toledo

by fred flynn

ray wished he had never come to toledo, but had stayed in youngstown where he could have written up another quote for baker console - and probably made the goddamned sale. but he had given in to marie the way he always did, and now marie was back in the hotel "not felling too good, but you go ahead and see the sights -". and here he was in these gloomy streets, with all these churches - ray guessed they were churches, he was not about to go inside one - and all these people dressed in black - was there a single one of them not dressed in black? at least none of them seemed to be looking at him - suddenly ray decided he had had enough. he would just stop wandering the streets and go back to the hotel and watch whatever was on the television, even if it was not in english. and if marie wanted to watch something different, fine, he would just give in to her like he always did, like the wimp that he was. the only reason he had agreed to her suggestion that he “see the sights” was to get away from her before he said something he might regret. but he had calmed down now, as he always did, so he might as well go back to the hotel. when he started back, he did not recognize the streets as the ones he had come by. ray had always prided himself on his sense of direction, whether walking or driving, and he had carefully kept track of the left and right turns he had taken since he had set out from the hotel. he decided he was seeing things. the streets must be the same, he had taken a right two streets back, so all he had to do was go back two streets and take a left, and so forth. but the blocks seemed much longer than he remembered. he had not gone two blocks, but the distance he had traveled was surely way longer than the two blocks he had come after making the right. and nothing looked familiar, in the streets he thought he had walked down just minutes before. , all right, he admitted , i am lost. i will just have to ask directions. these people must speak english, some of them anyway. what was the name of the hotel again? the goya. like the cans in the spanish section of the supermarket. he saw an old woman coming toward him. dressed all in black, like everybody else he had seen. when the woman came closer he saw she was not as old as he had thought, but just walked - shuffled - bent over like an old woman. she looked up at ray with completely expressionless brown eyes. hotel? ray asked. goya? the woman looked at him blankly. he repeated hotel? goya? , pointing in what he thought was the general direction of the hotel. suddenly the woman laughed, showing fang like teeth, and pointed her finger at ray’s face. then she shuffled away. fighting down his exasperation, ray walked on. the next person ray saw was a small boy - or a dwarf. again, dressed all in black. it occurred to ray that he had not seen a single person on the street accompanied by another person - they were all walking alone. the person was in fact a boy of about eleven, not a dwarf, but with the same expressionless eyes. when ray repeated his questions - hotel? goya? - the boy said something that sounded like “glub flurk” - that didn’t sound like spanish! - and laughed and pointed his finger in ray’s face and moved on as the woman had. are these people rude or what? ray thought. if i ever get back to the states i am never leaving them again. ray kept walking. nothing he saw looked at all familiar, and everything looked crummier than anything he remembered. it started to get dark, and then a few raindrops fell. finally he saw a third person approach. what ray did not realize was that if a third person laughed at him and pointed a finger at him, he would really be in trouble. but the newcomer looked promising. a grown man, dressed in black to be sure, but walking upright and carrying a walking stick in an assured manner. he wore a cape, and a wide flat hat like a matador’s. as ray asked his questions of the man, as politely as he could, the rain began to fall in earnest. the man paused. letting the rain wash over him. then he laughed, showing a mouthful of gold and silver teeth, and pointed his finger directly at ray. lightning filled the sky…