Eyes

“Ojos, are you there?” Anita’s querulous voice broke into her reverie as she watched the cat lap up water on what was promising to be a hot, humid day. Ojos barked softly in answer, fetching her walking harness from its table by the front door in the entresuelo of the old clapboard house.

Padding on light, sure feet, the German Shepherd-Saint Bernard mix approached Anita, bumping her right hand with a cool nose before letting out a friendly chuff and bark.

Anita harnessed Ojos, her hands feeling the way as she buckled straps and adjusted the harness for the dog’s comfort. She took hold of the harness handle in one hand and her cane in another.

“We go to market dear friend, and we will come home with good food to cook for our carinderia regulars, eh?” With a happy bark and a pant or two, Ojos and Anita were off on their adventure, walking down busy sidewalks and crossing streets. Market day was always good for her: Sunshine, hot and good, streamed down her black and gold coat. The heat made the cool drinks of water the people at the market gave her so nice indeed.

They were just outside the creaky old gate when a careless young boy on a bicycle came close to colliding with them. Ojos stopped short, paused to sniff at the santan flowers in the street-facing planter outside the gate’s pedestrian door. That will keep Anita safe for now, Ojos thought, and she won’t be any the wiser.

“Oh, Ojos, you romantic girl. Always stopping to smell the flowers,” Anita said with a smile as she stopped alongside her seeing-eye dog, whose body was positioned between her and the cyclist whizzing by.

They resumed their walk and made it to the street corner, pausing now and then to exchange smiles for cheery greetings from their neighbors and friends. A car came up around a hairpin turn while they were in the middle of crossing the street and Ojos got between Anita and the vehicle, standing up on her hind legs as she glared at the car’s driver, who promptly hit the brakes — stopping just short of hitting the dog. The driver rolled down his window and would have yelled, but Ojos beat him to it, uttering a low, menacing growl from her massive jaws. The man gulped and rolled his window back up, keeping his car still as they passed.

“Oh, Ojos, you beautiful thing, you really shouldn’t be growling at people. They’ll think you want to hurt them. We both know what a sweetheart you are,” Anita chided Ojos, yet her voice was indulgent.

On the half-kilometer between house and market, Ojos had saved Anita from running children, a feral mongrel, pickpockets at the market entrance and one dead, flying milkfish that had slipped from the chopping block of an apprentice fishmonger (yum).

The walk back was just as adventurous among the scooter-riders and jaywalkers cutting in front of Ojos and Anita.

In the carinderia, Ojos’ harness was fitted with a tray, all the better to play waitress and bring people their orders. She fetched and carried and was rewarded with all the leftovers she could eat. People from all over the neighborhood came to Anita’s Carinderia as much to enjoy Ojos’ hospitality as to taste Anita’s heavenly home-cooking.

When night fell and Ojos had made sure Anita was safely in bed and sleeping. Ojos would stroll about the garden, chase the odd moth and sit, waiting for her friend Gabriel to pass by.

“Ah, Ojos, good evening. Tell me, how is Anita?”

Gabriel stood on the other side of the closed wrought iron of the garage gate, his halo lighting up the street like a lamp. He’d folded his pristine wings and sheathed his sword of flame, but the glow about him was a dead giveaway, jeans and t-shirt notwithstanding.

“Anita is fine and she sleeps peacefully,” Ojos said. “I don’t think the bad dreams are bothering her now.”

“That’s good to know, dear one. I just wish you’d come back with me. I am sure Anita can get another seeing-eye dog,” Gabriel said. “You do know that she has family?”

Ojos’ fur melted away, giving way to luminous skin, the dog-body melting into light and wings.

“Ah, yes, but a guardian angel is more than just family, Gabriel. You of all beings should know that. I chose Anita for her brave heart. How many people would go through her life with such kindness still intact? I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Goodnight.”

The light that was Ojos reverted to her dog form and walked to the porch, where Ojos laid her head on her paws and slept. Tomorrow would be another exciting day.