{"id":4776,"date":"2021-07-21T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4776"},"modified":"2021-07-17T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T13:40:16","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/07\/21\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-61\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 61"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Adventures of Maite and Kepa 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

Maite knocked on the door at the end of the hall. After prepping food for lunch, it was her job to tidy up the rooms of the boarders and change their linens. She also saw it as an opportunity to take a look, to search for the zatia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When there was no answer, she opened the door. The room was sparse, holding just a bed, a small dresser, and a desk. She stripped the bed, throwing the used linens into a basket. As she lifted up the thin mattress to put the clean sheets on, she noticed a small suitcase underneath. Peeking down the hall and seeing no one, she quietly pulled it out and opened it up, hoping to find the zatia. Instead, all she found were clothes, an old Bible, and a photo. The photo showed a family arrayed out in front of an old baserri. There must have been at least twelve people in the picture, the two old grandparents in front, the parents standing right behind them, and a seemingly random assortment of children, the youngest only a baby sitting in amuma\u2019s lap. The faces of the older men reminded her of Juan Jose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She heard steps in the hallway and quickly closed the suitcase and tucked it back under the bed. She was fluffing the pillow when the old herder came in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, you must be the new girl,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw you last night with that new boy, what\u2019s his name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKepa?\u201d replied Maite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBai, horixe. Kepa. How is he?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite shrugged. \u201cHe went off to the hills this morning, so I think he is ok.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose raised an eyebrow but didn\u2019t say anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyways,\u201d Maite said as she gathered up her basket. \u201cI\u2019m done here. Sorry to be in your way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, don\u2019t worry. I was just going to take a quick nap before lunch. These old bones can\u2019t go as long as they used to. And I need to be ready for the card games,\u201d he added with a wink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Maite left the room, she turned. \u201cCan I ask you a question?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose, who had sat down on the corner of his bed, looked up. \u201cNoski. Sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you ever go back? Why stay here in this godforsaken place?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose sighed as his head dropped. \u201cI always meant to go back. I thought I\u2019d just work for a few years, make some money, and go back home a big shot. All of my family was back there. But, this place has a way of changing you. And things changed back home too. I went back to visit once or twice, but it was different. My parents died, my oldest brothers died. And the girl I had my heart set on had moved on, had found someone who hadn\u2019t left her behind.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he looked up again, Maite saw that his eyes had teared up. \u201cAnd, I guess I just got used to this place. In the end, it isn\u2019t so bad. I have friends here, a good home. For a while, I even had a girl here. Life is what you make of it and my life here hasn\u2019t been so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t it have been even better back home? Back in the Basque Country?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEz. I don\u2019t think so. My uncle died in the war. Most of my brothers and sisters started working in other baserris before they were fourteen. There or here, life was just work. And at least here there was a chance of something better. Some of us get our own flocks, make some real money. Or they open a boarding house, like this one. Back home, there was no chance for that. Maybe someday, but right now\u2026\u201d He shook his head. \u201cAs hard as it is here, it is harder there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite simply nodded as she turned down the hall and to the next room. As she left Juan Jose\u2019s room, she heard the old man sigh again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBaina, bai. Sometimes I wish I\u2019d gone back,\u201d he said in almost a whisper.<\/p>\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maite knocked on the door at the end of the hall. After prepping food for lunch, it was her job to tidy up the rooms of the boarders and change their linens. She also saw it as an opportunity to take a look, to search for the zatia.  When there was no answer, she opened […]<\/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-4776","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-1f2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776","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=4776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4777,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776\/revisions\/4777"}],"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=4776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}