Once upon a time, there was a boy who longed for a dog of
his own. One day when the boy was nine years old, a travelling funfair visited
the village where he lived. The fair arrived in large trucks and with the
trucks came the showmen in their caravans. Inside one of the caravans was a
litter of puppies. The boy enjoyed the brightly painted stalls and the rides,
but he quickly lost interest when he spied the puppies. The boy longed for a puppy of his own and
pleaded with his parents to let him have one. They refused… they didn't want a
dog, and besides the puppies were of an indeterminate breed and probably had
worms or worse! The fair moved on and the boy was heartbroken, and so began the
gradual capitulation of the hard-hearted parents. Soon a puppy of a pedigree
nature came to stay...
A puppy of a pedigree nature; A Beagle by the name of Kelso or Kelly as he became
known.
Never a fussy dog Kelly was happy to sleep
anywhere.
Kelly and the boy (centre) were inseparable.
Wherever the boy went Kelly went and whatever the boy had Kelly wanted ….
It wasn’t long before the hard-hearted mother fell under
Kelly’s spell and turned into a bit of a softy.
Time passed as time will, the boy grew up and Kelly
went to heaven. Soon the boy married and left home, and his parents missed him,
and they missed Kelly. But then Patch entered their lives, and it's difficult to be sad
with an eight-week old puppy about the place.
Patch liked to sleep on chairs and on loungers, but most of
all he liked the luxury of a lap.
Patch loved his new parents, but he missed his brothers and
sisters. He needed a playmate and so a second Cavalier King Charles Spaniel by
the name of Albe joined the family.
Albe liked to sleep anywhere, but sometimes he stayed awake
while his master slept!
Meanwhile, the boy now with two boys of his own
was enjoying the friendship of another dog.
Sadly when work took the boy and his family to live abroad, Rosie the
Cairn terrier couldn't go with them, and she went to live with the soft-hearted
parents. Before they left the boy and his family gave Rosie a special
pillow knowing she would be treated like a princess!
Princess Rosie loved to snooze, in her bed, under a desk, on
a chair, in a lounger or on a lap.
After a few years, Patch and Albe went to join Kelly in
heaven. Rosie grew old. She started to slow down. Her legs would no longer
carry her, and her eyes grew tired. The
vet suggested a pair of Doggles (doggy sun glasses) to keep the sun out of her
eyes. The indignity of it didn't spoil her enjoyment of life, and she
carried on for as long as she could, but eventually she too was called away.
The kind-hearted parents didn't want another dog. It might have worms or worse it might die.
But what of the boy? He is now a father
of four, two grown-up sons and two little girls. A beautiful dog by the name of
Nushka is part of the family, but the boy will never forget Kelly his puppy of
a pedigree nature.
Oh yes, the boy now lives in the land of Koalas,
kangaroos and other wondrous things and his parents get to visit, and they are all living happily ever after...
...but truth be told the soft-hearted parents would really like another dog...worms
and all!
Love is a four-legged word. Author unknown.
“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.” Robert Benchley (humorist and actor, Broadway Melody of 1938)
Update October 2016: Sadly, Nushka passed away a few weeks
ago. She will be missed by everyone who loved her.
Nushka
