Kerry Wright
with Toots
Mactier Street, Narrabeen
1960
When I was 7 my big brother, Robert, aged 19, brought home a tiny puppy and begged Mum to allow him to keep her.
Robert claimed the puppy had followed him home, to which Mum responded, "What, on the bus?" Mum had four sons. She'd heard it all before.
At first Mum said no, but soon relented under the weight of ever increasing emotional pressure from Robert, and his assurance that he would take full responsibility for the care and feeding of the puppy.
Soon after, Robert left home to make his own way in the world, and I adopted the puppy.
We had called her Toots because she had such large paws.
Toots and I soon became inseparable. We went everywhere together. She was my best friend.
It broke my heart when she died of cancer when I was 14.
