The Journey of a Boy: Discovering Life and Literature
A boy discovered the eight years that the wise men did not exist, and after that, in the atmosphere of confrontation between his father and his mother, he decided to leave at sixteen.
His father was quite rare and enigmatic, a young man who belonged to a theater group, which had appeared and began making their first works. He left home in the morning like everyone else and returned at dusk. In his life and work, above all, he was only a “top” for him, the poetic occupation. Comparisons were made between him and any character in the books he thought he had something in common with. He had a great memory and remembered many rare poems. The young man also boasted that he had read over 2000 plays. If this were not enough, he also played several instruments, but always said it would not do anything useful. Even doing this, it was not very clear where he got the food he brought home every day, nor did he say where he worked. He was closed off, not talking to his son, and even when he tried, he could not.
When he left home, everything was different. Now he just had to find a place to live. He tried to think of friends he could trust and be with them. He thought of Cali, a friend. She looked like a book of culture and wisdom. She was a beauty of another world, but she had a flamboyant personality, with which he could not combine outstanding notes that stood out. He called her and they left to walk around. As they walked around the town, the boy told his story, and Cali responded in a way that made him see the reality of his situation at home and the possible reasons for the state he was in on the street.
This made him think and decide to take a stroll through the underground to see for himself what his surroundings were like, as Cali had told him. He turned around the subway and realized it was a place of shelter for the poor and needy. He saw the poor, some blind, who demanded money to eat, whether they were accompanied by an instrument or not. After spending the afternoon in the subway, he realized it would be better at home, with food and a bed, but he was claiming his position or idea on the street without anyone or anything.
He returned home, and his mother was moody; his father was not there. They ate without addressing a word. He decided to return the next day to the subway to follow his gaze to the outside world. When he came down, he found a package in the mailbox. He opened it, and inside were the books that Cali had advised him to read. He called her, but she denied that she had sent them, though he knew it was her. He went to the subway and read the pages Cali had advised. He put what she said in a past time, but the text was centuries old. He walked through the subway and found a blind man singing and reciting the things he thought. The blind man acknowledged his presence and called him over, beginning to talk about the life of the elderly and the things of the boy, his age, which should be in school. He invited him to a sandwich and made a deal with the boy: he would read books in exchange for money. He went and sought out Cali, who said she had been sent to the institute because she had not been there for some days, thinking about what she would have done. In addition, the book was called “Primero” because after that, the blind man talked about things in the book, and he entered the reading bug.
His father also returned the next day. At breakfast, he asked his mother if she had a “Lazarillo” through the house. She replied simply, perplexed, “No.” He went down to buy a “Lazarillo,” but someone had advanced and put it in the box as before. He called Cali and told her that he had again become the Magi. He picked it up and decided to sit outside to read meters. He began to read, and the teacher saw him and asked him about his father, but he deterred her question. Cali kept asking because she really wanted to know about the blind man. In the afternoon, he found and presented himself to the blind man. After talking for a while, he asked to start reading a romance that he had given him. It resembled that of “Don Quixote de la Mancha,” and he felt a weight lift off him because he had to read it for class. Cali was impressed and fascinated with the blind man. They returned home earlier than usual, but did not care.
The next day, he returned to the underground to continue their work. They were in the mine when our protagonist, in the distance, saw Guille, an undesirable friend and bully. The blind man felt his concern about the pauses that interrupted the boy. Then Guille and two other friends he did not know approached them and started to mess with him and the blind man. In this situation, he decided to leave, but that did not stop them from following him. They sat down, and at a time when people did not pass, the three friends surrounded them and threatened him. In one of the highlights, one took out a knife. The blind man, in a moment, withdrew his stick and pulled a knife on the platform, making it impossible to swerve another. He sank it into his arm. At that moment, he reached into his bag and pulled out a huge gun, threatening the bullies. They ran at this reaction. Then, when he left, his companion told him to leave, and he did so. Cali that day would not have to wait, since he arrived earlier. She told him what happened, and since then, Guille gave him the nickname “Guillette.”
For a week, the blind man did not show up. Our character sought him by all sides and visited him. While Cali continued with their “gifts” from the Three Kings, during that week, he read many books he had no previous intention of reading. The Reyes gifts included not only books but also tickets to jazz, boomerangs, etc. At the end of the week, the blind man appeared, and without asking for more, Novalis only asked about a romance. He shared all sorts of details about his life and recommended more books to read. They set to work, starting to read. In the latter, the professor reappeared. He asked about his father, and he was told that he was the same. The teacher said he had skipped the exam. Then the blind man intervened, saying it was his uncle and that he was helping him, making him read and also to avoid wasting time. He left the boy and thanked him for the help offered and the lie he told.
In the days that followed, he avoided isolated places. They were placed in well-lit areas. Fragments continued to read books and told the blind man. He finished the day, and when he called Cali, he said he wanted to surprise the blind man with a book, but did not know which one. Then Cali replied that he should choose his favorite book that he had read. He answered “The Prince.” He read it and could see behind the blind man’s dark glasses that he did not shed a tear.
In September, he realized that his life had changed and decided to attend the recoveries, passing all, including an outstanding literature exam. He arrived and began to read meters daily. When he finished, at the tablecloth, he ate with the blind man, who said he had seen changes in him, adding that he had to leave within hours. As it was, our hero was gone, and the underground days to see him passed, but nothing. One of those days, he found a book in the mailbox: “Bambi.” He returned home, but to stay for long, his mother sadly told him that his father had died in a kind of sanatorium. In the afternoon, he stayed with Cali in an ice cream shop and told her everything. She gave her condolences and said she was going to go to France with her father to finish school. This was goodbye with a kiss on the mouth, calling him by name: Ulysses.
The next morning, he met his mother and learned more about her father. He took the book “Bambi” and left the house. When he opened the mailbox, as usual, he found a post notice of a package for him. He went straight over there and received a large package from the blind man. He opened it later and among many boxes found three keys, and the keys pointed in one direction: the same street in which the blind man wandered.
He went there, to the top floor, entered, and found books and more books, a VCR, a tape of his voice reading “The Little Prince,” letters and papers with his faults from school and negative behavior. One unknown found, the address was that of his home and not where he was at that time. He had used two keys, and he had the third. He ran down to the mailbox, finding in it a little package with his name. He rose again, opened it, and found his adventures and escapades told by Cali, enclosing a small newspaper clipping that had the end of the blind man, how he fell or was pushed to the tracks and how no abnormality was found in his eyes. He kept looking in the attic and found, after a poster and paper, a wardrobe with costumes in the dark, a crying clown statue made of marble, various instruments, and a repertoire of big wigs and beards. Then he saw a music box. Next were all the plays he had read, and he listened to the music box for a long time. He began to read the book “Bambi,” and on the last page, he found a letter from his father longing for him, with the phrase that his father wanted to finish a book on the subway: “and devoured the metro…” Now he understood; the blind man was his father, and he had taught him a lesson about life.