Granada 14 (9 o’clock)
October 19th, 2009 at 12:39La Plaza del Campillo is a busy square in the center of Granada. Ice cream parlors, souvenir shops, restaurants. In the afternoons natives + tourists come here to relax on the benches by the fountain. Kids running around, dogs sleeping in the sun.
Mornings are different. At 9 a.m. the plaza is quiet, almost somber. Shops still closed (not only here, everywhere in the city); tourists just beginning their day’s work. Elderly men (pensioners?) sit on the benches reading the morning paper in identical poses: perched on the very edge of the bench, elbow on arm rest. Every so often another pensioner walks across the square, morning paper in hand. There’s no greeting and chatting. They barely look at each other. Etiquette forbids joining a person on his bench. As all the benches in the sun are occupied, I settle for a less sought after one in the shade.
Something tells me these men, who pretend not to notice one another, have known each other all their lives. For a split second there’s this keen, quick glance. No nodding, no winking. Just this glance. Sharp as a bullet. Clandestine as a spy’s hidden camera. Are they enemies or conspirators?
Posted: October 19th, 2009
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