I found two short pieces of Patrick’s involving Xingo.

Here’s the first:

The Spanish Civil War officially ended in 1939, but unofficially went on for many decades.  Especially in the Basque country, dissidents fought a continuous battle of resistance. 

Two brothers from Bilbao became members of the feared and despised Guardia Civil, but luckily for them, after training they were billeted far from the killing grounds of their home province.  In those years, to avoid accusations of favoritism toward family or friends, the Guardia were invariably stationed far from their homeland. 

Here’s the second:

Xingo’s parents often gave shoes, or toys, or clothes to their granddaughter, Mila. But when she returned to the house of her mother, Leo, separated from Xingo, they kept the gifts in their house until the next visit.

This year for Three Kings, they gave toys to the other grandchildren, but to Mila, they gave three goldfish in a bowl.  Of course, they kept them for her next visit. And when Mila returned to Valldemossa, the Three Kings had left her nothing.

When Remedios heard that, and heard that Mila was crying, she was indignant. We went to Palma, where she bought a doll, a set of hairbrushes for the doll, and a lunchbox for school. She called Leo.

“Tell Mila that the Kings didn’t realize she had moved, and they will drop off a package in front of the door, even though it’s a day late. I’ll give you a buzz when the package is there, and hide where she can’t see me.  Then I will drop in later.”

It worked.

When Remedios came in Mila was radiant.  “I didn’t even hear them come,” she said.

“I saw one walking away,” Remedios said.

“Was it the one with silver hair?”

“Yes! How did you know?”

“I knew it! He was the one in the Deya church whose hand I kissed.”

---

The first item is from Xingo.odt. The second is from a collection of files Patrick called Scattered Notes.odt dated from 2014 to 2016. I’ll continue to add other segments as time allows.