One night a friend lent me a book of short stories by Franz Kafka. I went back to the pension where I was staying and began to read The Metamorphosis. The first line almost knocked me off the bed. I was so surprised. The first line reads, “As Gregor Samsa awoke that morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. . . .” When I read the line I thought to myself that I didn’t know anyone was allowed to write things like that. If I had known, I would have started writing a long time ago. So I immediately started writing short stories.

The truth was that I could not manage my soul, and I was becoming aware of old age because of my weakness in the face of love.

Do not allow me to forget you

The truth is I'm getting old, I said. We already are old, she said with a sigh. What happens is that you don't feel it on the inside, but from the outside everybody can see it.

The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants .

The rain would not have bothered Fernanda, after all, her whole life had been spent as if it were raining.

Sex is one's consolation when love is not enough