They opened the door cautiously because they could hear nothing from the other side. A blank wall of silence had fallen between them when they reached the head of the stairs. They pushed the door, expecting to find someone sleeping or undressed, but what they found was the terrace; the looks the people gave them made it clear they weren’t welcome. The area must be reserved for the residents of the okupa. A girl—the embodiment of El Canal punk—with a crest of red hair, wearing a black top, plaid skirt, and ripped stockings pierced by safety pins said, “You looking for someone?” Their jaws dropped at the sight of her. El Canal punk girls had leading roles in the stories told in the schoolyard. “He was mugged by an El Canal punk girl;” “She left home and became an El Canal punk girl;” “He’s dating an El Canal punk girl.” They had seen punk girls from a distance on Friday evenings in the Rambla, where the bars frequented by high school seniors were located. But this was the first time they had viewed one close up, one who—what’s more—was talking to them. Their dumbstruck awe gave way to the shame of not being able to come up with an answer. You could tell a mile off that they were two nice young Espriu girls. Thoroughly embarrassed, they turned and left, and it was only after they had been walking for a while, starting to enjoy the quiet of the streets, that she found the courage to ask her friend if her iaia had once lived in that okupa.

Tamara gave a loud laugh.

“Are you out of your mind?” After a silence her friend continued: “My grandparents had an apartment in Benicalap. Don’t you remember when you came to lunch there?”

It had been only a couple of hours since the wake of that meal had washed up against her, but she was still unable to speak of it. Suddenly it no longer felt like a vestige of something real. She had the strong impression that she’d invented the whole thing. The idea that Tamara might be participating in the farce terrified her.

“I’m going home.”

Her friend oozed disdain. There was a note of sarcasm in her voice when she said:

“Don’t you want to see my grandparents’ apartment?”