Spooky House in Seville

The house we stayed in was-how to say it-spooky, including the occupants. It had three floors. Kala and I stayed in the bottom floor. There was a large portico, which was filled with plants and a large mirror. The sun shone through the large roof, 3 floors above. Saru and Vamsee’s room was on the second. Pepe the landlord and his housemate lived on the 3^rd floor. To talk to them, you had to buzz them on the intercom, and look up from outside the house. He would then come out onto his balcony with his dog, and grace us with his presence and yell down “Que?” There’s more about this fellow and his dog below.

We were leaving for Granada the next day. Train was leaving at 12pm. We woke up early and packed our bags. Kala, as it was for the entire trip, woke up breathing like a werewolf at 2am that morning also. It was Kala’s turn to take the shower in our room--hot water enough for only one person per room. Don’t ask. The only thing left to do was to pay our rent.

So I buzzed Pepe. Oh, and I forgot to tell you about his housemate. This man was always dressed in a corduroy jacket, and was always walking the dog. He always stunk of alcohol, and his eyes were always bloodshot- anytime of the day. I think we already established that neither he nor Pepe spoke a word of English. That dog was another specimen altogether. It was buck-toothed, i.e., it had one tooth sticking outside its mouth. I had never seen a dog like that before. Kala kept grabbing my arm every time the dog came near. Vamsee is scared of anything that even smelled of a dog. So she refused to come up to Pepe’s room. I tell you, the woman would run behind Saru if a little poodle the size of a pin came sniffing at her toe. This dog was old as well, and man was it mangy! Just like everything in the house, grooming of the dog had also fallen into disrepair.

Kala and I went up to Pepe’s room. One more thing to add to the creepiness, the steps always creaked. 10am, and the man was drunk, and he had forgotten to put his dentures on. As he was mumbling about the room looking for a pen to write the receipt with, Kala and I looked about the living room. The walls were painted in saffron color, of all colors to choose from. Everything looked old. The room also smelt funny. As though someone thought of making beef stew, decided to make pickled cabbage instead, then forgot to put it inside the fridge and it began to rot. I had to step outside to catch my breath soon enough. But Kala was courageous. She held her breath.

Then, I saw something made me step back and take notice. There was a water-color painting on the wall in front of us. In it was a young man in a white shirt, sitting next to a bay window, on a white couch. Blue ocean stretched beyond behind him in the window. There was a dog sitting next to him. This dog looked just like the buck-toothed one that was running about us now, wanting to be petted- buck-tooth and all! Just curious, I looked toward the bottom of the painting to see when this was painted, and it read “1939”. I thought it was too much of a confidence, and I concentrated on the man in the painting. A man in his thirty’s, with thick and slick black hair combed back, a sallow complexion and an empty look overall- it was a younger-looking Pepe alright! Kala was busy trying not to throw up from the smell. I thought it would be good to distract her. Instead, I bloody well scared her alright. She asked the question that was at the back of my mind as well: If this was Pepe in the picture, he must be over 100 now! This man looked 70-75 tops. And that dog must be over 90 as well!!! It was very very strange indeed.

Then I chanced upon another painting next to this one. This one was even creepier. This one had a man, again in his thirties, with a parrot perched on his shoulder, and a pregnant cat sitting on his lap. Darker in complexion, with a brown corduroy jacket, and a moustache- this was the housemate of Pepe. The same question escaped both Kala and my lips: Were these the oldest gay couple known to us? And what was the story with these pets of theirs?

Before we could see any more, Pepe ambled up to us with the receipt, which he had written himself. The penmanship was spectacular. It looked as though he had written it with a feather, with a calligraphy that was quite uncommon, although with a mild tremor. We could not bear the odor in the room anymore. And Pepe seemed to be fading. I swear I could see flies swarm about him everywhere he went. So we thanked him, and left the house hurriedly.

Carrying our heavy suitcases, we left the house locking the doors behind us. As we were leaving, I looked up and saw the buck-toothed dog and the pregnant cat look down upon us, from 3 floors above. As we turned the corner and before the house disappeared from view, I swear I saw the creatures lift their paws bidding us farewell…