The final voyage

Excerpt

“Dear doctor, I have still pending a final voyage along the coast of my beloved Chile.” Architect by vocation, avid reader, Don Dago intensively enjoyed designing open spaces as a way of expressing himself. As a survivor of cataclysmic earthquakes, he told me that afternoon that before dying he intended to travel again along the southern coastal path of Chile. He knew the route like the back of his hand, and described it as the most beautiful he had ever seen. But this time it would be different. He was going to travel with his son and grandson, a sacred fraternity, that made this challenge more attractive, something for which he was willing to overcome the natural fear of what he faced. The recurrent chest pain had restricted him to an ICU room, reminding him after each movement that his youthful spirit was confined to a nonagenarian and sick body. His preserved cognitive functions allowed him to recognize the real fear: dependency. …