“I protested though. I told her that when you arrived last night, you were clearly very tired, but she insisted so much that I had to go open your door, and what a surprise I got when I saw your room was empty. When I got back down I told her, ‘He’s not in his room, could he have left without paying?’”
“‘Has the bed been slept in? Has he taken his things?’”
“Well, I don’t know what else she would have went on asking me if I hadn’t cut her off, reassuring her saying, yes he’s slept in it, it shows in the bed, and he’s left a bag on the chair, I suppose it must be his.”
“‘Oh good! What a fright,’ she said, calming down a little.”
“‘But a fright from what? Come on, don’t be silly,’ I told her, ‘he’ll have gone out early, he’ll be one of those people who like to get up early to see the sun rise,’ I said, thinking you’d be around here somewhere nearby.”
“‘Come on! If he’d opened the window and ran off, I would have seen him leave without having to get out of my bed,’ she answered.”
I interrupted him at that point and asked him:
“Don’t tell me I can see the sunrise from my bed?”
“Yes,” he said very seriously, “and where did you have breakfast?”
he asked me with a tone in which I noticed his concern. I kept talking:
“Well, you were right, I went to see what the dawn was like, but tomorrow I’ll watch it from my bed, which is more comfortable and that way I won’t get cold, because this morning the air froze my face,” I was saying with the intention of ending the chat so I could go on up to my room.
“You have to be careful, when the breeze blows here, you really feel it. Alright, but you’ve not answered me yet,” he said very seriously.
“Answered what?” I asked in surprise. I didn’t know at that moment what he was referring to.
“Where did you have breakfast?” he asked in a worried tone.
“Well, I haven’t had it yet, although… Ah yes!” I remembered at that moment, “I had some coffee and some cookies before I left,” I answered, smiling to calm him down.
“What did you say? Come eat quickly, you must be starving.”
Almost pushing me, he led me to the dining room. I glanced around and saw that there were two ladies sitting there despite how late it was, and they were talking to the man’s wife, the other owner.
“Excuse me,” he said as soon as we entered, “this man comes hungry, you have to take care of him.”
Apologizing to the two ladies who were there eating something that I couldn’t identify, his wife turned around and went into what I assumed must have been the kitchen.
“Good morning! Excuse me,” I said, “what is it that you’re eating there? It smells so good”
Looking at me, one of them answered with a smile:
“And it tastes even better, believe me.”
I went to sit at a table close to where they were seated. The rest of the dining room was empty and I didn’t want to be so alone. I’d been on my own the whole time I’d been walking around without talking to anyone and I wasn’t going to clear up many questions that way. I saw that they’d not minded that I had sat close to them, so once I sat down I asked them:
“So where are you both from?”
“From Spain, well from Madrid,” replied the one who seemed older.
“I never would have guessed,” I replied, “you speak Portuguese very well.”
“And where are you from? You don’t seem like you’re from around here either,” she asked me.
“No, I’m not from Portugal, I’m Galician, from Santiago de Compostela,” I answered.
“Also Spanish, well you can’t tell, you also speak Portuguese very well.”
“Well, it’s easier for us to learn, it’s almost the same as our Galician, but you speak it very well, and I think having understood that you’re from Madrid, that’s quite unusual,” I said.
Looking at me, they both said at the same time:
“We’ve come here so many times.”
We all laughed at the coincidence.
“But you don’t learn the language just by visiting a place,” I said when the laughter had died down.
“No, of course not, that’s true, but when one has an interest in the things that have happened in that place, it’s best to learn how they speak in order to find out more about those things, wouldn’t you agree?” the older one asked me, trying to engage in a bit of chat, or so it seemed to me.
“Are you here alone?” the lady who appeared to be the younger of the two then asked.
“I am,” I answered a little surprised by her question.
She turned to me and said, “You can eat with us, if you feel like it.”
“No, don’t worry, I don’t want to bother you.”
“No, you wouldn’t be bothering us at all, it would be better. That way we can talk a little. Well, if you don’t mind.”
I got up and was changing table when the lady came out of the kitchen. She was holding a steaming dish in her hands and when she saw me she said:
“You’re changing table? What’s wrong? Did you not like the one you were sitting at?” and she stood there with the dish in her hands.
“It’s just that these ladies have invited me to join them so that I wouldn’t be sitting alone, is it a problem?” I asked.
“No,” she said, smiling, “that way would be better, I’ve never liked eating alone either.”
She set down the plate that she had brought out for me. I looked at it and I saw that there were vegetables with an exquisite smell, but I also looked at the plates that were sitting in front of the two ladies and asked:
“What about what they had? Is there any left?” and I pointed to the dish that was in front of the lady next to me.
“Don’t worry, when you finish your soup, I’ll bring you a big helping of cod with cream,” she said smiling, “it seems you’re eager, that’s good.”
“Did you say cod with cream? How bizarre! I’ve never heard of that.”
“Yes, but don’t you like cod?” she asked me a little surprised.
“Is that what they’re eating?” I asked, looking back at their plates.
