Restoring the Past

In Sevilla you can find a bust that honors Cervantes:

This is the building behind the bust that honors Cervantes:

The building used to be a jail. In 1594, Cervantes was imprisoned there for having unpaid debts. Today the building makes a business of debt: it is a bank. Said bank is currently being renovated under the catchphrase “Restoring the Past.” A would-be writer might make note of all this, and apply it to his own ambitions in a manner he finds appropriate. He might also make note of what our friend John B.’s grandfather said when John B. told him he wanted to be a writer: You got to be dead to make a living, don’t you? As a writer?

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Charlie Geer is the author of the novel “Outbound: The Curious Secession of Latter-Day Charleston.” His work has appeared in Tin House, The Sun, Bloomsbury Magazine, and The Southern Review.