Life lessons to humanity by two sweet animals, Semira and Pluto.

SYNOPSIS:

A comedy ending in drama.

Hermoupolis, Syros island, Cyclades, Greece, 19th century. Hermoupolis port is a stopover for Royal Navy ships on their way to the Crimean war. Prostitution is thriving and Hermoupolis hospital is busy treating venereal diseases. At the same time Syros offers a safe haven to Italians fleeing the uprising struggle in their homeland. Emmanuel and Demetrius, two 16 year old school friends, go through maturity in the flourishing society of Hermoupolis. However their soul blossoms through the life lessons received from two animal friends, who sacrifice their lives in the name of teaching humanity a lesson, Semira and Pluto.

Semira is a female cat in the Greek-American Lyceum of Hermoupolis. The cat has a deadly enemy in the school, the school housekeeper. The reason is that she has the habit of lying on the Victorian canopy bed, covered with luscious bed covers, which are embroidered patiently by the housekeeper herself. No one has ever rested or slept on the bed, because it is saved for the occasion when the housekeeper and her prospective groom would climb on it with the permission of the bishop and the blessing of the Pope. The pupils nicknamed the housekeeper “the Ogress” due to her giant size. Of all the similarities to the cat, which the ancients aspired to adopt, the “Ogress” has only one. Not of course the agility, the charm, the smoothness of the skin, the sparkling of the eyes, the grace of movement, the lightsomeness of her step or the rosy colour of the lips, but sufficiently thick whiskers above them. The pupils are entertained by the daily ogress-cat duels. The character of the spinster attracts the ridicule of the pupils in the form of poetic and prosaic statements of ardent love. These love letters, through which, above all, her whiskers are mostly praised, cause her to report with rage to the acting headmaster, Mr. Fabricius, who finds it difficult to restrain his laughter, during the process of reprimanding the culprits in front of the pupil assemblies. Comical scenes take place with the Ogress chasing Semira off her bed, culminating in the scene when the pupils place secretly her beloved newly bought Gainsborough hat under the bed covers, making her believe that the cat is sleeping there. The Ogress grabs a broomstick and moving quietly on the tips of her tows, hits the bulge with ferocious rage, only to discover under the bedcovers, the squalid remnant of her own beloved hat instead of the corpse of the cat. Interrogations are carried out the next day to discover who placed the brayed hat under the bed covers, without success. This is considered by everybody a great for the culprit good fortune, because three days later, Semira is drawn out of the water well, dead, in front of the grieving pupils.

As life in the company of Semira leaves an unforgettable impression in the souls of the pupils, the life of Pluto the dog unfolds and creates a scar in their psyche. Pluto, a hairy Barbet dog, is part of the troupe of a small Italian street circus, performing in the square of Hermoupolis, just opposite the school. Among the acts are stunts, magic tricks, ball juggling, human pyramids and the swallowing of flames by the leader, a former garibaldian sergeant Giamvatista, and mortal jumps, dancing over eggs and dislocations of the joints performed by his son Carlos. For the locals Pluto is the main attraction, performing tricks like the mimicking of pope Pius Nine blessing the crowd, awarding the beauty prize to the most attractive laundress or nanny, but above all, with a basket in his mouth, collecting the money at the end of the show and bowing in front of the crowd. The pupils adore Pluto who sometimes visits them in the school yard and even in the classrooms during lessons.

On a certain ill-omened day Giamvatista falls and fractures both of his legs while performing the pyramid stunt and it becomes necessary to have them amputated in the hospital. Pluto keeps company to his suffering master but another patient, aware of the money collecting ability of Pluto, manages to abduct the dog and take him to a nearby village. Giamvatista eventually dies and is buried. Meanwhile Pluto escapes from his abductor and runs back to the hospital in search of his master. Unfortunately at the hospital he is taken by a trainee doctor who is carrying out research into the incision of living beings, to find out the effects this would have on internal organs. That abominable man grabs the unsuspecting animal, ties it to the anatomical table and starts making incisions to his flesh. While he is carrying out his loathsome exercises, Carlos returns to the hospital to collect the meagre paternal inheritance. The pain caused by the knife and the sense of Carlos’ arrival, gives Pluto enough strength to break the ties and to push under the door his hairy and full of blood paw. Pluto is rescued, given treatment and food and placed in a store room to rest. It was however impossible for the dog to find peace without his senior master. He manages to escape and having his nose as a guide, follows the way to the cemetery. The ailing and bizarre look of the covered in blood stained bandages dog, attracts the attention of passers by and raises the remorseless cruelty of some young boys who start running after Pluto, shouting and throwing stones at him. At that time the pupils come out of the school for their usual evening walk and all run in aid of their endangered and beloved friend. But it was too late. Pluto, whose remaining strength is exhausted by the long run, the fear and the stoning, falls dead near the gate of the cemetery, expiring on Carlos’ knees, just managing to lick the hands of his young master, casting his last piercing glances on the inconsolable Emmanuel and Demetrius. Collecting through a whip round three drachmas, the pupils manage to persuade the undertaker to bury Pluto in a small grave outside the cemetery, since the priest refuses to bury him with his master, for the reason that four legged animals cannot be buried in a cemetery destined for two legged animals.

SEMIRA AND PLUTO