Going back in my time machine my first memory takes place Mid-January 1952.  My Dad had suddenly become very ill on New Years Eve, and was rushed to the hospital by the Morning of January 3rd, he was dead. Of Encephalitis, an infection of his brain

 

 There were 3 of us kids.my brother age 10, myself age 5, and little sis age 2.  About a week after the funeral, which I have no memory of, it was snowing hard and very cold, someone knocked on our front door a door we never used as it was very drafty  Mum had crammed folded newspapers into the cracks around it and under it to keep the cold air from coming inside.  We called to her and she came as we stood behind her she tugged the door open.  There wrapped in a dirty old towel was a small flea bitten dirty pup . The person had knocked, and when my Mom opened the door she saw a car driving off, I remember this as if it happened yesterday.. Its funny what kids remember, I have no memory of my Father or his funeral. But I remember that puppy. we named Tramp.

 

He had to have been part terrier and something else cause he had those folded down ears that stood up on his head. He was white with a brown cropped tail. And he was a wonder dog. Back then you could have dogs and let them run the streets of the small town where we lived. It was there where Tramp became a neighborhood dog. He would go and visit elderly neighbors who were sitting out on their porch's and just sit with them as they patted his head. Until they fell asleep in their rockers.  Everyday around 1 pm he would take his position at the end of our driveway. Sitting in front of the house when the mail man came by and walk down the block with the mail man waiting for him at each house as he delivered the mail, when he got to the corner of 3rd and Smiley Ave he would turn around and come home.. it was always 3rd and Smiley as if Tramp had his own route to walk.Rain snow sleet hail or sun it was his job.

 

  He was a pal, he was our friend, and he was our watch dog. One time he was caught in a dog fight, I was on my way to school and I saw this awful looking dog coming down the street all bloody with half an ear gone, and his back leg chewed up bad, it was Tramp he was so beat up I did not know it was him and just went on to school .  When I got home for lunch that day  we took him to the vet.  After  a week or two he was back to normal.but he always favored that chewed up leg.

 

 Tramp grew old, and grew up with us, we still had tramp when my first daughter was born. He slept most of the time in his old box in the bathroom he came out to eat and sometimes to just be with us spending quiet times. We had to put him down when he was 19 human years old. My daughter when she was 4 asked me.. What happened to that dead dog grandma used to keep in the bathroom. B then Tramp spent most of his days napping.

Tramp was a hero, he was a companion, a protector of property, a friend to the lonely, and travelers, he was a mutt, but was also the kind of dog that if he were human you would say he was a handsome man who had a flair with the women.. a little bit of tramp belonged to everyone, but he was a part of our family just as much as my siblings were a part of our family. We always talk about him when we have family gatherings.. IF dogs have souls we will meet again, I know