Alterations ~ Part 3

[redroger11]

Well we are closer. I'll get four and five in, in a few days. let me know what ya think.

Part1Part2

Alterations ~ Part 3
by dymondbolt


Our meeting with Chief Metaxas was uneventful and we were able to get back to Anthony's hotel
by eleven o'clock am. Janos had the lunch basket ready for us and even checked the yachts gas tank,
oil level, bilge pump, emergency radio, and med kit.

Anthony smiled and looked at Janos with his head tipped to the side and asked "Do I pay you enough? "

Janos smiled like a kid and said "Yes. With compliments like that. Have a fun time."

Anthony said "We will. How are you going to spend your day off?"

Janos is shocked but he smiles anyway and says "Boss! I have dinner to prepare for us tonight and we have
eight guests all adults and male, to get ready for. They arrive in two days."

Anthony groaned and said "The Murphy party from Missouri . I forgot."
He frowned and then smiled and said "Are you sure I pay you enough?"

Janos said "I'll let you know after they leave. Luckily they are only staying a week."

Anthony said "See you at sunset."

Janos nodded and walked towards the hotel as we pushed off from the pier.
Anthony got the yacht away from the pier and turned out into the open sea.
We started getting a very mild chop after we passed the tiny break water built opposite the natural breakwater
that is part of the hills north of the hotel.
We headed east for half an hour and then Anthony stopped the engines.

Anthony saw the question on our faces and said "I found the Island by accident the first time.
But the following visits I had to calculate from returning to my hotel. GPS is able to help up to a kilometer
from the Island and then it won't work, and I have tried three different brands of GPS device.
None of them will identify the direct location of the island, and I don't know why."

I was puzzled by that and then I smiled. Another quality piece of Anthony's character came into view.
I told him "And you didn't ask any of the people you bought them from so you could keep it secret."

Anthony said "Of course. I never took anyone to the Island. I've known about it for three years,
but I never found anyone I felt like telling. Janos doesn't even know about it.
When you directly asked me about an island where no one goes, and then asked me if I was living with anyone;
I knew you would be the first person I would tell about it. Then when all your emails made me feel
like I've known you for years, I knew you were the one to open my heart to."
He turned his head to me and smiled.

I was in back of him and to the side and after he smiled, I came up in back of his seat
and put my arms around his chest and kissed the back of his neck.
He turned his head again and we briefly kissed.
He held my arms as he turned back to piloting the ship.
My head on his shoulder got him to lean his head against mine.

Sometimes happiness consists of this, touching the one you love.

It was a beautiful day and after an hour, the weather above an island in the distance,
told us we were getting close. I asked Anthony "Is that island with the weird clouds over it our Island?"

Anthony nodded and said "Yes. And the clouds never seem to leave,
though they don't cut down the light very much."

Then Anthony and I both got a little surprise when Matt said "What are you two talking about?
There's nothing in front of us except open water."

We looked at Matt and I was the one who asked "You can't see an island two miles in front of us?"

Matt was a bit cross with the questions and said "No, I do not see any island,
and I don't see any clouds in the entire sky. So if this is a joke on the straight guy I would like to know it....."

Matts anger seemed to evaporate as we moved into the shadow from the clouds over the Island.
Matt seemed shocked and his eyes got wide .
His voiced was much softer as he asked us "Where did that come from?"

The Island was now just under a mile away and a harbor inside a natural bay seemed to be
Anthony's destination. I could hear a soft slight buzzing. Just barely audible.

Anthony told Matt with a slight grin on his face "I think that when the African continent
thrust into the European continent the collision caused .."
My hands were on Anthony's shoulders and I squeezed them as I started to laugh.
Matt was not in the mood, but waited like a good friend.
I got serious and turned and got closer to Matt.

I told him "I would have said something just like that, but Anthony beat me to it."
I let my serious face get through to Matt before I continued.

I said "Matt I had no problem seeing the Island from a distance. Obviously you couldn't see it.
I have no idea why that should be so, or why you can see it now.
I do know we are going to have to investigate the phenomenon."

Anthony said "Matt I apologize if it sounded like I was making fun of you.
What would have been better to say is that the Island came from the same place
that the GPS system seems to fail. Every time my yacht enters the shadow of these clouds
the GPS gets a failure code and acts like we're under a mountain of rock.
At least thats what the manuals say that came with the GPS units."

