A journey of a lifetime (I)

He found himself in an unknown place, surrounded by all-too-similar yellowish buildings in a street he had never walked before. While trying to remember where he was and what had brought him there, he heard a familiar sound. The waves splashing at the seashore was a sound he woke up to every day, although he wasn't used to linking that sound to the heat he was feeling. How hot was it? He was sure it was above 30 degrees. The sound of the sea in the distance magically made him walk towards it. As he was getting closer to it, he started smelling it. Ah, the smell of salty water. Where was he? The temperature made him guess he wasn't in Dublin anymore, and this thought only got reinforced as soon as he reached the view of a massive albeit empty beach...

-Joe, Joe!- Joe woke up to the voice of his boss, Mr. Grenham- Taking a nap, are we?-he implied, irritated-, These young lads nowadays, that's all you care about, going partying then falling asleep at work. You should've seen us working back in the day. We wouldn't stop, not even for a minute until the dawn.

Joe kept quiet while Mr Grenham, who was in his early 60s, kept on telling stories of his youth, and how much he and his brothers worked in the field when his father got ill. "Do not interrupt your elders when they're speaking", Joe remembered his mother telling him and his siblings that as the first rule of politeness. Of course, Betty Sherwin could never be interrupted, not even once, and she made this explicitly clear to her children. "Poor mum," he thought, "having nine children must be a nightmare". While thinking he would never get married and shaking off the idea of having children, Mr Grenham, who had finished his story, urged him to go to the shop to check out whether there were customers waiting or not.

Joe worked in a petrol station, in a remote road connecting Dún Laogháire and Sallynoggin. The nearest city was Dublin, but almost nobody was interested in driving down that road. That's why he didn't think he would find anybody there, but to his surprise, he found a well-known face on the other side of the counter. He was a guy in his mid-20s, with long black hair tied up in a ponytail and a strange foreign accent. Joe knew him well. The customer was Pablo, his Spanish roommate at university. He was smiling like a kid on his first Christmas.

"Hiya Pablo! What the hell are you doing in these whereabouts?"- asked Joe.
"Jai Joe!" Pablo's English was very good, but his accent...yeesh! "Yor sister Meri told mi ai wuld si yu hier! Ai'm glad ai faund yu! Ai haf greit nius, de best nius!"

Joe lifted an eyebrow. Every time Pablo told him he had "nius", it was because he had met a new girl. His Spanish charm had made Pablo a good lover among Irish women, apparently. However, he hadn't told him any other "nius" since he met that girl in the previous summer when he went back to Spain. What was her name again?

-Du yu rimember María Dolores? De guerl ai estarted deiting last yiar?- said Pablo smiling even more

MaríaDol...something, yes, that's the one.

-Sure thing! How is she?- asked Joe politely.

- "Guel, yu nou it hasent bin isy for as, biing sou far aguei from ich oder..."

"Oh great, he's bringing her over" thought Joe. -"Yeah, I bet it hasn't been easy"-he replied.

Pablo smiled even more, Joe could see all of his teeth from where he was standing. He was fearing the worst...

-"Dat's exacli uai. Ui..."

Uh oh...

"...ar getin marriid in Yun! "

Joe suddenly opened his eyes (When did he close them?) Wait, what? He...said...?

"...married?! " he couldn't believe his roomie was getting married! He suddenly felt relieved and Pablo's joy finally got into himself.

"Yes! Yes! Ui ar gein marriid in Espein, in my joumtaun, niar Alicante, guil yu com?"

"Holy Molly! You're getting married! Of course, I will" said Joe empathetically.

"Greit! Cos ai guil nid a best man" 



...Oh crap! He had already committed to go, but he would have to deal with explanations to his boss, and especially, to his family...


To be continued...