Before a terrorist ran her over, once upon a time in Barcelona. The second death.
In the first death, she had been making chalk drawings on the pavement; in the second death, she had been learning to love a Miró Mosaic embedded in a boulevard.
He had howled in the Boqueria. He was howling in the Boqueria. He was pushing people, he was howling the world in public. He was mourning his daughter, the octopus. She had called him Mister Pitzel. Why had they gone to sea? you might ask. They had gone to sea so that when Stella was killed by the terror van on the Rambles that August day, Johnny would have the sea adventure for blue solace.
Because if you can’t torment yourself with memories that are sweet, what can you do when the dead die all over again? Stella was due to die, naturally, of h
