\u201cOh my god, Alli, I can\u2019t believe you missed tonight, it was\nthe best!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alli\u2019s roommate Becca flung herself down on the couch. Alli\ndidn\u2019t even look up from their laptop. \u201cI was busy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBusy being boring. That paper isn\u2019t due for like four whole\ndays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which meant Becca hadn\u2019t touched it yet and would be begging\nthem for their notes in three days. They winced in memory of Becca\u2019s steady\nwhine of just a peek, I only want to see\nyour references<\/em> from the last paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have to turn it in tomorrow since I won\u2019t be in class on\nMonday.\u201d Excitement thrummed in their veins. It was the Carnival of Farts this\nweekend. Except it wasn\u2019t a carnival, not exactly. And it wasn\u2019t about\nflatulence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou never skip!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReligious exemption,\u201d Alli said. They\u2019d booked their plane\nticket months ago. It was their first overseas trip and it had taken months of\nsaving every penny from their second job to save for it. But it was worth it.\nFor the first time in their life, they would be surrounded by people with\nsimilar beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They would be at the Carnival of Farts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \u201cThat stupid fake religion? Your professor bought that\nexcuse?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The professor wasn\u2019t really allowed to ask once Alli had\ninvoked the phrase religious exemption. Besides, they were a decent student and\nalways turned papers in on time. Just because they hadn\u2019t heard of the Carnival\nof Farts before didn\u2019t make it any less real. And Alli had notified them in\nadvance that they would be missing classes. Most of their professors shifted\naround due dates and didn\u2019t make a big deal of it. But their religious studies\nprofessor asked for a write-up of the celebration in lieu of any missed\nassignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which was great because most of their classes loaded them\ndown with assignments during fall break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not fake, Becca.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProve it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTake me with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you even know where I\u2019m going?\u201d Did they? Not really.\nThe birthplace of the Carnival of Farts was in a town lost to history. But\nevery year believers gathered in Madrid and made a pilgrimage to the lost city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone thought Alli was taking Spanish in high school\nbecause it was the easiest language to learn in a town dominated by Mexican\nimmigrants. Alli had grown up speaking Spanish to their Great Grandmother, the\nwoman who had raised them in the faith. But when she\u2019d passed away when Alli\nwas still nothing more than a little girl, the language slipped from their mind\nlike a rusty sieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with the lessons in high school and continued on into\ncollege, Alli had never reclaimed the fluency they\u2019d had in their youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDoes it matter? It\u2019s going to be so much fun!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, Becca, it matters. Can you even afford a last minute\nplane ticket to Madrid? My flight leaves tomorrow night and I can\u2019t afford to\npay for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSpain? We\u2019re going to Spain? You jerk! You should have told\nme your stupid religion meant you got to go to Spain and I never would have\nquestioned it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alli bit back a sharp retort. The religion wasn\u2019t stupid.\n\u201cDon\u2019t make me regret this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn my heart, never!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becca forked over the thousands of dollars necessary for a last\nminute plane ticket out of the country and Alli didn\u2019t question where the money\nhad come from or why she could never seem to cover bills when they were due.\nYou couldn\u2019t pay your roommate with daddy\u2019s credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alli\u2019s seatmate refused to swap with Becca, so the plane\nride was long but blissfully quiet after popping in earbuds. They were asleep\nlong before beverage service rolled through and when they woke up it was with\nthe dawn hailing their descent into Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was impossible to avoid Becca at baggage claim and so\nwith her luggage and her baggage, Alli called the shuttle that would take them\nto the city gates where they would join the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a large crowd outside the gate when they arrived.\nChildren and dogs darted underfoot and were greeted with good natured swears.\nAlli grabbed Becca\u2019s arm before she could wander off and after introducing\nthemselves to one of the passing adults, gained directions to where to check\nin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo like, why\u2019s it called the Carnival of Farts? Are we\ngoing to be eating beans or something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A man with salted hair joined them. \u201cDuring the Roman\noccupation of Hispania, worship of our lord was done in secrecy. Every autumn\nafter the harvest our ancestors would take a tithe out under the Roman\u2019s\nlegionnaires\u2019 noses. To escape inspection, they would pretend a great malady in\nwhich only the healing coastal waters could cure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut why farts?