Alfredo Garcia was named after a movie that no one in his family had ever seen
The family name was Garcia so Alfredo’s uncle suggested the name when Alfredo was born in 1987
Alfredo’s uncle had seen the movie with his cousin in a small cinema in Madrid in 1974
He admired Sam Peckinpah movies
The Spanish title of the movie was Tráiganme la cabeza de Alfredo García
Alfredo’s uncle liked the English title of the movie which he considered brutal
Both Alfredo’s father and uncle drowned when their fishing boat capsised in a sudden storm when Alfredo was ten
Their bodies were never recovered
Alfredo lived in a suburb of Malaga with his mother and sister
His mother’s name was Rachel
His sister’s name was Valerie
His mother was retired and spent her days playing cards with her friends and helping to feed stray cats
His sister worked in a travel agency in the centre of the city and also attended college twice a week
She was studying English
Alfredo worked as a builder
He liked his job and took great satisfaction when projects were completed
Alfredo quite often visited buidings that he had worked on and took photographs
With his Canon camera
There was only one thing wrong with Alfredo’s life
It was that he was afraid of going home in the evening
This had been the case for over two years
What scared Alfredo was that he witnessed things which he considered very odd
It had started on a Sunday morning in November when he had opened the fridge prior to cooking himself a breakfast
He cooked breakfast for himself every Sunday
As he reached for the eggs he could hear singing which appeared to be coming from inside of the shells
It stopped when he broke the eggs
This disturbed him
He asked his sister to listen to the eggs
She heard nothing
Later that day he went to a large supermarket and listened to the eggs on the shelves
They were silent
In tme Alfredo grew used to the singing eggs and prepared his Sunday breakfast as normal until he noticed that his cooked eggs were beginning to dance on his breakfast plate
Alfredo became a vegatarian
He was relieved that vegatarian food did not sing or dance
But this was not the end to the strange happenings in Alfredo’s life
Often as he lay in bed at night and watched as his lampshade closed like a retiring flower
His team photograph of Málaga Club de Fútbol would often move around the room and the team would reappear wearing red shirts instead of the normal blue and white ones
Alfredo drew his curtains tightly every night as he often saw flying saucers hovering over the velodrome
Especially when cycling events were taking place
His room became very hot
So did his mothers
His sister kept her windows open so her room was cooler
When Alfredo saw strange things he often went into his sisters room
And lay on her single bed
Her sheets smelt slightly of perfume
His sister wore an Italian perfume called Tender Night
She did not buy her own perfume
As she had a boyfriend called Martin
Who purchased the perfume for her
When in Madrid
Martin worked in a bank and was the same age as Alfredo
They both liked football and often attended games together
Alfredo always ensured that he his sister was not in the house when he climbed onto her bed
Nothing strange happened in her room
He would look at the spines of her English books and make up a short story
The Daughters of Silence walked along The Burning Shore as The Wind Off The Sea blew The Birds Of Paradise away from the shore. Their Travels With Charley had taken them to many countries including Ice Station Zebra where they braved The Atlantic Fury .They knew that they would Fail Safe when travelling along The Griffins Way
They story was always the same and Alfredo always fell asleep during its construction
His sister would gently wake him when she returned home from visiting Martin and they would talk for a while
Alfredo would describe the things he had seen
He would then return to his room as his sister prepared for bed
As soon as he shut his door strange things would happen again
He would hear a dog barking outside of his window
Its eyes would turn red
He could see the glow through the curtains
Alfredo grew used to this and would put his earphones on and listen to the
Sounds of the Balearics
He would look at his crucifix on the far wall
It would spin wildly like an propeller on an airplane
When this happened the spinning crucifix would act as a fan and cool the room and in time Alfredo would fall asleep listening to the music
At exactly two in the morning his sister would enter his room
And tell Jesus to calm down
She would then climb in next to Alfredo and remove his headphones
Twenty minutes later
Alfredo’s sister would rise from her brothers bed and wear his headphones
She would then invite Jesus down from his cross and ask him to to dance with her on the strict understanding that she would be free to return to her room
As soon as the clock in the square outside struck four