6th June, 2003

I couldn’t shake off my restless night. I was tired, resentful, and lazy today.

We spent a great part of the day, Selena, Luis, and I, planting courgettes (zucchini).

Under the hot blue sky toiled, and then, sometime in the middle of the hot afternoon, we, by common silent agreement, moved into the shade of the tree lined border heading down along the slope of the hill between two fields.

We lounged there an uncounted length of time, listless and powerless in the heat, chatting mindlessly.

Luis, in his hypnotically rhythmic cadences explained his dream house. Not too large, near the sea, but not close enough to hear the crashing of the waves, solitary and suited to studying, very quiet, with a few flies buzzing around.

Why?

Because to hear flies buzzing reminds you how quiet it is.

Luis made that nervous big smiling face normally reserved for repeating “Get it? Get it?” after telling a joke no one laughed at, and Selena and I were both looking at nothing in particular.

I was smiling politely, but also horrified at the thought that a bunch of buzzing flies would be a relaxing sound to a guy. What kind of buzzing is going on in his head all day, I wondered.

We continued to lounge in near silence until the afternoon cooled just a little, and we finished our planting.

I tried to make a stir fry for myself this evening, but it was so salty, I needed two sips of water after each bite. Got to change my strategy. Such a bad cook sometimes.