The House of Bonmati

by Claudio Hernández

  “Some rooms are not connected to the rest of the house.” Angels explained while dragging her feet on the arid land. Sun rays bathed that surface throughout the whole day. It was interesting to note how that part of the house was humid and the other part was arid.

  The rusty latch made a loud noise inside the iron ring which made a little cloud of dust when it tried to move aside.

  “It is stuck” Valenti complained, his forehead sweating. The sun seemed to have it in for him and his bald head.

  “Pedro, help him” Antonia ordered, tight lipped.

  Pedro drew air again and his hands became ready to accomplish a feat. He had to open a latch.

  A squeak reverberated in the air and it spread out into the road, like a cloud of sand.

  But he didn’t have to work hard as it was a splintered door, and its wooden boards were separated from each other.

  The latch bounced free to the right. There was the same sort of latch everywhere in the house, a wrought iron bar with a lever in the middle that worked as a handle. The lever had to be raised and lowered to make the iron bar turn inside the iron rings.

  Pedro pushed the door with his shoulder unwittingly, and it swung open on its dusty hinges.

  “That’s it.” He just said.

  Valenti was wiping the sweat off his face, the sun on his back.

  “This house is more than a hundred years old, these things happen.” Valenti said.

  Pedro pushed the door open with his right hand and it made a creepy sound. The sun rays immediately bathed the darkness inside, and they could see two rooms with grey walls and no doors.

  Valenti came in first, stumbling on the rough floor, but he strived for balance and didn’t fall.

  Juan, who was crouching, looked at the room through the adults’ legs, and he saw a nice hiding place to play. The entrance was an empty room, with something that seemed like a horse feeder, or maybe a goat feeder, he thought. He could also see some things that looked like farm tools with cracked grips. It was a hoe, a hammer, and a sickle. What on earth did they need a hammer for? The boy wondered. But it didn’t matter now. Then he saw that there was another room at the bottom of the place, but it had no door and the sunlight did not get there.

  “We used to keep the goats here.” Angels explained.

  Antonia wondered why the hell she just didn’t wipe that smile from her stupid face.

  Juan thought: “I knew it!” And he thrust his fist against his left hand, making a smacking sound.

  His eyes glowed like a cat’s in the dark.

  Pili saw something in there, behind Valenti, who was again keeping his handkerchief in his pocket.

  There was a shadow moving in there. It had two long arms that ended in trowels. They were like large and long clutches.

  She clenched her fists against her father’s trousers and her little knuckles went white under the sunlight.

  4

  Apparently they were not alone, Pili’s innocent mind should have thought, because those shadows or silhouettes were there all the time, on every corner, everywhere. And they looked like different silhouettes. Or was it the same? She was too young to think of that thing as a person. She only knew that her legs started shaking every time she saw them, and the tingling sensation moved up to her hands.

  Then she squinted and closed her little fists thinking: Can’t anyone see them? Her father can’t see them?

  But she kept looking.

  5

  “This is the rear of the kitchen fireplace. It is nice and warm here in winter. You can keep your animals here.” Valenti explained, pointing to an oval form, with the shape of a sarcophagus, on a dark wall.

  Juan was running his fingers on the smooth surface. He was surprised. It was smooth and soft to the touch.

  “At least the smell of animal crap won’t go into the house.” Antonio said with her arms crossed. Her long red nails could be seen under her armpits.

  “Yes, that’s true. There are no windows here, only this door. This is one of the many parts of the house that are not connected to the inside of the house. Well, you know what I mean.” Valenti cleared his throat.

  Angels stared at Antonia eerily. Valenti came out to meet the others, who were outside, except Juan, who was still running his hand on the wall, imagining he would build a cabin there, a shelter protected from the cold wind.

  “Now we will go back to the entrance of the house. This is your new home. I’ll show you more things.” He kept smiling foolishly, as he would probably do even with his head stuck in a water pot.

  He left the door opened. Now the air was running through every corner of the house, taking the stink off.

  Pili grabbed his brother’s shirt when he started running out, who offered no resistance, and asked him:

  “Juan, have you seen something in there?”

  Her brother shrugged.

  “No. I have seen nothing. Have you seen anything?” Juan still remembered their fright when living at Angles.

  “I think this house is even worst that the one we used to live in.” Pili whispered, controlling each word as if she was reading a dictation at school.

  Juan looked at her with his eyes wide open in astonishment.

  He did not answer.

  6

  They started walking on the dusty path to the entrance of the house, and they saw an esplanade with a parking space for more than ten cars. It turned into a cobblestone path, and although it went uphill, the feeling was that you were going down the road.

  “As you can see, this house was built in grand style. This esplanade can be your parking lot. You said you had two cars, didn’t you?” Valenti asked, sweating copiously under that Sunday morning sun.

  “Yes, we have two cars, but both are hand-me-downs.” Antonia explained with a mocking gesture. Her lip gloss was starting to melt like a raspberry ice-cream.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have got two cars. You can park one of them under that driveway.” He pointed out to a room with no walls or doors, the width of a car, which had some firewood neatly piled on one side. “Horses were watered there in the past so they could be in the shade of the house. It is also the woodshed, as you can see.”

