December 20 Thirty Years Earlier

December 20 Thirty Years Earlier dates an early scene in the lives of Chemari Goñi and Iñaqui, placing their meeting in Bilbao three decades before the events principally recounted. The date anchors the scene in an ordinary school morning, just before the Christmas break, while the surrounding details give the remembered past a precise age, place, and atmosphere.

Date and Setting

The scene takes place on December 20, thirty years before the later events. A gray morning hangs over Bilbao, where a light drizzle threatens to become steady rain. The boys meet beside the stop for a tram hired by the Jesuit Fathers to carry pupils from their school. The yellow, noisy vehicle has five connected carriages and travels through the city centre to collect the schoolchildren; its unusual length distinguishes it from ordinary passenger trams.

The School Morning

The meeting falls three days before the pupils’ Christmas holiday begins. Iñaqui is five, while Chemari is seven, and they attend different classes. Their clothing marks the period as well as their ages: Iñaqui wears short trousers, and Chemari has already begun wearing the old-fashioned knickerbockers. Both boys also wear berets and raincoats and carry their books in satchels slung over their backs. These details make the date more than a chronological marker: it fixes the encounter in the children’s school routine, on the threshold of a holiday and under the threat of rain.