"Ah, little scoundrel." "There you are." "You are a bad boy." "Come on." "Hop on." "Like you always do." "Holy sacraments!" "You'll kill yourself!" "Only God knows how much I loved you." " Someone has died." " Huh-uh." " It's Pentecost." " No no, it must be a very big fish if they are ringing the cathedral bells." "Florentino, lay down." "Let's do it again." "Please?" "Tolling like that must be for a governor at least." "Or..." "What?" "What is it?" "America, you must go back to college." "My driver will take you." "There is something I have to do." "My deepest sympathy." "Your father was a saint." " My condolences." " I'm so sorry." "We would still have cholera if it had not been for him." "My sympathies, Mrs. Urbino." "Let's go, Mom." " See you all later, gentlemen." " See you later." "Mama, I'll stay if you want me to." "Fermina, I have waited for this opportunity for 51 years, nine months and four days." "That is how long I have loved you, from the first moment I cast eyes on you until now." "I repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love." "Florentino Ariza... get out of here!" "Get out!" "And don't show your face again for the years of life that are left to you." "And I hope there are very few of them." "Florentino Ariza!" "Florentino!" "Ah!" " That's not a telegram, Carlos." " Come on, come on." "Deliver this, please, to Senor Lorenzo Daza." "Old house, Park of Evangels." "New in town, a rough diamond." "Owns mules, lots of mules." "Thank you, Lotario." "Thank you." "Yes yes, I'm coming." "I'm coming." "Last time you charged me 400 gold pesos, that's double what I paid for this whole abbey cloister... what?" "!" "Senor Lorenzo Daza." "Yes." "Oh, good news." "Good news!" "No reply." "Look at the shape of the letter." "Not "U" but "A."" "M-me..." "M-m... me... mis... mist... mistook..." "Senor, Senor!" "Tak... mistook... mistake-taken..." "Good." "Good." "Very good." "Mistook, mistake, mistaken." " What do you want?" " Look, I didn't do anything." "Don't you greet your mother?" "Florentino, have you eaten?" "Have you eaten?" ""Fermina Daza, for I have learned that is your majestic immortal name." "I write this very short note in order to let you know... that I love you."" " You haven't been to bed." " Shh!" " Are you ill?" " No." "You are so pale, my son." "Are you sure?" " I'm not ill." " Let me feel your head." "Let me feel your head." "What are you writing, a book?" "No, a letter." "All these pages, and they're just one letter." "But what kind of a letter?" "Holy Mother." "It is a love letter." "Oh, my son, who is she?" "Her name is..." "Fermina Daza." "They're new in town." "Her mother is dead." "Her father owns mules." "And, Mama, I have discovered the reason for my existence." "Don't talk such nonsense, my son." "That's it!" "Come on, come on, come on." "But there is money in mules." "Does Fermina Daza return your love?" ""I've discovered..."" "I don't know." "We haven't spoken." "That's why I'm writing the letter." "If I can find the opportunity, I'll give it to her, but she's always with her aunt." "Then you must win over the aunt, not the girl." "It's him!" "It is the telegram boy." "Walk on." "Eh-hh." " Let me stand next to her." " No!" "Senorita Daza, all I ask is that you accept a letter from me." " Not now." " When?" "Afterwards." "Corpus Christi." " Corpus Christi." " Amen." "Welcome, Fernando!" "Papa, I'm going to wish" "Mother Superior a happy Christmas." "This is the greatest moment in my life." "Give it to me." "It was very long." "I made it shorter." "Wait!" "It's a flower of promising." "Go." "And don't see me again until you hear from me." "My Holy Mother." "My Holy Mother." "It is cholera, my son." "It is cholera." " No, Mama." " My son!" "I gave her the letter." "Now I must wait for her reply." "Yeah." "Then enjoy your pain." "Take advantage of it now while you are young." "And suffer, my son, suffer all you can, because these things don't last your whole life." "May she answer soon." "She won't." "Florentino!" "Florentino!" "What the hell you are doing?" "It's not an American ship, it's British." "It's the mail from Liverpool." "British." "Come here." "What is wrong with you?" "This isn't love." "It's madness." "Give me, give me." "Up up up up." "No, wait wait." "Fly now, go." "What is wrong with you?" "You need to take your mind off her." "Come with me to the whorehouse if..." "Yes?" "Oh, how much is it to send a telegram to the village of Piedras de Moler?" " Piedras de Moler?" " Uh-huh." "Uh..." "let me see." "It's..." "it's not on our list." "You don't... you don't send telegrams to Piedras de Moler?" " No." " Th... then... good day to you." "Senorita!" ""Dear