{"id":4998,"date":"2021-10-27T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4998"},"modified":"2021-10-24T13:06:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T13:06:32","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/10\/27\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-76\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 76"},"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

\u201cWe should get going,\u201d said Maite, her head resting on Kepa\u2019s chest as they both lay on the dusty floor of the Noriega\u2019s bar. She listened as his heart beat normally, and wondered if the effects of the bullet were really completely erased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBai,\u201d replied Kepa. \u201cJavi\u2019s still expecting us tonight.\u201d He paused. \u201cIt\u2019s so weird to think about tonight when we were literally gone for months. I\u2019m having a hard time adjusting to the shift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite pushed up, resting on her forearm as she looked into Kepa\u2019s eyes. \u201cAt least you are here with me. I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d do this without you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa pulled her back for one last kiss. As they broke their kiss, he said \u201cBerdin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They both stood up, dusting themselves off. Maite looked around the bar. \u201cIt\u2019s so weird to think that, only moments ago, this room was filled with people playing cards, talking, and drinking. Looking at it now, all of that life is gone. It\u2019s so sad. All of those people, just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa nodded. \u201cI wonder what happened to them all? Even Donny. What happened to him after he shot me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said Maite, \u201che only shot you in the bubble. All of that was undone when you \u2018got\u2019 the zatia, when the bubble popped. So, you never got shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight\u2026\u201d began Kepa. \u201cBut, I can\u2019t imagine he didn\u2019t go after someone else, the way he was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we have some time, we can try looking them all up and see,\u201d replied Maite. \u201cBut, right now, we better get moving. We have at least a couple of hours of driving to get to Javi\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa sighed. \u201cYou are right. But I\u2019m so damn tired. Feels like I haven\u2019t slept for a month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite laughed as she playfully punched him in the arm. \u201cThis from the guy who does a week of gau pasas during the summer?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, but I never got shot during any of those,\u201d replied Kepa with a smile as his hand again absentmindedly touched his chest. \u201cI still remember how it felt when that bullet ripped through my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFair enough,\u201d said Maite as she walked through the doors of the boarding house and onto the street. \u201cI\u2019ll drive and you get some rest. When we get there, you and Javi can go out while I go to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d cried Kepa as he climbed into the car. \u201cI don\u2019t get to go to sleep when we get there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite laughed. \u201cYour cousin hasn\u2019t seen you in ages. Do you think he\u2019ll be happy with you just going to bed right when you get there? I bet he has some big plans for you tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa moaned as Maite started the car and headed toward the highway. It wasn\u2019t long before Kepa\u2019s snores filled the car. Maite followed the signs that pointed toward Santa Barbara. At one point, the road forked, with signs pointing to San Luis Obispo. Maite vaguely remembered something she read saying it was an important outpost during Spanish colonial times. As she glanced in that direction, she saw another bright light hovering over the sign. She sighed and then shook her head. \u201cNot right now,\u201d she muttered to herself as she passed the exit and continued toward Santa Barbara.<\/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":"

\u201cWe should get going,\u201d said Maite, her head resting on Kepa\u2019s chest as they both lay on the dusty floor of the Noriega\u2019s bar. She listened as his heart beat normally, and wondered if the effects of the bullet were really completely erased. \u201cBai,\u201d replied Kepa. \u201cJavi\u2019s still expecting us tonight.\u201d He paused. \u201cIt\u2019s so […]<\/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-4998","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-1iC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998","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=4998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4999,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998\/revisions\/4999"}],"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=4998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}