ARROW - 117. Chapter 117

Seated at the edge of the dance floor, the wine steward came. He recommended a wine, Colin asked him if he had the wine we had when we were on our honeymoon. He said he did, but a limited number of bottles. In other words not enough for all of us. Dad asked about beer, Colin translated. “Dad, they do not have beer. You can have one back at the hotel.”

I expected something from John, nothing.

I ordered the wine, a bottle for Colin and I. I asked for his recommendation, he suggest the same wine but a few years younger. I ordered that.

While the wine Steward went to get our wine, the waiter came with the menus. Again Colin ordered the same as we had before. In fact, we all were going to have the same meal. Our wine steward returned, poured a little into Colin’s glass. He was a ham, he twirled his glass, smelled the wine, took a taste, which involved taking some and swirling it in his mouth, nodded his approval. By this time, I was laughing out load. I knew what would happened.

The steward, poured wine in the adult glasses and then the boys glasses. The boys took a sip, rolled the wine around in their mouth, swallowed, nodded approval. I was about to laugh out loud, Colin’s kick stopped me.

The boys followed us. The appetizer was served, after eating that, Colin took a sip of wine, swilled the wine in his mouth, and swallowed. I looked at Colin, I knew he was trying to be funny. “We do that to clean our palates.” Now the boys copied him.

That was the way dinner proceeded. The boys watched Colin and followed what he did. I knew Colin was having fun.

When they served our dessert, the dancers began their show. Everyone watched, enjoying the entertainment The boys watched, and I could see legs moving under the table.

When the entertainment was over, the lady came and gave the boys a kiss on their cheek. Colin was ready to get up and ask for his kiss, one kick to his leg settled that move.

I paid the bill, the maitre d’ thanked us, taxis were ready.

Arriving back at our hotel, the dads wanted to have a beer, the moms went with them. Marie, the boys, Colin and I headed to our rooms. I reminded every one that we would be leaving in the morning.

Colin went and called Carlos, found out he had booked into our hotel while we were at dinner. Instead of going to bed, we went to the bar to meet Carlos and his wife, Alicia.

Morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed. Too much to drink last night. I have to stop meeting friends at night in bars. By the time I got down to the dining room for breakfast, I no longer looked forward to food except coffee. At Colin’s instance, I did have a piece of toast. The boys were entertain the Grands. When ever Carlo or his wife said anything to Colin or me, they would translate for the Grands and Marie. I watched the Moms eyes as they spoke in Spanish. I thought maybe Colin’s mom might have known a little Spanish but she didn’t. The boys would look at Colin or me when they did the translation. I would just smiled back, 'my proud of you' smile.

Towards the end of breakfast, I started to wake up and became hungry. Colin got up, picked up two eggs and one link of sausage with a piece of toast. While I ate, they went and brought the luggage down, Colin paid the tab. I knew he included Carlo and Alicia’s room.

Taking a taxi to the train station, we boarded a train heading south east. The ride wasn’t long, two hours and we left the train. The walk to Carlo’s family restaurant took approximately one hour, Colin and I did it the first time here in 20 minutes. Carlo’s dad was there to meet us with horse pulled cart. The boys were excited especially Ivan. Without the need to carry our luggage it became a pleasant walk in the cool morning.

“Colin, when you get a chance see if Carlo found rooms for us. Has he said anything about a hotel being close?”

“No, he hasn’t said anything. I’ll ask him as we get closer to the restaurant.”

The last time we were here, their home had two bedrooms.

Approaching their restaurant, there were two couples waiting on the veranda in front of the building. Looking at Colin, “That’s new.”

Carlos’s dad stopped in front of the veranda, unloaded the luggage, then drove around the back of the restaurant. I nudge Colin. He knew what the nudge meant.

Walking into the restaurant, we were greeted by Carlos’s mother and Alicia’s parents. You could smell the food that will be served tonight to their customers. Thinking about the lamb, I just realized something. If the boys knew what we would be eating, they would be angry. “Colin, make sure if they serve lamb, no one mentions it. The boys will be upset especially if they see the lambs before dinner.”

We sat around the family table catching up. Colin introduced our parents, Maria and the boys. For the next hour we had a lively discussion about the changes in our families. Carlos told us how he met Alicia. According to him she trapped him. In Spanish, “I’m glad she caught me.” That got him a kiss. “Now I need to work.”