Florentino Ariza..." "I am sorry that I have made you wait so long for my reply." "I ask your forgiveness." "Please, write to me again soon."" ""Crowned goddess, I enclose what I know is a worthless memento." "I also write this verse in honor of my love for you."" ""I think of you every moment." "Now that spring is here, thoughts of you fill me with life." "I will love you forever." "Forever."" "Shh-hhh." "Shhh." " It's him." " Of course it's him." " Senorita Escolastica?" " Shhh." "Senorita Escolastica, please turn apart so I can talk privately to the young lady." "I have something important to ask her." "What impertinence!" "There's nothing that has to do with her that I cannot hear." "Then I will not say anything." "But I warn you, you will be responsible for the consequences." " Fermina Daza." " I am here." "We've written too many letters and too much time has passed." "So now... crowned goddess," "I make this vow." "I swear to you my eternal fidelity and everlasting love, and I ask in all humility to do me the great honor of marrying me." "You... you must give me time." "Fermina, say yes!" "Fermina, I may not be married, but I know about love." "Even if you're dying of fear, even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do, you will be sorry all the rest of your life if you say no." "Believe me, I know what I'm talking about." "Yes, very well." "I will marry you if you... if you promise not to make me eat eggplant." "Who is he?" "Who is he?" "Who is he?" "Who is this Florentino Ariza?" "Huh?" "And Mother Superior says that you write letters to him?" "And you... you!" "You are to blame." "No!" "Aunt!" "No!" "No!" "Daughter, daughter, listen to your father." "Listen to your father." "Everything I do," "I do it because... because I... okay, I'll try." "I'll try, but... but I have to..." "I have to ex..." "I have to explain myself." "I have to explain myself." "It's difficult because I'm a plain man." "But ever since your mother died, you've been... you've been... a daughter..." "a daughter is a jewel." "Is a jewel." "I'm..." "I'm..." "I'm a rough diamond, but you're... you're..." "you're the... the crown." "And I don't..." "I don't..." "I don't work for me." "We didn't come here for me." "We came here for you." "For you!" "But you don't know how..." "just how beautiful you are." "You-you-you..." "you're... you're... you're much too beautiful to marry a telegraph operator." "We have bigger fish to fry, and believe me... believe me, at your age, love is an illusion." "Christ, by Christ I swear," "I swear, I swear to Christ..." "Good morning, good morning." "You and I must talk..." "man to man." "Ahhhh." "When my wife died I set myself one goal." "One goal... to turn my daughter into a great lady." "Now that's... that's a long road to travel for a mule trader." "I've never had a drink this early in the morning." "Better start now." "You're going to need it." "I came to this town because... well, here was the possibility of a grand marriage." "Then an unforeseen obstacle to the plan that I have fought for with my life... you." "So I've come to make a polite request." "Get out of our way." "Have you spoken to her?" "None of that." "None of that." "This is a matter for men and it will be decided by men." "Be that as it may," "I cannot answer without knowing what she thinks." "Don't force me to shoot you." "Shoot me." "There is no greater glory than to die for love." "Pack!" " Where are we going?" " To our death!" "You'd better explain." "I'm not leaving." "Take it to him now." " What is this?" " They leaving." "They going to the country." " Hurry up!" " Where are you going?" "He's taking me away." " Sit down!" " Fermina." "Don't you dare talk to him!" " Where are you talking her?" " He's taking me away!" "Get out of our way." "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "Get back." "Get back." "¢Ü I think of you every day ¢Ü" "¢Ü I think of you a little bit more ¢Ü" "¢Ü I tear my reason apart ¢Ü" "¢Ü Something inside me gets destroyed ¢Ü" "C'mon, mule." "¢Ü I think of you every day ¢Ü" "¢Ü I think of you a little bit more ¢Ü" "¢Ü And I keep thinking of you ¢Ü" "¢Ü And I keep thinking. ¢Ü" " That's bad." "Five more." " Take away all I have, right?" "Aunt Fermina!" "Senora, may I help you?" "Hi, princess, What are you here for?" "Cousin Fermina?" "I have a surprise for you." "Cousin." "He wants me to fix a wedding date." " Will you?" " Of course." " Excuse me, Senoritas." " Make it well into the future." "Your father said he will keep you here for a year at least." "A year is nothing." "We will exchange telegrams as we used to exchange letters." "And our love will triumph." "There is no man on Earth