Though he lives on a hillside, in a small room accessed through a web of alleyways and stairways, though they know his name at the little tienda around the corner where the gas man pushes his little cart all the way up from the street and the water man carries twenty liter barrels four at a time (they know him too), and though he knows the neighbors hanging their laundry scolding the children playing their peculiar game of soccer, peculiar because the ricochet of the ball in the closeness of the alleys plays such a key role, he only feels like himself in the valley, in the wider streets with gentler curves, among the visitors and the people sitting in the Jardin de la Union, where he can sing.

He is a student/was a student. It's difficult to say—the ability to make tuition payments is su...

Please subscribe to keep reading.