The phone rang again. It was her niece from the village.
- Aunt! How are you?
- Hello Belén. All right. What about you?
- Everybody's fine. Surprise! I'm going to go pass Pilar hlidays with you. My parents allow me this year. Good!
It was an unexpected proposition that for a moment made her think that her single friends had been smarter than her.
- I'll be there tonight around 9:00. You can pick me up at the station, right?
- Sure, honey. Tell me the exact time - Eva replied, mumbling her discontent and thinking that her sister was using her again without even calling her in advance. Perhaps she had thought that if she asked Eva, she would make an excuse, as she had done in previous years.
So she was going to be a godmother-cook. It wasn't very exciting, not really.
- I arrive at a quarter to 9:00, aunty. On the bus. Wait for me with your car at the top gate of the Intermodal and I'll go upstairs. A kiss. A kiss - and she hung up.
She got up lazily and went to see her refrigerator, where there was no too much food to eat, so as not to indulge in pleasures, especially sausage and cheese, to which she was addicted. She found that the new news meant that the next day she would have to use the shopping cart and fill it up because sometimes her niece would bring several people more to her aunt's house for lunch.
At 8.30 a.m. she was walking slowly along the sidewalk next to the street entrance to the station. She would even have liked to have had a cigarette when she saw so many adults smoking while they waited like her to pick up the next generation. That day the usual collection space was crowded because at 10 a.m. it was going to be the opening parade of fiestas with their floats, puppets and giants, which nobody wanted to miss.
- Aunt! - The emotional voice of Belén, whom I had not seen in a few months, dominated the crowd. Pulling her little suitcase cart she swept over her and filled her with kisses. Her niece was a sweet, tall, well-built niece, with an optimism that radiated everything.
- Didn't you want me to come? Well, I'm here now! Let's go to your home! Come quickly, we have to get to the opening speech!
The aunt began to blame her sister for the holiday "gift" she had given her. It was evident that Belén's energy far exceeded her own possibilities. It made her feel even older, accustomed to the tranquillity and relaxation that allowed her to live a sedentary life reduced to small spaces, mainly an office chair and a computer screen in front of her, both at work and at home, with only a temporary stay in the kitchen and living room before going to bed.
- Belén, calm down! We have to go home. You have to make your bed, sort out your clothes, have some dinner....
- No, I'll do it later. I'm dating today to see the opening speech from the beginning. You'll come, won't you?
- If you've already dated someone I'm not necessary, am I?
- Come on, aunt, it's holidays.
- Who are you meeting?
- We'll meet the whole village crew at the town hall gate.
- What are you talking about? It'll be impossible. You won't even find each other.
- Aunt, don't be old-fashioned, there are mobiles!
- If you want, I'll go with you until you find them, but then I'll come home.
- What a spoilsport you are! I don't need you for that, I'm 16 years old and I know the way. So what are you going to do?
- Me? - I had a busy day today. I want to rest. I'm sure Ill watch the opening parade better than you do on TV.
- On TV? You're so bland.
- I prefer it this way. When you see that tow truck coming by with the camera, you wave at me, okay?
- Sure, and I'll also say hello to my parents who will surely be seeing it too.
- And how late do they let you out?
- Time? Come on, aunt. There is no time in the Pilares. Give me the key, and when you get tired of TV pain, go to bed, I'll be home myself.
- Are you sure your mother didn't set a time for you?
- No, she didn't tell me anything. Call her if you want.
Not much time had passed since her niece's exciting lift home. Now Eva was on the sofa, drinking a smelly mint infusion as she watched the human marabout swirling in front of the city hall. Music, gigantic floats, spectacular mobile artefacts, the heavy giants moving with the characteristic hieraticism, due to their difficulty to transport them, music, shouts, beeps, sounds of vuvucelles, the famous football trumpets that had become fashionable after the World Cup in South Africa a few years ago, applause, screams... in short, it was the annual massification of fun for the Aragonese tribe.
When she got tired of seeing the thousands of heads moving together, which for her was obviously nothing new, she thought do some zapping.
News... no. Movie... no. Gossip... no, no...