  The split logs could be perfectly seen from the place they were. There was a thin door, made of tens of crisscross wooden sticks, like a poorly knitted carpet. It had hundreds of argyles, and an old horse cart could be seen through the holes.

  Valenti pointed it out too. He had the rusty old keys in his pocket, but this door, which was nine foot high, had no lock or latch. It only had a piece of wood that had to be moved upwards. The door was not heavy and it didn’t squeak when it was opened.

  “More old memories” Angels said suddenly, her hand on her back, but still smiling in spite of the pain she felt. She felt the heat of the sun, which made her feel better.

  “All this tools, even the cart, must be left here forever. You won’t need them. Therefore, this door must be always closed.

  Antonia frowned.

  Juan, instead, kept his eyes wide open watching that dusty yellow room. He saw the cart, with its crushed wooden and metal wheels. He saw some more wheels, like giant lollipops, leaning against the left wall. There were two rusty scythes. There were hoes, shovels and horse bearing reins. He looked at the right wall and found in amazement a horseshoe shining under the sun beams.

  “Look mom! There is a lucky horseshoe!”

  Juan’s finger was pointing the iron piece of metal, which was completely rusty, and his eyes seemed to expand out of his sockets, judging by the way he was looking at it.

  “That horseshoe must not be touched, son” Valenti said, wiping once again his forehead’s sweat.

  The boy’s expression changed from happiness to uncertainty.

  “It must be left there because it brings luck to the house” said Angels. “There is another entrance to the house. Haven’t you seen it before?”

  Pedro shook his head and Antonia shrugged.
Her shoulders were narrow, and they held the weight of her two big breasts, which were, at present, still erect.

  Valenti closed the thin but tall door and placed the piece of wood back in its place. That was all the protection that room had, but it was not connected to the house, as there was no inner corridor.

  Above the shed there was another door, very similar to this door. But it was smaller and it was on top of a narrow set of stairs.

  “There is only sawdust up there. But there is a lot of sawdust. It is always there and it’s useless. There is also some of it over there.” She pointed up and turned around, to the other side of the road, pointing now to a sort of barn with no doors. “I suggest you not to go up there because you could get hurt. Down there, the barn has no door, and it is at ground level. Both rooms are no good. You should never open any of those rooms nor look through those windows.

  Juan looked like a naughty boy. I must never open any of those rooms. My foot! I will go into those rooms, he thought.

  Then Pili saw it again.

  The figure was in that barn now, its hands on the gaps of the wood. They were fingers, long and dark fingers. She also saw two blurry spots where the eyes were supposed to be.

  “Dad, there is something there.” She pointed up to the top barn.

  “Pili, Stop it!” Her mother yelled with a crazy look.

  Pili’s fists squeezed her father’s trousers tight and she hid her head between his legs.

  Valenti cracked a derogatory smile. It was a strange smile. It was merciless.

  The new tenants had a lot to learn yet.

  7

  “Did I show you the bathroom?” Valenti asked suddenly, while climbing up the stairway Pili was so afraid of. “I just don’t remember if I did.”

  “No” Antonia answered.

  “Oh! I had forgotten. I can do it now if you want.” Valenti started going downstairs.

  “There is no need!” Antonia exclaimed moving one hand. “You just tell us where it is, that will be enough.”

  “It is inside the barn.” Valenti answered.

  “What?”

  “It is right next to the barn, in a corner. The toilet is inside a booth, right on top of the septic tank. It gets filled once a month.

  “That’s disgusting” Antonia whispered.

  Pedro, who was behind her with Pili on her lap, couldn’t hear what she had just said. He kept going upstairs with his head down.

  The stairs were very narrow. Each step was made of solid stone, and it had a wooden edge. The dry and cracked wood had lost its typical color. It crunched beneath their feet, like the swollen joints of an old man.

  Pili’s heart began pounding faster. His father could feel her hear beat through the thin shirt and he began caressing her hair.

  “What’s wrong, babe?” He whispered.

  “There is something up there.” She said.

  Valenti stopped in the middle of the staircase with a heavy heart. He was gasping and his forehead was sweaty. He felt a cold sweat down his back.

  “We are almost on the first floor.” He said, making light of it.

  Angels had stayed downstairs, leaning against the star wall, and she had one foot on the first step. Her shifty eyes were watching them, while gritting her teeth. She was hiding a secret.

  “Valenti, show them all the rooms but number six.”

  “Don’t worry, sister.”

  Antonia frowned and she was about to say something. But she did not say a word.

  But Juan turned around and looked at that old lady, who was blown up like a big balloon, and who also had another two big balloons hanging on her chest.

  “There is nothing up here” Pedro whispered finally to Pili. Sometimes he was a bit of a blockhead.

  It reassured the girl a little bit.

  Now the boy turned around again, willing to go up two steps at a time. He had counted the steps, thirteen of them, and he decided to keep on doing so, walking past Valenti, who was wiping his sweat off for the 10th time.

