Chapter 3 Laddie

The Dogs' Home was only a few miles away and on a sunny Saturday morning Jack took Leonard and Leslie with him to choose their pet. That home was the local dustbin for all waifs and strays that any city throws up. There were large dogs, small dogs, and half-dogs. There were dogs with obvious pedigrees and there were mongrel dogs. There were sad dogs and happy dogs. There were dogs by the dozen

The boys spent hours walking up and down between the rows of kennels. First they chose that dog becuase he looked so sad and lonely. Then they wanted this dog because he looked so frisky and full of fun. In truth they wanted every dog they saw. It was all becomint rather impossible so Jack took the phlegmatic, pipe-smoking man who was in charge of the kennels to one side. Did he have, he asked, a dog that was gently, child-loving and house-trained? The man thought for a bit, looked at Jack and the boys and then pointed with his pipe. This way, he said.

They followed him away from the main rows of compounds to a kennel that stood back from the rest...and there he was. Large. Brown - and dejected. He was leaning against the wire as though he had all the cares in the world. He looked so utterly dejected and lost. He was a cross between and Irish Wolfhound and God knows what else. He had a blind eye and he was ugly. But on first sight they knew he had to be theirs.

He cost five shillings, and that included a second hand collar and lead which seemed fitting for such a second-hand dog. The man reckoned he was about two years, but you never could tell with one as crossbred as that, he told them.

They walked him home, the boys taking carefully worked out turns at who should hold the lead. Leonard could have him to the tird lamp-post and then it was Leslie's turn, and so on. He trotted besdie them as though he had been with them all his life. His head was held high and his tail wagged as though it would drop off . But their initial excitement was beginning to wear off as they neared home. What would Ann do? Jack had prepared the boys as best he could for the unltimate disappointment. If she rejected the dog completely then he would have to go back to the home.

The fateful moment was put off, in fact, because Ann was upstairs. The dog made himself immediately at home. He drank a pint of milk and polished off the dinners which the boys were too excited to eat...and curled himself up on the heart rug. Then Ann came into the room.

They waited for the screams, but no screams came. She just covered her eyes with her hands and fled back upstairs and wedged herself behind her cot. Jack and the boys took the dog for a walk round the neighbourhood and gave her time to come round.

When they got back she was sitting in her little chair playing with shells they had collected on that holiday of so long ago. As soon as she saw the dog she again covered her eyes and made for the stairs. But this time Jack held her. The dog stood looking at them, wagging his tail. Gently Ivy took the little girl's hand away from her eyes. They were tight shut. The boys brought the dog towards them and gently, ever so gently, Ivy forced Ann's hand in a stroking motion along his back. She continued to run her hand over that rough, matted hair and that wonderful creature put his head up and licked her face. Ann opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she pulled his ears and then she pulled his tail. She felt his legs and laughed with pleasure when he licked her hands.

And so started a beautiful companionship that was to last for twelve years. A miracle had happened. Ann's acute fear of dogs had vanished for ever. They called him Laddie and he turned out to be the most gently creatur one could imagine. She pulled oall over the house and not once did he resent it. He followed her everywhere and even stood guard when she was at the toilet. The loved him dearly and when he was not with Ann he would scramble and ramble with them through the woods. He became an honoured member of the little family.

When he died in January, 1971, there were tears of course. But he died at the end of a long life and a job well done. He had cured a little girl of a fear that pervaeded the corners of her mind for years and he brought joy to a family. No one would ever forget him.

The coming of Laddie seemed to heald a new upsurge in Ann's learning. She apperared to be more eager to go round the house with them in the endless task of having objects pointed out to her. Always Laddie was by her side and he in his strange way seemed to give her a new confidence.

It was slow, painstaking work. They would go for weeks without anything happening. Then she would lead them to something she wanted...always somethiing new. And so it went on. But there would be days when Ann became withdrawn and would sit rocking in that little chair, crying softly herself. It was as though she had withdrawn into that darkened little room in her mind where no one could follow. At moments like that they would leave her alone and let her cry for as long as she felt the need.

