Hopefully, the woman in Jackson's Square who told me that has never read Carlos Fuentes's novella.
I think the best thing about this story is that there is no clear answeras to what happened. The characters know because they occupy a space within the story that the reader can only guess at.Aura is the alter-ego, the self projection of youth from Senora Consuelo and Felipe is the reincarnation of General Llorente.
Consuelo felt as if she had missed out in life because she hadn't been able to have a child--Aura gives her a second chance to experience what she missed. Aura also a way for Consuelo to hold on to her youth and beauty. As her late husband wrote (in French I had to translate on Google) "you're so proud of your beauty, that would not you not to stay forever young" (Fuentes 87).
She sought out and hired Felipe because he gives her the second chance to live with her husband. He finds himself in the photographs of Consuelo and Llorente, which makes it logical that he has a relation to the couple's past.
The ending of the novella confuses me. When Consuelo says "We'll bring her back together" (Fuentes 145), it leads me to think that she is thinking about physically giving birth to Aura and not simply projecting her, but Consuelo is well past child bearing ago. There must be another meaning to this, but I cannot discern it. Perhaps, Felipe will give Consuelo the inspiration and motivation to maintain the projection of Aura.
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