The Volcano: February 2014

“Digame,” she said. Talk to me. They’d honeymooned in Spain, taking the train from Barcelona along the coast to Valencia and then to Alicante, and eventually winding up in Madrid. All along the way they heard Spainards answering their cell phones. Digame, they said. Direct and to the point. Almost too brusque as far as she was concerned, but this was her first trip overseas and she was willing to idealize just about anything she saw. It was only years later that she realized she’d hated Spain. The men looked at you as an object and the women, many wearing skintight purple pants, evaluated you as their competition. Parties rang out in the streets up until all hours. There was religion, morality and the need to drink as much as humanly possible.