Café Sonrisas (AU Spamano)

Antonio Fernandez loved to rise with the sun. Everytime the sweet yellow rays slowly made their way through his window and landed on his face, he couldn’t help but smile, he was alive.

Today was no different; he woke up at 7 as always and quickly went outside to catch the last glimpses of pink and purple sky the morning provided. It was his daily routine, he changed into comfortable loose clothes and picked his fresh tomatoes from the little garden he had behind his house. After making breakfast (which almost always involved fresh tomatoes in some way) and taking a shower he headed to work.

He owned a small café right in downtown Salamanca, a small city in the Western end of Spain. It was extremely popular due to the high numbers of students from Germany and Italy who wanted to learn Spanish in the University of Salamanca. Students that claimed they’ll change the world, revolutionaries, future scholars, musicians, poets, writers, they all looked for a cheap place to relax and share their beliefs in. Antonio was too happy to provide that.

People tended to overlook it due to his calm and ‘out of it’ nature, but Antonio was a well-read young man, interested in politics and society. Knowledgeable of the works of Cervantes, Bécquer and Vega, he loved to be surrounded by such young and fresh ideas, they made him feel he was part of something.

Today, he was excited. It was Friday and Friday nights were always busy, but that wasn’t it. Today he was going to finally get someone to help him with the café. He had posted an ad in the newspaper a few weeks ago and only one person had answered it. By his accent through the phone Antonio knew he was Italian, but not much else. He was supposed to meet with him for an interview at 10 am, but as always he was running late.

He ran the last bit of the way when he noticed the clock hit 10:30; Ignoring every sign and green light he passed on his way. Finally his eyes caught sight of the familiar corner, the brown door and the red roof. He saw a thin man standing against the wall and he silently hoped he wasn’t too mad for him being late and still wanted the job.

As he approached his steps slowed down and stopped when he got close enough to see the man’s face. He flashed an apologetic smile and raised his hand in greeting.
“I’m terribly sorry I’m so late, I’m Antonio. You must be Lovino si?”

Antonio ran the last few steps and shook the hand of the visibly annoyed Italian in front of his café. He almost didn’t hear the Italian’s question, too lost looking at the pretty face in front of him.

“Si, me llamo Antonio Fernandez, mucho gusto” He stole a glimpse at his soon to be employee and couldn’t help but smile wider, the little Italian was really cute and he had a funny curl sticking out his hair, he wanted to reach out and touch it but caught himself midway because he didn’t want to upset the cutie more than he already had for being late.

“I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to be so late” The truth was that this kind of things always happened to him. He woke up really early every morning but somehow always managed to be a little…ok… really late to his appointments; it was something that had caused him lots of trouble in high school and college and it he hadn’t quite managed to correct it yet. He gave an apologetic look to the Italian and without letting go of his arm he pulled him towards the café door. He tried opening it but it didn’t work… mmm… Oh right! He had closed it last night. Smiling at his own foolishness and ignoring the weird looks the young man behind him was giving him he extracted a set of keys from the pocked of his black jeans and looked for the largest one. The only one that opened the door to his shop.

The door to the café unlocked and he dragged the Italian inside, letting go of him as soon as the door closed behind them. He stood there for a moment taking in the smells, sounds and the sight of his favorite place to be. It was nice to be back, Antonio knew he was one of the few people that actually enjoyed his job, even if it was mostly preparing coffee. He enjoyed the way the rustic furniture creaked even when no one was using it, he liked the smell of fresh made café negro in the mornings, the soft music that people’s voices made when they sat down to chat about their daily lives, he loved that he could fill pages and pages of the little poetry notebook he kept thanks to the inspiration that floated all over the café at nights. He didn’t even mind the stains of chalk and charcoal that he had to clean from the tables once an artist doing some café sketching left.

He opened the curtains to let the warm sun of the Spanish morning in, turned on the coffee machine poured roasted beans on it and changed the sign from “closed” to “open”. In no time he was pouring two cups of pure black coffee for Lovino and for himself. He handed the cup to the Italian and put a creamer and sugar in front of him. He loved sweets, you could easily tell by the large number of pastries, cakes, pays and other desserts that adorned the menu of his café; but his coffee… No, he liked it pure and bitter and hot. He smelled the cup before taking a tiny sip savoring it slowly with his tongue and closed his eyes for a second before remembering he had company and smiling to himself embarrassingly.

