It happened on July 2nd around 9:30 am.
It was a noise, so loud and unknown, that
no one could identify what it was.
One had to run…to run from something
unnamed and terrible.
When I opened my bedroom door, I saw the
street and a burned neighbor crying for help.
The stairs were filled with glass, wood and
debris. The phone call to 911 was messy: “An explosion, on Conde das Antas
Street, in Campolide it’s serious.” “We already know!”
Everything was black, and the fire was
starting, wrapped in an even darker smoke. Terrifying.
What about the grandson, who I had heard in
the backyard just before? He was alright, Anabela cried. “I heard a noise, a
candle fell on my nose, and I cried”. To take him away from the fire was
imperative; friends from the office appeared as by miracle in the garden and
came towards us; we left, towards the corner to peek at the fire.
Cars burning in the street, one first, then
another and another. A jeep burning beneath my window. How to avoid fire? A
hose? The house is going to burn…No one can think straight in these
circumstances.
A man filled with glass cuts laying on the
street. Ambulances arrive. The firefighters arrive and quickly put out the
fire.
We are together and each one tells her
story. Ana watched a bus stopped because someone had their car blocking its way
and opened the window. The explosion threw her underneath another desk and
filled her with glasses, she fainted but, Sofia, who had also been hit by
glasses, came to her aid, and both were unharmed, other than a small pain
resulting from the fall. Ana V. entered the corner where the computers are
seconds before the explosion, which meant she saved herself from all debris
thrown like bullets. Teresa and Vera had just left, a minute before the
explosion and when it happened, they were safe on the next street. Deolinda was
in the gym and ran towards the others. They ran to the garden in search of a
safe haven. Everybody was alright.
There weren’t any patients in the Office.
The one who had just made an exam had just left, the one who had an EEG
appointment at 9:30 had canceled, another forgot her consultation. For
unexplained reasons, I had canceled that day’s appointments.
I now look back. I was feeling a bit lazy
and took longer to get up, and it was those precise seconds that saved me from
a rather certain death. We had all escaped by a narrow edge.
This street, where there’s usually a fair
amount of traffic was empty, no cars were passing by when the explosion
happened. The bus went on his way moments before, taking all its passengers
with him.
A neighbor, whose jeep burned, harassed
himself for a moment, then looked to his parents’ home completely destroyed an
thought: “They went away in vacation just yesterday and are all right. What a
relief!”
An elderly grandmother had just gone
somewhere with her grandson, took a bit longer than she should have coming
back; she was on the corner of the street, away and safe from any danger.
The destruction was monumental, doors,
glass and windows had disappeared in three buildings; the fire had ravaged the street, there were broken glasses in many
locations through the surrounding streets.
Many helped us: our neighborhood’s
delegate, Dr. André Couto, was flawless, and like him, both his staff, the
Police and the civil protection.
I thought how good it was to have a 19th
and 20th century house, with such sound foundations, whose structure
resisted the impact, and I mentally thanked the Pereira Coutinho family.
Friends called giving comfort and asking
“What can I do?” It was good, very good.
I called my daughter and my son-in-law. “It
was bad…” They rushed over to give an enormous help and an invaluable support.
But we were alright, protected by forces
bigger than ourselves and that, one by one, took care of us. Without a single
injury in a sea of debris.
The guardian angels had protected the
Practice and had taken care of us.
A deep appreciation; a deeper gratitude,
because as we pray in the “Our Father”, “we had been delivered from Evil”.
When I am told “What bad luck!” I think,
“No, we were very lucky!”
And this is how, together, we are putting
things back up, as a strong and united team.
And today, now that the worse is behind us,
I feel the guardian angel’s protection hovering over this house and quietly go
to sleep.
Professor Teresa Paiva
Lisbon, July 11 2013
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