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Sweetpea, the dog
Since I've been here, one of my most constant companions, albeit from afar, has been Sweetpea. She's the dog that lives on the roof across from me. I think I mentioned early on in my stay about the misadventures of a piece of baguette. It was my first foray in an attempt to feed the dog I had named Sweetpea. The bread ended up in someone's courtyard rather than on the roof for the dog. And I was left mortified. Later I saw that whoever had received the bread had thrown it onto the roof for Sweetpea. After that my aim improved tremendously. I started buying boxes of dog treats at the supermarket and anytime people came over they asked if I had a dog. They thought I was crazy feeding the neighbor's dog. But Sweetpea was what I call a "roof dog," an outside dog, scraggly and underfed. And she had the sweetest face (that's where the name came from) and bright, intense wolf-like eyes. Sweetpea and I developed a relationship. I would come home in the evenings and call her, she came and I would throw her treats. Every now and then I would try and find somewhere where I could try to reach up to the roof and scratch her nose. She would start whining and I would just murmur words in English to her. People don't like dogs here and they're treated very badly for the most part. Kids throw stones at them, scream at them, and beat them. A couple of weeks ago I saw a big white dog on a leash down at the beach. I had gone to my window because I had heard a dog cry. I looked out and there was this dog being beaten silly by a man with a huge stick. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was going to be sick. Cats, on the other hand, are treated relatively well. And of course there's the cat man. So I try at least to give one dog some love. There has only been one time when I saw Sweetpea off her roof. She was running around and seemed scared, but she came right to me. I pulled off some ticks, gave her a few pats and sent her on her way. A few nights ago I woke up around 3 a.m. and heard Sweetpea cry, as if in pain, then cry again, then nothing. Ten minutes later, another cry. So, I threw on some clothes and went out to find out what was going on. It was kind of strange being in the Oudayas (the name of the Kasbah) in the middle of the night so incredibly quiet, but also incredibly peaceful. I started walking down my street (there is no traffic in the Oudayas so it's really like walking down little alleyways) and looked down towards Sweetpea's house. She was just lying there but immediately saw me and came running to me. So I heard her owner calling her, so I tried to kind of hide, but Sweetpea would have none of that...she was in play mode at 3 in the morning. As her owner came up the street, Sweetpea took off the other way. I followed her for a bit until her owner said to just let her go, that she wanted to go for a walk. I explained that I had heard her crying and that's why I was outside at 3 a.m. He told me that the dog just wanted to go to the beach and run around. I was dubious and was certain that he had been hitting her. Well, long story short, I ended up gabbing to her owner for about 30 minutes. A few meters away the Cat Man was sitting by the garbage surrounded by cats and apparently cooking something on a portable gas stove, two big pots sitting on the concrete. I watched him drain one of them into the sewer grate. The whole scene was surreal. There I was in the middle of the night -- just me, a one-toothed man I suspected of beating his dog, the Cat Man, Sweetpea and a gazillion cats. It turns out Sweetpea's owner speaks excellent English (very rare for Morocco). When I discovered this, I was a bit worried that he had perhaps heard me cuss him when I saw Sweetpea uncared for and if, perhaps, that's why he had always glared at me anytime I saw him. In any case, while I still think he beats her somewhat and she doesn't get the best care in the world, he does seem to love her in his own way. While I've heard only negative things about this man, he seems to be yet another interesting Kasbah resident. He has traveled all over including to Canada and the US and has spent two years in jail here in Morocco for what I understood to be possession of hashish and hasn't left Morocco now in over 20 years. As we stood there talking Sweetpea ran insanely around the Oudayas, periodically sprinting frantically as she chased the cats. Finally, I bid the man good night and crawled back to bed. Early this morning I heard the same crying sounds but smiled when I heard Sweetpea off the roof, in the streets and chasing some terrorized cat. I drifted back to sleep. As I began to write this (and my plan had been to write about Sweetpea) I heard a young boy say "seer, seer go, go." I immediately knew he must be talking to a dog. I looked out and sure enough there was Sweetpea dodging a well-aimed rock. I ran out and told the boy not to do that, that Sweetpea wouldn't hurt him. He didn't believe me even as I stood there patting the dog on her furry head. The boy turned around and went home. Ten minutes later he came back armed with even bigger stones. I couldn't believe it. I told him to put them down, that the dog was more afraid of him then he was of her. So this morning has been spent with me running in and out of the house to play with the dog. She's also learned how to push my front door open and to let herself in. All she wants to do is play and to be loved. I'm off to Algeria for 10 days to do several workshops there. Then back to Rabat before I'm home, back in the U.S. So my time in Morocco is very quickly coming to an end. And I just keep hoping that someone will take care of Sweetpea. But somehow, I don't think I need to worry. Rachid, another neighbor, saw me today as I was playing with Sweetpea. He reeked of alcohol (he's told me he is an alcoholic) but was thrilled to see Sweetpea and proudly told me that he feeds her! I couldn't believe it. I thought he didn't like her and was afraid of her. Sweetpea just let herself in again, and then started whining. I went down to look. The Cat Man had arrived. I went out to say hello, as did Sweetpea. He gave Sweetpea a bag of bones and as she was about to dive in one of the cats took a swipe at her. The Cat Man started berating the cat. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked me if I would take the bag of bones and feed Sweetpea. "Gladly," I said. So it's been an interesting week of animals and middle of the night adventures. And I'm finally relieved that Sweetpea will be taken care of when I leave. She actually had a bit of a gut on her today! Hope you're all well fed and happy.
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Previous Columns
Leaving Morocco
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