He stood up without moving the bed and began to get dressed, to prepare himself for the start of the new day, all the while listening to María’s regular breathing. Then he returned to the bathroom. There, he shaved and carefully combed his hair. When he finished, he looked at the clock: six thirty in the morning. At seven, he would leave to go and open his business, and he could not afford to waste time.
Back in the bedroom, he bent to kiss the lips on María’s gentle face, as a means of goodbye. He kissed her sweetly, and the young woman opened her eyes slightly. She did so almost every day at that moment:
“Are you leaving now?” she asked, her voice sleepy.
“Yes, it’s getting late.”
“Have you had breakfast?”
“No, I don’t have time.”
“You never have breakfast. You can’t go to work on an empty stomach.”
“I’ll have something at work, don’t worry. Close your eyes, you can still sleep for another hour,” he whispered in her ear, as he went to kiss her again.
“I love you, darling.”
“I love you too,” he said.
Maria turned over in the bed and closed her eyes, under the enamoured watch of her husband. Next, Sebas turned out the bathroom light, hastily grabbed a few biscuits from the kitchen and made his way to the front door.
Whilst he waited for the lift, in the silence that reined over that time in the building, he put one of the biscuits into his mouth, at the same time that he mentally reviewed the tasks he had to carry out. He liked to have everything in order by eight, which was the time when his employees would arrive. All of the machines ready, the assignments prepared, and each person’s work perfectly scheduled.
He entered the lift and pushed the button for the basement, where there was the small neighbourhood garage whose only light bulb had been out of action since Sunday. He was sure that it would not be fixed any time soon. Efficiency was not the main virtue of their community president, and therefore the most probable thing was that the broken bulb would remain there until he decided to change it himself.
As soon as he arrived at the basement, he left the lift door open, taking advantage of its light. He also turned on the screen of his mobile phone so as to slightly illuminate his way up to the car, avoiding looking at the distinct vehicles stationed at each side of the central passageway. Once inside his Opel Astra, he activated the switch to open the exit gate. Whilst it was opening, he turned on the ignition and headlights, and made his way towards it without wasting any time.
Sebas tried to remain calm, and demonstrate to himself that he was being absurd, but the truth was that the situation terrified him. The combination of darkness and vehicles brought back to mind the most hidden and sinister memories from his past. That was what they were; in the past, and he had overcome, but it had left him feeling miserable whenever he looked at himself in the mirror and, every now and again, caused him to wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares.
In any case, he thought, that was the past: the dead only return in dreams, and I should live in the present my extraordinary life together with María.
Only hours later, at midday, he would be back by her side.
9
It was exactly ten minutes later when Sebas arrived at the door to his factory. The distance from his residence in the neighbourhood of O Couto to the small industrial complex in O Vinteún was not even three kilometres, and his car journey was very easy and straightforward: even more so at that hour of the morning.
Sebas got out of the car and looked at his watch: 7:30 on the dot. It wasn’t that he was expecting anybody, or necessarily had to let anybody in at that hour, no, but he liked to arrive at work at exactly 7:30. He had always been an organised person, but since starting up his business he was more so than ever. The success of his business had become a personal goal since the very first day. He maintained that his order and punctuality saved him from having to employ somebody else and, subsequently, allowed him to save more money. That was something indispensible when it came to balancing the books, and as such it was not something he planned on changing.
He opened the blind in the entrance, turned on all of the electrical switches with one movement, and made his way to his office, with some of the biscuits he had taken from home still in his hand. He turned on the coffee machine and chose a strong black coffee. He left the biscuits next to the machine. He then went up to his desk and reviewed the orders that they needed to hand in that day. They would do so without fail, as they never missed a deadline. He also eyed through the list of incoming materials that they were expecting to receive, minus the regulars with it being Holy Week.
Basically, his business involved receiving all types of waste materials and converting them into ground material. In just one year he had attained great notoriety in the province, and they dealt with anything; from waste paper to complex metal structures. It was a business at the height of its success, with limited competition, and that enjoyed great prestige in the province for the seriousness with which it approached its work.
Once he had done this, he went up to the coffee machine and picked up the coffee, which he then carried to his table, along with the biscuits. He could not avoid thinking that it was well worth the pain of eating there in exchange for watching María for a while as she slept. Without a doubt, it was one of the best moments of the day for him. He put one of the biscuits into his mouth and slowly stirred the coffee. When he finished, he stood up and went out to turn on the machines.
Once this was done, he returned to his office.
“Good morning, boss,” José called out to him, appearing in the doorway at the same time that the Sebas’ phone began to ring.
“Good morning. Get changed, then come to the office so I can give you the assignment for today.”
“Is there much work?”
“No, not a lot today,” Sebas replied as he picked up the phone, “it is Holy Week...”
