hat her back was paved with leeches。 She took them off one by one； crushing them with a firebrand before they bled her to death。 It was necessary to dig canals to get the water out of the house and rid it of the frogs and snails so that they could dry the floors and take the bricks from under the bedposts and walk in shoes once more。 Occupied with the many small details that called for his attention； Aureliano Segundo did not realize that he was getting old until one afternoon when he found himself contemplating the premature dusk from a rocking chair and thinking about Petra Cotes without quivering。 There would have been no problem in going back to Fernanda’s insipid love； because her beauty had bee solemn with age； but the rain had spared him from all emergencies of passion and had filled him with the spongy serenity of a lack of appetite。 He amused himself thinking about the things that he could have done in other times with that rain which had already lasted a year。 He had been one of the first to bring zinc sheets to Macondo； much earlier than their popularization by the banana pany； simply to roof Petra Cotes’s bedroom with them and to take pleasure in the feeling of deep intimacy that the sprinkling of the rain produced at that time。 But even those wild memories of his mad youth left him unmoved； just as during his last debauch he had exhausted his quota of salaciousness and all he had left was the marvelous gift of being able to remember it without bitterness or repentance。 It might have been thought that the deluge had given him the opportunity to sit and reflect and that the business of the pliers and the oilcan had awakened in him the tardy yearning of so many useful trades that he might have followed in his life and did not； but neither case was true； because the temptation of a sedentary domesticity that was besieging him was not the result of any rediscovery or moral lesion。 it came from much farther off； unearthed by the rain’s pitchfork from the days when in Melquíades？room he would read the prodigious fables about flying carpets and whales that fed on entire ships and their crews。 It was during those days that in a moment of carelessness little Aureliano appeared on the porch and his grandfather recognized the secret of his identity。 He cut his hair； dressed him taught him not to be afraid of people； and very soon it was evident that he was a legitimate Aureliano Buendía； with his high cheekbones； his startled look； and his solitary air。 It was a relief for Fernanda。 For some time she had measured the extent of her pridefulness； but she could not find any way to remedy it because the more she thought of solutions the less rational they seemed to her。 If she had known that Aureliano Segundo was going to take things the way he did； with the fine pleasure of a grandfather； she would not have taken so many turns or got so mixed up； but would have freed herself from mortification the year before Amaranta ？rsula； who already had her second teeth； thought of her nephew as a scurrying toy who was a consolation for the tedium of the rain。 Aureliano Segundo remembered then the English encyclopedia that no one had since touched in Meme’s old room。 He began to show the children the pictures； especially those of animals； and later on the maps and photographs of remote countries and famous people。 Since he did not know any English and could identify only the most famous cities and people； he would invent names and legends to satisfy the children’s insatiable curiosity。
Fernanda really believed that her husband was waiting for it to clear to return to his concubine。 During the first months of the rain she was afraid that he would try to slip into her bedroom and that she would have to undergo the shame of revealing to him that she was incapable of reconciliation since the birth of Amaranta ？rsula。 That was the reason for her anxious correspondence with the invisible doctors； interrupted by frequent disasters of the mail。 During the first months when it was learned that the trains were jumping their tracks in the rain； a letter from the invisible doctors told her that hers were not arriving。 Later on； when contact with the unknown correspondents was broken； she had seriously thought of putting on the tiger mask that her husband had worn in the bloody carnival and having herself examined under a fictitious name by the banana pany doctors。 But one of the many people who regularly brought unpleasant news of the deluge had told her that the pany was dismantling its dispensaries to move them to where it was not raining。 Then she gave up hope。 She resigned herself to waiting until the rain stopped and the mail service was back to normal； and in the meantime she sought relief from her secret ailments with recourse to her imagination； because she would rather have died than put herself in the hands of the only doctor left in Macondo； the extravagant Frenchman who ate grass like a donkey。 She drew close to ？rsula； trusting that she would know of some palliative for her attacks。 But her twisted habit of not calling things by their names made her put first things last and use “expelled？for “gave birth？and “burning？for “flow？so that it would all be less shameful； with the result that ？rsula reached the reasonable conclusion that her trouble was intestinal rather than uterine； and she advised her to take a dose of calomel on an empty stomach。 If it had not been for that suffering； which would have had nothing shameful about it for someone who did not suffer as well from shamefulness； and if it had not been for the loss of the letters； the rain would not have bothered Fernanda； because； after all； her whole life had been spent as if it had been raining。 She did not change her schedule or modify her ritual。 When the table was still raised up on bricks and the chairs put on planks so that those at the table would not get their feet wet； she still served with linen tablecloths and fine chinaware and with lighted candles； because she felt that the calamities should not be used as a pretext for any relaxation in customs。 No one went out into the street any more。 If it had depended on Fernanda； they would never have done so； not only since it started raining but since long before that； because she felt that doors had been invented to stay closed and that curiosity for what was going on in the street was a matter for harlots。 Yet she was the first one to look out when they were told that the funeral procession for Colonel Gerineldo Márquez was passing by and even though she only watched it through the half…opened window it left her in such a state of affliction that for a long time she repented in her weakness。
She could not have conceived of a more desolate cortege。 They had put the coffin in an oxcart over which they built a canopy of banana leaves； but the pressure of the rain was so intense and the streets so muddy that with every step the wheels got stuck and the covering was on the verge of falling apart。 The streams of sad water that fell on the coffin were soaking the flag that had been placed on top which was actually the flag stained with blood and gunpowder that had been rejected by more honorable veterans。 On the coffi