He left us as he attended to the restaurant. The noise level rose as people started to enter the dining room. I nudge Colin to find out where would we be staying tonight. He asked Alicia, she said she didn’t know but she would ask Carlo. I had a funny feeling we would be leaving after dinner for Barcelona.

Dinner was delicious, as it was on my many times here. We didn’t tell the boys we were eating lamb. Before we had dinner, Alicia took the boys to show them the sheep and I knew what would be next.

There was a small hotel we had passed when Colin and I were here. “Colin, what was the name of that hotel the last time we were here?”

“I don’t remember but it wasn’t far from here.”

“I might take a walk, and see if I can find it. Want to go with me?”

We started to walk away when, “Dad, Pop, where are you going?”

“For a walk. Do you want to come with us or visit the lambs?” We lost to the lambs.

Walking toward the train station, Colin kept bumping Into me. I remembered he did that the first time we were here.

“Isn’t that the store where we bought our swimming trunks?”

“Yes, the hotel was close. Let’s take this road.” We did and at the end of that road, we turned left and there was the hotel. Walking in, Colin got us two beers to drink while I went to check in. I didn’t remember the desk clerk, I told the clerk we had stayed here several years ago and there was a different clerk. He said he moved to a new hotel. I proceeded to book three rooms and if they had a suite large enough to sleep 5. They didn’t so I book three additional rooms asking that the rooms be close together, He was able to book three rooms on one floor and two rooms on the floor below.

With that taken care of, I asked that a cab for 9 pm at the restaurant. They knew the restaurant and said they would have a cab there.

With that settled, we walked to the beach. There wasn’t anyone there, Colin wanted to skinny dip.

“Let’s get back to the restaurant and the boys. You can skinny dip in Barcelona.”

“Do you think our parents will skinny dip?”

“No, but the boys might want to.”

“Did they packs win suits?”

“I don’t know we can check tonight.”

Walking back to the restaurant brought back memories when we were first here. As we did then, we were holding hands. Approaching the restaurant, four boys ran toward us. “Where did you go?”

“We went to make arrangements for sleeping.”

I let Colin tell Carlo the we had arrangements at the hotel and a taxi would show up to take our parents and our luggage to the hotel.

I watched as Colin spoke to Carlo and then I saw a smile from Carlo. I think it was a sigh of relief.

Later I spoke to Colin about Carlo’s reaction. “He said he was concerned. His dad suggested he make hotel arrangements . He was glad that we had done it. I did have to promise to have lunch and dinner here.”

Now, with sleeping arrangements made, I was ready to enjoy the next few days.

Later in the evening, over coffee, Carlos mentions my painting on loan to the museum in Madrid.

“How did they come to know you had the painting?”

“We were in Madrid and pretending we were tourists. We toured the palace, saw some of the paintings there when Alicia mentioned that my painting was just as good as those we saw. So, our next stop was the museum. I guess someone heard Alicia’s comments about my painting. One of the employees asked who the artist was. I told them an artist known as Arrow. He asked to see the painting, so we came home and took the painting to the museum. The director was told I had an Arrow painting and then they wanted to know how it came into my possession, did I know Arrow personally, and a lot of other questions. As we were leaving they offered to buy the painting. I told them it was a gift and I wouldn’t sell it. So they asked abut renting it for display in the museum. They have a one year lease and then it must be returned to me.”

I smiled as I listened to him. I was glad he became aware of Armand’s skill. I always thought that one day Armand would be recognized as a great painter.

We chatted until the taxi came for our parents and Marie. I told her I had the rooms reserved and we would meet them at the hotel. The taxi driver loaded our luggage into the trunk of the cab, seating our parents and Marie, took off for the hotel. I gathered the boys, they were with the lambs, and we walked to the hotel.

“Tommy, did you all pack swimming trunks?”

“No, Dad. We didn’t think we would be going swimming.”

“Colin, tomorrow before walking to Carlo’s we need to get the boys swimming trunks for Barcelona.”

Entering the hotel, I asked about our parents. The young man at the desk said they are in the bar.

Walking into the bar, they were sitting around a table with two beers and three glasses of wine. I sat at another table with the boys, they had a soda, Colin and I had a glass of wine.