She see few people. You strange." Teuta knew some english. She spent more than an hour each day cooking with a wood stove. For two days Vera had eaten vegetables and fish, seasoned with onion, garlic, and unknown spices. Dessert was something kind of like lemon doughnuts, with jam. Vera didn't like garlic but she didn't want to say so.
She couldn't live in these people's home without intruding. They didn't seem to mind, but there it was. How did she wind up on a vacation with no electricity? There was a generator in town, and that was where Teuta and her husband Flamur went to charge their cell phones and laptops. They had a microscope and botany tools, and they spent some of their time fiddling with plants. It was relaxing in a way. Two days so far without the internet, and somehow she didn't miss it.
But she had to be alone. She didn't want Teuta to be her servant, but she also didn't want to spend hours a day doing chores. Other people talked to each other and then tried to translate for her. And Fatmire wanted her attention. She had to take hiking tours to get away. Teuta gave her picnic lunches. "Call if late eat. You fall off mountain, everybody look you."
The national park was mostly empty of people. The other tourists -- Vera hated to think of herself as a tourist but it fit -- looked like they wanted to be alone too. There was a guidebook describing the rare plants, but they were just plants that happened to be rare, there wasn't anything that special about them. Walking through a pine forest. A squirrel chittered at her. A red squirrel. It was all subtly different from home, but she couldn't say how.
A man was standing ten feet away. She hadn't heard him before. She looked -- he was bearded, brown hair, hardly taller than her. Some sort of peasant clothes. He waved. "Geiá sou ómorfi gynaíka!"
She replied. "I'm sorry. Do you speak english?"
"Xereis na milas ellinika?"
He smiled and stepped closer, to about six feet. He capered like he was delighted at something, and grinned.
She smiled back. He was just so pleased, it was like he didn't have any worries at all. He danced closer, to about four feet. He extended his hand. "Tha ertheis mazi mou?" His albanian accent sounded so exotic. She touched his hand, and felt something like a pulse of electricity. They held hands. He came closer. He had a sort of animal smell, a sharp odor she didn't quite recognize. But then she had gone two days without a shower herself. There was no question what he wanted. She wasn't sure what she wanted. What probably decided her was that she didn't know the albanian word for no.
He led her off the trail. She felt clumsy following him, particularly when it was across loose rocks. He was sure-footed. He didn't seem to mind her unsteadiness at all, though. In a couple of minutes he stopped at a cove about thirty feet across, with cliffs on three sides. There was a shallow pool of water, a few trees and bright green moss. Shady and slightly chilly. Private. He stood close to her and sniffed. He licked her neck. She said, "Oh, OK."
Remembering later, a few things stood out. He had no condoms. She could tell when she ovulated and it had been six days, that was probably OK. And he showed her that he wanted to do it doggy-style. When she thought about it, that made sense. The moss was soft but it covered pebbles. She could find good spots for her knees easier than for, well, everything. And his fingers on her clit.... No complaints. It was kind of primal. Afterward he washed in the pool and she did too.
She shared her bread and cheese with him. He wandered around and picked at the weeds. He made a sort of mixed-green salad. He dug up a carrot and an onion and washed them in the spring that fed the pool. He found two figs. She looked up some of the greens in the guidebook. Coriander. Marjoram. Lambsquarter. Carrot leaves. She didn't need to look up the lavender or mint.
After they ate he smiled and nuzzled her face. He pointed to his eye. "Mati."
"Eye."
"Myti."
"Nose."
"Cheilia."
"Lips."
He kept looking into her eyes. His cool blue eyes, she liked them, but she didn't feel comfortable with them. He was somehow like Fatmire, like he didn't have any secrets. Like he completely admired her.
"Mastikos."
"Breast."
They sunned themselves, and had sex in the shade. Vera noticed that he had no tan lines. Late in the afternoon she dressed, kissed him, and left. It was a good day.
Teuta looked at her when she came in, and then looked again. She grinned and said nothing, and led her to the washroom. They had running water from a spring higher on the hillside, and she could have a cold shower if she really wanted one. The mirror showed she had leaves in her hair. The seat of her pants was dirty. She did take a shower.
At supper Teutha and Flamur talked animatedly and looked at her sideways. They laughed. Vera didn't know what to do. Teutha asked, "Did you have good time?"
"Yes. Your land is beautiful."
"We want you have good time. We host. We want you all comfort."
"Thank you."
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The next day was almost like yesterday repeated. She walked and he found her. Back to the little cove. In the early afternoon it started to rain and he gathered her clothes and pack and put them inside a small cave at the bottom of the cliff. When it rained hard he led her into the cave. She had to crawl on hands and knees and she bumped her head. She felt him hold her hand. He pulled her hand up and down and across in front of her, to show her how to feel for the way. After about twenty feet that felt like two hundred, she felt a pile of straw. "Topos ypnou." It was soft and dry and smelled like lavender and roses. When she tried, she couldn't reach the ceiling.
She was late for supper. She had lost track of time in the dark, but when she called -- late -- no one seemed concerned. She walked back in the rain. He walked back with her until the path was unmistakable.
Teutha met her at the door with towels. "Good. Get dry."
"You weren't worried about me?"