He offered a chair to Lovino in the nearest table and sat down in front of it. He never had someone working for him before, so he wasn’t sure how to go about this.

“So when can you start?” wasn’t he supposed to do some kind of interview or something… No, the Italian would be fine, he could trust him. “And you were saying something in the phone about your Spanish, don’t worry” He smiled “What you have is good enough and I can always teach you some if you like. I take you also want to know the details for the job si?” He gave a reassuring look to the Italian who had suddenly turned red. ‘So cute’ “Well I need to know your school schedule so we can work out when are you working si? Uhm… the pay is 5.9€ and if you can work 20 hours a week that would be great, but we can figure out that later. Any questions?” Was he going too fast?... Dios he was sweating…He never truly expected anyone to want this job and now here it was an extremely cute and young Italian –and now he was thinking how tasty Italian food was with all those tomatoes- with fancy clothes wanting to serve coffee to random strangers.

He smiled again, that’s all he could manage to do.

Antonio weighted the Italian with his eyes, trying to study his reactions and body language to everything he said. In despite of his reputation of being extremely oblivious, distracted and maybe even stupid, the Spaniard had always had a good eye for people. He knew how to read them perfectly when he actually put his mind into it. It was just easier to just ignore the signs most of the time that was all. He had never interviewed someone before and he wanted it to go as smoothly as possible.

Lovino had just asked if that was it. Was that it? Did he have anything else to say?

A wave of relief washed over the young man in front of him at his words and Antonio took it as a good sign, it seemed he was doing a good job. Something was missing though; he tried recalling every interview he had once seen in tv in one of those Mexican soup operas that had become so popular around the country. They never lasted long, but there was always more talking. He frowned frustrated and smiled at the Italian. He should ask something… anything…

“So what brings you to Spain?” It was an extremely personal question, not what he wanted to ask in the first place but he couldn’t stop it when it came to his lips and escaped him, he immediately regretted it and opened his mouth to take it back. ‘No joder, take that back, take that back. He’ll only think you are a complete weirdo’ Even if Italians were just as effusive and warm and showed their feelings as openly as Spanish people did, the man in front of him didn’t look like he wanted to share much at the moment. He looked rather shy and private, Antonio rather liked that, in his world very few people kept to themselves… including himself and to find someone who did was somewhat refreshing. Although he had probably just screwed it up with his question. His normal confidence and resolve went down quickly. “I mean… ehm… no you don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to. Yo… I mean I…I’m sorry I’m not very good at this interviewing thing”

He scratched the back of his head nervously and as if he had just remembered something extremely important he suddenly stood up, grabbing his mug and Lovino’s for a refill. Near the sink, he got a hold of the jug full of the coffee he had previously prepared and filled his cup and the Italian’s. He drank half of his black coffee in the sink, like if it were alcohol… actually a bit of rum didn’t sound bad right now. He shook his head, reminding himself that uno: he didn’t drink, dos: when he did drink he could not hold his rum and tres: Lovino was still waiting for him just a few meters away.

He handed the mug back and flashed his biggest smile, the one that had gotten him out of almost any troublesome situation he had found himself in. Trying his best to relax and think of a way to fix the damage he surely had inflected already

“Forget about what I said, it was too inappropriate on my part. I would like to get to know you better but that will come in time right?” He rested his elbows on the table and looked meaningfully to the man in front of him, slowly replaying in his mind that episode when Teresa the main character of his favorite soup opera ‘Cuando seas mía’ went to that insurance company asking for work and the boss had asked all these questions about her qualifications and whether she knew how to make coffee and photocopies and then well… he had seduced her.. No! But he couldn’t do that! He looked away only now realizing that he had been staring. He decided to go with the first thing “So what do you know what to do? Do you cook? Clean? Do you know how to make coffee? I mean I’m just asking you know… to tell you what your responsibilities will be and to know what I have to teach you before you start”

His fingers played with the golden crucifix that always hung around his neck and he waited, his legs moving anxiously below the table.

Antonio sighted in relief. Finally something he could do without messing everything up. Although he still wondered if what he had done had caused the Italian to dislike him, he was willing to give it a try if Lovino let him.

He stood up and sipped the last remains of his coffee, leaving the mug in the sink and taking Lovino’s as well. Letting the water run until it filled the cups.

