Unai Elorriaga: Plants Don't Drink Coffee

Aunt Martina said it’s no good to stay at home today and we must go for a walk. That’s why we went for a walk after dinner. But Uncle Abel stayed on the sofa. And my cousin Mateo as well, looking at Uncle Abel. And Iñes, Aunt Martina, myself, and a cat went out for a walk. Because this cat started following us on our walk. A cat from the street. And the cat was really frightened of dogs. And whenever it saw a dog it climbed up a tree. And one dog jumped and jumped under a tree, and it reached the branch where the cat was in one of its jumps. And the cat said Meow. And the dog jumped more. And the cat said Meow again. And we walked on. But after a while the cat turned up again and walked with us all the way. And Aunt Martina said It survived. And I thought It survived. And there are lots of streetlights in the walk around Maloena, and all of them are lit, and that’s why we could see the cat so well, like when the sun is out. And that’s why we could see one of the cat’s eyes was completely white and the other green, because all the streetlights are lit. Because it’s nighttime now. And I’m sleepy but I’m not.

Because we got up very early today, because the telephone started ringing very early. And it’s not normal for the phone to ring so early and it’s not normal for us to be eating breakfast so early, because it’s summer, and it’s the holidays and Mateo is often in bed until eleven and me too sometimes, but not today. We got up very early today and lots of things happened today. We caught the blue dragonfly today and many other things happened. That’s why I am the most intelligent person in the world now, because we caught the blue dragonfly at the ponds and because I’ve realized many other things today. But I am a little tired now, and it’s very late, and Aunt Martina is on the sofa knitting a sweater and she hasn’t told me to go to bed.

Because in the morning when I was eating breakfast with Iñes and Mateo, Aunt Martina went out with an umbrella looking very serious and almost without a word and acting very mysteriously. And a little later Uncle Abel went out. And a little later Uncle Simon. And it was very early to go out in the street, and Uncle Abel and Uncle Simon left the house very quietly. And Iñes said Get the stuff. And when Iñes says Get the stuff it means we’re going insect-hunting, because the stuff is the jars, because we put the insects in jars, glass ones. And that too was very odd, because we always go insect-hunting in the afternoons, and we always go after lunch. But we went in the morning today, very very very early, and all the shops in the street were closed. We always keep the jars in a green bag. The glass jars.

But today we didn’t catch beetles or crickets or grasshoppers or anything else. Because the only one Iñes is missing is the dragonfly, the blue one, and that’s what she wanted to catch, and me too, because it’s a big thing to be the most intelligent person in the world, like doctors. That’s why we were looking for dragonflies today. And we saw green ones and brown ones, lots of them, and I saw a red one too. But Iñes only wanted the blue one and we saw three blue ones. Three Orthetrum coerulescens . Because that’s the one Iñes is missing, because there are other blue dragonflies too, but they’re not Orthetrum coerulescens . Because they’re a little different, like helicopters.

We saw three blue ones, and the first one was next to Iñes, but Iñes was too slow and didn’t catch it. And the second one we saw was really really far, and it flew away quickly. But the third one. . yes. The third one was next to me, and I told Iñes very softly, and she came behind me and got it in the jar. And she didn’t break its legs or its wings or its tail. Nothing broke. Because insects are very delicate. And I put the lid on the jar and I brought it to Maloena. And the dragonfly went trzzz inside the glass jar. And afterwards it was quiet. And then it went trzzz again, twice in a row. And so on like that.

There was no one in Maloena. But Aunt Martina came a little later. And a little later Mateo came. And Mateo got a nosebleed and made a mess on the kitchen table. And I thought I ought to show Dad the blue dragonfly, because Dad is not in the hospital anymore, because they’ve brought him home again. And Dad and I went lizard-catching once, and he likes things like that a lot. That’s why I wanted to show Dad the blue dragonfly. And I wanted to ask him when are we going to Madagascar, because sometimes he asks me When are we going to Madagascar, Tomas? And I always say Tomorrow. Because you need to get on a plane to go to Madagascar, and you can’t just get on a plane suddenly. That’s why I say Tomorrow and not Today. Otherwise I would say Today. Because you can do that with the train. You can just get on a train suddenly, because we live by the station, and we can take a train whenever we want, but it’s not the same with a plane. Because planes are complicated things.

And I told Aunt Martina I’m going out in the street with the dragonfly, I’m going to bring it to Dad, but she didn’t pay much attention to me because she was looking at Mateo’s nose. Because to have a nosebleed is not like being sick, but it’s a bit like being sick.

And I went out in the street with the dragonfly, and the dragonfly went trzzz at times, and other times it was quiet. And when it was quiet I shook the glass jar like this, quickly, to wake it up. And when I shook the jar it went trzzz again. And you get this funny feeling in your fingers when the dragonfly goes trzzz.

And there are two traffic lights between Maloena and our house, and before I never used to cross the lights on my own, but now I do. And Mom is always very worried when I have to cross the lights, and she says Jesus, Jesus and a thousand times Jesus, and then she tells me to be very very careful; she often tells me that. But I know how to cross the lights. First you have to look at the traffic lights and then you have to look at the cars, to the right and to the left, and then cross. Because Grandma Lina died like that, because of a car. And I didn’t know Grandma Lina. Only her name.

And when I banged the door at home, the dragonfly went trzzz again, but it was an odd trzzz. And Mom didn’t open the door, Aunt Rosa opened the door. And Mom wasn’t in the kitchen either. Uncle Pedro and Aunt Rosa and two women I didn’t know were in the kitchen. And I wanted to show Dad the dragonfly, and I wanted to tell him Let’s go to Madagascar. That’s why I asked Uncle Pedro Where is Dad, Uncle? In the bedroom? And Uncle Pedro told me Dad’s taken a train. Because we live by the station. And he told me He’s gone far and it’ll be a long time before we see him again. And Aunt Rosa was looking at us and she told Uncle Pedro, No, Pedro, not like that. And afterwards she said Tell the child the truth. And Uncle Pedro tapped the floor with his cane and told me Your dad died this morning, señe . And I didn’t know where to look and I looked at the dragonfly, and it didn’t go trzzz anymore and its color was gone. And I shook the jar, but the dragonfly didn’t go trzzz. And I shook the jar again, quicker, and one of the dragonfly’s wings broke, but it didn’t go trzzz and it didn’t do anything. And I saw then that dragonflies die too. And I saw then that dads die too, like dragonflies. And moms as well. And children. And Aunt Rosa said Let’s go, and we went to Maloena, and everybody in Maloena was waiting for us to eat, and they were a bit worried about me. And Aunt Martina ladled some soup into my bowl, with fat noodles.

And after we ate we sat in the living room and we were very quiet, and a fat fly came in through the balcony door making a loud noise. And Mateo took a folder and gave the fly a whack. A huge whack. And he threw it back out of the balcony door. And I told Aunt Martina there’s a movie on at the cinema today at five and I’m going with Ismael. And Aunt Martina said That’s fine. But then she told me Dad’s mass is on at six and leave the cinema a little before six to go to church. And I thought movies almost never finish before six, and I thought I won’t be able to see the whole movie, but I said Yes to my aunt. Afterwards my aunt said I’ll have to wear shoes to go to church. And she cleaned my brown shoes, with brown polish.