Sponsorship Meseguer Fernández is one hundred years and two months old. Her life has been, and in part continues to be even though she is already retired, the business that she opened with her husband, Miguel García Martínez, back in the fifties of the last century in Espinardo and which they named Librería Miguel. She is the mother of four children, she has ten grandchildren and one great-grandson, and as she herself relates, she is clear that, if she were born again, she would want to be behind the stationery counter again. Well, that would be her second option, the first would be to be a couplet singer. In fact, quite a few customers came out with the newspaper in hand and a sung song as a gift.
The bookstore, which is one of the oldest businesses in the district, is located in the same place where it opened, Calvario Street, formerly José Antonio, and its beginnings were very humble. The first steps were taken with the exchange and 'rental' of comics, such as those by Roberto Alcázar y Pedrín and Captain Trueno, the romantic novels of Corín Tellado and the Western ones “and shots” by Marcial Lafuente Estefanía. Even Miguel, “who was very crafty,” dedicated his time to fixing the covers and binding of the books that, after passing through many hands, began to break. In fact, in the town he was known as Miguel, 'the one from the comics'.
Patrocinio sings with passion and quite clearly the couplets that he likes the most, such as 'Buenaventura' by Lola Flores, barely forgetting a verse, or 'Puentecito' by Antoñita Moreno. And once he gets going, he could be singing for hours. His legs fail him, but his mind does not, especially when he travels to the past and memories of yesteryear.
“She knows us all, she is still very positive and optimistic, and with the strong personality that has always characterized her,” says Consuelo, the youngest of the family, who surrounds Patrocinio in the store with her brothers Manuel, Miguel and Pepe. , as well as the person who has been taking care of her for five years, Nelly Lemus.
Pepe is the one who has taken over the family business, and the one who has shared the most time with his mother since he started helping her in the bookstore and until she retired. «I could tell many anecdotes about her, after so much time… But like this, suddenly, one of her comes to mind. When the euro came into effect in 2002, my mother refused to charge a purchase with a 100 euro bill, and very dignifiedly told the customer that no one was going to deceive her… ».
«Very slave»
When Patrocinio is asked about the work to which he has dedicated his entire life, he responds that it has been “very slave, very hard,” but, again, he is happy for the time he has shared with his clients, some of them , well into their years, still stop by the bookstore to make their purchases. In those early years, the stores were open even at noon. “Not infrequently his food has been burned while serving someone,” recalls Pepe, who along with the rest of his siblings are very proud of his parents.
There have been many years that this bookstore has been dedicated “to public service and where my parents have worked a lot, but where they have also been very happy,” comment Manuel and Miguel, who also say that their father “was an excellent painter.” but a traffic accident ended his life 40 years ago, in Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo).
«In Espinardo they love my parents very much; They still stop us and tell us how much they appreciate them for everything they have done for them,” they point out, pointing out how “they were so naive that they trusted people and, of course, many times and in the hardest years, in the end they didn't get it back. ». Because several generations of espinarderos have passed through this store, which stands the test of time and the digital age.
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