Un dia en Buenos Aires

Just then, Josefina entered from the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

She was gorgeous! Like an older, mature version of Juanita, Brad was instantly taken with her. Her dark-hair was held back in a simple ponytail; she had deep expressive brown eyes and a perfect complexion. Her smile seemed to brighten the room as she entered.

She was also dressed for lunch, in a light blue flower-print summer frock that left her knees and her arms uncovered. She was wearing low heels — but high enough to show the shape of her legs and to emphasize her tight round butt. She had just a little make-up on, lipstick and mascara, but Brad found himself unable to avert his eyes from her face.

Josefina first introduced herself with a smile to Joe and Francis, reaching out and shaking their hands, "Hello, its so good to meet you! I am Josefina Unamuno y Lopez and this is my daughter, Juanita!"

"It's good to meet you too! I'm Joe Andrews and this is my wife, Francis."

"And where are you from?" Josefina inquired.

"We're from Philly... oh, excuse me. We are from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

Then Josefina turned to Brad and Amy. She smiled and took in Brad. She saw a tall man, close to 1.9 meters, with a full head of sandy blond hair and striking deep blue eyes. She put her hand out and Brad took it. They stood there looking into each other's eyes for several seconds, neither of them able to speak.

Then Brad's brain finally kicked in.

"Señora Josefina: mucho gusto. Me llamo Brad Taylor, y este señorita esta mi hija, Amy. Vivamos en Los Angeles, California. (Glad to meet you. I am Brad Taylor and the young lady with me is my daughter, Amy. We live in Los Angeles, California.)

"Espero que no le moleste lo que le voy a decir, pero estoy muy impresianado con su casa! Esta muy comfortable y elegante tambien (I hope you don't mind my saying, but I'm very impressed with your house! It is very comfortable and elegant!)

Josefina's smile grew even larger as Brad spoke!

"Pues! Señor Brad, muchas gracias. Y, estoy muy impresianada con su Espanol! (Well! Thank you so much. And I'm very impressed with your Spanish!)

"But you are being a naught boy!" she said with a laugh. "I host these lunches periodically to have the opportunity to practice MY English!"

They both noticed that they were still holding hands the entire time during their short conversation and they both released the other with a certain regret.

"And," Brad admitted with a smile, "It would be rude to Joe and Francis. Amy can speak and understand Spanish very well herself."

Joe then interjected, "I'll tell ya though — it's been really handy at time to have Brad there to translate. I don't even know enough Spanish to ask for separate checks when we're at a restaurant!" Everyone laughed at his confession.

Josefina and Juanita insisted on serving lunch on their own to their guests even though everyone offered to help. It was an easy, light lunch — sliced roast beef and other cold cuts, fruit, salad, some delicious Scottish smoked salmon, croissant roles, all accompanied by their choice of either a light Sauvignon Blanc wine, or a red Shiraz. Both Argentine wines, of course!

They were seated with Josefina on one end of the table, her daughter on the other end, with Brad sitting next to Josefina, Amy between him and Juanita, and Joe and Francis on the other side.

They had a pleasant conversation around the table — well, except for Amy and Juanita who had their phones out and their heads together, talking and laughing over their separate conversation.

Josefina was a widow whose husband had died four years before.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. It must be very difficult for you, even now," Brad said.

"Thank you for your sympathy Brad. All I can say is that things do get better. Time goes by and life goes on. But I still suffer from his loss," Josefina replied.

They discussed how difficult it is for Argentines to deal with the inflation that has been a long time hallmark of their country. The exchange rates were controlled by the central bank, and because of the gross long-term overspending by the government; rates are periodically adjusted for inflation, much to the detriment of Argentines holding pesos.

"So what do people do?" asked Francis, who had been generally been silent while they ate.

"Well, the first thing you do is buy as many U.S. dollars as you can, as soon as you can, and keep your savings in dollars. And if you are really rich, then you don't keep your money in Argentina at all," Josefina explained.

When Joe asked Josefina what she did for a living, she turned to Brad.

"Brad, what is the word in English for 'un medico'? It's completely escaped me for the moment."

"A 'physician' or we somewhat over generalize and call them 'doctors' — even though we also call PhD's 'doctors' as well," he answered.

