Thoughts from a Thinking Girl

– For José María García Payán, El Sueño de Julia

The wash machine is next to the fridge. It is in Spanish,

but you will figure it out.

The light over the stove doesn’t work but there’s a nearby bulb.

I put some food for you in the refrigerator,

some water and some juice and some marmalade and some paté

some lovely fresh mandarins, please,

I want you to be able to find the dishes and the cookware and the coffee pots

and there is olive oil right here, but be careful with the cabinet door

that opens to the left, it is a double door, and doesn’t quite close.

Don’t lock the top lock, a Canadian woman was here once and she was sick

and she locked the top lock and no one could get in to help her.

It is safe here.

There is an extra set of keys on the table, and my brother is only five minutes away

and Antonio will help you with anything.

Oh, there’s no key for the terrace – head across to the man in F3 and see if he can open it for you,

oh, no he’s not there – the dog is barking, so he’s not out walking the dog –

I’ll have Rosa come by on Monday, nothing can be done tomorrow, it is Sunday,

but Monday, yes, Monday, I will have Rosa bring a key to the terrace

then you can wash your clothes and hang them to dry.

Extra sheets are in the cabinet with the sliding door.

There’s a switch in the bathroom behind the door – don’t touch it – it sets the water

temperature and cannot be undone.

The left knob in the shower regulates heat, the right one is for nozzle pressure.

Heat is expensive here, ah, yes, well, that is the way of things here,

so if you would please, turn off the heat when you leave, and keep it low.

It is expensive here, no?

Yes, yes, that is mine. This place I knew as a child.

Between reality and legend, a little bit of magic,

a man builds a home for a lover who never came.

Julia, so feminine, no? I gave her a bit of a life, imagined her

walking the same land, the stones, at the horizon.

I hope you like, I leave some here, I like to think my paintings

make it feel like home.

If you need to block out the light in the bedroom, close the wooden shutters.

Do not use the rattan blinds over either window –

if they unroll, the birds’ nest will fall to the ground

and the birds who have made their home here for 14 years

will be disrupted, perhaps lose their home forever.

You understand, no?

Welcome, welcome.

I am so glad you stay here.