Matt said "Apology accepted. It's like an ancient cloaking device."

Anthony smiled as he reversed engines and got near the shore in the harbor.
He flipped two switches and two anchors, fore and aft, start lowering.
A little light over the fore switch went on and Anthony turned that one off.
A few seconds later the same thing happened for the aft anchor and Anthony turned it off too.
With the engines off a friendly sort of silence was felt.

Anthony said "Like Star Trek"

Matt asked "So why can you two see the Island, and I don't see anything until GPS fails?"

I told him "Like I said, we will have to investigate, but after we get to see the temple."

Matt's face lit up for that and said "Sounds good to me.
I'm sorry if I sounded like I thought you guys were playing with my head."

I said "We'd be glad to play with your head, but you aren't our type,
and you prefer innies instead of outies. So we figure you wouldn't really enjoy
it if we stuffed one of our rigid members up your bum." I ended it with a winning smile.

Anthony helped it along with "Though technically speaking that would not be playing
with his head at all, unless you jerked him off while pounding his bum."

That got a serious look on my face, but Matt just tipped his head sideways.
I told Anthony "We could slowly disrobe to see if any of this is something he'd like."
Anthony and I smiled and looked at Matt.

Matt straightened up and grimaced at us before he pointed over his shoulder and asked
"Is that shore where we're going to start looking at the Island?"

Anthony and I both nodded yes. Matt smiled bigger and said "Good. I'll see you two over there."
He promptly started to pull his shirt off, kick off his sandals and wrap them in his shirt.
From his pocket he pulled out a large sealable plastic bag.
He then unzipped his shorts, pulled them off and stuffed them and his shirt/sandals into the bag.
Then Matt, naked as a jay bird told us "This is as much as you get. Please bring a dry towel."

And with that said Matt turned, stepped onto the railing and jumped into the blue Adriatic.
Anthony and I just looked at each other for a good fifteen seconds before I said "Well that worked out well."

Anthony said "Yes, and he seems to work out as much as you do."

I said "Really? Do you think so?"

Anthony said "Why yes! Yes I do. Very buff, the both of you."

I said "Why thank you for mentioning that."

Anthony said "You're very welcome."

I didn't know how much more we could have done before we would have started laughing our heads off,
but Matt helped out just then with a shout from half way to the Island, "Would you two stop talking
like Mac and Tosh from the Looney tunes cartoons and start moving to shore?
Please? I jumped in before I realized how hungry I am.
And don't forget the cameras and the carbon fourteen test kit."

Anthony said through a chuckle "I never knew the names of those two ground squirrels in the cartoons."

I got the backpack with the cameras and the test kit, and the backpack with extra water and sunscreen.
I told Anthony "I'm pretty sure he's right about the names. Are there some towels we can take over .."
Anthony picked up the lunch basket ( a large one) and there was at least four towels and a table cloth
tucked into the handle. We smiled at each other and headed for the little dingy secured to the aft.
Anthony lowered it into the water and jumped in and reached for my backpacks and then helped
steady me as I got in the dingy. The engine started right away and after a few minutes
we were on the shore a moment after Matt gets out of the water.

Matt was standing with the bag of clothes in front of his crotch.
He had already pulled the sandals out of the bag and looked a bit less sure of himself after his swim.
I figured Matt had been a good sport through all of this so I threw a towel to him
before we jumped onto the beach, and pulled the boat out of reach of the water.

Matt said "Thanks. I'm sorry about the attitude. I'd just feel better if my fiance were out here."
He finished drying off and then pulled on the shorts and shirt.

Before he could go on, Anthony told him "You are doing fine.
All this romance Nick and I are throwing back and forth, and the one you love is far away.
I won't apologize for being so happy, but I do hope you can convince her to get on a plane."

Matt smiled then and said "Thanks Anthony."

I whispered to Anthony as he headed up a trail "I love you"

He smiled just for me and took my hand for a few minutes as we walked along a rather wide flat pathway.

We came up to what looked like a big triangle about twenty feet on a side.
The path we were on seemed to be the one less traveled.
Anthony started towards the left path and I asked "Anthony, what's down the other path?"

Anthony turned and said "That path leads to the temple, but since at least two thirds of us are very hungry,
I thought a beautiful setting would be better."

