It is late in the morning, the sun rising high, shimmering through the streets and against all those quaint houses’ limed facades in one of Cádiz’s prettiest and loneliest neighbourhoods. Almost no one’s out. It’s just too hot.
Sat on yet another whitish wall, with his legs up as if he were afraid to fall, a young boy awaits the appearance of the dun cat that lives on the other side of the road. Soft coffee-coloured hair, dark tanned and with attentive eyes, the child is six, as is the dun cat. They were born five days apart.
Time seems to have gone still. No clock ticking, no noise. Just the sun, the terracotta cobble stone road and the low white buildings. The cat’s nowhere to be seen.
A soft breeze starts dancing around the corner. Tentatively, it reaches the boy, who breathes it in. Inside him, the breeze straightens the kid up a bit. The boy patiently sights, and lets go of the air. Free again, the swirling wind goes on with its choreography.
Accompanied by a subtle purr, the meandering tail with the black spotted end comes into sight. The boy fixates his gaze upon it. One, two, three spots. It’s the dun cat. The animal tentatively comes into sight, dodging the burning metal pipe on its side. Without looking at the boy, it jumps and lands on a windowsill, and afterwards disappears through the ground floor’s open window.
The boy seems content. A smile ghosts around the corners of his mouth. People say he is sweet. Sweet enough to let his sister wrestle with her tiny fits when he is told to put her to bed. Sweet enough to let her play with his hair to get her to sleep. Sweet to his grandma, who can not remember him, but smiles regardless when he hugs her.
Carefully, the kid gets up on top of the wall and slowly makes his way across it and down some narrow, almost imperceptible steps. He lands on the street. His name is Marco. It’s summer.
A cute tiny human walks away. The dun cat, unnoticeable behind the thin linen curtain that hangs in front of the window, follows him with its greenish eyes until the cute tiny human is out of sight. Content, the dun cat purrs. It’s summer in Andalucía.
Sobre un lienzo de papel y tinta 