When unexpectedly appeared on the screen a computer screen with a dating chat, Eva sat up, her back well resting on the back of the sofa. It was a well-informed documentary about the latest trends in the virtual relationship that the Internet allowed. According to the voice-over, it was an upward trend and one that foresaw a promising future that would change social relations. Pure fantasy? A fleeting taste for novelty?
Then she remembered her office partner. From the beginning Mesalina stood out over her fellow colleagues in decision, sharp tongue, often charged with procacity. Eva had never really managed to establish a cordial relationship with her as she should have done as a neighbour. In her few brief conversations she had always felt intimidated, unfeeling. Mesalina's eyes were telling her without words that she was a tasteless shy. And Eva had to avoid looking at her and focus on her work in order to survive in that unbreathable air.
But she had known for some time that her neighbour was stealing time from the administration. She tried during a part of her shift to chat in silence with more and more contacts of unknown places. Once she had had to pass through her territory, because Eva considered it to be forbidden land, she had seen her screen completely occupied by profiles full of pictures of faces and torsos of all kinds of men, before whom Mesalina's voice was filled with sensual nuances that floated in the air throughout the morning, both in her treatment to the public and in her conversations with the other female colleagues, since in that section they were all women.
Yes, it was that screen they were quoting and presenting in the documentary. According to the broadcaster, infidelity was now the rule, and the successful website allowed millions of heterosexual men and women who were attracted to the adventure of meeting unknown people to share their bodies when they came together, both personally and sexually.
The title of the website was now in the foreground on her TV, and no more advertising was needed. Eva was immediately curious to see it. She turned off the TV, the computer and while it was booting she cooked herself some dinner. Then the phone rang. It was her sister.
- Eva, did my daughter get there all right?
- Yes, too well. She left everything in her room and ran away. She told me she was meeting the villagers. She also told me you didn't set any time for her to come home.
- You know what happens. Since there are many of her friends who live in the city, they get a little out of it. When the others go home, she'll be back in your flat. Dont worry. Leave her alone.
- Well, you're her mother. This is Guesthouse Eva for whatever you need.
- Eva, she was very excited about it. She isn't going to stay alone in town. I'm already texting her to make sure everything's okay.
- You know what happens. Since there are many of her friends who live in the city, they get a little out of it. When the others go home, she'll be back in your flat. Dont worry. Leave her alone.
- Well, you're her mother. This is Guesthouse Eva for whatever you need.
- Eva, she was very excited about it. She isn't going to stay alone in town. I'm already texting her to make sure everything's okay.
- And does she answer you?
- Not always, but don't worry, my daughter is a responsible girl.
- I've already given her the key. I'm not going to be the control centre. I'll tell you tomorrow if everything's okay.
- I'm sure everything will be fine. You'll see. Thanks for everything, sister.
- That's what we're here for.
When she left the phone she saw that the computer screen was waiting for her orders.
- Explorer.
- Dating pages - she typed.
In front of her she had the first results. Meetic, eDarling... but they were pages once she had heard her work mate laughing at, which she called convent flings. She decided to look for something stronger.
- Liberal dating pages - she re-typed. And there was another website that had recently made headlines because of the identity theft of its user profiles. But it wasn't the one she wanted either. She tried it one more time.
- Sexual dating pages - she typed now, looking forward to the result. Yes, there was the name XXX that obsessed her. She had found the door to an unknown world that she nervously wanted to explore.
Even with the nervousness of a teenager, she chose the heterosexual option for women and was able to spy on the calls of men and women who smiled at her as if they had known each other all her life. But just seeing didn't do her any good. She wanted to meet.
Even with doubts about whether what she was doing would be crazy, she signed up.
- Username: Virginia
- Password... Email... Message: Looking for pleasure - she wrote without knowing if it would be too direct.
- Photo.... - She decided not to put anything in.
- What an embarrasement! If my friends or office mates see me. I'm dying, sure!
When the programme confirmed that the registration was correct, she was able to enter the privacy of her 'virtual boyfriend'. Men of all ages, of all races, of all physical appearances looked at her smiling and seemed to tell her to choose them.