His restaurant wasn’t an extremely big place, the front with tables divided into two sections and the back which had small couches and paintings all over the orange walls. He had several favourite spots all around and was more than eager now to show them to Lovino.

“Bueno, you already know this area, the door…”He signalled to the glass door with the “open” sign on it and then to the first table area where they were sitting, in front of the counter and the pastry fridge “People in lunch breaks from work normally sit here. Y te digo! They always want their coffee a certain way, and always as fast as possible. Some of them can yell really loudly and they are always in a hurry. Always looking at their watches and wearing immaculate suits and…” He noticed he was divagating and for the first time since Lovino came into his café he didn’t smile, instead giving a tired sigh “Sorry, just careful with their suits please”

Deciding to move right along he took a few steps forward and pointed to the right.

“I already showed you the kitchen; I’ll go into detail the first day of your training si? The next section is here” The next group of tables exactly in the middle of the complex and really close to the washrooms, had mostly round small ones with wooden chairs arranged in a completely asymmetrical and random way “Tourists mostly and the rest, people with kids. I love kids they are so fun, it seems they are still the only ones who truly now how to live this lif… Oh Dios I’m speaking more than I should again aren’t I? De verdad lo siento, is not every day that I get to speak with someone about the business you know… I’ve always been the only one working here so I didn’t have anyone, come on! Let me show you my favourite part”

The very back of the café was a completely different experience. There were small couches spread out in every corner, and in the middle, three big round tables that could almost fit six people. Words made of intricate patters covered the edges of the walls; they were poems, the words of the Spanish masters, a verse from Lorca reciting about the moon and its silver hair. There were also paintings covering the walls, Goya, Dali and Picasso, expensive reproductions that had almost been as expensive as the whole restaurant. Antonio was rather proud of that.

“Students from your university come here often” The smile was back on his face “They like my art collection. And I often discuss poetry with them. You are welcomed to come and join us anytime. Now, this is the last thing” He pointed towards a wooden door in the other side of the room with a sign that read “Solo Personal autorizado” and took a few steps towards it. When he was finally in front of it he grabbed one of the keys hanging from his jeans and slid it in the doorknob, opening the door with a soft creak. “This is the storage room, we keep everything here” Bags of Spanish, Colombian and Turkish coffee all regulated with a certain temperature were stacked in a corner. In the farthest wall, a silver door that led to a big refrigerator where he kept the milk, the ice cream and the ingredients needed to prepare most of the dishes on the menu “We keep a small portion of everything on the fridge in the kitchen or in the counters, but if you ever run out then you have to come and get it here, got it?”

After making sure Lovino had had a good glimpse of everything, he closed the door again and led them back to their starting point.

“Any questions Lovino?”

It was a relief to finally be done with the tour; now that the basics were covered the only thing that Antonio had to do during the training was show him how to use the kitchen. Hopefully then, he could start a conversation out without worrying about saying something that may scare the little Italian away.

“We can start whenever you have time, just come by after ten and before seven sometime next week si?”

The small bell from the door ringed a few times, shaking him out of his thoughts and he directed his gaze to the Entrance of the cafe where a tall man with a black briefcase and a red silk tie stood. His smile grew and he quickly ran to the back of the counter, adjusting his yellow apron and nodding to Lovino to come closer to him so he could watch.

“Buenos días señor, ¿qué le puedo ofrecer esta mañana?” He took a hold of a small yellow pad and a pen to write down the order, he was being given. A strong cup of café con leche and two magdalenas to eat here. A simple yet very traditional Spanish breakfast. “Claro, se lo tendré listo en unos minutos, por favor tome asiento”

He reached for the bag of French toast coffee beans and poured a small amount in the Espresso Maker Machine along with cold water, leaving it to produce the brew that would make the café con leche strong enough to keep this man awake all morning. He opened the fridge and also got the jug of whole milk out, serving a good amount on a cup and putting it inside the microwave to heat. He used to use the stove for that, but whenever the milk boiled too much and it spilled over the stove, it got very hard to clean. After that was done, with skilled hands he reached down for the pastry fridge and pulled out the Magdalenas, putting two of them on a plate and then on a tray.

When the milk was hot enough, he took a mug and poured all of the milk in it stirring it around with a spoon. The espresso maker made a small sound and the Spaniard knew the coffee was ready. He put on a single oven mitt, grabbed the tiny metal cup where the brew had been delivered and proceeded to add small amounts of coffee to the milk while still stirring, being careful to mix them well enough until a thin layer of foam was created on top. When he deemed the color strong enough he put the coffee on the tray beside the plate of Magdalenas and carried it to the table where the gentleman was now sited.

