He was on the way home. There was a slight sunlight going through the clouds and trees. Buildings around where grey, some, made of bricks, had this beautiful tone of red.
Automn.
People were rushing somewhere, more and more of them clumsily following their smart devices. As people are not yet all mapped on them, they keep bumping into eachother, unable to take off their eyes from the virtual truth.
Since the smartification started, there was an important increase of accidents and suicides. Aren't we supposed to be more happy now?
I would like so much that something great happens to my protagonist right now, look at him. Head down, making slow, long and unsure steps, as if he feared that the pathway is not solid enough to uphold him.
For sure the hangover has its part in this mood. Vodka is not good for an innocent man.
Passing along the yesterday's park he slowed down. He found the bench where the russian was playing guitar last night. He sat down and took out a sandwich he got on the way.
_Jamon Serrano_ is not the favourite one, but it will do for now. Being foreigner means eating things you do not necessarily like.
The tea have openned his apetite and Spanish style ham was good enough.
Being foraigner is never being totally satisfied, always trying to adjust. One day you think you got it, and on the next one you get indigestion: it is still strange for you.
This is the moment he has to get home and face the reality. It has been long enough, this indecision, this suspense.
He got up, and still with the same hesitative swing, he went to the place that he has been calling home.
Now a small contextualisation for those of you that used to have a pretty stable life: having "home" is not the same for everyone.
There are homes that provide stability, even we have heard of some homes that could provide warmth. And also that there are homes that provide neither stability nor warmth. So as a result there is no place you can learn believes such as "safety".
And in this case, my protagonist still manifests in the way he walks this premordial lack of safety.
He turned the keys in the gate's lock, greeted a neighbour that was just leaving, climbed up three floors, turned again the key in the lock, this time leading to his flat.
The flat was closed double turn, which relieved him. He could be alone, hoping to get together all the parts of his mind, soul, life.
He just needed some time to reflect on his situation, have a coffee to dismiss this terrible post-alcohol headache and things should start being easier.
Parts of thoughts were rushing in all possible directions. Notion of home in the modern society, price of the rent, recent elections, his sister's cancer, Frolova's songs, vodka, unfinished doctorate, the cat's terrible miauling, and where the hell his partner was?
The cat seems as if not feeded for a week, which is of course not possible, it is just a part of cat's performative skills, but still, it seemed like being angry and alone for a while.
On the kitchen's table, there was a note. Note + dubble turn of the lock = trouble.
He gave some canned tuna to the cat, made coffee, took a cup, filled with coffee, no milk no sugar, and put on a tray. He checked in the drawers for the ashtray they have for guests. After discovering an unimaginable amount of useless treasures, finally he found it.
Both the ashtray and the note got placed next to the coffee cup, followed by the freshly bought rolling tabacco.
- OK, let's take things with calm, one after the other. It is not an easy
moment, but there is always a solution for everything. No need to panic.
And just when he was heading to take a place in the living room, the cat cut his way, causing him to lose balance for a secound, which made coffee leave the cup, invading the space occupied with both note and tabacco.
Just some coffee, enough though to make him curse. Firs the cat, then the coffee and then the note.
It was half unreadible.
He set in the armchair, rolled the cigarette with some of rescued papers and smoked it, looking out of the window. The mild sunlight was still there.
