- Widowed? I didn't know anything. What happened to the husband?
- Those damn cars, getting bigger, getting faster....
- An accident?
- Yes, a tree collision. He was charred to death. It's a good thing he was alone. A tragedy. And she doesn't have anyone here anymore, poor girl.
- No, I didn't know that.
- How about you? Are you still working on the same thing?
- What? Yeah, I'm still the same as always.
- See if I can call you one of these days. I have a malfunction in the bathroom. I need a plumber.
- Well, all right.
Carlos also crossed the street without having hardly listened to the job offer that the old woman offered him.
- Widow? Is she not going to the gym anymore? -he said to himself.
Now more alone than ever, with the relaxing sea breeze blowing in pleasant humidity, he was thinking about her. What was the point of staying there with nothing for a 36-year-old man? It was throbbing for a widowed woman who didn't even want to see him while time passed, without any other illusion, without a project. The beloved face and sweaty eyes that occupied the whole of the firmament appeared again before him. He couldn't stand the image and came home.
As always, sitting on his mother's plaid sofa, beer, pizza and a bit of television.
The phone rang. It was his fuckbudy Beatrice, the only single girl in the city with whom he had found a certain sexual and personal affinity. She was the confidant of his problems and of his current troubled state, although until then she had had little success in convincing him to find an honest job.
- Hey, Carlos! Can you talk?
- Hi Beatrice. Yeah, I can always do it with you. How’s work?
- That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Don't you know who came to the travel agency today?
- Tell me.
- Your platonic love.
- Aphrodite? Is she going to travel?
- She' s leaving.
- What do you mean, she' s leaving? Where?
- She bought me a plane ticket for a flight in a week's time. Marseille-Asmara. She told me that she's fixed everything and that she's leaving with her family. Do you know that her husband was killed in an accident?
- Yeah, I know. Asmara? Where's that?
- The capital of Eritrea. Near the Red Sea.
To Carlos, this geographic information still didn't tell him anything, owing to his illiteracy caused by the years of school bullying. But then the idea came to him.
- Beatrice, are you there?
- Sure. What's the matter with you?
- I want another ticket. Next to hers.
- What do you say?
- Yes, I want you to book the ticket and order 2. I'll pay you for the other one.
- Are you going to Eritrea? Are you crazy?
- I don't have anything here. I'm into crazy things.
- You don't know what you're doing. You look like a kid. I’m certainly not going to that country.
- You take out that extra ticket, okay? Or shall I stop by?
- Come tomorrow. I haven't blocked the other one yet because I needed her passport.
- What time is Aphrodite going to the agency?
- She told me about 11 o'clock.
- I'll be there at 9:00, okay? I'll bring my passport and money. And if you want, I invite you for lunch and a nap.
- Very generous you are. Too bad you don't even want to travel to the Costa Brava with me.
- Another time I’ll do, I promise. Now I have to get everything ready, as in a week's time I'm going to the jungle.
- Jungle? Before you come take a good look at the city and the country you want to visit. Round trip ticket, right?
- Did she ask for it?
- No. I told you she' s leaving. Just one way.
- Just one way for me too.
- Unbelievable. No, return ticket for you.
After a few days of collection and closing, Charles, with his four-wheeled suitcase, was at Marseille airport trying to find his way to the chosen flight. It was low season for tourism so it did not find too many crowds.
Once in the queue waiting for his turn, half hidden, he noticed the arrival of his beloved love, also alone, which in no way imagined that she was going to coincide with her gym mate from La Ciotat.
In the waiting room while waiting to get on the plane, their eyes met, but none of them said anything. Carlos looked like a city disregarder and sat far away from her, apparently involved in the reading of a travel guide about Ethiopia and Eritrea. Aphrodite put on some headphones and closed her eyes. Music, inaudible to others, seemed to be relaxing her.
At their arrival at their seats of a narrow plane of two seats per row, the young woman became impatient.
- But did you get the seat next to me?
- Yes. I'm on 22 aisle. And you?
- 22 window.
- Well, we'll travel together. It's all right.
Aphrodite didn't seem to think this was such a coincidence.
- Tourist trip, right? - said Carlos in a disinterested tone.
- No, family matters.
- I'm going to Eritrea as a tourist.
- Alone? In this day and season?
- Yes, in low season there are very good prices - he continued with the same tone.
Aphrodite put her headphones back on and listened to the music, which the young man perceived faintly. And so the first part of the journey went on. When Aphrodite fell asleep, Charles was able to contemplate all her beauty closer than ever. Her black, long, strong, shiny hair. Her face strong, smooth, with curves carved with chisel. Her body strong, healthy, emanating uncontained femininity. Strolling through her silhouette was the greatest joy for a young man who had possessed too many bodies and loved too few. Aphrodite was a magnet to him from which he could no longer be separated. Unable to resist, he leaned over her and kissed her hair chastely, skipping the interpersonal distance. But unfortunately that was when the young lady woke up.
- Stewardess! Stewardess!
- Sorry, I wasn't doing anything. I only kissed your hair because... because I love you.
- Stewardess! Come on, please!
- What's going on? - said the stewardess in alarm, coming quickly.
- Give me another seat! I don't want to be with this man. He has had intentions.
- Another seat? OK, it's no problem. We have plenty of empty seats.
- Excuse me, stewardess. It was nothing. I got carried away by my impulses. We are friends.
- What do you mean, friends? I don't know him!
- You're lying, Aphrodite. We've known each other for a long time.
- Calm down, please. If the lady doesn't want to be with you, I have to find another place for her.
- If anyone has to change, it will be me," said Carlos, saddened.
Feeling the looks of the whole passage behind