Many times in Granada I would
sit by myself and read or people-watch in my favorite plaza. It was always full
of Granadino families, the kids racing around while their parents shared a
beer. Most times I sat close enough to the bar tables to shamelessly
eavesdrop—anything in the name of learning Spanish! On one particular day I was
reading some notes for school when two little kids ran up and started playing
right next to me. I pretended to keep reading but was really listening to them
the whole time, which they might have picked up on since I didn’t turn a single
page for a full fifteen minutes.
I remember this conversation so
vividly because it was a perfect snapshot of childhood, no matter what culture.
The little boy and girl were playing tag and teasing each other, and then sat
neatly on the bench so the boy could explain to the girl a present she had just
received, but didn’t know how to use: a journal. The boy said, in the cutest
little Andalucian accent, “It’s a diary, Ana. It’s for writing down all your
secrets. See, this is where you write what day it is, always at the top. And
then this is where you write everything that you’re thinking.”
The girl looked up and said mischievously,
“I can write about you in there!” (Leave it to a five-year-old to tell the
truth about love.) They immediately both shrieked with laughter, cackling like
crazy people, and then the girl threw down the diary and they resumed chasing
each other around the plaza. Enough romance, it was tag time again.
I looked around to see if all
this was actually being filmed for a childhood flashback scene in a rom-com,
but it was a truly organic exchange. I hope these kids marry each other in 20
years and I can come eavesdrop on their wedding vows.
Plaza Bib-Rambla, where the magic happens.
(Photo: aloasis.com)
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