His hallucinations increasing, a new identity takes shape in his mind: the emphatically non-Catalan Juan Faneca (the author's birth name). Faneca has a strong regional accent, a pencil mustache, dark complexion, sharp sideburns and eye patch. In this role he is a xarnego from Murcia and a childhood friend of Marés, coming back to Barcelona after years supposedly living as a worker in Germany. Disguised as Faneca, Juan seduces his lonely neighbor, Griselda, an Andalusian widow who is embracing everything Catalan to start her new life in Barcelona. Their one-night stand leaves both Juan and Norma disappointed. By then the invented character of Juan Faneca has overtaken Marés, and he continues his life with Griselda.