The story goes like this: when the Devil tempted Jesus with all the power and beauty of the world, he brought him to the hill overlooking Barcelona and said, “All this, all this, I will give to you.” And Jesus hesitated. Who wouldn’t?
I’d heard this legend years ago when living in the Catalan region that straddles modern-day Spain and France, and I’d always loved the idea that the Devil considered the area around Barcelona, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean, to be the most tempting place on Earth. It seemed like a perfect locale to set a story about temptation and infidelity.
This story, “Tibidabo,” began as a generative writing exercise in Lori Ostlund’s fiction workshop at the Regis Mile High MFA program. The prompt involved a three-way conversation where 2 characters are keeping a secret from a third. I drew on my own recent experiences in that part of the world, and a boat ride my partner and I took on the surreally placid Mediterranean waters, where the spires of the Gothic Tibidabo basilica are visible on the hills beyond the skyline of Barcelona.
This piece was published in Gulf Coast in the spring of 2024 as an online exclusive. All this, all this, I will give to you.