Track #1
Part 3 · Chapter 2
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Track #1
Andreas was on the other side.
“There you are,” he said.
He greeted me with a smile. Before I could say hello, he wrapped both arms around me and lifted me off the ground.
“Did you miss me, huh?”
Since I didn’t answer, he lifted me a little higher.
“Hey, come on, put me down,” I said, laughing.
He laughed with me, and when my feet touched the ground, he patted me lightly on the chest.
Adriana watched us from behind. She had let her bag drop to the crook of her elbow. She reached inside for her camera, then changed her mind before pulling it out.
“How’s it going, Gae?”
“Good. I’ve been wanting to come back,” I replied.
When Andreas let go of me, I could see her better: she was smiling. The long trip and the road dust hadn’t managed to put a hair out of place.
“Look who’s here,” I said.
Andreas smoothed his shirt.
“How’s this ugly guy been treating you?”
“No complaints yet.”
He went over to her and hugged her. Adriana wrapped her arms around his back. He held her a little tighter.
“He finally brought you,” Andreas said.
“I brought him,” she replied.
The house looked the same as always, white on the hill. The stone walls still held the day’s heat; the turned balcony railings looked as though they’d been drawn onto the facade. Moths circled the lightbulbs. From below, it looked like a castle; up close, it had the noise and warmth of a home. Only the door remained in shadow, though a line of light slipped out from beneath it and stretched a few centimeters across the ground.
“Let them in, will you?” Grandfather said from inside.
He appeared, nudging the dogs aside with his legs.
“Grandpa.”
“Gael, son, you’re thinner.”
“I’m the same.”
“Then you were thin before, too.”
He squeezed my shoulder and pulled me toward him.
“So good to see you, son.”
“I wanted to see you too, Grandpa. Look, let me introduce you to Adriana, my girlfriend.”
Grandfather held out his hand. Adriana took it and stepped closer to kiss him on the cheek.
“Well, look at that,” he said. “This boy sure knows how to show up in good company.”
Adriana laughed. Andreas reached down for my suitcase, but Grandfather beat him to it. He took it from me and slung Adriana’s bag over his shoulder.
“Grandpa, no.”
“What do you mean, no? Why should you two be carrying all that, son? You got here late. I thought you were going straight to the beach.”
Andreas caught up with Grandfather and took the suitcase and bag from his hands.
“I’ll carry them,” he said.
“Gaelito! Ave María! You won’t fit through that door anymore. Look how tall you are!” Rosario said as she came out to greet us. Lisa was with her. Between the two of them, they showered us with kisses and hugs.
“Rosario, bring them something, will you? They must be tired from the trip,” Grandfather said.
“I’ve already got mango ciruelo juice and chifles for them,” she replied. “Sweetheart, help me with the glasses.”
Lisa followed Rosario toward the kitchen.
Adriana took my hand.
We entered together, in step.
As we crossed, her fingers closed a little tighter around mine.
Andreas walked ahead of us with our things. He set them down beside the spiral staircase, where the cats were sleeping. They bolted toward the entrance.
“How was the trip?” Grandfather asked.
“Good. We didn’t get caught in the rain, luckily.”
“The rainy season hasn’t started yet, but it will any day now. I want to fix the roof before it does. I’m not starting 2005 with the roof still like this. Tomorrow, Juano and I are going up to check it.”
He looked up at the place where two sheets of corrugated metal met.
“See? That’s where the rain gets in.”
Andreas looked up.
“But there’s no opening there.”
“Can’t you see it? There. A slit.”
A dry sprig covered in fine leaves fell between us. Grandfather picked it up.
“Sabino,” he said.
“Gabino, old man,” Rosario corrected him from the kitchen. “Your brother’s name is Gabino.”
Grandfather held up the sprig.
“No. Ahuehuete.”
“Huh?” Rosario said.
He rubbed the dry leaves between his fingers.
“Yes,” he said. “Gabino.”
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This scene has such a gentle sense of arrival. I loved how the house feels alive before we even fully enter it — the moths around the bulbs, the stone still holding the day’s heat, the dogs at the door, the cats sleeping by the spiral staircase. All those details make the homecoming feel warm without forcing it. And the final moment with Grandfather, the sprig, and the name correction adds a quiet emotional shift. It feels like memory entering the room softly.
Was that ending meant to hint at something changing in Grandfather, or was it more about the way family memory moves through a house?
The details do the work here. You can feel the house, the people, the warmth before anyone speaks.