Sitges at 11 pm

Hubby is snoring on my left and my daughter sniffing on my right (she doesn’t want to seep alone in her bed). No matter how hard I try, I cannot ignore them. They are as real as my insomnia.

All it takes is a glass of sparkling wine (=cava) but I cannot go to the bar leaving my daughter behind. She will cry even more and hubby may wake up (and scold her).

I whisper to her, “Mommy’s going to the bar to have a glass of sparkling wine. Wanna come down with me?” She jumps out of the bed, happy as can be.

The bar is crowded like a Tokyo commuter train. It is a nice, tiny bar, almost all black. NY décor? I would say so. I wait at the bar, trying to catch an eye of a barmaid.

They are all busy. The one who smiled at me is busy attending a Russian guy. He is complaining why he can’t get a cold bottle of red wine. She is trying to convince him – there was another bottle but that was hotter than this. This bottle was better, cooler. If you want, I can put it in an ice bucket for you.

“Puedo ponerla en cubo de hiero si quiere...” He doesn’t let her finish. He yells, “Speak English!!” Before I know it, I am yelling, “She says she can put it in an ice bucket, if you wish!”

Or, should I have yelled, “Oh, do you (speak English)?” I know. Never speak to a Russian you don’t know. Even though he was with his wife and daughter (or at least so they looked to me) and hubby claims Russian mafias don’t bring their wives to a resort hotel.

At a table close to us, I see a child and an adult. The child is a Russian (or Ukrainian) prostitute who barely looks half my age. She is petite and has white-blond hair that doesn’t look artificial. I am professionally trained (I've seen a Foreign Minister in pyjamas and didn't even blink) but it is difficult to take my eyes off her.

It took the barmaid 15 minutes to get me what I ordered; sparkling wine and a bottle of water for my daughter. It took her an extra 5 minutes to open the bottle of water. I didn’t know I had to remind a barmaid to open the bottle. I gulp down my sparkling wine and leave with my daughter.

The night is still young. The night hasn’t even started. Now I am ready – to fall asleep.