THE WEEKEND THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING -21 WEEKEND PART 2

THE WEEKEND THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING -21 WEEKEND PART 2

DINNER




"This place is an institution," Martin explained as they sat down at a table by the window. "I've been coming since I was a kid. My old man brought me Sunday mornings, after mass."

"You can tell it has history," Pedro observed, his gaze roaming over the photos of old football teams, the yellowed newspaper clippings, the signed and framed Newell's shirt.

"It reminds me of a bodegón that used to be in Floresta, near where we lived with my parents," he said.

"Floresta?" Martin asked. "Did you live there your whole life?"

"Until I got married. After that we moved to the north side."

"I'm from Almagro," Juan interjected, settling into his chair. "But when I was twelve we moved to Caballito."

Martin raised his eyebrows.

"Right, I remember. I went a couple of times to your house, to your parents' place. I had an uncle who lived near Parque Rivadavia."

"We were four blocks from there!" Juan exclaimed, getting animated. "I went to the book fair every weekend. I spent my lunch money on sci-fi paperbacks."

The waiter came over with the menus and the three ordered red wine to start. When he left, the conversation had already taken on a life of its own.

"What do you recommend?" Pedro asked Martin, glancing at the menu without much interest.

"The ham and cheese sorrentinos, incredible. And the steaks too, if you like meat."

"I'll go with the sorrentinos," Juan decided. "I haven't had good sorrentinos in years."

"Sirloin steak for me," Pedro said. "With fries. Nice and juicy."

"I'll have sorrentinos too," Martin agreed. "And let's order a cold cuts platter to start, what do you think?"

When the waiter took the order, Pedro leaned back in his chair and let out a suppressed laugh.

"Do you remember Mar del Plata? That summer we rented the apartment that flooded?"

"How could we forget!" Juan exclaimed. "It was our first trip alone."

"Martin slept in the bathtub," Pedro said, pointing at him with his fork. "Because it was the only dry place."

"That's a lie," Martin corrected, raising a finger. "I slept in the bathtub because you two snored like locomotives. The flood was the third day. I'd been sleeping there since the first."

"That was the worst idea we ever had," Pedro admitted. "Renting it without seeing it first, just because it was cheap."

"Cheap was an understatement," Juan added. "It was a giveaway. And then we found out why."

The three laughed with the nostalgia of those years when everything was simpler and the only worries were passing exams and scraping together money for beer.

"How old were we?" Martin calculated. "Eighteen, nineteen?"

"I had just turned eighteen," Juan said. "You guys are a few months older."

"Yes, you were always the youn...