{"id":4870,"date":"2021-08-25T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4870"},"modified":"2021-08-22T12:26:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T12:26:45","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/08\/25\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-67\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 67"},"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

The next few weeks at the boarding house seemed a blur. Every day was the same: get up, have a quick bite and some coffee, prepare breakfast for the boarders, clean the rooms, prepare lunch, and take a small break before having to get ready for dinner. Most of the faces were the same, and Maite was getting to know some of them pretty well. However, there was always a new face or two, someone popping in for a meal or a camp foreman who was in town gathering supplies. While Maite didn\u2019t love the daily grind of the boarding house, she got to enjoy all of the characters that gave the house life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She still hadn\u2019t had any luck finding the zatia. She was convinced it wasn\u2019t in the boarding house, but if it wasn\u2019t there, she had no clue where it might be. Why was there a time bubble here if there was no zatia? And, if they never found the zatia, would they be stuck here for the rest of their lives? Maite didn\u2019t know of any other way to pop the bubble and return to her own time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was early Friday morning and Maite was sitting at the table, enjoying her small breakfast and cup of coffee when Juan Jose walked in. He wasn\u2019t normally up this early, so his presence startled Maite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJuan Jose! What are you doing up so early?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old man shrugged. \u201cJust couldn\u2019t sleep. My mind kept drifting back to the Basque Country and wouldn\u2019t leave.\u201d He sighed. \u201cMind if I join you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot at all,\u201d said Maite as she waved to the seat across the table from her. \u201cLet me get you a cup of coffee,\u201d she added as she stood up. \u201cWant anything to eat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEz, not yet. My mind is awake, but my belly is still alseep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite laughed as she brought Juan Jose a cup of coffee. \u201cExtra milk and sugar, the way you like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose smiled. \u201cEskerrik asko.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny big plans for the day?\u201d asked Maite as she sat down again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose laughed. \u201cYou mean, besides trying to strike up a game or two of mus, like every other day? No, not really.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen was the last time you went home, went to the Basque Country?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose sighed again. \u201cToo long. Like I told you before, I went back a few times not long after I first got here. I had a girl back home. The first time, I tried to convince her to come out here, that life was pretty good over here. But, the second time, she was already married. She didn\u2019t want to come here and she got tired of waiting for me to come back.\u201d Juan Jose took a sip from his cup and looked at Maite. \u201cYou know what hurt the most? The guy she ended up with, he was my best friend when we were kids. We were supposed to come out here together, become rich together. But, he got scared in the end and didn\u2019t come. And he ended up with my girl.\u201d Juan Jose shook his head as he looked down into the swirls of his coffee. \u201cI probably should have stayed too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Jose cleared his throat, took a sip, and looked up. \u201cAnyways, what about you and that young man? What are your plans?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite blushed. \u201cWe aren\u2019t sure yet. We just want to get past this little adventure and then see what life has for us next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKontuz! Be careful! This \u2018adventure\u2019 as you call it has a way of keeping people trapped and not letting go. There\u2019s another boarding house down the road\u2026 one of the boarders has been there for fifty years, if you can believe it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFifty years? Just living in one of these small rooms?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHell, I\u2019ve been in mine for ten years now. It\u2019s not much, but it is comfortable, the people are good, and they keep you fed. And I can always find a card game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite shook her head. \u201cNo offense, but we hope to move on as soon as possible. Find the next adventure and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame you. When I was young, I was always looking for the next adventure. I never thought I\u2019d be here, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite swallowed the last of her coffee. \u201cWell, I better get working on breakfast. It\u2019s been nice talking with you, Juan Jose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBerdin,\u201d replied the old man as his gaze returned to the dark pools of his coffee cup.<\/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":"

The next few weeks at the boarding house seemed a blur. Every day was the same: get up, have a quick bite and some coffee, prepare breakfast for the boarders, clean the rooms, prepare lunch, and take a small break before having to get ready for dinner. Most of the faces were the same, and […]<\/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-4870","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-1gy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4870","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=4870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4871,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4870\/revisions\/4871"}],"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=4870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}