"Yes, that's the word. Joe, I'm a physician and surgeon; I teach at the Medical Faculty at the University of Buenos Aires. But when I'm not teaching, I specialize in removing gall bladders using arthroscopic surgery."

With a sudden grin she continued, "I am the Gall Bladder Queen of Buenos Aires!" That got a laugh from all of them. "But right now I'm between semesters for several weeks, which is why I had the time to host this lunch and have a chance to speak English with all of you. Speaking of which, Brad, how is my English?"

Brad had to give her a big smile back, "I think that you are fishing for compliments, because your English is todo perfecto! Completely perfect! Your very slight accent is absolutely charming — so never lose it." Everyone else at the table agreed.

"Well, thank you. Now tell me Brad — how is it that your Spanish is so good? You have a very good accent as well."

"Honestly, in Los Angeles, we get plenty of opportunity to speak Spanish. Now as far as my accent..."

Suddenly Amy spoke up, "Dad's a really good musician and has an ear for languages."

Josefina perked up.

"You are a musician, Brad? What do you play?"

"When I was in school, I went on mostly music scholarships although I wasn't a music major. I played most of the woodwind instruments, but most often I played bassoon. There was always someone who would pay you to play bassoon," he said with a laugh remembering his days as a poor university student. "But these days I almost exclusively play piano."

At that point Josefina and Juanita served a dolce de leche crème brule — similar to a caramel flan, but softer and creamier.

After lunch was over and the dishes taken to the counter, Josefina turned back to Brad.

"Brad, you must play for me! Did you notice the piano in the corner of the room?"

"Oh yes, indeed. It looks like a Steinway."

"Yes, it is. It is only a little over 4-years old. My in-laws bought it for my husband to play not long before he the accident. He loved classical piano. And coincidentally, I had it tuned earlier this week. So now you must play for us!"

When Brad seemed to hesitate, Amy put her oar in again.

"Come on Dad! Josefina, he's really good, you know."

Brad knew that further resistance was futile, but he was secretly delighted to have the chance to tickle the keys of such a fine instrument.

"OK, so long as you don't mind if I warm up a little."

He sat down in front of the piano and lifted the cover from the keys. The first thing he did was to start in the bass, and played a scale, first up two octaves together, then two octaves, each hand moving in the opposite direction and back, then two more octaves up, and then back down to where he started. Everything was in tune, and all of the keys responded well. Brad was very impressed with the instrument.

Without speaking, he started playing a Chopin Waltz Op. 70 #2 in F-Minor — music that Brad had played for so many years that he considered it a good 'warm up' piece. By the time he had finished the Chopin, he was in a sort of Zen state, only of aware of the music he was playing and the sound of the piano. He followed the Chopin with Beethoven's famous 'Andante Cantabile', the second movement of the 'Pathetique' Sonata. When he had concluded that, he paused for a short time and began playing Gabriel Faure's Claire de Lune before finishing with Debussy's Arabesque #1. Before he realized it, he'd played for close to 20 minutes, without a break. He was suddenly embarrassed, and he stopped and stood up be the piano.

That was when his small audience actually began applauding!

Joe came up and patted his back, "Wow, Brad! You're a man of many talents. You play really well."

Joe's wife Francis was even more lavish with her praise, "You should have been a concert pianist; you're so good!"

Even Amy joined in. "Daddy! I'm so proud of you! You've still got it!" she exclaimed while giving him a big 'thumbs up.'

Josefina's reaction was a different thing all together. She revealed her Latin temperament and enthusiasm when she took three steps to close the distance to Brad and threw herself into his chest, wrapping her arms around him, tears showing in her eyes.

"Oh my god, Brad! That was beautiful! Forgive me for being so emotional, but no one has played my piano like that since my husband, Ernesto, died."

She let her face rest on Brad's chest while she continued to cling to him. He took his arms and put them around her, gently patting her back. The smell of this vivacious woman with the delicate perfume she wore was almost overwhelming to Brad.

"I'm sorry — I didn't mean to make you cry!"

"No, no, Brad. These are tears of happiness. You've brought a little joy into my home."

It was, alas, already time to leave and go back to the hotel, so the four travelers bid farewell to Juanita and Josefina, who saw them to the elevator.