“¿Quiere azúcar para su café señor?” Being extra careful not to spill any of the contents of the mug on the gentleman’s fine clothing he put the plate and the coffee on the table in front of him, leaving a few napkins by the side and a spoon for the coffee. At receiving a negative response to his question, he bowed his head a bit thanking the man for choosing his café and wished him a good breakfast.

He had almost forgotten Lovino was there too, so when he turned around and saw the small Italian watching him from behind the kitchen counter he had to stop for a second to remember. It didn’t help that he was distracted really easily and he always got so enraptured on his work. Making sure his client had everything he needed; he then walked back to the Italian and gave him an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, I had to tend to my customer, but I’m glad you were here to watch that. I serve breakfast like this from around ten to twelve, and then lunch starting at two. The afternoon is very busy, then it gets really calm again until about six when the students start coming. Uhm Here…” Inside his jeans he found a small card with his number on it and he handed it to Lovino, “Just call me in the next couple of days when you know when you are coming alright? I’ll be waiting.”



Translations:
Buenos días señor, ¿qué le puedo ofrecer esta mañana?” – Good morning Sir, What can I offer you this morning?
Claro, se lo tendré listo en unos minutos, por favor tome asiento - Of course, I’ll have it ready for you in a few minutes, please take a seat
¿Quiere azúcar para su café señor?” – Do you want sugar in your coffee Sir?

Right after Lovino left that morning Antonio had been given a special catering order of his French and Spanish traditional pastries for a wedding of 300 guests only two days before the event. Least to say he had to close to café for a whole day and call one of his friends –Francis- all the way from Paris for help. They had baked all day, at least 400 pastries in total, 100 ‘Eclairs’, 100 ‘palmiers’, 100 ‘madeleines’ and 100 ‘suspiros de monja’. At the end he had gotten paid for everything plus a very generous tip that he had felt obligated to share with Francis. But he was now exhausted and many people had asked him and complained about the café not being open, it was another clear sign that he desperately needed an assistant. That is why he knew the moment Lovino finally called him back, that hiring him had been the right choice. If any crazy job like the wedding should arise again, he could just leave the Italian in charge of the café or even get him to help with the baking, it was perfect!

Sunday night was normally spent with his friends, playing football around the block or maybe dancing; there were always pretty girls that were looking for a good time before their week started. But that Sunday Antonio closed the café a little earlier than usual and went back home to care for his garden, there were new fruits and vegetables to be collected and flowers to be watered; as soon as that was done however he carried his body to his bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Two hours later the phone had rung, and he found himself half-asleep listening to the voice of a very nervous Italian. His brain was not very adequate for translation at the moment so while he was really happy and relieved that Lovino had called him back, he only understood half of what was being said. At the end he told the Italian to be at the café by ten next morning to start training and before falling asleep again, he made sure his alarm clock was set to the correct hour at the correct volume; he was so tired that this time he didn’t even think of waking up to see the sunset again or picking up tomatoes first thing in the morning. The garden was already taken care of and he could always watch the sunset the next day, but tomorrow he did not want to be late again.

Next morning the alarm went off for almost half an hour before Antonio finally groaned and turned it off. It was 9:22; which meant he only had half an hour to be at the café before his new employee arrived. He showered and dressed in record time, not spending as much time on his hair as he normally would and for the first time since he opened the café, he took a taxi to work. He took pleasure in walking, getting lost around the streets and glancing at the stores here and there for interesting things that should catch his eye so he never saw the need of buying a car or taking public transportation. But the café was barely three blocks away, so it took the taxi less than half the time it would have taken him if he walked. It was 9:56 when he was fumbling with the keys and opening the yellow door, and it seemed the Italian was not there yet which was both a relief and a worry, the Italian had been impeccably early last time what if something had happened to him? What if he didn’t want the job anymore? But Antonio wasn’t used to picturing the worst, it was much better to always think the best of every situation. Keeping himself busy, he cleaned the counter and put on his yellow apron, taking the spare one he had for Lovino. He decided to open a bit late today to be able to concentrate on the training properly so the closed sign stayed where it was and he even brushed off some costumers that thought he had forgotten to take it off again… but ‘no, lo siento, that was just one time’.

