Analysis
This story presents the theme of mysteries being solved in logical ways. Lonnrot uses an interesting strategy by finding clues that lead him to the place where the following murder will be committed. Unfortunately he was not astute enough to escape his own murder which is the final murder of the four in this story.
Here is where the magical realism comes into play because he makes this outrageous occurrence seem totally believeable in fact he is not amazed at all. So in fact that bench is in a way a time portal it is as if there was a parallel universe. They are sitting at opposite ends of a bench yet really they are at opposite ends of the world as well as being at opposite ends of Borges's life. It is almost as if he had two personalities inside of him. He has the young Borges with his ideas and excitement as well as the older Borges with the experience and the wisdom. This is a very supernatural occurence although in a way it is perfectly natural because it is like having a vivid memory of a time and a place while one is at another place in another time.