Roni Moore Children's Stories
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Sally’s Gift
Kristy was six years old, she lived with her Mummy, Daddy and their
little dog, Sally. Sally had been her Mummy’s dog and had come to live
with Kristy’s Mummy, Jane, when she was ten, and Sally was six weeks
old. Kristy had seen photos of Jane as a little girl, and Sally as a
tiny, fluffy puppy. Although she was older now she was still a happy
bouncy dog and Kristy loved her as much as her Mummy did. Every evening,
when Kristy finished school, Sally and her Mummy would be outside
waiting for her and if it wasn’t raining they would go to the park and
run around having fun before going home to tea.
Mummy had told Kristy about the day she had got Sally. She told her,
since she was eight-years-old she had begged her mother for a puppy but
her mother had said she could have one when she was old enough to look
after a dog properly, as it was a living creature and you can’t get
bored with it once you have it. Jane told Kristy her mother had been
right because when she was ten-years-old her aunt’s dog gave birth to a
litter of puppies, again she begged her mother to let her have one. At
last her mother said she could as her aunt’s dog was only small; and on
the condition she looked after it herself. So they went to see the
puppies. There were six of them, all brown and fluffy. Four boys and two
girls. They were all wriggly and yappy but when Jane sat on the floor
one of the puppies came to her, curled up on her lap and looked into her
eyes as if to say ‘I’ve chosen you, please take me home.’ So Jane told
her mother she wanted this one and wasted no time naming her Sally. She
wanted to take her home right away but her mother and aunt said she
would have to prepare for her first.
Jane found out getting a pet could be very expensive. Jane was lucky
because her aunt gave Sally to her for nothing but they had to buy a bed
and blanket to keep her warm and comfy, a brush to keep her coat nice
and clean, and collar and lead to take her for walks after she had her
inoculations (her aunt had told her she couldn’t take Sally for a walk
until she had her shots). She would have these at three months old. They
were a course of three injections to stop her getting certain diseases,
then one every year after that. Then the day came to get Sally, who was
very happy to see Jane, yapping and wagging her tail like mad. When Jane
picked her up she licked her face all over making Jane giggle. Jane soon
found out her mother and aunt were right about a puppy being hard work.
First she had to train Sally to ask when she wanted to go to the toilet
and there were a few ‘accidents.’ But she was a clever little dog and
soon learned what to do. Then she was trained to walk on a lead. She
didn’t like her collar much at first as it itched a bit, but she soon
got used to it. Then she had to learn to sit and stay, and lie down and
stay; but she learned all this very quickly as she loved being taught by
Jane. Now, fifteen years later, Sally was old but was still a cleaver,
loyal little dog and Kristy loved her as much as her Mummy did.
One day when Kristy came out of school her Mummy was waiting for her but
she didn’t have Sally with her. When asked where Sally was her Mummy
said she wasn’t very well had been left at home to rest. They went
straight home see her. Over the next few days Sally got worse and they
took her to see the vet, who said she had to stay with him for a couple
of days to have some tests. Kristy was very frightened and upset. Sally
had only ever been to the vet’s when she had to have her injections. She
had never been ill. Kirsty couldn’t understand why the vet said Sally
was very old, she was only fifteen. Wasn’t her cousin Abby 15-years-old
and she was still young. Daddy took Kristy on his lap and told her that
dogs were different from people. They grew up much faster than children
and by the time a dog was one-year-old in peoples years they were the
same age as a seven-year-old. This meant they got older much quicker
than people did. This helped Kristy understand but she was still upset.
The vet rang her Mummy and told her that he had sad news. Sally was very
ill and as she was so old she wouldn’t get better. Daddy again sat
Kristy on his lap and told her Sally had reached the end of her life and
it was kinder that the vet let her go to sleep forever. Kristy cried and
cried. She didn’t want to lose Sally. Her Mummy told her, with a tear in
her eye, that she didn’t want to lose Sally either but she was very old
and if she was a lady she would be one hundred and five-years-old; and
Sally was in a lot of pain and although she wouldn’t want to leave them
she would think it was kinder for them to let her go to doggy heaven
where she wouldn’t be old or sick anymore. She would be with them always
in their hearts. So Kristy went to the vet’s office to say goodbye to
her beloved Sally. Then Daddy took her home but Mummy stayed with Sally
until she went to sleep for the last time. It was a very sad for all of
them and Daddy arranged for a special doggy funeral. Sally had a small
grave with a head stone that said: ‘Sally, faithful until the end,
always in our hearts.’ Poor Kristy was so sad. It was the school summer
holidays but she was too sad to go out. One day Mummy and Daddy said
they were going to take her somewhere and they all got in the car and
went to the local animal rescue centre. When they arrived Daddy said
they were all sad Sally had died but she was very lucky as she always
had people who loved her, not all dogs are as lucky. He told her that he
and Mummy had decided that Sally would want them to give another little
dog a happy home like she had had all her life. They went inside and a
man took them to a long room with kennels down both sides. Kristy was
still very sad and missed Sally dreadfully. She walked along the
kennels, with her parents, hardly looking at the excited dogs, all
jumping and barking. As they reached the last kennel Kristy saw a little
brown fluffy dog who just sat looking through the wire. Kristy put her
hand out and the little dog gently lick her fingers. The man asked them
if they wanted to see her out of the cage. He told them that she was so
sad as she was only a year old and had lived with an old lady who died,
leaving her alone. He opened the door and the dog slowly came out of the
kennel. Kristy sat on the floor, like her Mummy all those years before,
and, like Sally, the little dog climbed into Kristy’s lap and looked
into her eyes. This little dog was so much like Sally, except she was a
bit smaller. Mummy asked the man her name. He told them her previous
owner had named her Susie but they could change it if they wanted to.
Kristy said: no she didn’t want to change her name as she was sure that
Sally had sent her to them to love. As she said it Susie put her paws on
Kristy’s chest and licked her face as if to say ‘yes, she did.’ Kristy
smiled for the first time in days and said: ‘come on, Susie, lets go
home.’