more perfect than Florentino Ariza." "And you, Hildebranda, are you in love?" "A married man." "20 years older than me." "Do you exchange letters?" "No." "Secret glances." "It all seems difficult and impossible now, but I just know that we must learn to be happy without love." "And in spite of it." "Happy without love?" "Yes." "Happy without love." "I want to eat the tender flesh of every word she has written to me over and over." "I hope I survive." " But danger is everywhere." " Fire!" "If the suffering of your own heart doesn't kill you, the ever-recurring civil war might." "And there is the disease that comes between the burst of bloodshed, the deadly choking embrace of cholera." "Dead collectors!" "My daughter is..." "She is even more impossible to predict than war." "She grabs hold, then suddenly she lets go." " Daddy!" "He's dead, too." " She grabs hold, she lets go." "Florentino!" "Up here!" "Stop it, stop it." "It will be all three of you, I promise." "All in good time." "So which one is it going to be?" "No no, my beloved is returning soon." "I have to keep myself pure." "And I will only lose my virginity for love." "Oooh." "That is such a bad idea." "Don't go, Florentino." "I will be back..." "but not for some time." "Let's go, let's go." "So the worst years of my life passed." "I counted the eternal minutes one by one as I waited for her return." "But I do not mind." "I will keep watch for all of eternity." "I will keep watch until I die if need be." "I stand vigil for her beside the lighthouse." "My heart is like the sea..." "endless and everlasting, even while it is as turbulent as the crashing waves." "Florentino, what are you doing here?" "Ricardo, the young lady I'm going to marry is coming back tonight." "I'm waiting for her." "Come on." "Come on!" "Ricardo the lighthouse keeper is my only friend." "He does not understand." "I must be here to will her home." "I delegate to you the authority to run this household... and turn over to you the keys to your life." "Crowned goddess, you are the coming of the dawn." "Like spring, you have returned to the one newborn." "Mom, Mom, there it is, Mom!" "Yes, yes." "Come on, come on." " That one, too?" "That one." " No no, that one over there." "Thank you." "Coconut candy!" "Sweets for your sweetie." "Coconut candy!" "The Arcade of Scribes is not a place for a crowned goddess." "No." "No, please." "Forget it." "Wh-wh-what do you mean "forget it"?" "I just..." "I just realized this... this moment when I saw you." "What?" "What did you realize?" "What is between us... is nothing more than an illusion." "It... it clouded my eyes." "I'm so sorry." "You... you just... realized it?" "Yes." "The moment I saw you." "Make him well." "Please." " Dr. Juvenal Urbino?" " He's a busy man." " This is urgent." " No." "Appointments only." "Cholera... my mistress has cholera." "No, you can't go up there." "You need to wear a mask." "I'm Hildebranda Sanchez, the patient's cousin." "She's upstairs." "I would like you to be present, please, when I examine her." "Her father's with her." "Oh, thank you." "Thank you for coming." "I pray to God you can do something." "They say you know more about cholera than a..." "Under the tongue." "Vomiting?" "How many times?" "Once, twice?" "Twice." "Diarrhea?" " Severe?" " I don't..." " What?" " I..." "I don't know." "I've never had it before." "Sit up, please." "It is an intestinal infection." "What?" "It's not cholera?" "No." "I'll prescribe medicine." "Three days at home and she'll be well again." "Did you hear that?" "Oh." "Doctor, wait wait." "Doctor, wait!" "How did you learn so much about cholera?" "I, uh, studied in Paris under Professor Proust." "All the things you've done for the city... the clean water," " closed sewage..." " Your daughter." " Yes?" " She's very beautiful." "Thank you." "Senorita." "I would like to, um... take your pulse." "Stick out your tongue, please." "Mm-hmm." "You are like a..." "a new-sprung rose." "Thank you." "Do you like music?" "What is the point of that question?" "Music is important for one's health." "No!" "No, don't!" "Doctor!" "Do not go." "I saw it all." "I saw it all." "I..." "I told your daughter that she is like a rose." "True enough, but one with too many thorns." "Up up up!" "You open that window and apologize." "I have nothing to apologize for." "I closed the window to keep out the sun." "Don't backtalk back to me, okay?" "Do as I tell you." "Say something... now!" "I offer you my most heartfelt apology, sir." "Her education." "Let me escort you to the carriage." "Senor." "I..." "I would like your permission to write to your daughter." "Ahh." "I will go and find her." "I won't let her