Salió con su perro blanco para dar el paseo de siempre, todo era rutinario, sin embargo, no faltaba alguien que se acercara y me preguntaba:

—¿Que raza es?
—No lo sé, — esa era la misma respuesta que siempre daba, pero aquel animal llamaba mucho la atención por su belleza, todavía tengo presente el recuerdo de su llegada, mi papá se preparaba para ir al trabajo y cuando abrió la puerta vio que el cielo estaba muy nublado, yo me preparaba para ir a mi colegio, cerró la puerta y me hizo un gesto negativo con la cabeza.

—Esto está feo, hijo, — me dijo, —va caer un aguacero.
Me asomé y tenía razón ya empezaban a caer las primeras gotas, el cielo estaba muy gris.
—¿No vas a ir a trabajar?
—Esperaré un rato, hace viento a lo mejor pasa rápido, luego me iré.

Las gotas que caían, parecían que iban a agujerear el techo, el viento silbaba con fuerza, sacudía los techos y arrastraba la basura que recogía de las calles. Unos golpes en la puerta nos alertaron, llamaban con urgencia a mi papá.

—¡Señor Cirilo, necesitamos que nos ayude! ¡Un árbol cayó en la casa de la viejita María!...
—¡Voy! ¡Quédate aquí hijo y no salgas!

Abrió y salió con mucha prisa, miraba por la ventana, el aguacero estaba más fuerte y sentía miedo, por la calle iba creciendo la cantidad de agua, siempre se llenaba, pero esa vez era demasiada agua, no se veía las aceras y el agua golpeaba las puertas tratando de entrar, eso empezó a asustarme, luego me llegó ese ruido que raspaba la madera, golpeaba con fuerza.

Trataba de ver por la ventana, pero no distinguía nada, así que decidí abrir la puerta y en un poco de basura acumulada, vi que algo se movía, pero el agua lo fue arrastrando, entonces pude ver una cabeza que trataba de salir de entre la basura, así que salí y corrí para agarrarlo, apenas lo pude sostener y el agua me tumbó y empezó a arrástrame, me asusté, no podía pararme, iba a gritar y en ese momento sentí que alguien me agarró y me arrastró con fuerza, cuando pude ver, era mi papa, que cansado, me dejó caer sobre el piso.

—Te dije que no salieras, me has dado tremendo susto.
No sé si mi papa lloraba o era la lluvia bajando por su rostro.
—Quería salvarlo, —le dije y le mostré el animalito que todavía no reaccionaba.
—Está bien hijo, por lo menos pudiste salvarlo, la viejita María no tuvo la misma suerte.

Miré al perrito, no se veía tan lindo, casi no tenía pelos y sangraba por unas heridas, pero ya empezaba a moverse. Mi papá comenzó a cantar aquella canción, esa que dice, “la vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida” de Rubén Blades, luego lloró un buen rato.

No le pregunté nada, solo imaginé que era por mí, porque pudo llegar a tiempo y también por qué no pudieron rescatar a la viejita María.

Nunca supe de quién era aquel perro, pero se convirtió en un hermoso perro blanco que me acompaña a todos lados, cada mañana que salgo a caminar voy a la casa de mi papá, siempre me espera con la taza de café y un aperitivo para el perro, lo acaricia y lo abraza, luego susurra la canción: “la vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida”, veo que aún se le salen las lágrimas.

He went out with his white dog for the usual walk, everything was routine, however, there was no lack of someone coming up to me and asking:

—What breed is it?
—I don't know, -that was the same answer I always gave, but that animal attracted a lot of attention because of its beauty, I still have the memory of its arrival, my dad was getting ready to go to work and when he opened the door he saw that the sky was very cloudy, I was getting ready to go to school, he closed the door and made me a negative gesture with his head.

—This is bad, son, —he said, —it's going to rain.

I looked out and he was right, the first drops were already beginning to fall, and the sky was very gray.

—Aren't you going to work?
—I'll wait a while, it's windy, maybe it will pass quickly, then I'll go.

The drops that fell seemed to pierce the roof, the wind whistled strongly, it shook the roofs and dragged the garbage that it picked up from the streets. Some knocks on the door alerted us, they were urgently calling my dad.

—Mr. Cirilo, we need your help! A tree fell on old María's house!
—I'm coming! Stay here son and don't go out!

He opened the door and went out in a hurry, I was looking out the window, the downpour was getting stronger and I felt afraid, the amount of water on the street was increasing, it always filled up, but this time it was too much water, you couldn't see the sidewalks and the water was hitting the doors trying to get in, that started to scare me, then I got that noise that was scraping the wood, it was hitting hard.

I tried to look out the window, but I couldn't make out anything, so I decided to open the door and in some accumulated garbage, I saw something moving, but the water was dragging it, then I could see a head trying to get out of the garbage, so I went out and ran to grab it, I could barely hold it and the water knocked me down and started to drag me, I got scared, I couldn't stand up, I was going to scream and at that moment I felt someone grab me and drag me with force, when I could see, it was my dad, who tired, let me fall on the floor.

—I told you not to go out, you scared the hell out of me.

I don't know if my dad was crying or if it was the rain running down his face.
—I wanted to save it, —I told him and showed him the little animal that still didn't react.

—It's okay son, at least you were able to save it, old Maria was not as lucky.
I looked at the little dog, it didn't look so cute, it had almost no hair and was bleeding from some wounds, but it was starting to move. My dad started singing that song, the one that says, "la vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida" by Rubén Blades, then he cried for a long time.

I didn't ask him anything, I just imagined it was for me because he was able to get there in time and also because they couldn't rescue old Maria.
I never knew who that dog belonged to, but he became a beautiful white dog that accompanies me everywhere, every morning when I go for a walk I go to my dad's house, and he always waits for me with a cup of coffee and a snack for the dog, he caresses him and hugs him, then he whispers the song: "life gives you surprises, life gives you surprises", I see that tears are still coming out of his eyes.