She rested her wet chin on my knee.
The dog, terrified by the water, had stayed there because, this time, the one who was afraid was me.
It was at that moment that I understood.
I wasn’t just helping him heal.
We were waiting for each other.
Tiny but decisive progress
Autumn has arrived.
We tidied up the pool.
When spring returned, I opened the shed.
Grazia arrived running.
She sniffed under the door.
Then she looked at me.
« Do you really want that one? »
Its tail twitched.
That wasn’t courage yet.
It was curiosity.
And that was already a lot.
By the second summer, the water was up to her knees.
Grazia learned that a ball could float without disappearing.
That a wet sponge placed on his back was not a threat.
That she could enter.
And above all, that she could go out again.
For my part, I had started to participate in a small group bringing together people who had lost loved ones in water-related accidents.
The first time, I only gave my first name.
The second time, I talked about Paolo.
Thirdly, I admitted that going into the canal to save Grazia did not make me feel brave.
« I was terrified. »
A man sitting opposite me replied:
« Courage is often simply fear continuing to move forward. »
I didn’t reply.
But I took that phrase with me.
Laura, Grazia and the words « Still here »
Laura continued to see Grazia.
Once a month, when she could.
She never asked to take it back.
Not because she didn’t love him.
Precisely because she loved him.
In the meantime, she had found a stable job and was helping other people in the neighborhood find temporary solutions for their animals when their family was going through a difficult time.
The name of this initiative came from a medal she had given to Grazia.
Two words were engraved there:
STILL HERE.
When Grazia walked, the medal jingled.
At night, if I heard him passing in the corridor, that sound reassured me.
Here again.
She.
Laura.
Me.
All survivors of something that, for a time, had made us believe there was no way out.
The day Grazia swam of her own free will
Then came an afternoon that none of us have forgotten.
It was at the end of August.
Enzo had come to eat something in the garden.
Chiara was there with her partner.
Laura had brought a lemon tart.
Mirella, of course, had arrived uninvited, declaring that « a pie without coffee is a sin. »
Grazia had played for about ten minutes in the blue pool.
The water came slightly above her knees.
At one point, I got out of the pool to go sit down.
His red ball had remained in the middle.
The wind pushed her a little further.
Grazia has entered.
One step.
Two.
Three.
The water reached his chest.
Everyone fell silent.
She stretched out her muzzle.
She couldn’t reach the ball.
To retrieve it, she had to leave the bottom for a moment.
I got up.
Chiara grabbed my arm.
» Dad. «
» What ? «
« Let her choose. »
I remained motionless.
Grazia watched the ball.
Then she looked at me.
I didn’t call her.
I did not extend my hands.
I didn’t promise a biscuit.
She pushed her body forward.
For a second, its front paws left the bottom.
She started to shake them.
She splashed water everywhere.
Her muzzle was splashed and she stopped.
I thought she was going to come out again.
But she continued.
She hit the ball.
She grabbed it between her teeth.
Then she did something that no one expected.
She did not immediately return to the edge.
She turned around.
Then another one.
Its tail was hitting the water.
Finally, she barked.
A full, almost joyful bark.
Mirella started to cry.
Enzo turned away, pretending to look for something on the table.
Laura covered her mouth with both hands.
I remained motionless.
Grazia is out.
She dropped the ball at my feet.
She shook herself, splashing everyone.
Then she went back to her place in front of the pool.
She was waiting.
I picked up the ball.
I showed it to him.
« Are you sure? »
Its tail began to wiggle.
I threw the ball.
Grazia went back into the water.
Not because someone had ordered him to.
Because she wanted to.
By that evening, the whole neighborhood knew the story.
Mirella had told the baker about it.
The baker’s wife to her husband.
Her husband at the cafe.
According to them, Grazia had almost swum across the Adriatic.
I laughed about it.
But deep down, I knew that something truly immense had just happened.
Grazia hadn’t forgotten the canal.
His fear had not disappeared.
She had simply created another memory to place next to the first.
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