Juanita seemed to be whispering into Amy's ear and as Brad was about to step into the elevator, Josefina handed him a small piece of paper with her cell phone number on it.

"Could you PLEASE call me this afternoon? I would like to talk to you," she said softly to him.

"Of course. I look forward to it," and then he stepped in and the elevator descended.

Back in their hotel room, Amy turned to her dad.

"You know that Josefina was REALLY in to you?" she said. "Even Juanita could see it. She said she hasn't seen her mother react to a man like she did to you since her dad died."

Brad thought about what Amy had said, "Well, I was pretty taken with Josefina too. She is a beautiful and obviously intelligent woman. But I worry that my judgment about women isn't all that great — I always thought that your mother was 'in to me' as well."

"I don't really understand what Mom did, Dad. I'm still in contact with her, but she's never told me anything about breaking up with you and moving in with her new boyfriend that made any sense!" Amy reflected. "But don't forget to call Josefina this afternoon."

Brad laughed, "Of course. I wouldn't forget and it would be so impolite not to call her when I'd promised."

"OK — but I'm holding you to your promise," Amy replied with a smirk.

Brad looked at her with a little suspicion in his eyes.

"Do you know something that you're not telling me?" he demanded.

"HA!" Amy exclaimed, "That's for me to know and for YOU to find out!"

Brad shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll call her momentarily. Remember that the bus is taking us down to the Plaza de Mayo in about 15 minutes."

Brad decided to keep the same clothes on for the afternoon.

They were touring around the Plaza, which on one end was where the Casa Rosado (the 'pink house' — the Presidential offices of Argentina), on the opposite side was the old colonial government building, and on one of the perpendicular sides was the Metropolitan Cathedral de Buenos Aires where the famous liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru, Jose de San Martin, was buried. It was also the cathedral that had been the seat of the Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio before he was elected to the Papacy to become Pope Francis.

After that they had reservations to tour the world famous Opera house, the Teatro Colon, known for its marvelous acoustics. Brad chuckled to himself — he didn't think that they would let him play the concert grand piano at the Teatro to test the acoustics.

After that, the group was scheduled to go to a restaurant in the Puerto Madero (the old port area) for an Argentine beef dinner. It was supposed to be a great place to eat and Brad was looking forward to it.

Finally Brad felt prepared to call Josefina. The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

"Hola," came the voice over the phone. With just a single word, Brad wasn't entirely certain that it was Josefina.

"Josefina? This is Brad," he replied.

"Oh Brad. Thank you for calling.

"I hope that you don't think that I am being too forward, but I was wondering if you and Amy could come back to my place tomorrow evening for dinner. And before you answer I will warn you! I am hoping that you would play piano for my guests. We could make it like a small musical solon. You know I used to play violin with my husband and Juanita plays flute and sings. If you wouldn't mind accompanying us as well?"

"I would love to come to dinner and I could certainly play a bit for your guests. We would have to go over what you and Juanita would like to play — but I'm a pretty good sight-reader as well, so we could play almost anything. I accompanied both other instrumentalists as well as singers when I was in college.

"I would just have to talk to our tour leader about our schedule. But as long as he knows about it, I can skip anything. I think that we are supposed to go to a 'tango theater' tomorrow night. But I don't think that I will be missing anything if I skip that. I think it is more like a Las Vegas show than real tango dancing.

"So what time do you plan on eating, and when should Amy and I arrive?" Brad concluded.

"I think that we will eat around 8:30, and I've invited the other guests to come by at around 6:30. If you could get here around 6:00 we could go over the music before everyone arrived. Would that be too much of an imposition?" asked Josefina.

"Not at all." Then Brad made sure to get the address to give to the taxi driver and they finished the call.

Brad and Amy enjoyed the next day as the tour spent time in one of the old parts of town, "La Boca" (The Mouth), where the tango originated and evolved. There, they actually saw authentic Argentine tango and were even given a lesson — teaching them perhaps three different dance steps. Most of the other tourists were older couples, so the men danced with their wives. But Brad had Amy, his young and beautiful daughter instead. It led a humorous situation. While all of the other couples were practicing their newly learned steps, the young, handsome male dancer approached Brad and asked him if they could switch partners! They did, so as Amy danced off with the young man, Brad was practicing with the young woman teacher!