  “What a boy. I was like him when I was his age.” Valenti explained smiling again with that boring and stupid smile.

  Now the stairway bent to the left.

  Pili saw something at the top of the stairs.

  8

  Valenti was breathing heavy and puffing. He was getting too old to go up those stairs that he had so often gone up and down so many times when he was a child. Now he was an old man, good looking but fat, with a heart condition.

  “Valenti, get some rest.” Angels’ high-pitched voice came up the stairs like a blast of cold air, spreading across the two big rooms where they stood confused, looking at the seven doors.

  “Don’t worry, Angels, I’m ok.” He gasped.

  Only one of the seven doors had a lock. The other did not have any. All of them were closed. They were old and cracked doors. The one that had a lock was dusty and it had a sheet covering it. The locked was rusty, like the rest of the house. Valenti did not take out the big keys.

  Pedro had left his daughter on the floor, and she was looking eye-wide at that locked door because she had heard something. She was sure she had heard something similar to nails scratching behind the door. However, no one else had. Pili took a step back and she started feeling palpitations again.

  She heard for the second time those nails scratching the wood from inside the room.

  9

  “Where do we start from, right or left?”

  “As you wish, Mr. Valenti” Antonia said. Pedro never said anything, he only watched.

  “Ok. Let’s start with the left side.” Valenti, who had started breathing regularly again, took three steps to the left and pointed to the four doors, two on either side. “These two rooms on the right are medium size. They could be appropriate for your kids. The first one looks out on the woods. The second one has a window looking out on the front of the house, just like this one here.” He pointed towards a large window with some glasses arranged like dominos.

  “Cool! I can see the road, and the trees, and the river, from up here.” Juan said, looking out of the window, which was still closed.

  “The rooms on the left would be better left empty. They carry some memories on them, specially this one.” His finger pointed towards the door with the lock. “This room must be always locked and we do not want it to be open. It must never be opened.”

  Antonia frowned and looked at her husband, who was nodding like an idiot.

  “Why should it remain locked?” Antonia asked with her arms crossed. The white handbag was hanging from one of her arms, inert, like a pendulum.

  “It must not be opened.”

  10

  There was another big room on the right which was about thirty square meters wide. There were three doors in that room, and they had no locks.

  “This room can be the double room.” He pointed towards the left. “The window looks out on the barn. The road can be seen from it.”

  Valenti did not say that the graveyard and all its crosses could be seen too, with the utmost clarity.

  There was another window looking to the same spot.

  “All right” Antonia mumbled. Pedro kept nodding, holding his daughter’s hand.

  “This room has no windows, so I suggest you to leave it empty and use this other one, which has a window. It has always been used to dry cured hams and Catalan sausages.” Valenti explained with a bit of dribble at the corner of his mouth.

  “Well, that would only happen if we slaughtered a pig, wouldn’t it?” Antonia considered with a disgusted face.

  “That’s an option.”

  “Goodie! I love sausages, mommy!” The little boy exclaimed.

  “Shut up!”

  “But mom...”

  “Did I tell you that there is also an attic?” Valenti interrupted.

  “I think you said it before. Besides, I saw it from below.” Antonia explained.

  “Well, let me explain it to you. There is a little staircase going up to the attic
, next to the locked door. We used to hang snails out there to dry...

  “I like that.” Pedro said. He had finally spoken.

  Pili saw two black hands on the edge of the wall that lead to that stairs. Her heart sunk. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears.

  11

  “But please, never, I repeat, never, open room number six.” Valenti insisted while dragging his feet through the sandy path that led to a shelter.

  Well, I am going to open it, that’s for sure, Juan thought while racing towards the other path, which was narrower and full of branches. His shoes were blowing little clouds of smoke behind him.

  “Many things occurred in this shelter, which is already grounded.” Angels intervened.

  “As my sister is saying, many events have happened here.” He pointed towards the roots of an oak tree, where there used to be an entry hole. “We could see how many bombs fell and exploded very close to the shelter, right beside the road. Finally, all the Nationalists moved to our House. And we learned many stories about them. Republicans were entrenched near the River Ter.” Now his index pointed towards the distance, above the top of some trees called bananeros or something like that.

  “My father spent the Civil War crawled into a trench, what a jerk.” Antonia explained, biting her nail.

  Valenti went mute for the first time that morning. But it was only for an instant, and he started talking non-stop again.

  “You can go to the woods from this esplanade, the forest is divided in two parts, one part is dry and the other one is cooler because of the water. There are two paths. One of them leads to the driest area where there are plenty of pine trees. The other one, surrounded by oak trees, is the wet zone, where the tributary runs. The two paths come together at the end, where there is a little pet cemetery. Goats, hens and sometimes pigs were buried there. It was a nasty habit, but it used to be done. And it seemed right to the people who was living around. But they did it illegally because everything out there, as far as your eye can see, is ours, don’t forget it. We also own all the land from here up to the river, and all the woods and land within a mile. You should visit those places on your own. I am a bit tired today.”