What about some fun in the sun....a short story as summer approaches....
https://winetourismspain.com/
Fiesta
“Have they finished?”
Clem and Satsu watched from their yellow rocket in the Parque
Sierra de Cebollera for the third day.
“No”.
“Can we get out? They look friendly and happy.”
“Maybe if we had what they’re having we’ll be happy too.”
The evening sun warmed the visitors as they stepped out of
their spacecraft into the fiesta of San Mateo. As they hopped into the plaza, two
locals beckoned to the strangers to sit outside a café.
“Ola”.
Clem and Satsu hopped on to the metal seats.
Pedro brought two wine glasses and a white bowl overflowing
with shiny green olives.
“Por favour”. He filled their glasses from a carafe of
Rioja and raised his own glass to them. The other café customers raised their
glasses too.
“Welcome! We’re glad you’ve joined us.”
Clem and Satsu stared at them.
“Drink up!”
“Enjoy!”
“Salud!”
The visitors looked at each other. They picked up their
glasses and sniffed the dark, red liquid with their large square orange noses. It
was sweet and pleasant. Then they set their glasses back on the table.
“They don’t like our wine?”
“It’s the best in the country!”
Clem and Satsu lifted their glasses again. Once more they
sniffed the wine and set the glasses back down.
“What’s wrong with the wine?”
“Nothing! It’s the best we’ve had in years.”
“Maybe they’ve different customs where they live.”
“Maybe they think it’s poisoned.”
“Look, I’m drinking this. It’s very good,” said Pedro.
Everyone else raised their glasses, smiled at the visitors and sipped the
delicious, ruby wine.
Once more Clem and Satsu lifted their glasses, sniffed and set
them down on the table.
The woman at the next table reached over and grabbed some
olives. Clem and Satsu copied her, slowly munching the olives. Soon their dish
was empty.
“They’re just taking their time.”
The café crowd sipped their wine in the evening sunshine
enjoying the San Mateo fiesta. They cheered the brightly coloured children’s
parade passing by.
Again, Clem and Satsu lifted their glasses. This time Satsu
poured some wine into the dish where the olives had been. He started lapping
the wine like a cat lapping milk from a saucer. He stopped, looked up at Clem
and clapped. Clem filled the dish from her glass and began to sup the wine from
the dish until it was empty. They both clapped, stood up, spun round three
times and sat down.
“They like it!”
Pedro brought two clean dishes and filled them with Rioja.
“Salud!”
They were soon empty. Clem and Satsu clapped, stood up,
spun round three times and sat down.
“You’re very welcome here,” said Pedro. “We’re delighted you
like our wine. We’re honoured you chose to visit our Rioja region and try our
wine first. We’ll give you some barrels to take home. We hope you’ll visit us
again. We’ve always taken pride that ours is the best wine in Spain, but today you’ve
shown us it’s really out of this world!”
- 'The Proof of the Pudding'