On one wonderful day Ivy could no longer bear the sight of that little weeping figure. She forgot all they had agreed and knelt down on the floor and put her arms round her daughter. Slowly Ann lifted her arms and put them round Ivy's neck and wept on her shoulder. They were all reduced to tears at that moment, but oh, how sweet they tasted.

They now began to notice that after these bouts of deep depression Ann would surge forward in her bid for knowledge.

It was after on of these two-day sessions of weeping that they discovered she had an ear for music. They had bought Leonard a transistor radio for his birthday. He carried it everywhere with him, and even took it to bed. But one morning he forgot to take it to school and Ann picked it up. She held it in ther hands and then quite by accident she switched it on. First she held it to one ear and then the other. When Ivy took it away from her she cried and Ivy handed it back.

Again Ann held it to her ear and sat in her chair. She didn't even rock as she heard the music flowing all around her. She smiled. A real smile of joy. when the music stopped she started to cry and even started to scream. But Ivy wasn't having any of that. She smaked her and made her listen to the radio again until there was more music.

After that she was encouraged to listen to the larger radio in the house. They put her chair close to the speaker and she spent hour upon hour listening to it. to their amazement she cried when it was some deeply moving passage of the classics, and she giggled with delight when it was pop.

Convinced that she could differentiate between sounds they bought her a mouth-organ and after weeks of patience the boys taught her to blow and suck. She was absolutley delighted with the different sounds she could make. But this time they were determined that it would not become just another of her obssessions. The boys were encouraged to take it from her whenever they felt like playing it. So in this way Ann learned, for the first time in her life, that certain objects had to be shared.

Jack and Ivy felt they were killing two birds with one stone. They had taught her that everything they gave her was not her own private possession and they were wure the blowing and sucking motion would help her if she ever tried to speak. The bouth-organ also proved to be a welcome break from the monotonouos lollypop sticks and the sea-shells as play things.

They wer not setting themselves up to be experts on backwad children, but they had every reason to beleive they were becoming experts on Ann.

Of course they tried not to delude themselves. There were many days when they were subjected to the screaming fits. When she would rock back and forward in her chair. She would still bang her head against the wall if they were not watching and tear her hair out in handfulls. And she would try to rip her clothes off.

Those days they would wonder just how far they had progressed. They would be plunged back into the self-doubht of whether or not they were doing the right thing. But as Ann's moods passed so would the doubts be replaced with the hard facts that they had at least accomplished something.

Soon after this Ivy decided to take Ann to the local shops for the first time. Ann had at last begun to accept the new clothes that had been bought for her and had been taught to wear them without protest, once again by the method of slapping her into submissioon. No matter how much it hurt their hearts to do it, they had to admit it worked.

On that Thursday morning the little girl looked a picture as she trotted beside her mother. To all intents and pruposes an attractive little girl out to help her Mummy with the shopping. Of course there was no conversation, and althoug proud Ivy tried to point things out to Ann she got no response.

But the idyllic situation lasted only until they got into the first ship - the grocer's. Ann immediately spotted the display of biscuits, rushed to it and picked up handfuls of biscuits. She sniffed them and them threw them in the air. Pandemonium. Ivy was horrifed and so was the grocer. He thought the child had gone mad, but after Ivy stumble through an explanation the man refused to take payment for the ruined biscuits.

Ivy for her part was determined that there would not be a repeat performance, and she was determined to make an example of Ann there and then. She took her by the hand and led her to the biscut display. She shook her and slapped her legs and told her she was a naughty girl.

When she was satisfied that Ann had understood as well as she could, Ivy once again apologised to the grocer and gathering up the remains of her shattered dignity she marched Ann from the shop. There were no futther incidents that day. But the following wee in the same grocer's shop Ann made a bee-line for the eggs and before anyone could stop her, smashed tow of them on the floor. This time Ivy gave her a good hard smack and they never had any more trouble.

(It's night night time...)