(4)The shepherd and his sheep

I can’t say that I was really happy about my current situation, but deep inside me, a little corner behind the furthest part of everything, I was happy that I had someone to spend the day with. Maybe I was wrong, and he wasn’t even that bad. But he talked way too much! You would never think that this guy, Edwin, as I know now, would talk so much, and surprisingly, it wasn’t even everything scrap. Some things were actually quite interesting. He knew surprisingly much about Greek history and local architecture. He insisted on sitting next to me on the bus, but the lady and her husband sitting in my row didn’t want to sit apart, so I had at least during the drive, my peace of him. At a red light, suddenly the people on the bus became agitated. Then I saw why. It was Edwin, trying to get to the back. Just like a little boy, smiling and standing on his seat, he pointed out the window. Many passengers stretched their necks to see what he was pointing at. I stayed seated and smiled. “Please keep sitting during the whole drive.” the voice of the bus driver sounded from the speakers. The light turned green and the bus continued to drive. Without having to relocate my spine, I looked out the window at what Edwin was pointing at. It was an old man standing in an enormous herd of white sheep. His three big guard dogs were positioned at each end of the herd. The man was wearing an old stray hat and traditional clothing. Smiling, he waved at us. He had a gorgeous smile, even though you could see some of his teeth missing. “Did you see the babies?” Edwin shouted back, again standing with his knees on his seat. “Please keep seated!” the driver repeated, this time a little more intentional. But Edwin stayed standing on his seat until I nodded, smiling, amused. We met a local artist and I bought some artworks as presents for my parents, to show them what they’d missed. The more time I spent with Edwin, the less I hated him. He actually has really nice humour and a not too bad style.I don’t like his shoes, they are ugly, but so what, nobody is perfect. And he’s generous, he even invited me for lunch. I found out, that he lives in London with his father, but he had to spend most of his time alone or with friends, because his father was travelling a lot. This trip was supposed to be a father son trip, but his dat had to suddenly change plans and fly to Tokyo, so Edwin decided to go with two of his friends. “Why are’t your friends with you on this daytrip?” I asked him, while climbing up the rocky path leading to the antique ruins of Kalamitsia. “They’re totally uncultured! They can’t even differentiate between Zeus and Jesus.” I laughed. “So why are you friends with them anyway?” Oh Charly, what a stupid question. Think before you speak! “I think because they like me?” he answered. “But I don’t like you, and here we are.” I had reached the top of the castle ruins. The view out was stunning, a wide area covered in olivetrees, dry but alive at the same time. “You still don’t like me?” Edwin seemed a little confused. “Well I don’t hate you anymore.” I answered honestly. But maybe I even liked him a little, but I am absolutely not going to give him this satisfaction! “Come on, admit it, you like me.” he looked at me challengingly. “Not even a little bit?” he pinched his fingers together. “Mhm.” I murmered. So he pinched his fingers even more together. “Almost…” I said. And he pinched them even further, until the gap between his fingertips was so small that they almost touched eachother. “That could come close.” “I knew it!” he proclaimed victoriously.