On Thursday evening, I was ten minutes late to a reading of the poetry of Tomas Tranströmer. I was not the only one late; going first into the elevator, I noticed that the person going with me was Vargas Llosa.
“Me siento menos mal de llegar diez minutos tarde,” said I.
“Es que la manifestacion esta bloqueando la calle hasta [Madrid toponym]…”, explained Vargas Llosa.
I was trumped, though, the following day, when I retold my interesting conversation at the local maths department. Another person had once stepped on Cortazar’s shoes.
“Me estas pisando los pies”, dijo Cortazar.
I am a little disappointed that he had exactly two.
Correction: The person involved in the second anecdote reports that Cortazar’s exact words were: “Estas caminando sobre mis zapatos”. Much more poetical!
… please have in mind that a very tall person (as Julio C. was indeed) usually wears big shoes, and so it was not a big challenge to ‘step in Cortazar’s shoes’ once the circumstances drove me close to him.