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.

Todos os domingos, desde que se lembrava, o avô de Inés fazia paelha. Não daquela que os turistas comem nos restaurantes baratos à beira-mar, mas a paelha lenta, com ossos, açafrão e coelho nos bons dias. Fazia-a no pátio sobre uma fogueira de lenha que acendia ele próprio, mesmo agora que tinha oitenta e três anos.

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.

Nesse domingo, Inés tinha voltado a casa desde Madrid para o ver. Estava mais magro do que da última vez. Movia-se com mais cuidado. Mas quando ela entrou no pátio, ele já estava agachado junto ao fogo, a ajustar as achas com uma longa vara de ferro.

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

— Estás atrasada — disse, sem se virar. Dizia sempre o mesmo, mesmo quando ela chegava cedo.

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.

Ela ajoelhou-se a seu lado e olhou para a frigideira. O arroz começava agora a absorver o caldo. A cozinha atrás deles cheirava a alho e alecrim. A avó estava dentro, algures, a bater com os pratos na mesa.

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

Ele apontou para a frigideira com a vara. — Tu, vigia isto. Não mexas. As pessoas que mexem a paelha não percebem a paelha.

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 não se mexeu durante trinta minutos. Viu o arroz mudar de cor, viu o fundo da frigideira agarrar e dourar, viu o avô a vê-la a ela. Quando ele por fim retirou a frigideira do fogo, acenou uma vez com a cabeça. Não precisou de dizer mais nada.