Monday lunchtime

On Monday at about half-past two, I went to buy my lunchtime sandwich from the Granja Bristol while talking to Gemma on my mobile phone. As I rounded the corner to the café’s door, I saw a few people standing around looking at a figure collapsed on the side-road where a new car park is currently being constructed.

The man was lying prone in the street, immobile, cheek against the macadam, legs crossed, arms splayed out. I’d seen this before. A girl fell out of our student flat’s window once when drunk and landed in a similar position. She’d survived with a broken arm or something. I saw her doing shots of tequila and vodka a week later in the pub.

So in a way the sight of someone in that position after what was obviously a fall didn’t affect me as much as it did other onlookers. A colleague of mine had seen his body hit the ground, not quite knowing what it was. I was more concerned by his stillness and the fact that a couple of people were close to the body but no one was talking to him. I thought I saw his finger twitch at one point but I may have imagined it.  I muttered “osti!” several times as people related the events that had taken place while the blood pooled around the man’s head and flowed gently down the slope towards the river.

The police came and checked his vital signs. “No pulse”, one cop said before heading back to his car for one of those thin, metallic plastic sheets they use to keep athletes warm after a marathon or to cover up dead bodies.

“Francisco R.R.”, as the local news named him, was 34 years old and a Sabadell resident. The reason for his suicide remains unknown though he had been at his girlfriend’s flat and I suppose there must have been some argument between them. The owner of the café told me that Francisco was ‘a bit fucked up’ and suggested that he was a junkie. The street had been cleaned by that evening.

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November 15, 2006 | Filed Under General 

Comments

One Response to “Monday lunchtime”

  1. Nursey on November 27th, 2006 9:41 pm

    That's very sad Tom, hope you're not too shook up?34's good innings though and once again I'm impressed at the pride Spanish people take in the cleanliness of their streets.

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