The Camino by Eddie Rock

Author:Eddie Rock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beaufort Books
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

NÁJERA TO SANTO DOMINGO DE LA CALZADA

DOING THE FUNKY ROOSTER

MY PROPHESY HAS COME TRUE. In the distance, walking very slowly “like an Egyptian,” is Cocker, with Belen, holding hands and canoodling like a pair of lovebirds.

“How’re those boots of yours today? They do look very comfortable,” I ask with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yeah, they’re great,” he lies. “It’s just my ankles.”

“No blisters then?”

“None at all.” He grimaces.

“Seed exercises?”

“Speed exercises?”

Funnily enough, he’s not in the mood for chitchat.

Ahead of them is the fabled couple with the donkey. An English guy and a Dutch girl with a Spanish donkey that won’t go up or down steps or over bridges.

I’m pleased I haven’t got a donkey. Cocker is a bit of a donkey, I guess, and the way things are panning out between him and Belen . . . I reckon he could be hung like one, ’cause they’re holding hands and staring madly into each other’s eyes, giggling and joking. It could be said that it is indeed a miracle of the road.

Another miracle happened on this road, but a very long time ago when a German couple and their son called Hugo stayed here for the night in a local tavern. The innkeeper’s beautiful daughter took a bit of a shine to the young German, but he gave her the el bow. So the naughty little minx slipped a silver cup into Hugo’s bag, and as the family were leaving town they were chased down by angry locals. Poor-old Hugo was proclaimed guilty of theft and hung from a tree at the edge of town.

His parents on their return journey from Santiago heard their son’s voice calling them and found him alive and well, still swinging from the tree with none other than Saint James himself holding him up.

Excitedly, they rushed to the local magistrate to inform him of the miracle. Looking up from his Sunday dinner, he said, “Your son is no more alive than these two roasted chickens on my plate.”

The next thing, his dinner has sprouted feathers and starts doing the funky rooster all around his dining room. Needless to say, everybody lived happily ever after, including the hanged boy and the two birds.

The cock and hen were built a special cage in the church, and descendants of these birds can be seen now in the very same cage.

The legend goes that if you throw in a piece of bread and they eat it, you will arrive safely in Santiago. But if they don’t eat it, you will die!

Cock and hen, more like cock and bull, if you ask me.

“Little donkey, little donkey on the dusty road, carry Mary, carry Mary safely on her way.” Oh, for heaven’s sake, now I’m stuck with that fecking song! Will I be driven insane by repetitive song syndrome? I’m beginning to wonder.

On arrival at Santo Domingo de la Calzada, I follow the arrows straight into the nunnery, to be greeted by none other than a nun in a glass booth. She checks my credentials and sends me upstairs to the pilgrims’ quarters.

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