La Pobla is right ahead of him. It must have been a beautiful town once. A town with its river, its bridge, its houses, its church, its orchards, its fields, and... its abandoned development. A few rows of identical two-story houses, each with its own small garden, add to the town's center. They cluster in groups of architectural variations corresponding to different construction phases. Some shutters are closed; others are completely broken, with weeds over a meter high in all the gardens. Near the town center, there are larger chalets. Marcos thinks it’s a shame, such a wasted place. He shifts his gaze from the abandoned homes to the first houses of the town, now quite close. He’s feeling excited. The medicine for Juli is within reach. When he left home, Juli’s wound looked bad, “but Juli is strong,” Marcos thinks. “He’ll hold on until I get back with the medicine.”
“Good morning, young man!”
A man’s voice pulls Marcos from his thoughts. It’s a stocky man, about fifty, dressed in blue overalls and high boots, smiling at him from a garden. Marcos had been so absorbed that he hadn’t noticed him. The round-faced man is very friendly and shows interest in Marcos’s visit. Marcos explains that he has come from far away to get medicine. The man is very attentive and asks many questions. When Marcos asks where the pharmacist’s house is, the man offers to accompany him part of the way.
Many of the town’s houses are locked up tight. Although they don’t look as neglected as the houses in the development, they seem abandoned. At the first corner, the man gives Marcos a couple of directions and then leaves. With a smile on his face, Marcos confidently heads towards the pharmacist’s house.
