Cats on IBIZA 3

by
Elia Taniguchi

Table of Contents in this issue

Story 12：Tonto and Francisco
Story 13：Gaudí and Joaquin
Story 14：Barba and Violetta
Story 15：Karate and Alejandro
Story 16：Avalon and Richard

Story 12
Tonto and Francisco

Believe it or not, there is a cat on Ibiza, that always visits the isle of Ibiza in the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays by boat every year. The name of the cat is “Tonto” and his owner is “Francisco”. The meaning of “Tonto” is “fool” in Spanish. Of all the names, why did Francisco select such name to his cat? However, even the Lone Ranger called him companion “Tonto”, so Francisco did not mean to look down on the cat.

Although Francisco is a professor of philosophy in University of Murcia, located in the south part of Spain, he further prefers Zen and rock music than Western philosophy. His job as a university professor is just the means of livelihood for him.

Because of it, he visits Ibiza on the occasion of holidays. In addition, he wants to refresh his tired mind in the unfavorite lecture he has given, by means of meeting and discussing various topics with Esteban.

You might wonder what contact there is between a professor of philosophy who loves rock music and Zen and a painter. However, people around Esteban regard him as a kind of beatnik Zen person. Moreover, Esteban not only likes rock music and the East, but also in fact he has a carrier that he became the youngest professor of philosophy and aesthetics in the history of University of Madrid.

It means that in general Esteban and Francisco have some common points. We imagine that they meet on common ground. However, they do not have topics of common interest at all.

Esteban soon resigned from his university post and was interested in radio dramas that had started becoming popular in Madrid at that time, and became a scriptwriter.

Then, he soon stopped it and went to South America. However, back to the main point, for Esteban and Francisco, they both like rock music, but not the same performers. For example, Esteban likes Jimmy Cliff and Frank Zappa, but Francisco who has large body, so is slow in acting, likes Bruce Springsteen, in contrast to his appearance. Francisco inputs the numbers in “Born to Run” album in Walkman and listens to them all the time.

Francisco is thinking that he will live on Ibiza about 15 years later when he reaches the retirement age, and makes small talk bit by bit when he visits Esteban’s house.

He sometimes talks about Eastern philosophy, but only a little. First of all, when they start conversation, Esteban almost only speaks. Francisco occasionally gives responses. Francisco still enjoys it. For Esteban, because there are almost no intellectual people on Ibiza, he enjoys talking about some intelligent subjects with Francisco. Also, it is not bad for Esteban to remember the philosophers he knew before, but almost forgot, and listen to Francisco’s opinion about them.

Esteban wrote a poetic book about Leonardo da Vinci when he was young. This book was helpful for him to become a professor. Esteban usually does not tell such story. The existence of Francisco is not bad for Esteban to remember many things happened in his life so far.

Francisco always appears unexpectedly, speaks with Esteban for two to three hours and then goes back somewhere. Actually, nobody knows where he lives during his stay on Ibiza. I don’t think that he is staying in his girlfriend house, because nobody has seen Francisco accompanied with his girlfriend. However, we don’t think that Francisco is unpopular with girls. He is tall processor and likes rock music. If he wants to have a girlfriend while he is staying on Ibiza, it would be easy. However, he seems not to be in the mood.

He is surely not a gay. Ibiza is gay paradise, and Freddie Mercury of Queen loved Ibiza and had a luxurious second house in Campo. A corner under the castle in the old town is gathering spot for gays. A population density of gays there might be the highest of the world.

In any way, Francisco is not a gay and we hear a rumor that he has a wife and child in Murcia. However, whether if he is gay or not, whether if he is a professor or not, or whether if he is a person with a guilty conscience or not, is nothing on Ibiza. Nobody knows from where he comes and to where he goes back during his stay on Ibiza.