ARROW - 125. Chapter 125

Walking toward the old city, “This part of the city was once occupied by the Romans. There are remnants of the old fort they built and remnants of a religious building that was dedicated to the Emperor Augustus. There is a museum and part of a road which is now underground.”

“Are we going to that church?”

“What do you think? That girl was about your age. Let me think about it.”

The boys quickly identified the columns in my mural at the club. “Dad, is this where you got the idea of those columns in your mural.

“Yes, they are immense and I think at the museum there is a book that tells you all about this temple to Augustus”.

“Dad, who was this Augustus”

“He was an emperor of Rome. In those days, the emperors thought of themselves as gods and demanded the people worship them.”

“I thought they had the same gods as Greece.”

“They did only they called them by a different name. Did you study that in school.”

“No, my dad had some books about the ancient times. In the evening, I would read them. I’d ask him a question and he would tell me to ask my mother or Marie.”

I saw the tears as he was remembering. “Richie, I’m glad you remember your parents. You should never forget them. We will go and buy some of those books and you can read them to your brothers.” The smile finally came, along with a hug.

There are times like this that I miss being home and on our roof.

We toured the old fort, talked about what life was like with the Romans. Then someone’s stomach growled. Laughing, we headed to a tapa place in the center of the town.

“Pop use to eat here when we were here.”

“Like you didn’t.”

“What choice did I have. I think Marcel makes most of the tapas from this place.”

We sat at the bar, Tommy sat on my lap, he was to short to sit on a stool. I wonder if he will ever catch up to the other boys in height. There was one problem, if he liked the tapa he would eat mine as well and if he didn’t like it, I would finish it for him. I think it was a game for him and I didn’t mind.

After lunch, we visited the museum and the underground road. I had to explain that when the Romans occupied this city, the roads were on the surface. Over time, they got covered over. When they were building the museum they uncovered this road.

Entering the museum, we had to check out the road. Walking down the stairs to the road, the boys wanted to know how old the road was. I pointed to a box that contained leaflets that explained all about the road. The boys took a leaflet in English and then they saw leaflets in different languages, so they took one of those as well.

Walking on the road, the boys inspected the construction, so they said.

Ivan found a coin, he showed it to Colin. Colin started to laugh, it was an euro coin. He showed the date of the coin to Ivan and then the boys wanted to see it as well.

“You found it Ivan, so it’s yours.”

Ivan smiled as he put the coin in his pocket. Then the boys started to look for more coins.

When they didn’t find anymore, they decided they wanted to visit the museum. For the next 2 hours, we walked through two floors of the museum and watched a 15 minute movie showing how the Romans constructed the temple.

When Colin and I were here the first time. we didn’t see the movie. One of the ushers said the movie was filmed three years ago.

“Colin, I wonder if we could buy a copy of that film. It might be something the kids at the orphanage might like to see.”

“I’ll ask before we leave.”

We finished touring the museum, I asked for a bag while Colin checked on a copy of the film. Mom and Dad were laughing as I ended up with two bags for all of the brochures and figures they bought. I think we had a copy of every brochure, plus any copy of an artifact to go with the brochure. I was certain that the museum made more money that day then they did all month. I didn’t mind. I knew they would share and the information would have value when they are in school.

After the museum, we stopped for something to drink.

Then the Grands saw the church and wanted to know more about how the church was named . The boys were more interested in the geese. The question I expected came, “Dad, can we get some geese?” The expected answer came, “We’ll see when we get home. You can think about where you would keep them.” Colin’s answer was, “Sure, why not.”

I told them the story of the 13 year old girl, Eulalia and why she is regarded as the patron saint of Barcelona. The cathedral was named after her.

The ladies found it hard to believe but Marie said such cruelty was common during the days of the Roman Empire. I thought life meant very little then, slavery was common and accepted behavior. Laws reflected owners rights and the death of a slave carried no penalty. Once the adults understood the name, they wanted to enter the Church. I saw Mom pick up a pamphlet and dropped some money into the poor box.

It was Dad who made the connection. “Armand, is that story true about the little girl?” “Yes, Dad.” “That is the age of the boys.”

