As the old lady had stopped talking, Simón, who was the most curious, asked:
“And you got married? You have to tell us what happened next, you can’t leave us hanging like that.”
“Of course, what do you think? Well, it wasn’t immediately because he returned home and we had to wait a bit,” she said looking lovingly at her husband, “but we finally managed.”
“Where are you from?” Simón asked again.
“I’m from Extremadura, from a very small village in the province of Badajoz called Azuaga. I worked there as a boy in the lead mines, like the rest of the town. I don’t know if you know, but they’re the only lead mines in the whole of Spain.”
“Well, there are loads of mines in Spain, almost everywhere,” Jorge told him.
“Yes, but lead mines? Surely not,” he insisted. “They’re only to be found i
