Sunday Paella

Every Sunday for as long as she could remember, Inés's grandfather had made paella. Not the kind tourists ate in cheap restaurants by the beach, but the slow kind, with bones and saffron and rabbit on a good day. He made it on the patio over a wood fire he started himself, even now that he was eighty-three.

Každú nedeľu, odkedy si Inés pamätala, jej starý otec pripravoval paellu. Nie tú, ktorú turisti jedli v lacných reštauráciách pri pláži, ale tú pomalú, s kosťami, šafranom a králikom, keď bol dobrý deň. Robil ju na dvore nad ohňom z dreva, ktorý si sám založil, aj teraz, keď mal osemdesiat tri rokov.

This Sunday Inés had come home from Madrid to see him. He was thinner than the last time. He moved more carefully. But when she walked into the patio, he was already crouched by the fire, adjusting the logs with a long iron stick.

Túto nedeľu prišla Inés domov z Madridu, aby ho videla. Bol chudší ako naposledy. Pohyboval sa opatrnejšie. Ale keď vošla na dvor, už bol sklonený pri ohni, upravoval polená dlhým železným prútom.

"You're late," he said, without turning around. He always said this even when she was early.

"Meškáš," povedal, bez toho, aby sa otočil. Vždy to hovoril, aj keď prišla skôr.

She knelt next to him and looked at the pan. The rice was just starting to absorb the broth. The kitchen behind them smelled like garlic and rosemary. Her grandmother was somewhere inside, banging plates onto the table.

Kľakla si vedľa neho a pozrela na panvicu. Ryža práve začínala nasávať vývar. Kuchyňa za nimi voňala cesnakom a rozmarínom. Jej stará mama bola niekde vo vnútri a hlučne kládla taniere na stôl.

He pointed at the pan with his stick. "You watch this one. Don't stir it. People who stir paella don't understand paella."

Ukázal na panvicu prútom. "Sleduj túto. Nemiešaj ju. Ľudia, ktorí miešajú paellu, paellu nechápu."

Inés didn't move for thirty minutes. She watched the rice change color, watched the bottom of the pan catch and brown, watched her grandfather watch her. When he finally took the pan off the fire, he nodded once. She did not need him to say anything else.

Inés sa nepohla tridsať minút. Sledovala, ako ryža mení farbu, ako sa dno panvice zachytáva a hnedne, ako ju starý otec sleduje. Keď nakoniec zložil panvicu z ohňa, raz prikývol. Nemusela počuť nič viac.