Just at that moment my stomach put in it's two cents worth with a loud grumble.
Anthony smiled and said "I could be wrong, but I think that makes it unanimous."

I just smiled and said "Lead on."

Back in amongst the trees again we quickly came to another clearing.
It was at the bottom of a small waterfall, that was about twenty five feet tall but only a foot and a half wide.
The path curved to the right and up to the top of the cliff the waterfall fell over.
I saw something to the left of the waterfall and asked "Is that a cave to the left of the waterfall?"

Anthony said "Yes, and a very large one once you get inside. The opening you can see is really
ten feet in diameter, but it opens up to a hollow about twenty five feet across . It appears to be natural."

He started to spread the table cloth out under a very wide spread tree. He opened the basket and smiled.
He said "Janos is practicing American style cuisine."

Matt and I looked at each other and I said "We have a real cuisine ?"

Anthony pretended to be shocked as he said "Hot dogs, French fries, Gumbo." He looked lost in thought.

I told him "Well that last one really is American. But Gumbo, hot dogs and fries aren't good cold."

Anthony said "Which is why Janos sent some dolmas, a nice red greek wine and.."
He pulled out croissants with a lot of white meat stuffed in-between the two halves.
He said "Turkey sandwiches."

I jokingly said "With provolone and avocado?"
He just smiled and pulled out two more along with
a covered bowl of the dolmas, the wine and a corkscrew.

At that point I was shocked. I said "That's my sandwich. You ripped-off my sandwich."

Anthony smiled and said " No. You told me about your killer sandwich and I told Janos."
I wasn't really angry but I was close enough to be able to tickle Anthony
which got him to move away enough to be able to say
"You know it wasn't easy getting those frozen turkeys shipped here" Tickle.
"You would think with the country Turkey just next door" Tickle.
"That we would raise turkeys in Greece " Tickle.
"But that's just not the case " Tickle tickle tickle.

Anthony was on his back and I had him where I wanted him.
He smiled and admitted "Ok Ok. I ripped off your killer sandwich.
How can I make up for my theft?"

That got me to lay down next to him and ponder his punishment.
As my face screwed up I looked at him, smiled and pointed to my lips and tapped them.

As he propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at me he said
"You know this form of punishment will only make me want to steal more."

Just before he could kiss me I told him "My hearts next."
It was one of those kisses and Matt had to drag us back to reality with his laughter and the word "amazing".

We parted and I immediately looked on the back of my arm closest to Matt.
There is a little spot that is missing hair.
I looked at Anthony who checked his arm and found the same thing.
Anthony snorted a laugh and we looked at Matt.

I told him "You have got to stop that or patent it as the painless hair removal system."

Anthony said "I wonder if it's the hair or the laugh, or both?"

Matt said "Next time I'll try the laugh first and wait."

I said "Thank you".
Then I noticed the wine was open and two glasses were full and one empty and
the dolmas cover was loose, and there was only two sandwiches on the plate.
I said "That long huh?"

Matt smiled and said "Only fifteen minutes this time, but we have to get some work done today."

I nodded and Anthony and I tore into the food, while Matt helped put away the dishes when we were done.

Anthony said "We can leave the basket here. Before I take you to the temple,
I want to show you where they quarried the stone for it, and something Else."

I said "Sounds good to me."

We followed the path up and around the pool above the waterfall and saw that the waterfall was artificial.
Anthony led us on a brisk walk up to the top of the Island. Not quite a mountain, but close.
The top of the Island was clear of all brush or trees and we started seeing
the quarrying marks in the living stone. Then we came around a bend and found a strange structure.

It looked like a stele but shorter.
The buzzing sound that was in the background and all but ignored, now sounded louder.
And as we got closer the volume went up until we were twenty feet from the stele and
suddenly the buzzing went away. The object was made out of marble.
White with blue and gold streaks through it.
The symbols carved on all four sides were close to demotic but not quite.
Matt had a camera out and was taking pictures.
He handed me the collapsable meter stick and I unfolded it and placed it against the stele.
The back of my hand brushed against the marble and I felt intense cold.
Anthony suddenly grabbed my hand before I could touch the stele again.

He looked into my eyes and I saw concern.
He said "It would hurt. Colder than I've ever felt before."

I gave him a smile and said "Thank you."

