Summary

Pages 19 – 34 Time passes. The colonel’s wife continues to sew patchy clothes for herself and her husband; she also does her hair, and cuts his (making him look about 20 years younger); and Agustin’s friends become increasingly excited about the rooster’s chances of winning the cockfight. Nevertheless, the colonel and his wife become increasingly worried about income, having virtually run out of things to sell. The colonel continues to reassure his wife that when the mail comes, it will bring money: but again, when the colonel waits for the mail on Friday (listening, as always, to the doctor’s comments about the current political situation), there is nothing for him.

Narration, describing the conversations between the colonel and both his wife and his lawyer, then reveals the exact nature of the mail that the colonel is waiting...