Drama!

During the evening, as I was writing at the cafe while Saber finished up in the shop, I saw Joseph standing in his window and I waved up to him to be neighborly. He waved back and seemed to start to say something, but then changed his mind and disappeared. He is such an odd man.

Three minutes later Joseph is walking out of his building and over to my table.

"Hola! Buenas Noches..."

He tells me was thinking of opening a bottle of wine and asks if I would like to join him. I told him I am waiting for Saber to finish and then we would come up together.

Joseph then tells me he doesn't allow smoking in his house, to which I tell him Saber doesn't have to smoke.

He then tells me he wanted to watch a movie later in the evening and he was thinking of asking me to join him.

This whole conversation was very strange. I was getting the feeling Joseph was hitting on me, but who would be that rude or disrespectful to their neighbor? I tell Joseph we will be up in a little bit, and he returns to his house.

Jonata is standing at the door to his shop looking suspicious, and I decide to go tell Saber about the invitation.

In the shop, Saber is alone. He pops up when he sees me enter and asks what I want to do that evening. I tell him about Joseph's invitation, just as I had told him about Joseph's ex-girlfriend passing by on the street earlier that afternoon, and how Joseph told me about dating an 18 year old -- Saber was equally shocked with the last bit as I was.

Saber makes a face at the invitation, and I tell him we should be neighborly. As a side note I tell him he can't smoke at Joseph's. I am heading out the door at this moment, and I see Saber jerk to attention as I say this. He looks at me with a fierce gaze and says, "Did Joseph tell you that?" Yes, he did.

I head back to my perch outside the cafe, and had not been seated for more than 10 seconds when Saber in his bad-ass mode comes marching around the corner. Que pasa?

He comes over and asks me to tell him exactly what Joseph told me. I thought it was clear, but I repeated that Joseph had asked me to join him for a glass of wine, and I told him that when Saber was finished we would come up, and Joseph had said "but I don't like smoking in my house" and I said that it was okay, Saber wouldn't smoke.

Saber did not seem happy. Infact, he seemed pissed off.

He tells me he is closing the shop ASAP, and asks me to not speak to Joseph should he return to the cafe. What in the hell was going on? Obviously these two had more issues than I thought.

Saber is back in 5 minutes, which is the fastest he has ever closed the shop. He marches directly into Jonata's and has a "chat" with him. The two are deep in discussion when I approach to ask what in the world is going on. Saber tells me he will fill me in momentarily. I head to the ladies room, and when I get back to the table outside, Saber is sitting in the chair I had been sitting in facing the windows of Joseph's house.

He tells me he doesn't want me speaking to Joseph. That Joseph has no respect for other people, and he was a bad neighbor. Joseph is rude. And yes, a hustler. (I had to laugh internally at this last one).

It dawned on me then what was going through Saber's head. He thought Joseph was hitting on me by asking me up for a drink, and that by saying "no smoking" he was suggesting that Saber not come. Saber also filled me in on WHY Joseph had told me about the 18 year old girlfriend.

As the pieces of the puzzle came together, I saw Saber glaring into the sky, and when I looked over my shoulder Joseph was standing in his window. Now I get why Saber had taken my seat.

Men!