Unai Elorriaga: Plants Don't Drink Coffee

So I’m often there in the sewing room, picking up needles, surrounded by my aunts’ legs, listening to their stories, because my aunts are never quiet. But it isn’t just Aunt Martina and Aunt Rosa and Mom in the sewing room; many other women come in. Carmen comes, a lot. Dolores comes. Carmen says that she comes for the conversation; she says “I’m here for the conversation,” and starts talking. And I think that’s what conversation is, to talk at ease and without rushing. Aunt Martina says Carmen is never in a rush; she says “She’s never in a rush, that one,” and then she says “She’s never in a rush to go home.” And by this she means that Carmen is very good at conversation, because she talks a lot and is never in a rush. But Aunt Martina means something else by that too. What she means is that “that lady Carmen” is a bit tiresome, because she always stays in the sewing room until very late. Aunt Martina says all these things when Carmen isn’t around, of course, and she is very funny when she says it, and Aunt Rosa laughs, and I can see that Mom doesn’t want to laugh but in the end she always does.

Today PIEDAD is green

Many women come to the sewing room, all of them old. Carmen, Mila and Dolores come. But Piedad comes most often. Piedad is always at Aunt Rosa’s, in the sewing room. And today Piedad was happy, she was green when she came. Aunt Rosa told her “You look very elegant today, Piedad,” because she was wearing a green dress. And I realized I had never seen a woman like her wear a green dress like that, because they are always in gray or black or brown, never in green. Piedad is very small and has a very small head, and she’s old, and she has brought a book along to Aunt Rosa’s today. That’s why she’s happy.

Piedad is a special woman and I like her a lot. Aunt Rosa says “She has a history, that one.” Aunt Martina says the same; she says “She has quite the history, that one.” Mom says yes, but only with her head, she nods. They all agree. They all say that Piedad has a history, but they say it when Piedad isn’t there, and that means there’s some sort of mystery around Piedad, because they say it very mysteriously: “She has a history, that one.”

It’s clear there’s some kind of mystery going on with Piedad. The same as with the blue dragonfly. Because whoever catches the blue dragonfly will become the most intelligent person in the world. And that’s a mystery. Because if I catch a grasshopper or a beetle nothing is going to happen, but if I catch the blue dragonfly it will. And that’s a mystery. And with Piedad there’s some sort of mystery like that.

That’s why I always listen when Piedad is talking. Because Piedad talks very well and she tells many curious stories, and because I want to know what her mystery is all about, what is going on with Piedad.

When Piedad speaks, she talks about Samuel mostly. She also talks about illnesses a lot, but she talks about Samuel more. Samuel’s name is Samuel Mud. And Piedad says Samuel Mud was a very important architect in the world and there aren’t two like him in France and Italy and Berlin. Or in America or California either, she says after that. And with that she means to say there isn’t a better architect anywhere. And I didn’t know that, but Aunt Rosa and Aunt Martina did. Mom too. And the whole world knows that Samuel Mud is the best architect in the world. And I do too, now.

I think that’s Piedad’s mystery, that she knew Samuel Mud. Or that she was Samuel Mud’s friend. Because it’s important to know important people, because important people are always special. Aunt Martina says that. But I think Piedad’s real mystery is a different one. I think Piedad’s real mystery is the one Aunt Rosa often mentions: why Piedad and Samuel didn’t get married.

And Aunt Rosa and Aunt Martina ask Piedad questions. They ask her what was Samuel like, and what did Samuel say, but what they really want to know is why didn’t she and Samuel get married. And Piedad doesn’t answer that. She doesn’t tell them why they didn’t get married, but she tells them lots of things about Samuel Mud. And Samuel Mud was a very intriguing person, and did some unbelievable things, and was very full of mystery.

Piedad says that Samuel always kept something to eat in his pockets. Sometimes a piece of cheese and other times a bit of milk in a small bottle. And she says that sometimes he kept a lettuce leaf in his pants pocket, and that’s what he liked best, to dip a lettuce leaf in milk, and that’s why he often carried a bit of milk in a small bottle.

And Piedad says Samuel almost always kept a pear in his jacket pocket. And he used to go to the café down there in the square and ask the owner to put his pear in the refrigerator. And he would wait twenty minutes looking at the refrigerator, then would ask for the pear back and order a glass of red wine. Piedad says that he always ate the pear after twenty minutes in the refrigerator. Exactly twenty minutes. Red wine is black and a little bit red. Piedad says Samuel often did that and they were one of Samuel’s vices. Pears were.

And things like that are a mystery, because no one carries things to eat in their pockets. And these are Samuel Mud’s mysteries, but also Piedad’s, because Piedad knows them all, her own and Samuel’s. Piedad knows very well why Samuel carried things to eat in his pockets. But she doesn’t tell. Or she tells, but very slowly. One day she tells one bit and another day she tells another bit and another day another bit. That’s why I’m always listening, to find out about Piedad’s mysteries. To find out why Samuel carried things to eat in his pockets, or why he didn’t take his shoes off when he got home, or why he and Piedad never married.

Piedad says one year Samuel made seven houses, and five burned down. That’s a lot. Piedad says: “You’d think his houses were made of gasoline.” That’s what Piedad says. Then she laughs. First she laughs and then we do.

The other day Piedad brought an encyclopedia. And Samuel Mud, architect, was in it. But the encyclopedia said very few things about Samuel Mud. Piedad knows many more things about Samuel Mud than the encyclopedia does. And when Piedad left Aunt Rosa asked: “How many encyclopedias has that crazy woman brought here?” And Aunt Martina answered: “One hundred.” And then Aunt Rosa and Aunt Martina and Mom continued talking and they said that whenever Piedad found Samuel Mud in an encyclopedia she bought it, or borrowed it, or photocopied it if she couldn’t buy it, and brought it here. And Aunt Rosa calls Piedad “crazy,” but she doesn’t really mean it, she says it lovingly, because she knows that Piedad isn’t crazy.

Today Piedad brought a book, but it’s not an encyclopedia. It’s a book, a normal book without photographs, a book of Samuel’s letters. Piedad says it’s completely new, and she hasn’t read it yet, and Samuel’s letters are in it. Because Samuel used to write letters to another architect. And the other architect wrote to Samuel too. The name of the other architect is Sorin Firs. And Sorin Firs is a funny name, and special. And they have put all the letters in one book, Samuel Mud’s and Sorin Firs’. And there are lots of letters, because the book has two hundred pages, or three hundred pages, or four hundred pages. Sorin Firs is another very famous architect. I think he is Russian, or Swiss. That’s why Piedad is happy, that’s why she put on the green dress. Piedad thinks Samuel must have written about her in one of the letters. They didn’t get married, but they went for lots of walks.

Tomorrow I’m going to the ponds with Iñes, the ponds near the soccer field. Iñes says there are lots of dragonflies at the ponds and we might catch the blue dragonfly there, maybe. To become the most intelligent person in the world you have to catch a blue dragonfly. Iñes doesn’t need it, that’s why I want to be the one to catch it. That’s why I’ve counted the hours until tomorrow. And I’ve counted them the way Iñes taught me to, because the day has twelve hours, but really it has twenty-four. And it’s nineteen hours before we go to the ponds, because we always go insect-hunting at four o’clock.