{"id":4691,"date":"2021-06-23T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4691"},"modified":"2021-06-21T13:57:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T13:57:25","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-57","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/06\/23\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-57\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 57"},"content":{"rendered":"\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!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa turned to see a big man who must have been in his mid twenties standing at the bar. He was dressed in almost stereotypical cowboy wear. He had on a bright red button down shirt that tucked into denim jeans. Around his waist he wore a holster that housed one revolver that Kepa could see. His boots were polished — Kepa suspected these were his fancy boots he wore when he was out on the town. To top it off, he wore a big cowboy hat on his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa turned back to Maite to continue their conversation. But, the man\u2019s voice overwhelmed everything else in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoys!\u201d he bellowed, seemingly to the small group of men that had gathered around him. \u201cDid I ever tell you that time I was riding in the hills and I came across a Basque sheepherder? He was a friendly enough chap. He was cooking beans in his pot on the fire and invited me to have a bowl. It had been a long day and I was much obliged. We got talking and, as things often do, the conversation drifted to women. I told him about my many conquests, of all of the young ladies with whom I had made my acquaintance. He got very excited. \u2018Me too, me too\u2019 he exclaimed. \u2018I know many too.\u2019 I chuckled, but I indulged my host. \u2018How many?\u2019 I asked. \u2018Oh,\u2019 he said. \u2018Let me count. One, two, three\u2026\u2019 It wasn\u2019t long before his snores filled the camp. He had fallen asleep. He was counting sheep!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd around him burst into laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man wandered over to Kepa and Maite\u2019s table. He stood behind Maite but looked over her at Kepa. \u201cHey, didn\u2019t you hear my story?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, I did\u201d replied Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you speak English?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA little.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t you think my story was funny?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuh. You know what I think isn\u2019t funny?\u201d The man\u2019s mood suddenly shifted and Kepa could hear the outright hostility in his voice. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s funny how you damn Basque bastards take your damn sheep everywhere, destroying the land for my cattle. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s funny how you take what\u2019s ours and give it to your damn sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man leaned over Maite\u2019s shoulder, his hands on the back of her chair. She could feel his breath on her left cheek. It reeked of beer and whiskey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know what? Maybe I should take something of yours.\u201d His hands shifted to Maite\u2019s shoulders as he looked at Kepa. \u201cWhat do you think of that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think you better take your hands off of her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy? Maybe you are afraid of touching such a pretty little thing, maybe your hands are only used to touching wool. Maybe she wants a real man. Besides,\u201d he added as he glared at Kepa. \u201cWhat are you going to do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa shrugged. \u201cMe? I don\u2019t need to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite\u2019s right hand swung over and hit the man hard, in the throat. He immediately collapsed to the floor, holding his windpipe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man\u2019s friends rushed over, pulling him up to his feet as he still gasped for breath, murder in his eyes. He roared at Kepa but before he could do anything, the man from behind the bar rushed over and got between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot in my bar, Donny,\u201d said the man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donny glared at the man before shoving his friends aside. \u201cLet\u2019s go,\u201d he barked as he made his way to the door, all the while staring at Kepa and Maite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net if you want to get in touch with me. Kepa turned to see a big man who must have been in his mid twenties standing at the bar. He was dressed in almost stereotypical cowboy wear. He had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"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":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1dF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691","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=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4696,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions\/4696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}