City Scenes: Volcanes
A car accident creates tragedy on a Friday afternoon in Oaxaca.
Note: this story discusses the accidental death of a stranger’s dog due to a traffic accident.
She sprinted across the playground, holding her dog in her arms.
The day was peaceful and the rays of sun splashing across the city were only interrupted by a gentle breeze which pushed a fluffy bank of clouds across the valley’s sky. In Colonia Volcanes, a neighborhood north of Oaxaca de Juárez’s center, it wasn’t yet rush hour, and so the broad, four-lane road divided by a wide, shady, tree-planted median was fairly peaceful. The large, fenced-in playground sat next to the road and before the woman burst into its interior the only movement came from a teenage girl wearing white pants and a red hoodie who looked down at her phone as she gently pushed herself backwards and forwards on a swing held up by chains turned red by rust.
The woman with the dog looked to be in her mid-20s, her clothing black, nose pierced, fierce, purple eye makeup smudged with tears. She ran into the road without looking, the normally busy streets empty at that moment. The white, fluffy dog in her arms was bleeding from its mouth, its limbs slack. The woman ran as fast as she could, screaming.
A stout, spiky-leafed palm tree obscured the sign attached to the front of her destination, a white building with a scalloped, cloth awning. Blocky red letters spelled out the word “VETERINARIA.”
She stood at the counter for ten minutes, and soon walked back in the direction she had come. In her arms was a black shoebox bulging at the sides, its narrow confines holding something slightly too large.
The girl crossed the street. The only sounds were the irregular rumble of traffic, a street vendor’s bell broadcasting the sale of hot, roasted corn, and the girl’s sorrow. She stood in the median again, paralyzed by grief. Her boyfriend waited for her across the street and soon she crossed into his arms. He held her tightly as she gripped the box.
The woman’s boyfriend put his left arm around her shoulder and pulled her close as they walked slowly through the playground and around the corner of a building, out of sight.
😞