She didn't have to wait long. At the moment she had the sign that someone was writing to her. Alongside the photo was the age: 33 years old
- Virginia, my name is Black, I'm looking for a woman like you to get to know each other and have a nice time together. I want to make you really happy. Write to me.
Eva was amazed. A handsome young man gazed at her with a sharp look that seemed to see beyond her surface. She really liked him. She started to press all the icons in the interface until she managed to open his profile. To her surprise, in addition to other data about his weight and height, it said he was 9,500 km away.
- But where is this guy? she said to herself.
- Where are you? - she typed.
- I'm a man tired of working at sea and I want to stablish couple with you. Do you have a picture? I'd really like to see you.
- No, I'm new, I don't have a picture yet.
- Give me your email. I have a lot of work to do and I can't write properly here.
- But where are you?
- I want to leave this job and relocate to your country. I've got enough money for us to have a comfortable life. This is my email. Blackwhite1999@fake.com. Write to me. I want to hear from you privately.
Before her the email that was attracting her shone with a distinctive colour. She had serious doubts about the sender of those messages, doubts that would have been expanded if she had known the meaning of the word "fake" in the email. But she belonged to the generation of French learners, only translating it into Spanish. She paused for a moment at that message and did not know why she was thinking of her ex then. Perhaps by comparison to the inclusive styles of men when they want to be husbands. But her second ex, of whom she had trouble remembering even his physical features, would never have spoken like that. She had been the one who had set the direction and rhythm of their life as a couple. He had let himself be carried into everyday life, towards a socially accepted state that made life easier after the age of 40. When no child was born after ten years of living together, he managed to get pregnant another woman 20 years younger and began his life as a father.
Eva finally agreed. Why not keep talking? It was far away and he didn't know her address or her phone number. If she wasn't interested in what he said, blocking his email was enough. She was aware that she was filling her existential void with another unknown, distant life, with hardly any references, without even the other side having a picture of her. Going to her email server, she wrote to blackwhite1999@fake.com.
- But how can you talk like that if you don't even know me? Tell me about yourself, please.
- United States Marine Engineer on mission in Kuwait. I'll be leaving soon and I'm transferring to Europe.
As the conversation progressed Eva was finally able to see that she was talking to a machine.
-You can see me naked on the website "XX naked.com". Turn on your webcam.
- God! she said, and immediately closed any virtual contact.
She started to think. What was the point of talking to women without an interlocutor on the other side? Among the various possibilities she could think of was a way to increase the visibility of the ads that always floated around the ends of the screen without her being aware of them, by having more and more people connected to them. The virtual interlocutor would be just the bait for her to keep seeing the ads. And she learned that the first rule of chatting was lying.
Nightmare night, feeling that they were using her body, without even looking at her beautiful blue eyes, without her head having any other function than to use it to kiss her lips and touch the rich hair which she felt so proud of. A night of hormonal disorder, upset stomach, rolling over in a bed that seemed to be shared with strange men who were thirsty for sex.
At 8:00, tired of rolling, she got up and went to the bathroom. Her still drowsy eyes seemed to be asking an irresolvable question.
- What am I doing? she said to her tired face that she saw reflected in the mirror.
As she was on her way to the kitchen to prepare her brief breakfast, she heard the key to the door. Finally, her niece arrived.
- Good morning, Aunt! We brought you some dumplings!
The plural verb made her look more closely. There were two girls holding each other by the shoulder, with slightly tipsy eyes, who looked at each other long and hard.
- This is María. I think you know her. She also comes from the village. Since she has no room, I invited her to come to your house. You're okay with that, right?
- Hi María. Would you like some coffee?
- Better orange juice if you have it, Auntie. My throat's dry.
After a quiet breakfast, the two girls went to sleep and Eva returned to her usual solitude. She couldn't stop thinking that these holidays were going to be different, although she still didn't know if it was good or bad.
As she watched the daily shows of the previous day and the programming of that day and beyond, she heard the sound of whatsap.
- Hi Evi. How's it going? We are enjoying a fantastic time. And the valley is beautiful in autumn. How about you? I'm sending pictures.