Plot: 3/9. The beginning was great but the ending was tedious as if nothing happened.

The narrator was a teacher of Tadeito, the godson of Juan. He witnessed some strange things:

• The splinter disappeared but Juan was not the type of person who neglected his grass in such a hot weather.
• Juan sent his godson to borrow more and more advanced textbooks from the narrator everyday, and finally he wanted the newspaper.

So intrigued narrator asked why. Tadeito replied that Juan saved an alien who required the splinter to breathe the air and survive. After learning language and things of the Earth, the alien finally confessed that it came here to prevent human from annihilating themselves through nuclear bomb, which would affect its own planet.

When the narrator repeated this to people in the bar, one of them claimed the splinter had been returned to the original place. Then the boy reported that the alien was died. So human lost their hope to be salvaged.

Core: 1/9. This first contact was tedious. If the alien really needed to prevent human from affecting their own world, they with definitely sent more people with enough supplies. By the way, if a civilisation could not support a safe and sound journey and even require the earthling’s help to survive, then how could we believe it could save the Earth? Finally, why did Juan not inform the police, the authority or the media of the fall of the alien? What is the aftermath?

Character: 6/9. The characters here were comical with their wisecrack.

I’m on the cusp of my wretched thirtieth and I truly fear that I have more to learn than I already know.

If you think about men, do you think them admirable? I think the exact opposite: they are stupid, cruel, mean, and envious.

World and Others: 2/9. No world-building was found.

Overall: 3/9. I supposed the article was made to mock humanity from the perspective of an alien who were shocked to find the world was not in the hands of the best people and such riffraff had the control of the atomic bomb. So the writer intentionally refuted the meaning of the love of the humanity and let human lose their hope to be salvaged.

I would not reject Casares’ work for his good characters, but I would not read him on my initiative for his inability in world building like Ballard’s inability in positive plots.