From the Tiger Beat Archives, May 1969
When Susie was with me my world was a happy place…But the day she left my world seem to crumble around me!
When I last left you, I was telling you about the time I nearly set my folks house on fire. Now ordinarily, my creative interests were spent on constructive, not destructive, things. But on this particular day my friend Billy and I were curious about whether or not some woods that lay near the incinerator would burn or not.
My dad had set the trash burning so Billy and I took one board and set it inside the lid of the incinerator. Well, the wood caught fire all right and we watched the flames dance with sheer delight. When the fire finally went out, we took the charred board and set it back on the woodpile. What we didn’t realize then was that one end of the board was still smoldering! I remember we were playing nearby and we looked over at the incinerator, the whole woodpile was on fire! That’s when I panicked!
CITY IN FLAMES
In my mind a flash darted through–I could see the whole city of Los Angeles on fire, from a little board I had set aflame! A second or so after the first shock was over, I began yelling for my dad. “Come quick, come quick!” And my dad came rushing out of the house with a look of horror on his face. I was just lucky that he was thinking fast because he really saved the day.
Billy and I were frantic and I didn’t know what to do, but dad ran back into the house and grabbed a blanket from the front hall closet and yelled to mom to get him some more. He dashed toward the incinerator and began beating against the wooden flames. Before long the fire was out, but my worries were not over. I knew I was going to be punished.
FINE LECTURE
I had gotten a spanking a few times before when I had been a bad boy, but I’d never done anything this serious and I knew it I was looking forward to a lot more than a spanking but instead my father just took me in my bedroom for the talk of my life!
He asked me why I had done it, and of course, my feeble excuse of curiosity was pretty poor. Even I knew that. So, he began to explain to me just how hard he and my mother had worked to provide a good home for me and how in just a few more minutes it would’ve gone up in flames along with the wood pile. After a few more choice comments my dad left me alone. There was really no need for a spanking. I felt worse than if I had had one. I felt very guilty about the whole matter for several weeks, but I think it was good for me, because I’ve always been very careful about fires and things I knew nothing about ever since.
NEW FRIEND
I promised you last month that I tell you about my favorite pup, Susie. If you remember, I love “building” things and when my parents gave me a junior carpenter set, I took it down to the corner where workmen were building a gas station and each day I would hammer nails into boards the men would hand me. It was on one of my “work” days that I met Susie.
I want to be just like the workmen I admired, so my mom would pack me a lunch and when the workmen would sit down in the shade and open their lunch pails, I’d do the same. Well, one day I was sitting there eating my sandwich and this little dog came up and got on her hind legs and started to beg for food. I was so intrigued with her little tricks to get my attention that I gave her a bit of my bread and a little piece of cookie from my lunch and she just hung around all that afternoon.
FOLLOWED ME HOME
I had never really taken to any pets like my sister had. My sister was always bringing home stray animals and “adopting” them into our family. But still, none of the pets ever interested me that much. When I left that day from the garage site, Susie was walking behind me. I don’t know whose dog she was so I didn’t really want to coax her into following me. Just the same, every few feet I’d look around to see if she was still there. Deep down inside, I felt drawn to her and I wanted very much for her to follow me home.
When we got home, I fixed her a bowl of milk and she drank it right down. She seemed hungry, and I guess someone had just lost her. “Lay down, girl,” I’d say. And she’d lay down. Every command I’d give her she already knew from the very first day, she was my “adopted” dog, because she never ran away. As soon as she’d see me coming home, she’d run outside and greet me down the street. The way it worked out, Susie and I just grew up together. I had Susie until she was 16 years old, and that’s really old for a dog.
FUN TOGETHER
Susie and I were really good pals, I taught her even more tricks than she already knew and she was just the smartest little dog! I can still remember so clearly the day we lost Susie. My sister had gotten married and one day my sister and brother-in-law had come over to the house. I was about 14. My mom had told me that Susie wasn’t acting right and that she was probably sick so I’d better take her to the veterinarian. I was the only one who she would let pick her up then, so I said okay.
I put her on the back seat of the car and hopped in the front with my brother-in-law. It seems strange, because he just kept looking back at Susie and he didn’t say a word. It was strange too, because Susie kept looking at me as if she knew there was something wrong. Just in Susie’s look, I began to feel that there was something wrong too. She had been part of my life for so many years that there seem to be a communication between us.
When we got to the vet’s on impulse I said, “I want to wait in the car.” A few minutes later my brother-in-law came out, climbed in the car and we drove off. He didn’t say a word to me, I just knew. I didn’t cry, though I felt like it, and I just began to recall all the old memories of things we did together. Things that I never really felt until then, because I knew she was dead.
Even today I think about Susie when I have to play a scene where I’m supposed to be sad, I just go away for a minute and I think about that day and it really brings me down so I can do the scene. To come out of that depressed feeling, I just think about all the wonderful times we had together and I’m happy once again.
In Chapter 4, I’ll tell you some more intimate stories from my past.
Bye babe, Bobby.
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