“That’s a new order you have there,” responded Jose, referring to the call as he entered into the changing rooms.
Sebas answered the phone without much enthusiasm. The truth was that he hoped even more than his employees that that early morning call would not bring urgent work. Deep down, he nurtured the hope of being able to go home soon. María would be waiting for him from two o’clock onwards.
“Covelo Recycling, how may I help you?”
“Good morning, could I speak to Mr Sebastián Covelo, please?” asked a female voice, from the other end of the line.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Good morning. This is Emma Pérez, the insurance office.”
“From finances...?” Sebas thought for a moment, “Ah, yes, about the insurance! You’re from Jaime’s agency, aren’t you?”
“Exactly. I’m just calling because I would like to call in to see you this morning.”
“And Jaime isn’t there?” he asked, whilst he waved good morning to the other employees, who were now arriving.
“No, he’s taken this week as a holiday, taking advantage of the fact that there are only two of us in the office now. The truth is that he needs it.”
That was true. He had always thought that man worked too much.
“Do you work with him?”
“Yes, for a month now. Jaime realised that he ought to attend to his clients better, and has assigned me with visiting the most important ones this week. I have been studying your case personally, and believe that I can offer you a more economic policy without sacrificing any existing coverage or, alternatively, including a better loan as opposed to veritable daylight robbery.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“It is, believe me. That is why I have called you. Anyway, I would like to update your details before organising a new estimate tailor made for you. I shan’t take much of your time.”
“Well, I will be here this morning. You can come by whenever you like.” As she said herself, that meeting should not take very long. His pl
ans for a speedy exit were still on course.
“Well, if it suits you, we can meet within the hour. Today I will take down a few little details, and next week I will visit you for longer, in order to present you with all of the options we can offer you. You will always have the final say.”
“I’ll wait for you then within the hour,” he concluded.
Sebas liked what the woman was proposing, but above all, he liked the determination and professionalism that she demonstrated on the telephone. Jaime, the old dog, he thought; finding such a good, efficient and pleasant team member. He also wondered if she would be pretty along with it. In any case, it was very much in accordance with his business plan if it allowed him to save a few euros.
Once he had hung up the telephone, one by one his employees filed into his office. Barely two minutes later, he had already finished giving them the work schedule for the morning. If everything went according to plan, at one o’clock the three of them could focus on sharing out the orders. He would contact the clients, and attend to the woman.
A perfect plan.
10
Emma entered the business barely an hour after Sebas had hung up the phone. She arrived with two agendas in her hand and a big smile on her face. She was exquisitely perfumed, and elegantly dressed. The discreet heel on her shoes combined to perfection with an elegant black raincoat that, in turn, gave the illusion that the skirt it covered could not be too long. It was impossible not to notice her.
She went directly to the office where Sebas was. He did not give her time to knock on the door; he saw her through the window, and made a gesture for her to enter.
“Good morning, miss...”
“Pérez, Emma Pérez. Has Jaime never mentioned me to you before?”
“Well, no. But I also have to remember that I haven’t seen him for months, practically since the day that we signed the company insurance.”
“Yes, I’ve been revising the insurance at the office but, as I told you over the phone, I want to check if all of the details are correct, in order to be able to make a good offer. Can you show me the valuable machinery that you have here at the company?” asked Emma, whilst she took off her raincoat, revealing a short and tight-fitting dress, that especially emphasised her slight figure.
Sebas nodded, cast a nervous glance over his desk, then another at the woman, and finally said, in an attempt at feigning confidence:
“Yes, follow me.”
In less than a minute, the two were going through the facilities. Emma was noting down measures, risks, etc. in one of the agendas, and Sebas was trying to play the perfect host:
“Recycling is the future. All of us combined, we’re overloading the planet,” he said in a significant, almost pretentious tone.
Emma followed him, nodding and implied great interest in what the man was telling her. Every now and then, she would ask him a question.
“And your business is just dedicated to recycling?”
“Yes. Although in reality, we don’t yet complete the process. We only grind up the materials, as the preliminary step of the recycling, because afterwards each material requires a different treatment.”
“It strikes me as an exciting job,” exclaimed Emma. “I can imagine that somebody could feel very fulfilled in a job like this, knowing that they’re doing their bit towards the conservation of the environment,” she concluded, looking at the man with eyes full of admiration.
Sebas did not want to say anything, but on his face a smile of satisfaction was visible. Essentially, until that moment it had never occurred to him to think that his work could be so interesting. He thought that, for him, it had always been a vulgar activity: grinding up waste materials because the other businesses did not have the necessary machinery. But, in any case, if this woman insisted on saying that his work was ‘exciting’, he was not going to be the one to contradict her.
“Do you have children?” Emma then asked.
