Perspective

Ronda, Andalusia

Seville, airport. The X-ray detects some elctronics in the stomach of the bag, which is no wonder, as it ate it for breakfast.The twenty-some-year old security guard takes me aside. “Please open it, because the books don’t let it see well.” I look at him, startled. “But it is precisely books that make you see better.” He is brooding, while his hand does it job mechanically. “I would not say better”, he says, „but rather more widely”. He finishes it, closes the bag. “Señor, yo soy un gran lector. Reading is like mountaineering. It is hard to get up”, he points at the stretching bag, “but once you are on the top, there’s a lot more perspective up there.” We shake hands.

Lookout La Lastra, Andalusia