{"id":4931,"date":"2021-09-22T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4931"},"modified":"2021-09-19T12:24:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T12:24:19","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/09\/22\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-71\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 71"},"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

Torch in hand, Kepa walked to the sheep wagon. He stood there a moment before opening the door. Inside, he could see the simple bed and the belongings they stored there. He held up the torch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEz!\u201d cried Santi. \u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa looked over and saw the older herder nearly in tears as he clutched his shoulder. But Kepa suspected that burning the wagon would be even more painful. All of Santi\u2019s worldly possessions were in that wagon, including all of his photographs of his family from the Basque Country. He couldn\u2019t fathom the loss Santi would feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stole a glance back at Donny, who was watching him intently, his revolver still pointed at Santi. Donny made a nod at the wagon. Kepa threw the torch inside. He watched as the torch flew through the air in a fiery arch and landed on the bed with a soft thud. Almost immediately, the bedding caught fire, the flames licking up the side of the walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling as though he\u2019d just taken a punch to the gut, Kepa mindlessly stumbled back to his chair. Santi just glared at him, the tears streaming down his cheeks. Kepa couldn\u2019t look at him and instead turned to look at the wagon, which was beginning to go up in flames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood boy,\u201d smirked Donny as he watched the flames grow. Turning to the two herders, he asked rhetorically \u201cAnd now what to do with you two?\u201d His wicked grin made it clear he already had an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa seethed inside. He had never felt so hopeless, so powerless in his life, at least not since that day as a young boy when his aita died. He had never felt so alone and that feeling was resurfacing, flooding back in waves of grief. He trembled as he clenched his fists, his nails biting into his palms. Ashamed to look at Santi and not wanting to show his grief to the bastard sitting across the fire pit, he just stared at his shaking hands. He was surprised to see that the tips of his fingers were starting to glow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou,\u201d Donny said to Santi, \u201cyou I\u2019m going to let go. You can take one of those horses back to town, tell the other herders what happens when they trespass on cattle land.\u201d He then turned to Kepa. \u201cBut you,\u201d he continued, his mouth contorted into the most evil smile Kepa had ever seen, \u201cI think we need to make an example of you. Show the other herders just how serious we are.\u201d Turning back to Santi, he said \u201cI want you to see this, and I want you to tell the others what you saw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGet up,\u201d Donny barked at Kepa, waving his revolver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he stood up, Kepa whispered to Santi in Euskara \u201cPrest egon. Be ready.\u201d Santi just stared at him, a mix of hate and fear in his eyes. Kepa couldn\u2019t help but sigh inside, frustrated that, in the end, he had made an enemy of his partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver there,\u201d ordered Donny, pointing his gun to the clearing on the other side of the campfire. Kepa walked slowly to the spot Donny pointed to, his hands clutched to his side. When he got there, he turned to look Donny in the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re pretty tough with that gun in your hand. But, we both know how pathetic you are without it,\u201d hissed Kepa, his hatred dripping off of every word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donny just shrugged. \u201cYou can put on a brave face if you want, but the end is going to be the same. Now get on your knees. I want you to beg for your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa hesitated for a moment. Donny shot at the ground at his feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, on your knees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa fell to his knees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow,\u201d he continued, putting one foot forward, \u201ckiss my boot. Beg for your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa simply glared at the man in front of him before walking slowly forward on his knees toward Donny, the rage building with every step. He kept his hands clenched, but he could feel the warmth building, almost as if his fingertips were on fire. When he got close to Donny\u2019s outstretched foot, he began to bend over, making as if he was going to kiss Donny\u2019s boot. But, at the last second, he thrust his hand up as high as he could. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKiss this,\u201d he said as a blinding flash of light erupted from his hand.<\/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":"

Torch in hand, Kepa walked to the sheep wagon. He stood there a moment before opening the door. Inside, he could see the simple bed and the belongings they stored there. He held up the torch. \u201cEz!\u201d cried Santi. \u201cNo!\u201d Kepa looked over and saw the older herder nearly in tears as he clutched his […]<\/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-4931","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-1hx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931","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=4931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4932,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931\/revisions\/4932"}],"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=4931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}