Wednesday was the last day of filming, but would be the first to be broadcast. I set off a little early, so I’d have time for a relaxing coffee at the residencia, the observatory’s private hotel, before meeting the film crew.
In Velhoco, I had to swerve around a dog lying on the road. I ahd a bad feeling about it, so I parked, and went back to look.
The dog lay there gasping, pleading with his eyes.
Obviously it had been hit by a car. I didn’t really have time, but I started knocking on doors, trying to find the owner. Since it was 8:50 am, most people were out.
At perhaps the seventh door, a woman answered. I told her there was an injured dog lying in the road.
She shrugged. “I haven’t got a dog.” The obvious inference was, “and I couldn’t care less.”
I knocked on more doors, which stayed shut. Finally I got another answer, a man who said he didn’t have a dog either. And clearly he couldn’t care less.
I knocked on more doors. I was beginning to really worry about the dog and the time, when I heard someone lamenting loudly, so I went back to the dog.
It was a young man, perhaps twenty years old. I asked, “Is it your dog?”
He yelled, “Are you the bitch who hit him?”
That hurt. “No, he was lying there and I stopped to find the owner.”
“Well help me get him to the vet.”
“I have to get to work.”
“Well there’s no point stopping if you won’t help! Why didn’t you take him to the vet straight away?”
Perhaps I should have, but before I could reply, the poor dog stopped breathing. I wished I’d stayed with him and at least stroked his head for his last few minutes.
So we moved the dog to the grass verge, and the young man started yelling and kicking at an abandoned car.
I started to get really worried that he was going to hit me.
So I said, “I’m really sorry about your dog,” got back in my car and drove off.
I felt pretty shaky after that, but I didn’t have time to stop and calm down until I got to the observatory an hour later, where I burst into tears.
But you know what? I think I liked the young man better than the people who didn’t care at all. He’s probably quite nice when he isn’t in shock.
