Old Man at the Bridge Summary

The story opened describing a rural area during the Spanish Civil War. People were just leaving the area because fascists were about to attack them. While everyone was moving, there was an old man sitting at the bridge side with dusty face and cloths. Suddenly a soldier who had a mission for exploring the bridgehead to find out enemy's advance saw him and began talking to him and found out that he was 76 years old and had come twelve kilometers by foot from San Carlos and had been the last person who left his town because a captain had told him to go because of the artillery. The old man also told him that he had some animals to look after back in his town. Two goats, a cat and four pairs of pigeons and that he had no family. The soldier who was nervously awaiting the entrance of the fascist army asked the man about his animals. The old man began expressing concern about what was going to happen to the animals.

He said that the cat would be alright because cats can look after themselves and that pigeons also can fly away but he didn't know about what would happen to the goats.

The soldier asked the old man about his politics which the old man answered that he had none. The soldier who was concerned about the old man's life told him to go and catch a ride on a truck to Barcelona.

The old man thanked him but continued to express his concern over the fate of the animals he had left behind. The soldier again calmed him telling him that the animals would be fine but the old man continued to worry about the goats. The soldier told him that he should get up and walk to the trucks, the old man tried to but failed because he was too tired. Looking at the old man, the soldier realized that he could not do anything more to help him and thought to himself that the old man's only luck would be that cats can look after themselves and that that day was so cloudy that the fascists weren't able to launch their