Books

            When Manuel lived at 2 Almagro Street it was only 50 meters to get to Turner Bookshop, 100 to Paradox or Sagasta bookshops in different directions, 150 to Antonio Machado bookshop or the old books shop in Pelayo Street, so we supplied ourselves with books from all the bookshops mentioned. When he moved to 9 Jorge Juan Street it was a very short walk of 300 meters to get to these bookshops, both Manuel’s were near to Colón’s Square, at opposite sides.

In this last Manuel’s flat we had as neighbours the dummy king of Spain’s sister Margarita de Borbón y Borbón and her family, being supposedly Margarita’s husband close friend to Manuel. So when Manuel let the neighbours come in into his flat through the kitchen’s door, all the situations lived while they were in are part of a very rich variety of motives of mockery to laugh out loud the way it may finish by a big scandal, so good and funny that easy. We were on the other side and all the moments we shared were clearly and openly to cause harm to the family of the dummy king of Spain and what for some, a small percentage of world’s population in fact, can be a lettany of organizations and names stained with aberrant and grave crimes, when not with evidences of sexual excesses, that can be worst of all.

Well, the case is Manuel had told me Marx’s doctoral thesis was about the difference of Nature’s philosophy in Democrito and in Epicuro and I asked in the usual bookshops but they hadn’t got it. Manuel knew where I could get Marx’s doctoral thesis, in Fuentetaja bookshop no doubt, the owner was a very well known communist militant. I told Manuel to come with me to Fuentetaja bookshop but he could not and I went alone. I had in mind the plan of buying three copies: one for my cousins Monse and Félix, biochemical and nuclear physician respectively, my brothers Arturo, Miguel and Ignacio teachers at Pío VI college in Madrid; another two for me, one to keep up for myself and another to give as a present when the opportunity came. I came into Fuentetaja and went directly to ask for the doctoral thesis. One of Fuentetaja employees told me to go to Alonso’s basement, that was very near. I went supposing Alonso was the owner, and he was there at the basement, a clandestine basement for books during the dictatorship of criminal Franco, Alonso said to me later. He had given me the three copies and seemed so grateful to have not failed that he told me as if it was a secret Marx had written his memories and some day sooner or later they would be published, in a moment of exaltation he fetched the memories from a shelf and showed me a typed copy in German. I got rather impressed by what Alonso had told me and I went back to Manuel’s very happy with my Marx’s doctoral thesis three copies and told him straight still impressed what Alonso had said to me. Of course Manuel was alone in the main lounge and we might conspire to our liking. At first he did not believe it, but when I mentioned to him I had seen a light in Alonso’s eyes he admitted it some way saying: Did Karl Marx really leave his memories to be published after his death? Well, I can guess some things he tells us. For instance, I have sent emissaries necessary to kill a lot of Prussian and Russian princes and aristocrats, and being religion the opium of the peoples and I a jew, I have commanded to kill rabbis Benjamin ben Iosef the miserable, Mordechai Bloch the son of a bitch, Aron Levin the usurer, Ezra bar Yojai the starving...