Turbinio

Port Wine

There was a low, wide-beamed ceiling above you when you woke up, and a thick, familiar bedspread carefully covering you up to your chin. You seemed to be dressed only in your underwear. You started to sit up to look for your clothes, but changed your mind halfway through the operation. You lay down again, very slowly, closed your eyes and held your head to prevent it from rolling off the pillow and hitting the floor.

Then you woke up again, some time later, when the bedroom door opened. You cautiously opened one eye. A wavering figure gradually defined itself into the circumspect figure of a man, staring at you disapprovingly from the foot of the bed. You closed your eyes. You heard a muffled British noise. You then concluded that the damn cat had taken you to the wrong inn, if that was an inn. If that was a cat. The noise probably indicated a disbelieving expression, but when you looked again it was gone.

You were beginning to slip into a pleasant state of unconsciousness when the door opened again, this time revealing a middle-aged woman who you deduced was the innkeeper's wife, carrying a jug of water and a basin.

She entered the room cheerfully, making a noise, and opened the shutters with a loud bang, which reverberated through your head like the crash of a ship. Advancing on the bed like a frigate, she snatched the bedspread from the fragile grip of your hand and threw it aside, leaving it shaking and exposed.

"Come on, darling.'' She said. "They asked me to hurry.'' She slung a stumpy arm around your shoulders and pulled you into a sitting position. You held your head with one hand and your stomach with the other.

"Hurry up?'' You said, with a hangover taste in your mouth. The woman began to wash your face energetically. ''Ah! Where am I?''

''In the wrong place, that's for sure. You're lucky you're not alone. You wouldn't want to wake up in the middle of the street, would you?''

"Yes, I would.'' You said, but you were ignored as she undressed you without the slightest ceremony and placed you on your feet in the middle of the floor for more intimate care.

''Wait! Fuck! What's that?! What the hell are you doing?''

"Agno, you dumb cat! Do you have any idea how big a debt you've put me in? Port wine? You took me to a fucking palace!''

So you picked him up and were met with a protest. That protest, however, was nothing like a meow. And the ball of fur you expected to be holding was actually a thin, cold, scaly body full of teeth. The sinister yellow eyes stared into yours, and then you screamed as loud as you could and threw the little dinosaur across the room.

''Ah! Carajo! Puto infierno!"

You searched the room for your revolvers, but they had been taken as well as your dirty clothes. With the frantic movement, you felt your brain rattle and hit the solid walls of your skull. In one of the brief glances around the room, you came face to face with the mirror. Your clothes were clean and were, in fact, yours; but not the ones you were wearing. It felt like your scalp was going to break with the tension of the hair being pulled back, so you let it loose. The final product of that woman's care was ready, complete with clean clothes and perfume and a heart beating wildly beneath your blouse.

The dinosaur hadn't attacked you, even though you were a more than easy victim to take down even for a creature of that size. It took you a long time to take things in, but when you did, the door opened with another bang.

A very confused man walked through the door, thin and weak, cringing as he saw your furious figure walking towards him.

"Ah? What happened?'' The man asked.