go." "My destiny in life is to love Fermina." "I will win her back." "Hildebranda, look!" "Aye, beautiful!" "Mmmmm, another one." "Gala Placidia, I told you not to accept it." "Oh, I know that, milady, but is hard to say no to Dr. Urbino." "How many is that now?" "Seven." " You must reply." " We're not going to discuss it." "We must hurry." "The Belgian photographer is expecting us." "Gala Placidia, help us to dress." "Oh, yes, milady, it is perfect." "Ladies, very still." "I will count to five now." "One, two, three... four, five." "One, two, three!" "Benny Centeno!" "Benny, Benny, Benny..." "Move aside!" "Move aside!" "Benny!" "Champion!" "Please get in, I'll take you wherever you want to go." "Benny, Benny, Benny!" "Who is Benny Centeno?" "He just won the boxing championship in Panama." "Oh." "This is so nice." "I could spend the rest of my life here." "Oh, ay, my boots are killing me." "I'll have to take them off." "I'll take off mine too." "Let's see who finishes first." "Oh!" "Mmm." "You won." "You won." "But now I realize it wasn't my boots at all." "It is this wire cage under my skirt." "Hmm, nothing could be simpler." "Take it off." "I won't look." "Ay!" "I am waiting." "We want to go home." "Whoa whoa whoa." "Read my letters." "I want your answer." "He's very beautiful." "When he covered his eyes and I saw his perfect teeth between those rosy lips, I wanted... oooh, eeeoh." "I wanted to devour him with kisses." "What a whore you are." ""Dear Senor Urbino," "I give you my permission to speak to my father."" "Senora." "Forgive me for keeping you waiting, Transito, but I have to practice my singing." "You never know when there's going to be a funeral, eh?" "But, please please." "So... is there a problem?" "You get the money I send each month?" "Thank you." "You are a kind man, Don Leo." "I am not kind." "I am just, unlike my brother Pius." "Something had to be done." "Pius should have made a proper provision for my son." "Well, he did not and I did." "So?" "I've come... to ask if you can help him." " Who?" " Your nephew." "My son Florentino." "What kind of help?" "A job." "Well, I thought he had a job at the telegraph office." "Yes, but I'm asking you to find him another job... any job, as long as it's far away." "Some port lost in the jungle where... where there is no mail, no telegraph." "A broken heart." "Yeah." "Hmm." "Hmmm." "How about Villa de Leyva?" "How far away is that?" "Oh... about three weeks." "I am nothing." "I will not heal... not for all time." "I'm struck by the lightning of love and burned beyond repair." "She's a splinter that cannot be pulled out." "She's part of me, everywhere I go." "Everywhere, she is." " Hello." " Fermina." "What are you doing?" "Turn off the light." "I want... absolute darkness." "You forget, Doctor, this is the first time" "I've slept with a stranger." "Do you love me?" "Don't be frightened." "We are man and wife." "I want you to love every... every moment of our honeymoon." "I can't wait to show you Paris." "It is a... a city of love." "You have a beautiful smile." "Thank you." "I think my sense of smell is overdeveloped." "Well, that would be because your olfactory organ's..." "I'm sorry I mentioned it." "Shhh." "Don't forget I have met them before." "I remember it very well." "And I'm still angry." "I've..." "I've never been able to understand how your thing works." "How ugly it is." "Even uglier than a woman's thing." "Yes." "Besides, I think it has... too many bits on it." "That's astounding." "My doctoral thesis was on the advantage..." "I don't want a medical lesson." "No." "No." "This is going to be a lesson in love." "The black flag!" "That's the plague flag." "Give them a wide berth." "Please, help us!" "Captain!" " They're dying of cholera!" " Cholera!" "Please!" "Good Heavens!" "Careful, don't get too close..." "Please, help us!" "Captain!" "Help us!" "Cholera!" "Help me!" "Please." "Don't leave." "God!" "What's that?" "Help me!" "Please!" "Keep her safe, protect her from harm." "Good night, my crowned goddess." "Go go." "Go on and forget all about it." "This never happened." "Who occupies that cabin..." "the middle one?" " Three women." " Three women?" "They have three cabins and they both connect together." "It makes one big one." " Who are they, these women?" " I don't know." " You go on." " We'll see." " See her eyes?" " My, Rosalba." "He looks very sweet." "And so shy." "It's the shy ones you must look out for." " Carefully, it's fragile." " Get out of the way." "He's staring at you." "Bye!" "Fermina, my vow..." "I've broken my vow." "You shouldn't have come back, my son." "I had to." "Why?" "Something happened and..." "I had to be near Fermina