We seemed to be stuck to him. We even slept in his bed occupying my grandma’s place. There was a special force that did not allow us to separate from him for the month we stayed in Lobería except for his naps when we rode our horses, mowed the lawn and fished in the creek. All our summer holidays, after classes finished, we went with our family to this farm situated in a very little town in the south of Buenos Aires. My parents and sisters only visited my grandparents for some days while Tomás and I spent one third of our holidays there until we joined the rest of the family in Pinamar, the beach resort. We really enjoyed our stay in this countryside town that was not only very far but also quite different from our Tucumán. It was nice to get away from the city for some time but this was not the reason why we loved going to Lobería. The old angels we met there were the real reason.
In the mornings, when we woke up my grandpa was always already awake as he was an early bird. He would persuade us to do some push-ups to start the day with energy which we only sometimes did and if we had gotten up early we would help him feed the calves and milk the cows for breakfast. My grandma would make a delicious lunch and would spoil my brother cooking ``arroz con leche´´ and me baking chocolate cakes for dessert from time to time. After lunch my grandpa, Tomás and I would go to the fields to work the cattle and check the crops and when we got back sometimes I played chess with the old man, who taught me how to do it.
My grandparents came at least once a year to visit us in Tucumán and they stayed for about a month. They so much loved coming here that one year my grandpa came alone and stayed for three months. He was so nice that he made a lot of friends very easily. He went to visit them with his ancient bike which he brought from Lobería (he had another one there). He used it to go everywhere. He taught my sisters how to ride the bike and every Saturday mornings they went to feed the ducks and see the horses in a house near ours.
As the years passed, our stays in Lobería got shorter and we finally stopped going every year. Although we continued seeing our grandpas in their visits we became a bit detached from them as we got older. However, the magical connection between us remained forever.
When I was fifteen, my grandparents moved to Tucumán to have us near them. My grandma had always wanted to do this but the love my grandpa had towards Lobería and his farm didn’t make it possible. They had lived in this little town for thirty years and my grandma had never complained about it. She had supported my grandpa in everything. So he understood it was time to support her in something she really wanted to do and, although it was very painful for him, they left Lobería.
The farewell was really emotive. The entire town went to say goodbye to them. The farm was rented but this didn’t impede my grandpa from going to visit Lobería every year. He slept at a friend’s house. If there was something he didn’t lack, it was friends. And they were real ones. When he rode his bike, everybody waved at him and one of his friends called him ``Curuchet´´, after the famous Argentinean cyclist.
They bought a house near our school so I went to have lunch once a week after class. My grandpa planted some trees and some flowers my grandma chose. They were visited by friends who slept in their house but most of them were grandma’s friends. Almost all of my grandpa’s old friends had already died and the few that were still alive were very sick. On the contrary, he was as healthy as a young man because of the cycling and the push-ups in the mornings. He told me a thousand times the same stories about these old friends he couldn’t see any more and I knew them as if I had seen them in a lot of occasions although I had never met most of them. He really missed them.
When I was in the last year of school my family started having economic problems. We moved to a smaller house but this was not the solution. We had an enormous debt to pay and we would finish in the street if we did not pay it off. My grandpa did not want to sell the farm but he was so generous that he sold it to a family that lived in Lobería and paid the debt.
I finished school and started studying economy. I really enjoyed university life and was doing quite well in the exams. I stopped going for lunch to my grandparents’ but I continued seeing them on Sundays and when they came to visit us. I also continued playing chess with my grandpa when I had time and my grandma did not stop baking the chocolate cake I like so much.
One Sunday we went to have dinner to my grandparents’ house to welcome my grandpa who had just arrived from Lobería. He brought terrible news. The owners of the farm had received an offer from Toco Madera, the well-known timber company that wanted to build a factory in the farm, and were going to sell it. I had never seen my grandpa so sad. All the family was shocked. I shared the bedroom with Tomás and that night I noticed he couldn’t get to sleep. The next morning he went to my grandparents’ house and when he came back he told my parents he would leave the house and move to Lobería. He had talked with my grandpa and as Tomás knew the old man was a friend of the family owner of the farm he told him to speak with them and ask them no to sell the farm as he was going to buy it. He had just graduated with an Agronomy major and his plan consisted in buying the farm with some money he had saved. He would live and work there in order to continue to pay for it. It was not an easy decision but he loved our grandpa so much that he took it. So my grandpa spoke with the owners and they accepted the deal and rejected the offer of Toco Madera.
When Tomás was preparing the luggage the phone rang. It was María, his ex. After he finished the conversation he was shocked. He said María was going to have a baby. This news was like a sudden shower of ice-cold water on my grandpa. Although he was happy to become a great-grandfather, this feeling was overshadowed by the idea that Tomás would not go ahead with his plan and the farm would most probably be sold to Toco Madera. He called the owners and told them the situation. I accompanied him to Lobería to see the creek in which Tomás and I used to fish, the horses we used to ride, the cows we used to milk, the calves we used to feed and the house where my mother and my uncles were raised for the last time. He had the saddest expression I have ever seen and, although he tried not to cry, the tears rolled down his cheeks silently. It was that moment, when I saw his face, which determined the rest of my life. Although I had no idea about working in the fields, I had right before my eyes a marvelous teacher who could teach me and although I would have to leave the rest of the family, my friends and college, I would not see that expression in my grandpa again.
Now I’m reliving my childhood and I’m looking forward to the summer holidays, when my grandchildren come to visit me after the end of classes.
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