Buzon de tiempo: Fin de semana

Due to the recent news of the death of Mario Benedetti, I decided to explore his works. Although his poetic works appear to be what he is best known for, I thought I would approach him through a form that I am a little more comfortable with: the short story. This work is from my local library, chosen due to its intriguing name and its availability.

The first story is "Fin de semana" ("Weekend") told from the point of view of a boy whose parents are divorced. He spends the week with his mom and weekends with his dad. Here we see what must be a fairly typical weekend, with his dad picking him up from school as the start of their time together. Not much seemingly happens. They talk some. The boy describes his mom as being alone. The dad introduces his son to a woman, which I understood, though it is not made explicit, to be his current girlfriend. When the boy returns home, his mom asks how his dad is. He tells her that he is alone.

Although it is a brief story, my brief summary leaves out a whole lot. Of course, it is the boy's two statements about his parents' solitude that mark the most dramatic sign that not everything is as it seems, serving as the prime riddle of the piece.