I watched Dad as he realized that Eulalia was the same age as Ronnie and close to the ages of the other boys. I knew what he was thinking, if our sons had to make such a decision what would they do. I was glad that children didn’t need to make that decision.

I explained that the old city was divided into sections, Colin remember a place that we were at when we were first here. So we had to go for a snack and a beer for the guys, coffee for the woman and cola for the boys, plus ice cream.

On the way back to the hotel, the boys wanted to go swimming. The Grands thought they would take a nap. We did a lot of walking today. Colin wanted to check with Charles on the orphanage so I went with the boys.

The pool felt great, the sun was out so I made sure the boys had sun tan lotion on. Of course, it got washed off when they were in the pool, so they had to get out often to have more put on. I knew their game, while I was putting more lotion on them, they were taking sips of my iced tea.

They were in and out of the pool for almost an hour when Colin came up. He jumped into the pool and then the boys ganged up on him. I just sat there watching. Ronnie managed to dunk him and then they ganged up on Ronnie. While I was watching I wonder where the boys learned how to swim. I knew Richie had a pool so I expected him to know how to swim.

Did we provide a swimming pool for the orphanage. If we didn’t, we should do that and then hire an instructor to teach all the kids how to swim. I relegated that to one of the items to review when we got home. Thinking about all of the items I had in my memory to follow up on, I decided I better write them down. So while Colin was here, I told them I had to go and I’ll be right back. I went to our room, got a sheet of paper from the room’s desk. With a pencil, I headed back to the pool

We stayed there the rest of the afternoon. The boys never mentioned fishing or Alesander. I thought some more about helping him to start a business. He has a customer for his lobster and shrimp. He has a customer for any tuna if he could get it to the chef at the hotel. Smaller fish he could sell at the wharf. I still liked the idea of a store on the wharf. Grandfather could get his Tuna and Alesander could cut it into sizes to sell. I was busy thinking about what would be needed when a glass of water was dumped on me. I looked up and there was Alesander grinning.

“You started to cook, so I thought you would need cooling off.”

“Sit, I want to discuss and Idea with you. Do you know if there are any stores along the wharf for sale?”

“No, there is space to build a store but there aren’t any empty stores. What did you have in mind?”

“A store to sell fish, shrimp, lobster and crabs. I noticed some of those crabs your grandfather is using for bait are good for eating.”

“How would you keep them fresh? They will go bad fast unless they are kept cold or frozen.”

“So what would a walk-in like the chef has here cost? Part of it is a freezer and a part is a refrigerator. I know what one would cost at home but you all have a different electrical system then we have.”

“I don’t know what they cost.”

“We will be here for a few more days. Why don’t you ask around and see what they costs. Also get an idea of costs for electricity. Maybe we can set you up in business and keep your grandfather fishing. Interested?”

“Where would we get the money? Something like that will cost a lot of money.”

“I think you’ll do well. I’ll loan you the money and you can pay me back.”

“I’ll have to offer something to the other fishermen.”

“You already have a person who buys your lobster and shrimp. You can sell the idea to the other fishermen. Now, they bring in their catch and must keep it until it is all sold. You would buy it from them as soon as they dock. You will be able to store it in your freezers. If business goes well, you could buy a truck and deliver to other restaurants and hotels. Maybe you could think about a business partner.” I planted the seed so we shall see how it grows. “Before I leave, I’ll give you my address and Colin’s business card. If you have any questions, let us know.”

If I was staying here for the summer, most of this leg work I could get done. I might be able to help from home.

“First, let’s get an idea of where to put your store and what it would cost to build it. Maybe, we can look tomorrow morning.”

He smiled as he waved to the guys in the pool. “I have some work to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I gave him a hug and then watched as he left. Sitting back down at my table, I sent a message to GG.

Then I was splashed with water. “We thought you fell asleep.”

I chased them back to the pool and when I jumped in, I splashed them all. We played in the water until Marie came up and said the old folks were getting hungry. I laughed, if the Grands knew she called them old folks she would have been dunked clothes and all.

“Tell them we will be down as soon as we are dressed. Ask them if they want to go out or eat here.”

That ended our pool time for now.