The Bitch by Pilar Quintana

Author:Pilar Quintana
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Editions
Published: 2019-11-30T13:04:18+00:00

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DAMARIS STOPPED CRYING over the pup but her absence hurt, like a heavy stone upon her chest; she missed her all the time. When getting back from town and she wasn’t there waiting at the top of the steps wagging her tail, when preparing fish and she didn’t turn up to stare intently at Damaris, when putting away leftovers and there was no reason to set aside the best for her, and when drinking coffee in the morning and there was nobody’s head to scratch. Many a time Damaris thought she saw her: in a cluster of coconuts Rogelio had leaned against the shack, in the mooring lines he left coiled in the gazebo, in a new cord of wood he put by the wood stove, in other dogs, garden plants, tree shadows in the afternoon, and on her little dog bed, which was still in the gazebo exactly the way the pup had left it, since Damaris didn’t have the presence of mind to throw it away.

Don Jaime told her he was very sorry, as though a relative had died, and Damaris was grateful to him for taking her feelings seriously. But with Doña Elodia, as she recounted what had happened, Damaris began to feel guilty for having allowed the dog to escape, for not having kept up the search, for having lost hope. Doña Elodia listened in silence and then sighed, as though resigned to life. Her dog was the only one left from a litter of eleven, and now, when going to the next town, Damaris avoided passing the restaurant because it pained her to see him.

Since the last thing she needed right then was to hear Luzmila’s negative remarks, Damaris didn’t say anything to anyone in her family, not even Tía Gilma. But Luzmila found out regardless. One afternoon, when Rogelio got back from fishing, he bumped into Luzmila’s husband at the fisherman’s cooperative and, just for something to say, told him the whole story of the dog, her disappearance, and how much they’d searched for her. That night Luzmila called Damaris on her cell.

“That’s why I don’t like those animals,” she said.

Damaris wasn’t sure if it was because they might get lost in the jungle or because they died, but instead of asking her to explain she simply asked whether she’d spoken to her father that week.

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