The Shadow of the Wind (70 page)

A young man, already showing a few grey hairs, walks through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn pours over Rambla de Santa Monica in a wreath of liquid copper.

He holds the hand of a ten-year-old boy whose eyes are intoxicated with the mystery of the promise his father made to him at dawn, the promise of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

'Julian, you mustn't tell anyone what you're about to see today. No one.'

'Not even Mummy?' asks the boy in a whisper.

His father sighs, hiding behind that sad smile that has followed him through life.

'Of course you can tell her,' he answers. 'We have no secrets from her. You can tell her anything.'

Soon afterwards, like figures made of mist, father and son disappear into the crowd of the Ramblas, their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind.

THE END