Estaba cocinando cuando sonó el teléfono — I Was Cooking When the Phone Rang

Getting into a Spanish building

Most Spaniards live in apartment blocks entered through a locked street door, and a visitor announces themselves over the telefonillo, the intercom beside the buzzers. The exchange is short and close to scripted: you ring, a voice says ¿Sí? or ¿Quién es?, you say who you are, and the door clicks open. Older and grander buildings may still keep a portero or portera on the ground floor, who takes deliveries, keeps the entrance clean and knows exactly who lives where. Between the locked door and the portero, a stranger at your own door is unusual enough to make a story.