The nervous feeling inside his stomach only increased when he couldn’t find something else to do other than staring at the clock while the other arrived. He kept his cellphone and phone close in case it rang and made himself a cup of coffee to avoid falling asleep over the counter like he had done a few times before. Everything he could do was wait though, and he really wasn’t very good at doing that.



Note:
You don’t need to see this to understand anything, but this are pics of the pastries Toni and Francis prepared. Just cause they are delicious and I want to make you hungry.

Eclairs: http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/98be7826b7e221270c451deb6c92ab3a.jpg
Palmiers: http://bakingbites.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/cimg0502-1.JPG
Madeleines: http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cookies/cookies2/images/plain-madeleine-230.jpg
Suspiros de monja: http://www.tusrecetas.tv/images/stories/jreviews/880_suspirosmonja_1258547248.jpg

Antonio had to stop half way through his second cup of coffee, reminding himself that if he drank too much he would start shaking and doing things he would normally do if drunk. But it was all he could do to keep himself busy as he waited, it was already 10:24... his fingers tapped insistently and his mouth started making small popping sounds... maybe he should just open, at least customers would keep him busy. At some point however even with coffee down his system, he couldn't take it anymore and he started dozing, his head resting against the warm wood of the counter, his hand making a pillow for his cheek.

He dreamt of this year's tomatina, he was picked to climb the greasy pole and bring the ham down, the crowd cheering for him all the way up; and when he finally got to the top and claimed the piece of meat, the fight started... tomatoes everywhere being thrown as projectiles from side to side, hitting people on the face, on the shirt, on the hair. It was a good dream, and he only woke up from it when he caught the sound of the doorbell as someone stumbled inside the cafe.

He thought maybe it was another costumer, but as his eyes regained clarity he realized he was wrong. Lovino was standing there, fighting to catch his breath and muttering something in English that Antonio's still sleeping brain couldn't quite translate. He blinked and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and his lips curved up into a small smile directed to the Italian. "Viniste, por un momento pensé que ya no querías el trabajo..." He completely forgot Lovino did not quite understood Spanish yet, and he didn't even realize he was speaking in his native tongue. Rounding the counter, he stood in front of the Italian and for the first time realized the state he was in, his brow arched as he took in the bangs under the other's eyes and the pale expression; he paid the clothes no mind, stuff like that always went above his head.

With a worried expression he moved forward and put the back of his hand against Lovino's forehead checking for fever, but the smaller man was cool enough, the flush on his cheeks probably produced by the way he had been running when coming here. But still, the rest of his face looked sickly pale, not enough sleep, probably not enough food, and Antonio couldn't allow that. "Ay Lovi, ¿que te hicieron? No! No No! No podemos dejar que esto pase, tenemos que darte algo de comer y un buen chocolate caliente, ¿qué te parece?"

He didn't even wait for an answer, just pushed the Italian towards a chair and made him sit on it, then rushed back behind the counter and put some milk on the stove to heat it up. There were still some eclairs from yesterday left, so he put two on a plate accompanied by a cuernito with butter and put it in front of Lovino. As soon as the milk was hot enough, he poured it on a mug and let a piece of sweet dark chocolate dissolve on it as he stirred it around with a spoon.

"Toma, bebe esto Lovi, te hará sentir mucho mejor. Estas pálido, ¿te enfermaste?" He put the mug down beside Lovi too and sat down across from him, smiling brightly, but a bit of concern still painting his eyes. "¿Que paso?... I mean" He realized he was speaking in Spanish then, and a sheepish, apologetic smile replaced his concerned one. "Lo siento... I mean what happened?"



Translations:
"Viniste, por un momento pensé que ya no querías el trabajo..." ---> "You came! For a moment I thought you didn't want the job anymore..."

"Ay Lovi, ¿que te hicieron? No! No No! No podemos dejar que esto pase, tenemos que darte algo de comer y un buen chocolate caliente, ¿qué te parece?" ----> Oh Lovi, what did they do you? No, we can't let this happen, I need to give you something to eat and a good cup of hot chocolate, what do you think?

"Toma, bebe esto Lovi, te hará sentir mucho mejor. Estas pálido, ¿te enfermaste?" ----> Here, drink this Lovi, It would make you feel a lot better. You are pale, are you sick?

"¿Que paso?" ----> What happened?