The weekend niece. from the book, Searching for treasures
Historic Center, Arequipa, Peru
Perhaps, in the measure of childish wickedness and possibly returning for a moment to his days as a mischievous kid back home, before leaving Lima, he wrote the following letter:
Dearest and respected parents of mine, as you well know through our scarcest of messages that we have interchanged before this, I have been exploring the world in search of my place in it.
It is with great satisfaction, personally and professionally, that I communicate these good tidings. I have found my destiny, and also, my future professional life seems inmensurable.
As of tomorrow, I leave to join a Mexican circus. It is called the great Circus of the Garcia Brothers. I have signed the contract with them to continue traveling at their side, and I shall be responsible for the continuing health of their animals.
Trusting that you will rejoice with my good fortune, I send my most sincere regards. Always with the most profound admiration and respect, Oscar.
Sometime later he received a letter from Barichara:
Sir, we feel that your outlandish messages denote an utterly, terribly poor taste. We but suppose that they are part of another of your childless pranks, this nonsense about having joined a circus.
Don’t you understand that it is about time you return and settle down properly? We have a few handpicked candidates, adequately appropriate and well-chosen, so that you may arrive to marry and establish yourself as befits a person of your rank and status. We expect that you find yourself willing to leave these childish tomfooleries behind and return to your house, ready to carry on as the responsible adult we taught you to be!
Still waiting for your mind to stop wandering and begin to reason as it at some point must, your always loving parents.
Oscar read his parents reply, his face devoid of any emotion until he reached one of the final words. It was where the letter said: your loving parents. At that moment, he couldn’t contain the explosive laughter that seemed to just pour out from deep inside him. Feeling completely gratified, he imagined that the same satisfaction would be perceived by a cat, the instant after he had eaten a mouse. When he tried to imagine the available, appropriate, and well-chosen candidates of good standing he couldn’t stop another spontaneous bout of laughter. As Gabriel had once said: Laughter, merely won this round!
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