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Fernando Guzar Pimentel

Lack of sense and sensibility

One afternoon, Monsieur Lefvre, owner of a restaurant, noticed the presence

of a black, medium sized dog sitting near the open door by the sidewalk. He

stared at Lefvre with his nice brown eyes, wich reflected the wish of winning

his friendship. Even his face resembled the one of a beggar

The dog, noticing the deep gaze of the man, wagged his tail, raised his head

and opened his snout in such a funny way that it seemed like he smiled. The

frenchman couldnt help to smile the dog back and, for a moment, he felt as if a

ray of sunshine penetrated his heart. Wagging his tail faster, the dog rose

slightly and moved a few inches towards the door, but didntcame into the

restaurant.

Considering that attitude extremely polite for a starving dog living in the streets,

Lefvre, an animal lover, couldnt pull himself together and took a steak from a

recently retired dish, wich the costumer had barely touched. Holding it between

his fingers and lifting it, he stared at the dog and invited him to getcloser to take

it. The animal seemed so excited that his entire body was shaking and licked

the edges of his snout several times.

Nevertheless, the dog didnt step in, despite understanding, with out a doubt,

that the steak was destined to dissapear within his stomach. Forgetting his

business and his customers, the frenchman came out from back of the bar and

approached the door with the steak, which he shooka few times before

dropping it right above the dogs snout.

The dog took it rathersmoothly, with a thankful look in his eyes, before

proceeding to lay on the sidewalk and began to eat with what seemed like a

peace of mind exclusive of someone who enjoys of a perfectly clean

conscience.As soon as he finished, he got up, approached the door, and sat

near the door, waiting for Lefvreto feel his presence again. As the man turned

to him, the dog stood up, wagged his tail, smiledand shook his ears

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The frenchman thought the animal was coming to ask for another bite. But by

the time approached the door with a huge chicken leg, he found out the dog

had disappeared. Then he realized the dog had returned with the only purpose

of thanking him because, otherwise, he would have waited to get what he

wanted.

Almost forgetting the incident immediatly, Lefvre considered the dog one more

among the legion of homeless dogs that visit restaurants from time to time,

looping under the tables and standing next to the clients to beg for a bite, b efore

being thrown away by the waitresses.

The next day, however, about the same time, half past three o'clock, the dog

returned and sat by the same spot as the day before. Monsieur Lefvre, seeing

him sitting there, smiled as if they were old friend and the dog smiled him back.

When the animal noticed the friendly welcome, he stood up, wagged his tail and

smiled as wide as possible, while his tongue rested upon his lower jaw.

The frenchman invited him in with a whistle, so he could get closer to the

counter to take his food for free. The dog just took a step forward, without ever

entering. It was clear he refrained from coming inside not because of fear, but

due to the innate wisdom of certain animals who understand some places are

just not aproppiate for themselves, as they tend to live outdoors. Lefvresnapped his fingers to make the dog understand he must wait some minutes

before a dish of meat was taken back from a table. The dog seemed to

understand that kind of digital language.

Five minuted later, a waitress retreived on a tray the dishes from some tables,

so the owner summoned her and took a huge rib roast from a dish, approached

the dog, shook it for a few seconds and finally gave it to him . The dog took it as

gently as a child and, just like the previous day, he went a liittle far away to lay

down on the sidewalk and enjoy his meal.

Monsieur Lefvre, recalling the peculiar gesture of the dog the day before, felt

curiousity to know what would he do this time once he finished eating. When he

was about to bet with a client that the dog would stand up to thank him, he saw

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the shadow of the animal near the entrance. He glimpsed with the corner of his

eye, intentionally avoiding to watch him fully. He turned around, pretending to

clean the shelves, but still trying to spy on the dog. He wanted to see how long

could the dog wait to express Thanks, see you tomorrow in his own, peculiar

way.

Perhaps two or three minutes passed before the frenchman decided to face the

animal. When he finally did it, the dog rose immediate ly, wagged his tail, smiled

widely and disappeared.From that day on, Lefvre always had prepared a juicy

piece of meat for the dog, taken straight from the remains of special orders. The

animal came everyday with British punctuality, always half past three o'clock.

Five or six weeks passed without any changes and the frenchman had come to

consider the black animal as his most loyal costumer and as his own pet

One day, Monsieur Lefvre was terribly insulted by a customer, whom he had

served such a hard bread roll that he broke a tooth. The f renchman was

furiouswith the waitress and fired her immediately. She went to a corner to

mourn bitterly. It wasnt entirely her fault, alter all; she could have noticed the

hardness of the piece of bread but, wouldnt squeezing the bread to check its

freshness be considered unsanitary?

The guilt also fell upon the baker, who got a frantic call from Lefvre, only to beinsulted. The baker defended himself and called the frenchm an a crazy bastard,

starting an exchange of degrading views that ended when Lefvre hung up the

phone.

Still in frenzy, the owner went back to the counter only to find his canine friend

arriving on time to get his daily meal. By watching the dog sitting there, quiet

and innocent, apparently free from any worries, the french, blinded by anger

and seized by a sudden impulse, took the hard bread roll and threw it towards

the animal with all his strength.

The dog had clearly seen the movement of the man. He watched carefully as

he took the piece of bread with his right hand and threw it towards him. He

could have easily avoided the blow if he had wished it, as living in the streets

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had forced him to develop a special survival instinct. A simple head movement

would have been enough to avoid the hit . However, he did not move.

Firmly setting his soft, brown eyes on Lefvre, without a blink, accepted the

blow bravely. He stood still, stunned, not for the hit, but rather because

something he would haved believed impossible happened.

The bread roll fell a short distance from his two front legs. The dog didnt look it

as a dead thing, but as a living one that would jump over him at any time.

Maybe he wanted to convince himself that the roll arrived by itself, with its own

motion, so he could justify his friends attitude.

After a few seconds, he put his gaze away from the roll and set it firmly over the

frenchmans eyes, like magnetizad. There was no signof accusation in those

eyes, but a deep, sorrowful look wich reflected the sadness of one who has

unconditionally trusted in someones friendship is unexpectedly betrayed

without any justification

Suddenly, realizing what he had done, Lefvre was as startled as if he had

killed a human being. He stared for a few seconds at the door with an

expression of complete emptiness in his eyes. With a quick movement, he took

a steak from some clients dish and, waving it, went running down the street

after his hurt friend.

After following him for half an hour through thirteen blocks, Lefvre lost him out

of sight among the crowded street. The dog was never spotted again in the

neighborhood.