THE ISLAND AND THE LAST TOURIST

Every afternoon, the sly cat Kokkinis takes his place on the bougainvillea pot, hoping for a treat, as tour groups walk past him along the cobbled path on their way to the island’s historic bastion.“You traitor,” Mr. Takis calls him the man in the faded white tank top from the 1980s, who longs for the days when he and his partner, Chara back when she was still flesh and breath, before she became stardust in the vast universe and her jasmine withered would bring out their canvas chairs to watch the sunset from that very same spot now trampled by tourists.Then, during a chess match with his grandson, the boy shares with Mr. Takis an old island legend he heard at the Chess Club.And that’s when everything starts…