quarta-feira, junho 20, 2007

Rua Visconde de Itaboraí

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I.

Walking down Rua Visconde de Itaboraí in and out of Ponta D'Areia, about halfway to the shipyard, there is an old man, a very very old man, frail almost to transparency. He sits most of the day in a deck-chair on the sunny side of the street folding paper cranes and boats and water baloons for the children. When he goes home at night, not far, to a house just across the street, he leaves a little collection on a step for the kids to take. I told him what a pleasure it was for me to see these things and he smiled and offered some to me. :-)

II.

She staggered around in front of the shipyard for a few days - a dying dog.

And then one day there was a dead dog lying in the road - at least that is what it looked like - but when I got closer I could see that she was still breathing, barely. I was on my way somewhere and when I came back she was still there against the shipyard wall in the sun, not moving. I thought ... starving? heart worm? who knows? I thought ... I will go and get some dog food at the market and put it out for her ... or better still I will give R$5 to the kid at the food stand to go and do it ... and then I noticed that he was already looking at her and talking to his mother (I presume she is his mother). I let it go.

Next day she was still there but there was a paper bag with spaghetti and sauce in it beside her head and she was under a bush. I forgot about it.

Then on Friday I saw a dog sleeping beside the parts shed - it was her. She got up and limped out through the gate, over to the food stand. the kid gave her a pat and a chunk of something to eat. Redemption.

Down.