Chapter 4

Saturday started like a normal, nice day. A bit cold, -well, freezing kind of-, but sunny morning. I woke up early, had breakfast (if a cup of tea and a toast can be called that); swept the two upper floors (which were cold as hell) and thoroughly cursed the boiler before I opened the store. 

I sat behind the desk and felt a pang of remorse because that was Eusebio’s place. I did nothing else but to sit there and watch through the small windows -almost at ceiling level- the running feet of tourists and locals rushing to visit the Cathedral or the Casa de las Conchas. Though people were visiting a city famous for its university, nobody was looking down, at our basement’s windows in order to discover the many books hidden in the shadows. Not even the students would look at us. We mostly lived from internet sales or seeing a few selected collectors- customers now and then. 

Just being there without nothing better to do but looking at perfect strangers’ shoes was nerve racking. Besides the situation with the psycho who wanted to become my boyfriend lover, I still had the tax-inheritance-problem (the nobility thing was almost out of my mind), my employment status (no, that one was solved: I had quitted the previous night) and a boiler on strike. All of my problems were the kind of situation that requires money; money I didn’t have and I debated with myself if I should ask my sisters for money (and humiliate myself a bit more). In a nutshell, I was royally screwed.