We moved out of the way for Matt to take two shots and then
Anthony produced an oven mitt from his small backpack and positioned the meter stick onto the next side.
Matt and he finished the other sides and Anthony retrieved the meter stick.
He smiled as he handed it to me. I expected it to be freezing and its neither hot nor cold.
Matt took it from me and started taking shots of the quarry.

I asked him "Does a thermometer register the stele as cold?"

Anthony said "I never thought to bring one to check. The base isn't cold to the touch, just the marble."

Matt folded the meter stick up and said "This is just preliminary work here. Lets see the temple."

I nodded yes and Anthony said "Then we retrace our steps to the crossroads."
He led us back past the pool feeding the waterfall and I suddenly realized
the island was not big enough for this much water flowing into and out of a pool that size.

I asked "Anthony, is this Island big enough for this amount of water to be flowing over it?"

We were almost at the crossroads and Anthony stopped and frowned as he turned back to us and the waterfall.
He said "As a matter of fact any stream should have dried up by this time of year."

Matt said "Maybe the same force thats making most people ignore the island
is what's making the clouds form over the island.
And if the clouds dropped what water they had each night, that would explain the lush forest and full streams"

I said "More mystery for us to investigate.
Along with the next one which is; where are the statues of Hermes which are normally placed at crossroads?"

We all looked at the area around the crossroads and found nothing but underbrush.

Anthony said "Maybe they didn't want the roads to be traveled like other roads."

Matt and I shrugged and looked to Anthony. He smiled and said "On to the temple."
We headed down the third path and about fifty feet along the way we heard trickling water.
To the side of the path a stone lined channel about four inches wide and at least a foot and a half deep
carried about a third of what the waterfall was spilling from the top pool.
The temple was looking to be even more elaborate than I imagined.

I said "Anthony, are we in for a very big surprise? "

He slowed down and said "The stone they gathered from this island only was used for the structure.
They used so many beautiful marbles and other stone I have no name for.
The time before the last time I visited the temple, I was standing in front of the alter to Zeus
and I prayed I could have someone to share this with."

He stopped in front of a very large opening to the back of the temple.
He was looking down to the left of the wall across the path. the channel cuts right into the wall
with an ornate opening for the water to travel through.

He said "One week later you emailed me about the very Island and temple I had discovered.
Until I was presented with so much beauty and no one to share it with,
I had been able to ignore how lonely I was.
For that week I thought Zeus very cruel to show how alone I was and not hear my prayer."

He turned to me and seemed to be a bit shy but happy.
He said "When I got your email, I had Janos buy a plate of his mothers baklava
and I found a bottle of the best wine from the hotels cellar and the next day
I took them to this temple and placed them on his altar and thanked Zeus
for opening the ache in my heart for someone like you to fill."

All I could think was 'I wish we had some more of Janos special baklava'
as I reached for Anthony and buried my head in his chest.
We just held each other for a minute, and then we parted and turned to the back opening.

It was at least twenty feet tall by eight feet across and was positioned so you had to turn
right ninety degrees from the path. The opening led between an Inner and Outer wall
the same distance apart. The path seemed to head up hill as it entered The Temple,
(a logical idea, so as to keep rain from flooding The Temple with mud).
As we got to the end of the hall that was the Back Entrance we had to turn left
and found ourselves on a Ledge about ten feet above the Main Floor of the temple and ten feet wide.
The Ledge itself was about fifteen feet outside a five foot tall Shoulder high Wall
against which the Altars and Statues were arranged.
Light came in through a Hole in the ceiling and the Main Entrance to The Temple.
The Shoulder Wall was U shaped with the opening pointing to the Main Entrance and about forty feet across.
The Main Entrance was about fifteen feet tall and ten feet across.
In the center of The Temple was an Oval Pool lined in white marble, four feet deep and ten feet in diameter.
The channel from the Waterfall Pool, fed the Large Basin that was located in back of the Shoulder Wall
and the Statue/Altar of Zeus. A hole in the bottom of the Large Basin led the water through a tube,
under Zeus' Altar and out a hole in the Oval Pool. From there, the water was carried by a narrow channel,
towards the Main Entrance and into a four foot by three foot Shell shaped Basin.
It cascaded over two sides of the Shell Basin and down into a series of, two each, Smaller Shell Basins.
From there it traveled through two Smaller Channels to the Temple Bay.

Before we could move down the ramp to the floor of the temple Anthony stopped us and said
"I think it is proper to remove your sandals before entering the temple."

