The CUF Descobertas hospital, in Lisbon, received an unusual request about a week ago. Assistant and person in charge of the writer Nélida Piñon, hospitalized there since the first day of December, Karla Vasconcelos insisted so much that she succeeded: the clinic made an exception and authorized the dogs Suzy and Pilara to visit the writer in her room. The reunion took place last Saturday (17), in the morning. Nélida, 85, died hours later, in the late afternoon." The girls" is how the faithful assistant and friend of the writer refers to the pinscher Suzy, 13, and the chihuahua Pilara, 3. The couple who went to say goodbye to the writer on her deathbed are treated like people by the Piñon family -and it's not just a matter of words. Far from it.
Before dying, a victim of complications from gallbladder surgery, Nélida made it clear in her will that the two are the owners of the four apartments she has in the same building, a luxury building on the edge of Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, in the south zone of Rio. "I manage everything but they are the real heirs", says Karla. "So much so that it says that the apartments cannot be sold while the girls are alive. It is their house, their property".
Translated by Cassy Dias