{"id":4355,"date":"2021-02-17T17:04:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T17:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4355"},"modified":"2021-02-17T17:04:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T17:04:50","slug":"bubers-basque-story-part-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/02\/17\/bubers-basque-story-part-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Buber’s Basque Story: Part 40"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you have comments or questions, or have simply been enjoying the story and want to say hello, please drop me a note!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That night, they joined Edurne\u2019s husband George, her brother Unai, and his partner Eric in Times Square. Lights were everywhere. The large electronic billboards beamed down at them, advertising everything from cellular services to the latest shows and movies. Inhumanly large images of celebrities and cartoon characters filled their vision. An odd sculpture, like a gutted ship, its ribs almost like the legs of a giant spider emanating from the large form of a woman as its figurehead, sat in the middle of one of the little plazas. As Kepa watched it, the figure\u2019s arms started moving. \u201cWhoa!\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cIt\u2019s a robot!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unai laughed. \u201cThey always have something cool down here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite barely noticed. She was absorbed in the number of people that milled around them. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a fiesta, there are so many people!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buber’s Basque Story is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Edurne nodded. \u201cExcept, this goes on twenty-four hours a day, all year long. It never stops.\u201d She sighed. \u201cI can only take small doses. It\u2019s just too much for me sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unai clapped her on the back. \u201cI don\u2019t know how you survived all of those fiestas back in the old country, sis,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s different,\u201d replied Edurne with a smile. \u201cThose had marcha! Family, friends\u2026 These…\u201d she waved her hand indicating the crowds around them, \u201cthese are all tourists. It\u2019s completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still pretty impressive,\u201d said Maite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn it\u2019s own way, I guess,\u201d said Edurne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Kepa gawked at all of the signs seemingly floating above them, a young man approached him. Kepa\u2019s friends watched as the young man said something to Kepa. Kepa put his hands up, shook his head as he took a step back, but the young man kept talking, his animated hands dancing in front of him as he looked back at Kepa\u2019s friends, pointed at them, smiled, and said something else to Kepa. Soon, Kepa was handing him a twenty dollar bill. He came back to his friends holding a compact disc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat just happened?\u201d he asked bewildered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think you just contributed to that guy\u2019s music career,\u201d said Eric as everyone started laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe still have some time before the show,\u201d said George. \u201cI know a nice pub around the corner, just far enough from the square that there aren\u2019t so many tourists. Let\u2019s grab a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they followed George, Maite found Kepa and slipped her arm around his. \u201cWhat do you have there?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa shook his head. \u201cI don\u2019t know. He said it would impress the ladies. I don\u2019t know why I bought it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to see if it works,\u201d Maite teased him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe later,\u201d Kepa mumbled with a blush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite gave him a big smile. \u201cMaybe later.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have comments or questions, or have simply been enjoying the story and want to say hello, please drop me a note! That night, they joined Edurne\u2019s husband George, her brother Unai, and his partner Eric in Times Square. Lights were everywhere. The large electronic billboards beamed down at them, advertising everything from cellular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Artboard-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-18f","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4356,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions\/4356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}