Paulo Coelho

The old man is seating by the entrance of the small town graveyard, he is looking over the first two rows of tombs lost on his thoughts. It’s a warm winter day, a book resting on his lap, he just finished reading it and the feeling of uneasiness that started as soon as he began the book has now taken him over completely.

The book has taken him back to a time when he was a young man full of big dreams, aching for adventures and richness. He took the job at the cemetery as something temporal, as a way to make enough money to take the bus that could take him to the big city where he could make all his dreams come true. But he never got the courage to leave his job, his town, his home. He allowed others to convince him that he was good for nothing, that he should considered himself lucky with what he got and thank God for that.

Fifty years have passed, he has buried half of the town and all the members of his family, as the town was a town of old people, all the young ones left, except for him. Always afraid of failing and having to accept that the others were right, that he was good for nothing. But has he not failed anyway? Tomas started laughing and crying at the same time. Dammed book, why did he have to read it! He should have been like that Santiago; he should have followed his dreams!

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