again, Mama." " That's all." " But she's not here." "What do you mean she's not here?" "She's in Paris on her honeymoon." "She'll be gone a long time..." "more than one year." "Maybe two years." " That's not true, Mama." " It is true, my son." " No." " It is true." "At least two years." " No." " No, Mama." "Please don't cry." "Oh." "Please..." "please don't waste your life." "You must forget her." "You must find someone else who will help you forget." "I can't forget, Mama." "I will never forget, Mama." "I will never forget, Mama." "Senora, senora!" "Be careful!" "Senora!" " Senora." " Come on, boys." "Open fire!" "They destroyed my house, Transito!" "They destroyed my house." "Come in." "I need a bed... on the floor, anywhere." "Just until I can rebuild my house." "Who knows how long this war will last." "Come on, drink." "You must stay here." " So you have the room?" " No." "It is a shame." "My own bedroom is too small." "But if you don't mind... sharing with my son." "Florentino?" "An emergency." "The Widow Nazaret, her house has been damaged." "War has no respect for anybody." "She needs a bed." "You can sleep in your hammock." "I'm so scared!" "If it wasn't enough to lose my husband, now this." "He died three years ago." "Help me, help me." "My dead husband always undid my laces." "Help me, please." "Help me." "I've never been in the same bed with any other man... ay... other than my dead husband." "He's in his coffin now under the ground." "I'm so happy!" "I'm happy because only now do I know for certain where he is when he's not at... home!" "Women." "Number one... unknown lady in boat." "The first... wondrous... explosion." "Number two... the Widow Nazaret... while doing it, only talks of her dead husband." "Number three..." "Esmeralda Arau... a skinny, wiggling tadpole who'd walk me through the ferns." "Number four..." "Maria Estevez... very dangerous." "We were so close to the street, anyone could have heard us." "This is the cure for the pain of Fermina." "What is it?" "Nothing, my son, nothing." " For a moment I..." " What?" "I didn't know who you were." "It happens to me more and more, but it... it goes." "Give me your hand." "Give me your hand." "Ma..." "I have work to do, Mama." "Work?" "What work?" "You need to find a job and to get paid." "I can't keep you forever." "I..." "I..." "I have something to tell you." "You are going to marry the widow." "Oh, no." " What did you say?" " Ma..." "Mama..." "Did you say you had something to tell me?" "Yes, I honestly believe..." "I'm getting over the worst." "What was her name again?" "Fermina." "Fermina." "Fermina." "I begin to feel free." "The pain is gone." "It's gone." "Now, it took Paris, the city of love, to bring about this blessed transformation." "But here we are amongst our dearest friends." "We are happier than you can know to be here." "And furthermore, we are overjoyed to no longer be two, but three." "The great purpose of marriage has made itself clear to all and we thank you, our dear friends, for your warmth and your congratulations." "Well, I was wondering how long it would be before you came begging me." " What do you want?" " A job." "I gave you a job... at Villa de Leyva and you threw it away." "It is different now." "I want to be rich like you." "I am not rich." "I'm a poor man with money which is not the same thing." "Why do you want to be rich?" "So that I can be someone in society," "I need..." "I need to be worthy of a great lady I cannot stop loving." "Who is she?" "Married?" "Yes, but I'm waiting for her husband to die." "Is he old?" "No, but I'll wait for however long it takes." " You're crazy." " Why?" "Because insanity runs in the family." "You take after your father." "You never knew him, my brother Pius." "You know what his last words were?" "He said "The only regret I have in dying is that I do not die for love."" "He said that?" " He really said that?" " On his deathbed." "Nevertheless, all his life he fucked everything in sight." "So... you want a job in the River Company of the Caribbean." "Yes, yes." "Well, are you any good at, um, writing letters?" "I think so, I..." "I..." "I write poetry, too" "I enter a poem every year in the Poetic Festival." "I have never won, but..." "So, you have a way with words, huh?" " Yes." " Good." "Perhaps you can tell me what this means." "On my birthday last year someone made a speech in my honor." "He said I suffered from lucid dementia." "Now what does that mean?" "Lucid dementia means you are clearly crazy." "I told you it ran in the family." "Start tomorrow." "Clerk to the board of directors." "Tamales!" "Tamales!" "Magic inks." "Very light blow." "Invisible ink for your secret letter."