Part II

Once, I read in the newspaper about a man who died in his apartment in Europe, and his skeleton was not found until five years later. That news impressed me. Afterwards, Carmen Elena, my niece who lived in Germany, visited me. I was shocked when she brought me Aristarco’s diary. She had found it among the discarded and not reclaimed articles of a person called Wolfgang Dickens, the solitary

man from the news mentioned before. Carmen never knew Aristarco, she only knew that he was my friend. Presently, I have many questions. “Is Aristarco Solovino still alive?” And, “Where is he?” Was Wolfgang Dickens just another friend of Aristarco or was Wolfgang Dickens the last identity of Aristarco?”

Aristarco Solovino was an ordinary man who lived according to his own peculiar ideas and that is why his life was so eccentric. His disconcerting character is an eloquent symbol of our bewildering age.

Roberto Perez