Predators In Barcelona

Barcelona. Belle et Bonne arrives first.

Marie! cries Belle et Bonne when they meet at a café called Els Quatre Gats, where Picasso used to meet Dali.

Belle! cries Marie. How lovely to see you. How did the Tour go?

So-so, says Belle et Bonne. Sweezus wasn't totally focused. Arthur was ....Arthur. And Sweezie gave him a knife! Unni was as prickly as usual. How's things back home?

Freezing. says Marie. And quiet. There was so little to do I had to amuse myself with a series of torrid affairs.

Cool, says Belle et Bonne. Let's go and explore Barcelona and you can tell me all about them. Where would you like to go first?

Let's walk to the Parc de la Cuitadella, says Marie. Then get pintxos for lunch. And drink vermouth. Then, let's climb Montjuiic.

You are energetic, says Belle et Bonne . Who were all these lovers? Do I know them?

One was Surfing-with Whales, says Marie.

Jeeeeesus! says Belle et Bonne.

A Spaniard who happens to be passing, looks offended.

Perhaps that's his name.

Marie and Belle walk to the Parc. The sun is shining and the streets bristle with tourists.

They stop to look at La Pedrera, a modernista style building by Antoni Gaudi.

How wondrous it is. No straight lines, tangled balconies, doors of twisted kelp, natural forms made of brick and mortar.

Surfing-With Whales! says Belle et Bonne, turning from La Pedrera. He was Unni's old boyfriend. What was he like?

Brain of a cheese sandwich, says Marie. But okay in some departments. How's Vello? And David?

They're coming to Barcelona for a meeting of Spanish philosophers, says Belle et Bonne.

O to be a fly on the wall, says Marie.

........

In Madrid, José Ortega y Gasset is about to depart for Barcelona.

He takes his panama hat from the hat box. Puts it on, at an angle.

He was so handsome when he was young. Now he looks predatory.

But what can he do?

He is himself and his circumstances.....

...........

Vello and David are on a very fast train, which will soon reach Barcelona.

They have finished the Paris macarons, and run out of sparkling water.

They look out of the window, at modern life passing.

Modern life is passing the window of the very fast train at a speed equal to the speed of the very fast train.

This is what both philosophers are thinking.

But neither observes it aloud, because as a philosophical thought it needs further examination ............

Schopenhauer comes back from the toilet.

He sits down and looks out of the window at modern life passing.

I suppose there are no macarons left, says Schopenhauer, supposing correctly.