conver sation couldn't go farther than that. I was looking for answers, not stories of profit and loss. Even our marriages seemed like a business transaction. After lunch, and the delicious sole, I gave him my Madrid numb er and told him I would call if I passed through Barcelona. Sure, I'd like to have some tapas another time, but today I prefer to go to the sea and think. In the afternoon I was tired of the city already, and thought about leaving that same night and not waiting till the ne xt day. But on the way to the hotel, I ran into Sarah, who I knew
from Madrid.
"What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here, Fortu?"
The plan abruptly changed. It seemed like that day all of Tétouan was in Ceuta.
Everyone was coming and going, doing business.
"Well, I'm coming back from Tétouan."
"Everyone is coming back from Tétouan." She smiled with a childlike sm ile that hadn't changed from the day I m et her at summer camp, when I was 15.
"Let's go get a drink."
"I'm visiting, family. And also taking care of some family things. How long has it been since we last saw each other? Ten years, and we live three streets from each other in Madrid.”
"But not beer, I've had enough be er today. Let's go have a coffee at La Campana."
"Sure, fine, I'm staying at La Residencia.”
"Me too, but that's not surprising. That's the only hotel that is more or less normal here."
"So many years. Do you remember? You were in love with me and wrote me love letters, very beautiful lett ers. But I was in another world.”
"Now you are also in another world. We we re never in the same world."
We arrive at the café, it is one of the city's most beau tiful, and full of pasteles de nata . We both order coffee.
“It is a little odd, two meetings from the past in the same day. Maybe it shouldn't be so strange, that always happens in this city.”
“I always run into people I know. I meet more Madrileños here than in Madrid.”
“Well, everything is smaller here, if someone you kno w is here and you are too, you'll most likely run into each other.”
“You know I got divorced.”
“Yes, I heard something from Gracia, she told me. Everyone is getting divor ced these days. It isn't anything strange anymore. Now it is more normal than being married. I'm st ill married, but separated.”
“It was just impossible, I could have handled the affairs, but he was just never at home. In two years I saw him at home for 15 minutes, sometimes he came to sleep at 3 in the morning and left at 7, there was no longer any relationship.”
“I think that if we had talked we could have solved anything, it is just that the day came when we couldn't talk about anything. Everything you say is misunderstood, everything falls apart.”
“Maybe it doesn't fall apart, you know, maybe it is actually b etter. I feel much better since I got divorced. Maybe it is better for us to find a new life, after a relationship is over.”
“Could be, who knows. But I don't want to get divor ced. Tétouanis aren't built for divorce.”
“No one is. Maybe we are built to marry, and that's why we make such a mess.”
“What I do know is that I want to go back to her, but what I want is the past. I want my memories, I want to go back to ten years ago.”
"That's not possible."
And suddenly I felt a tremendous desire to eat a pastry, which lots of cream and sugar, something I hadn't done in years. I needed sugar.
“Just a second, I'm going to order a pastry. Do you want one too?”
“No, I don't eat pastries."
I ordered the biggest pastry they had.
“This is a blast from the past. Do you remember? When you ate three pastries a day? It has been so long since I ate a pastry in a pastelería . Probably about ten years.”
"You need sugar."
"What a coincidence, finding you here, af ter so many years of not seeing each other!”
“Yes. But I have to go, I'm meeting a cousin.”
"What a shame."
“
from Madrid.
"What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here, Fortu?"
The plan abruptly changed. It seemed like that day all of Tétouan was in Ceuta.
Everyone was coming and going, doing business.
"Well, I'm coming back from Tétouan."
"Everyone is coming back from Tétouan." She smiled with a childlike sm ile that hadn't changed from the day I m et her at summer camp, when I was 15.
"Let's go get a drink."
"I'm visiting, family. And also taking care of some family things. How long has it been since we last saw each other? Ten years, and we live three streets from each other in Madrid.”
"But not beer, I've had enough be er today. Let's go have a coffee at La Campana."
"Sure, fine, I'm staying at La Residencia.”
"Me too, but that's not surprising. That's the only hotel that is more or less normal here."
"So many years. Do you remember? You were in love with me and wrote me love letters, very beautiful lett ers. But I was in another world.”
"Now you are also in another world. We we re never in the same world."
We arrive at the café, it is one of the city's most beau tiful, and full of pasteles de nata . We both order coffee.
“It is a little odd, two meetings from the past in the same day. Maybe it shouldn't be so strange, that always happens in this city.”
“I always run into people I know. I meet more Madrileños here than in Madrid.”
“Well, everything is smaller here, if someone you kno w is here and you are too, you'll most likely run into each other.”
“You know I got divorced.”
“Yes, I heard something from Gracia, she told me. Everyone is getting divor ced these days. It isn't anything strange anymore. Now it is more normal than being married. I'm st ill married, but separated.”
“It was just impossible, I could have handled the affairs, but he was just never at home. In two years I saw him at home for 15 minutes, sometimes he came to sleep at 3 in the morning and left at 7, there was no longer any relationship.”
“I think that if we had talked we could have solved anything, it is just that the day came when we couldn't talk about anything. Everything you say is misunderstood, everything falls apart.”
“Maybe it doesn't fall apart, you know, maybe it is actually b etter. I feel much better since I got divorced. Maybe it is better for us to find a new life, after a relationship is over.”
“Could be, who knows. But I don't want to get divor ced. Tétouanis aren't built for divorce.”
“No one is. Maybe we are built to marry, and that's why we make such a mess.”
“What I do know is that I want to go back to her, but what I want is the past. I want my memories, I want to go back to ten years ago.”
"That's not possible."
And suddenly I felt a tremendous desire to eat a pastry, which lots of cream and sugar, something I hadn't done in years. I needed sugar.
“Just a second, I'm going to order a pastry. Do you want one too?”
“No, I don't eat pastries."
I ordered the biggest pastry they had.
“This is a blast from the past. Do you remember? When you ate three pastries a day? It has been so long since I ate a pastry in a pastelería . Probably about ten years.”
"You need sugar."
"What a coincidence, finding you here, af ter so many years of not seeing each other!”
“Yes. But I have to go, I'm meeting a cousin.”
"What a shame."
“
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