She laughed as she told Brad, "My dance partner found your daughter very attractive, so I suggested that we ask you to change partners. You see, he is my dance partner, not my boyfriend! So I hope you are not too disappointed being left with me!"

Brad assured her that wasn't the case, "You too are young and attractive — and a MUCH better dancer than I am. So you'll make me look better than I really am."

She laughed at his insight.

After the group had finished their tango class, they took the bus to a marvelous bookstore in town, 'El Atenao' that was in an old former theater that had been converted by adding bookshelves and the other needs of a modern bookstore, but without destroying the ambiance of original interior.

After having a great tasting pizza for lunch (who knew that Buenos Aires was also known for pizza restaurants?), Amy and Brad headed out to a clothing store to pick up slightly more formal attire for Josefina's party that evening. Brad had brought a nice blue Sports jacket along on the trip, so with a pair of tan slacks and a white shirt, he would be presentable. Luckily for him, he was close enough to the nominal sizes that he could buy clothes right off the rack.

Amy picked up a black evening dress that went down to just above her knees (long enough to avoiding giving Brad a heart attack), but she, of course needed a new pair of black high heels (OK — not TOO high) and a small black purse. She looked stunning in her new outfit and her father told her as much.

So then it was back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours before dressing and leaving for Josefina's.

It seemed like no time at all before Brad and Amy were sitting in a taxi on their way to Josefina and Juanita's place.

Josefina let them in.

"Buenos tardes Brad y Amy! You both look wonderful this evening!" Josefina exclaimed as she moved towards Brad to take him in her arms to give him a warm welcome in the form of un beso y abrazo (a kiss and a hug.)

Brad returned Josefina's light kiss on the cheek with one of his own before they moved back apart a little ways, still holding each other lightly in their arms.

"Why don't you come into the living room and let's go over the music that I would like to play with you. I can't imagine that you don't know the pieces. And then Juanita can let you know what she would like to have to play with her as well!"

In fact, Josefina was right; Brad played both of the pieces she proposed through and they were no challenge. And the pieces that Juanita was going to play he had accompanied singers when he was in college as well. Even with no rehearsal he knew that they would play together well.

Not long after that Juanita disappeared into her room along with Amy, and not long after that Josefina's guests began to arrive.

(* Conversations in Spanish, but conveyed in English *)

The first to arrive were her parents, Jose and Esperanza, followed shortly by her deceased husband's parents, George and Isabel, as well. Josefina introduced them to Brad and they were all charming and delightful towards him and Amy.

Indeed, Ernesto's mother, Isabel, put her hand on Brad's arm when she spoke to him.

"I understand that are going to play on the wonderful piano that we bought as a present to our son before his tragic accident. I am so looking forward to hearing music from it again," she choked up a little.

"He loved making music and playing the piano. And he and Josefina would play together for little musical salons just like tonight," she said with a sad, wistful smile.

Her husband, Julio, interjected, in a stage whisper, "I know nothing about music. That is my wife's passion. I enjoy listening, but that is all. But when she says 'buy this piano for my son', I am an intelligent man; I do what she wants!" They all laughed at that. Brad then explained the English saying, "A happy wife makes a happy life!" and all of the men agreed with its wisdom.

By then other guests were arriving — old friends from Josefina's time at the University, some fellow Physicians from the hospital, even some old childhood friends. Brad was surprised that there were close to 30 guests, not including him and Amy! This was clearly a long-planned event and he hoped that he wasn't intruding.

There were waiters, hired for the night, getting people drinks from the bar tender, who had set up his wares out on the balcony. People were wandering in and out of the apartment, the doors to the outside open, as old friends took a couple of minutes to catch up with friends who they hadn't seen for some time.

There was one man, though, who seemed to be disturbing Josefina's mood. He was a good looking Latin man with the deep black hair and sharp features, filled with self-confidence and well dressed. Brad had not met him yet when he excused himself to rejoin his hostess.

"Are you kidding me?" the man exclaimed, "You invited an American tourist who you just met yesterday to your dinner? I know how important it is to you to commemorate Ernesto's death; how can you sully his memory by inviting some uncultured Norte Americano off the street. They are all ignorant and arrogant, self-centered know-nothings!" He had said these last sentences right in front of Brad while he was standing there.