Matt and I followed his example and then followed him down the ramp.
In stead of heading to the altars, Anthony followed the channel of water flowing out of the Oval Pool
and into the Large Shell Basin, where he started to wash his feet. Matt and I washed our own feet
then looked where the water finally fell into the Temple Bay. The path split around the basin
and led down two sets of stone stairways to a stone dock with short pillars for mooring boats to.

Anthony waited for us to finish cleaning our feet and then we all three walked back into the temple.
I decided to pay my respects first and ignored the other altars, as I headed past Anthony to the Altar to Zeus.
The statue was ten feet tall and massively muscled. His left hand lightly held a thunderbolt,
and his right hand was palm up and open. While his head was pointing straight ahead
his eyes looked down to where the faithful would be placing offerings.
His penis was enormous and the sculptor showed it pointing slightly upwards
a few degrees from the horizontal. No wonder people called him Father.

I moved up to the flat space in front of the statue and placed my hands on the altar.
A little shock like static electricity hit my hands, but it was so mild I kept my hands there.
I was about to thank Zeus but suddenly there were arms folded over my chest.
Anthony was holding me. We both tipped our heads down and silently thanked Zeus for bringing us together.
Then together we look up into the eyes of a happy loving Zeus.
My hands came off of the altar and I turned to kiss My love as he pulled me closer.
We lost track of time.
Until we hear a sad voice murmur
"Please, I miss her so much."
We stepped part, and I had the feeling like a teardrop had fallen into the palm of my hand.
We looked over to the Altar and there was Matt with his head bowed
and tears were dripping from his nose onto the Altar.

Anthony and I were shocked and I said "Matt what's the matter?"

Matt looked up and wiped his eyes and said "I lied. I asked Andrea to marry me but she hasn't said yes or no.
She asked me not to go and I told her I couldn't pass up this chance for something this big.
Then she said she had hoped I'd be near her when she decided.
She said she loved me when I left but she still hadn't said yes.
I was just hoping Zeus would smile on me too."

Matt's face screwed up and his tears started falling.
I give him a hug and Anthony rubbed his back.
Matt held onto me while he ached for his love to want him too.
Anthony and I look into each others eyes
and together we prayed for him to find the kind of love we two just found.

I silently prayed;
'Let Andrea know how much he loves her, Please Zeus.
He is a good man, and a good friend.'

Matt became calmer and when his breathing got more even he said
"I'm sorry. I'm messing up your happiness..."

Right then Anthony showed me another reason why I loved him.
He told Matt "How could we be happy and care free with a friend in so much pain.
But you have been brave in what you told Zeus. Only a strong man can set his pride aside for love.
To admit he needs help and asks for it, shows how much Love means to him.
Shows what he would do for love. You sacrificed your pride to Zeus for the one you love.
Surely she will find her heart turn to you as deeply as yours turns to her."

Matt smiled and hugged Anthony like I've seen him hug his brothers, as he told him
"Thank you Anthony. Thank you for making my best friend so happy."

Anthony chuckled and said "He makes me very happy too"

We let each other go and took in the beauty of the place.
Then we noticed the statue of Hercules and the altar to Priapus

Hercules almost rivaled the massive muscles of Zeus
but Hercules cock looked a bit more erect and truly gigantic.
It was only equalled by the partial statue of a body with an erection
that reached up to his neck and almost as thick as his thigh.
What did these people think they could do with dicks that big.
Humans surely couldn't tolerate something that size inside them! Could they?
Perhaps the gods helped out in that department too.

Matt said "We have got to get some pictures of this temple.
I don't think a temple has ever had these altars grouped together before."

We left our packs at the back opening and Matt went to them and brought back my camera with his own and the meter stick. He started from left to right and took shot after shot on his digital camera but paused when he got to Zeus and I heard him murmur "Only for your glory"

I felt a lot better after hearing that from Matt.
Respect for place and the spirit of the temple, was high on my list when working on a religious site.

I took shots of the water entering the temple and the path it took through the temple.
I got a beautiful shot of Anthony with his hand in the pool and his face just looking up at me with such a loving smile.
If I died tomorrow I would be content, for love has smiled on me.
I put the camera down and sat next to Anthony. He pulled me into an embrace and Matt said
" Hey you two. Smile! " I'm sure the camera caught just how happy we are.

The End Part 3