Carmen and Belén are in the changing room at the Villanueva gym.

They’ve just finished a game of ten-

nis, and Carmen has won. She wants to talk about Miguel and Mercedes, and Belén wants to talk about
her chat with David.

Wow! That was a good game!

You played well Belén, but I played better, haha.

I need to be fitter if I want to beat you! I’m going to start coming to the gym more often. I was
talking to David about it this morning, I think we’ll go together.

David is a teacher at the school, isn’t he? Did you tell him that you like him?

Pfft, no. I don’t like him anyway. I mean, he’s attractive, he’s funny… but I don’t want to be his
“girlfriend”… I don’t have some schoolgirl crush on him.

Well, you can let me know how it goes at the gym, with David… Have you met the new couple
yet?

Who? No, I didn’t know there was a new couple, they haven’t visited the churrería yet.

They’re called Miguel and Mercedes, they moved here from Madrid last week and they’ve got
an enormous German shepherd called Lola, or something. They’re quite young, I think they’re
both about thirty.

Oh that’s good… we need some young people around here!

Haha, are you saying I’m old, Belén?

Haha not at all. It’s just good to see some new faces in town. Are Miguel and Mercedes from
Castilla-La Mancha?

Miguel is, he grew up in Alcalá, near Villanueva. I don’t know where Mercedes is from though…
I think she has a Catalonian accent, maybe from Barcelona.

Oh that’s nice! I love Barcelona. My daughter is studying there at university, so I go quite often.
Such a vibrant city, so young and exciting…

Well I don’t like it, it’s too busy and there’s too much noise – everything is so dirty in cities. Not
like here where it’s nice and clean. I think city life is suited to some people, and if you enjoy it,
you should stay there… don’t move out to the countryside and spoil it for the rest of us!

You don’t like the new couple, do you Carmen?

I think they’re probably nice people, but they don’t understand how to behave in Villanueva. This
morning, I saw Mercedes buying eggs from that horrible new supermarket – she didn’t know
that the farm sold eggs! If more people move here from Madrid, no one will buy eggs from the
farm, and it will lose money.

Well, I’ve not met them yet. I think you’re being harsh on them.

Harsh but fair, Belén.