The Water Rituals by Eva García Sáenz

Author:Eva García Sáenz [Sáenz, Eva Garcia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2021-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

33

SAN JUAN DE GATZELUGATXE

Saturday, July 11, 1992

On Saturday, midway through summer camp, they set off for San Juan de Gatzelugatxe, the legendary church nestled on a tiny, idyllic islet on the coast of Viscaya. That weekend, a few older students had joined them, and Saúl decided to celebrate the occasion with mead. He had tried without much success to teach them how to make Celtic recipes like gruel and roasted meats.

They were interested in learning how to brew mead, the liquor of the Celts dating back some 2,500 years, though. They poured several liters of water mixed with clear honey into a copper cauldron, which Saúl produced from somewhere. Then they added an herbal blend, which would be removed later, that consisted of cinnamon, cloves, ground pepper, ginger, and dried elderberry leaves. Rebeca stirred the mixture patiently, caught up in her own thoughts, already detached from everything around her.

Mead needed to ferment for at least three months before it was ready to drink, so Saúl had brought the unopened bottles from the previous year. In the same way, the following year’s students would enjoy the mead they were making now. The strongest of the bunch, Unai and Asier, were tasked with carrying the bottles.

Asier’s attitude toward Saúl had changed radically. He never left the professor’s side, sitting next to him in the evenings when Saúl told stories around the fire.

They didn’t need to return to the conversation they’d had about Asier’s father. Now they communicated with looks. Saúl made Asier feel strong. They were inseparable, and Lutxo had joined them, too. Three alpha males who were more dynamic than Jota or Unai, the laid-back members of the cuadrilla.

It was already dark when they began celebrating the success of summer camp, sitting outside the church, a little tipsy from the mead. Following tradition, they rang the bell three times and sat staring at the choppy sea. All except for Saúl, who did not join in the festivities. He had a two-hour drive back to Cantabria.

He had been entrusted with his students’ lives and would not endanger them.

Jota stood up, stumbling, and looked around for Annabel. He hadn’t seen her in a while.

“I hope she hasn’t wandered off in the dark, with all these cliffs,” he whispered to Unai.

Unai was also a little worried. The two friends decided to look for her. Jota unzipped Annabel’s skull-design backpack, pulled out her headlamp, and slipped it on. Inside the backpack he also found some condoms. Possibly excited by the prospect, he set off with Unai to find her.

They tried to keep count as they descended the two-hundred-odd steps, laughing and exulting in this moment of friendship.

Little Jota went ahead, illuminating the coastal night with the circle of light that jerked around as he reeled drunkenly. Unai took more care and walked behind him, glancing to either side in search of the missing girl.

They found her farther down, on step number two hundred and five.

They were fucking the same way they spoke to each other, contemptuously, with furious gestures, and without any trace of tenderness in their caresses.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.