The place where the train arrived is solitary, in the middle of a plain covered with cardon trees and prickly pears. The sky without a cloud and a bright sun. The wind blows so strong that it produces whirlpools that fill the hot air with fine sand that covers everything. People cover their mouths and noses with handkerchiefs in order to breathe. The heat is oppressive and sweat runs down their foreheads and cheeks. The passengers get off in a daze, the trip has been slow, crossing the northern mountains.
The group of ten people enter the train company building, they are surprised at the cleanliness of the place, not a trace of the sand outside. The floors gleam and behind a polished mahogany wood counter, a tall, skinny man with a nervous twitch that makes him close one eye as if he were winking at it, dressed in a navy blue suit and a cap of the same shade, politely informs them that the next train will leave in the morning and that they have rooms at the hotel in town for them to spend the night, dinner is included.
The people leave the offices and walk down a dark path. Eventually they come to a faded gate that squeaks when they open it. The only hotel in town is a large house that looks like it is from the last century, with a tiled roof, like the toothless mouth of an old man or a piano that has lost its keys through use. Everyone is afraid, but they do not express it, only a ten-year-old girl traveling with her father dares to say something.
"I don't like this house, it looks like there are ghosts, I don't want to go in there", and she tries to go back, but her father holds her firmly, telling her:
"We have to go in, so we can rest and get to your aunt Mathilde's house tomorrow. Don't be scared, daughter, nothing is going to happen".
The other people stare at the scene with the desire to run back the way they came. But they have no other alternative to spend the night and like lambs being led to the slaughter they walk, carrying their luggage in their hands.
As they approach they hear the cawing of crows and see in detail the walls of the house, with holes where the paint has fallen off, the windows are so full of dust that nothing of the interior can be seen. On the second floor, a figure peeks into one of the rooms and quickly closes the curtain. Hurried footsteps are heard.
The travelers wait at the entrance after ringing the doorbell whose ululating sound frightens them even more and immediately an old woman about eighty years old, with tousled gray hair, an apron full of grease and a large spoon in her hand, opens the door and welcomes them.
"Come in! We have been waiting for them, it has been a long time since we had tenants in this hotel. At this moment, I was just finishing preparing dinner". The smile on her cracked and dry lips and her hands with long and not very clean nails impress the girl who hides behind her father. The passengers stand around, none of them daring to enter.
"Come in, make yourselves comfortable, I'll take you to your rooms, so you can rest and take a bath".
If the exterior of the house was old and looked like it was destined to fall down in no time, the interior surprised them. A large central room with comfortable furniture and portraits on the walls. The floor sparkled with cleanliness. The walls were painted pink, beautiful white curtains hung from the windows. On the dining table, a large bouquet of red and white flowers. An exquisite aroma was wafting from the kitchen. The atmosphere was cool.
They followed the lady up a flight of exquisitely carved wooden stairs. When they reached the second floor, each of the travelers was accommodated in a room as beautiful and clean as the rest of the house. The bathroom was large, bright tiles on the walls and a large, ivory-colored bathtub in the center of the room.
"They must hurry a little to get downstairs to eat, at seven o'clock dinner would be served".
Everyone came down punctually, including the father and the little girl.
"This house is very strange, dad. That lady who received us looked like a witch, I didn't like her. Surely she is going to bewitch us with the food and turn us into toads or rather pigs and then take us to the marketplace to sell us. I am not going to eat!".
"Daughter, stop saying those things that make me nervous, these are stories, not reality"
And they hurried down the stairs, holding on to the handrail, while they listened to the gong that called them to sit down to dinner.
Beautiful silver candelabras lit the room, their glow illuminating the faces of each person. Their gazes met each other, most of them were waiting expectantly and the little girl with her pale, thin face , big black eyes and hair tied in two buns, also watched curiously everything around her.
The food was exquisite, two ladies dressed in suits and white aprons, served soup, meat with potatoes, salad, rice, a decorated cake, cookies and many sweets to the delight of the little girl who for a moment forgot her fears. A man in a formal dress served a wine aged since 1890. Everything was perfect.
When dinner was over, coffee was served in the main room and there they chatted pleasantly about their lives, while the girl, exhausted from so much work, had fallen asleep on the comfortable cushions of the sofa.
When the wall clock chimed the nine o'clock in the evening, they all went upstairs to their rooms and fell fast asleep.
A scream, or rather a shriek, pierced the eardrums of the girl's father and woke him up. He could not believe his eyes. His daughter had woken up and with wide eyes was looking around the room.
The room was dusty, cobwebs covered the ceiling and the walls were chipped and dirty. The bed where they were sleeping was covered with a mosquito net that should have been white but was now gray and through which black, long-legged spiders moved swiftly.
They left the room and met all the passengers in the hallway, surprised and frightened. They went down some stairs with missing handrails and reached the floor below, which was in the same state of abandonment. There was no one waiting for them and the door was open.
Hurriedly, they arrived at the train station and went straight to talk to the man at the counter, who greeted them with the same kindness as the day before.
"How can I help you gentlemen?"
"The hotel where you sent us is a haunted house," said the girl's father,
"I knew it, daddy", repeated the girl.
"Do you have any complaints about the hotel? You have to be more specific".
"How more specific!", shouted a lady in the group.
"Did you like the dinner?
"Well yes, it was great, but ...
"Did you sleep comfortably?
"Yes, we did, but ...
"That is what is contemplated in the sales ticket that you have in your hands, if you can read it, it clearly says that the value of the ticket includes a room for the night in a hotel and dinner and from what you tell me, both things are fulfilled".
"But what about the day, when we woke up, my little daughter was very scared and so were we".
"Did you like the candy, little girl?", the man at the counter winked at her.
"Yes, they were very tasty".
"That is a gift from the company for the children who travel with us. If you have nothing else to say, the train has arrived and will be leaving in ten minutes, so I suggest you take your seats".
The passengers, not knowing what else to say, set out to continue their journey. They sat very quietly except for the little girl who commented to her father.
"This adventure was a lot of fun!, I just hope I get to my aunt's house to tell my cousins... they won't believe it!".
