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\u201cThat, and some of our cuadrilla don\u2019t like to dance so much,\u201d added Kepa. \u201cThey prefer to listen to the metal bands at the fiestas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Javi nodded. \u201cI can appreciate that too. But, it seems there would be room for both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJavi\u2019s played me some Basque metal,\u201d said Julie. \u201cI don\u2019t understand a thing, but I really like the music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you come over, we\u2019ll take you on a little tour of the fiestas,\u201d replied Kepa. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some friends in one of the bands. They aren\u2019t well known yet, but they are really good. At least, I think so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSounds like a date!\u201d said Julie as they began the walk back to Javi\u2019s place. They had decided to leave Javi\u2019s car downtown as they had all had a few drinks. And Javi\u2019s place wasn\u2019t so far away, only thirty minutes walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be walking,\u201d said Javi. \u201cWe rely on our cars too much. I liked that about the Basque Country, how people walk to things a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell,\u201d replied Maite, \u201cour towns are a lot more compact and vertical. It\u2019s a lot easier to walk to the store or the pub from our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTrue,\u201d continued Javi, \u201cbut it\u2019s still nice to just walk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They reached an intersection and Javi pushed the button to activate the crosswalk. As they stood there waiting, the calm night sky was suddenly interrupted with a loud \u201cBang!\u201d Kepa immediately fell to the ground, his eyes wide in panic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLasai!\u201d said Javi as he knelt down next to his cousin. \u201cCalm down, it was only a car backfiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa got to his feet, his legs weak, his face wet with sweat. \u201cBarkatu,\u201d he said, his voice small. \u201cI guess I\u2019m still not over from when I got shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGot shot?\u201d exclaimed Javi incredulously. \u201cWhen did that happen? I didn\u2019t know you got shot!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A new look of panic crossed his face as Kepa looked over at Maite, his eyes pleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEhm,\u201d said Maite, searching for something to say. \u201cIt was in a play,\u201d she said at last. \u201cKepa had a part where he got shot. They made it look very convincing. His ama fainted when she saw him get shot and fall to the stage. I think the alcohol and dancing must have confused him, made it seem like he was back in the play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Javi gave first Maite and then Kepa a wary look. He shook his head. \u201cThere\u2019s something strange going on with you two,\u201d he said as he led the cuadrilla across the intersection.<\/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":"It was late, almost two in the morning, when they finally left the club. \u201cIt\u2019s been so long since I went dancing like that,\u201d said Maite, her cheeks flush from the heat and physical exertion. She sighed as a gentle breeze hit her face. \u201cYou guys have great clubs over there,\u201d replied Javi. \u201cWhy aren\u2019t […]<\/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-5158","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-1lc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158","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=5158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5159,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158\/revisions\/5159"}],"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=5158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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