Barcelona 03 - The Sound of One Hand Killing by Teresa Solana, Peter Bush Read Free Book Online Page B

needed right then was a herbalinfusion. We sat at a small café terrace and, while we were waiting to order, Montse asked me for a cigarette. I took out a packet and gave her one, but said nothing. She’s been trying to kick the habit for three years, and that was her first in five days.
    â€œThe fact is,” she explained after a couple of drags had calmed her down, “leftist teachers now think it’s trendy to recommend homeopathy or Bach flower remedies.”
    â€œI thought you were all for that kind of thing…”
    â€œNot any more. Besides, you shouldn’t experiment on kids,” she asserted as she savoured her sinful cigarette.
    I’d suspected for some time that my wife was beginning to doubt the effectiveness of some of the so-called alternative therapies, from when some children in the school who had bronchitis developed pneumonia after their parents put their trust in some esoteric juice or other. Montse was also quite against the idea that vaccinations were simply an evil conspiracy by the pharmaceutical companies to boost their profits, and was worried by the tendency of her radical acquaintances to refuse to give permission for their children to be vaccinated and hand them homeopathic rather than antipyretic pills when they got a temperature.
    â€œThere’s only one way to keep a kid quiet in class, and that’s fear,” she continued. “That’s why priests and nuns are so good at keeping order.”
    â€œSo what should we do? Change Arnau to another school?”
    â€œNo, it’s almost the end of term and they say the teacher he’ll have next year isn’t so dopey. Anyway, I don’t think there’s a single school in Barcelona that doesn’t have at least one specimen of that kind.”
    â€œWhat are you getting at now?”
    â€œThey have a thing about authority and don’t know how to instil discipline. On the one hand, they are againstpunishment and expect kids in kindergarten to behave like little adults. When they realize they can’t keep control halfway through the year, they start blaming television or parents who don’t spend enough time with their children…”
    â€œI don’t think they’re so wide of the mark in that respect,” I retorted. “Arnau does watch too much TV. In my day —”
    â€œExactly, that’s what they always say: in our day we did this or didn’t do that. That old refrain about things not being what they used to be.”
    â€œWe all fall for that…”
    â€œBut the world has changed and you can’t bring up kids nowadays trying to tell them that the TV and video games don’t exist, as the way to get them interested in books. And whatever they say, kids today are much more aware.”
    â€œI agree.”
    The waiter came and put the bill on the table.
    â€œAre you missing your old job?” I asked as I searched for my wallet. “It’s been almost two years since you…”
    â€œNot at all, and even less so after that little chat with Arnau’s teacher!”
    In the days when I was still earning my bread in a bank, before Pep returned to Barcelona transformed into Borja, Monte worked as a school counsellor thanks to her degree in psychology. She too was bored with her job, and, as soon as she could, she did what I had done and changed her lifestyle. She and some friends opened up the Alternative Centre for Holistic Well-being in Gràcia, close to the plaça de la Virreina where, apart from selling beauty treatments using organic concoctions, they provided anti-smoking group therapy and yoga and meditation courses.
    â€œI must be off. I have a session,” she said, looking at her watch and putting out her cigarette.
    â€œI expect I’ll be back late tonight. We’re going for a drink with that girlfriend of Borja’s.”
    â€œMerche?” she scowled.
    â€œNo, Mariona Castany.