“No. My wife and I have only been married for two years, and... let’s say that, for the moment, we like to enjoy life.”
“Yes. You seem like a man in love.”
Sebas’ look of satisfaction changed in an instant, breaking the animated conversation they had been having up until that moment. It’s not that he was interested in Emma, and even less the case that the thought of cheating on María had passed through his mind, but that type of comment was not exactly what he had most wanted to hear coming from her mouth. Unconsciously, he remained thoughtful for a moment: is it like he was walking around with some sort of imaginary placard hanging round his neck saying ‘I’m in love, so, even though I like you, I’m off limits’?
“Exactly how many employees do you have here?” Emma said, suddenly bringing him back to reality.
“Three,” he responded automatically. “We receive all types of materials here and, as I have told you, we grind them down as the initial preparatory step of the recycling process. This is the grinder,” he pointed towards a large machine that presided over the entire area, “for if the materials come to us in very large pieces, before we prepare them. In summary, we go to collect them at the original site, grind them down, and then deliver them to wherever the client wants. We have lorries for that. We provide what one could define as an essential service,” he concluded, stopping in front of the preparation centre, in which three of his employees were at that moment.
From the door, Emma cast a glance around the room, at that moment becoming the focus of the indiscreet stares of the other men. Sebas put his arm around her shoulders and led her back to the centre of the factory, without entering the preparation centre.
“And we are the only business in Ourense dedicated to this,” he continued, trying to diffuse the situation. “As such, we always have so much work.”
The woman seemed to not miss a single detail of what she was seeing, trying to include as much information as possible, even though it had actually been a while now since she had stopped writing in her agenda.
“Do you only have the one grinder?” she asked.
“Yes,” Sebas seemed offended. “It’s the most expensive one on the market. It was a year ago that we opened, and we had to make two credit applications, one of them just to buy the grinder alone. Luckily my wife’s parents supported us. If they hadn’t, this business would never have been able to get off the ground.”
He walked towards the machine with a pride that he tried to impart to Emma, so that she would understand the value of that piece of equipment.
“Come on, I’ll show it to you.”
She followed him. They climbed up the rickety stairway and onto a type of scaffolding situated at the top of grinder chute.
“It is from here that we can ensure that everything that is processed is correct. Do you see those blades? Once they start up, no material can withstand them.”
Emma leaned forward to look at them.
“But, it seems like a dangerous machine,” she commented.
“Yes, well, you do have to be rather careful. Most of all when dealing with certain materials where there are bits that can fly off. But as long as you don’t go near the chute, there is no danger.”
“Do you think that a person could survive if they fell into it?”
Sebas let out a loud guffaw. He was surprised at the naivety of his companion. To tell the truth, he had never contemplated that possibility.
“If somebody were to fall inside whilst it was in operation,” he began to reason, “and there was nobody nearby to press the emergency switch, without a doubt the consequences would be fatal. And even if it were quickly shut down,” he stopped to think for a second, “I would not like to be in that situation. But it is precisely for that reason that we never turn it on when there is only one person in the factory.”
“My God, it doesn’t even bear thinking about,” observed Emma, sadly, as she began to climb back down the stairway.
“No, no. The danger, if there is one, is if a hollow were to appear from within the m
achine,” he reasoned with great assurance in front of the woman. “Falling inside is impossible. A person would have to climb all the way up here and purposely throw themselves into the chute. It would be completely impossible,” he concluded.
Before arriving at the bottom Emma stopped and took one last look up at the scaffolding. Sebas also paused, and responded to the woman’s curiosity with a smile, even though they did not make eye contact. Then, Emma turned around and the two of them continued to descend the steps, and made their way towards the office. Once inside, she insisted:
“Is a special card needed to operate it?”
“The grinder?” asked Sebas, surprised at her insistence. “No. We all use it here; it’s very easy. And if you had come a little later, you would have found us using it. It’s a shame because then you would have been able to see for yourself that it is not completely dangerous. I am sure that you would be feeling much less concerned.”
In reality, he did not understand how a machine that was so sophisticated, but yet so easy to control, could create such a huge impression on the woman.
“Are there fixed timeslots for each load of work?” she asked, mulling over what Sebas had just said.
“No, not at all,” this woman has no idea how a business works, he thought. “But today is different. We are only working this morning, since it is Holy Week. We were originally going to stay until three today. But if there are no unforeseen circumstances, sometime around twelve, or perhaps even a little earlier, we’ll be turning it on. We grind up the waste, load it onto the lorries and, at one o’clock, it will be ready to go and be taken off by one of the guys while I stay here finishing up the office work. So, if all goes to plan, I calculate that they should be back by twelve thirty, and then we’ll all be able to go home.”
No Resurrection Page 5