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not important,\u201d Alli muttered even though they were\ncurious. It was the one thing their grandmother had never been able to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryone you ask will have a different answer. Some say the\npretend malady caused great flatulence, others say it was as an insult to the\nRoman Legionnaires, others yet claim the name was another burden inherited from\nthe Romans.\u201d He held out his hand to Becca. \u201cI\u2019m Rafael.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecca. That\u2019s Alli.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have many questions, Becca. Is this your first time\nattending the Carnival?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth of our first time,\u201d Alli cut in. \u201cMy grandmother\nraised me on tales of the Carnival, this was the first time I could manage to\ncome. Becca\u2019s just\u2026\u201d they trailed off not wanting to out their roommate as a\nnon-believer. \u201cBecca\u2019s here to see what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAny excuse to visit Spain,\u201d Becca agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh yes, I do recall the late addition to our ranks.\nWelcome, both of you. I trust you will find the pilgrimage enlightening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becca started complaining about fifteen minutes into the\nexcursion and with every complaint I ignored, she became louder and more\npersistent until the entire pilgrimage glared at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou should have stayed at home if all you\u2019re going to do is\ncomplain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou said Spain, you never said walking down a country road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was down the side of a highway, the country roads wouldn\u2019t\ncome until later. \u201cWe\u2019ve barely left Madrid. If you don\u2019t want to be here, turn\naround and get a hotel room. You can meet me at the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou would make me walk back alone? No, you\u2019re coming with\nme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can either go back by yourself or shut up and continue\non with us.\u201d Alli ditched Becca moving to the front of the group. If she wanted\nto leave, so be her. She wasn\u2019t their problem any longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is not good to fight,\u201d Rafael said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cComing on this pilgrimage is everything I\u2019ve dreamed of for\nyears and last minute she insisted on joining me and now I have to babysit her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you abandon her now, what will happen when you return\nhome?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She would be impossible to live with. \u201cSo what, I\u2019m supposed\nto give up on the pilgrimage because she\u2019s being unreasonable?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou could always try reasoning with her.\u201d Rafael patted\nAlli on the shoulder and then turned to speak to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A quick scan of the crowd revealed that Becca hadn\u2019t taken\nmy advice: she was still with the pilgrimage and still making everyone around\nher miserable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLook, I\u2019m sorry this isn\u2019t what you expected. I should have\ndone a better job talking you out of coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI get it, you don\u2019t want me here. You never want stupid,\nparty girl Becca around. No one does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. As large and\nslow-moving as the pilgrimage was, it wouldn\u2019t be that hard to catch up. \u201cThat\u2019s\nnot it and you know it. But this\u2014walking twenty-something miles to a town that\ndoesn\u2019t exist? Camping out overnight? You hate this kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becca sniffed and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye,\nleaving a streak of mascara. \u201cWhy do you even want to do this? You\u2019re not\nreligious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s the last connection I have to my grandmother. Growing\nup she would tell me about the carnival and it was our secret. Years after she\ndied I found photos of her and my grandpa at the lost city and I realized it\nwasn\u2019t just the story of a delusional old woman. Coming here? Standing in the\nsame place she once stood?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because they didn\u2019t talk about it. \u201cI know. But\u2026 this is\nimportant. I can\u2019t just give up. But I get it, it\u2019s not your thing. So I won\u2019t\nbe mad if you go back to Madrid but I can\u2019t go with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becca flung herself into Alli\u2019s arms, all soft curves. \u201cYou\nshould have said. Of course I\u2019m not going back. And I\u2019ll stop complaining.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becca laughed. \u201cYou\u2019re right, I won\u2019t. But\u2026 I\u2019ll be less\nobnoxious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And really, that was all Alli could ask for. When they held\nout their hand, Becca took it, lacing their fingers together. \u201cCome on. Spain\nawaits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m in Spain, how cool is that!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cOh my god, Alli, I can\u2019t believe you missed tonight, it was the best!\u201d Alli\u2019s roommate Becca flung herself down on the couch. Alli didn\u2019t even look up from their laptop. \u201cI was busy.\u201d \u201cBusy being boring. That paper isn\u2019t due for like four whole days.\u201d Which meant Becca hadn\u2019t touched it yet and would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1004],"class_list":["post-11244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-short-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}