BeBe
Melanie and Sheri were in Jr. High. Dad and mom got a poodle named Bebe. She came from Manchester, Tennessee, from Abe and Liz Davis. We knew the Davis family from school, and Mr. Davis was one of dad's best friends, and brought the bread to the Minit Saver, dad's store. He was with American Bread Company, later called, Sunbeam. That's the only bread we sold. Dad was loyal to Mr. Davis, and Mr. Davis was really good to our dad.
Bebe was happy inside or outside. When she was outside, she would circle the house to find Melanie and Sheri's window. Bebe would jump straight up and look in. Once they saw her, they pushed the window up. On the next jump, they would grab her mid air, and get her inside.
Another memory of us and Bebe. We got on mom's nerves late at night. Her way of getting us settled down was to try to wear us out. So she sent us outside to run sround the house five or ten times. This probably helped my mom more than it did us kids, as she had some time to re-group. Dewy grass, pajamas, bare feet, and corner lights on the house. It did the opposite of wearing us out. With Bebe beside us, the race was on. Those night time runs around the house hyped us all up.
Bebe being a small dog, got to go on vacations with us. That was something new, and interesting and we loved it.
Alfie
Alfie was a little white, male poodle. Bebe was getting old, and he was her new playmate. Alfie and Bebe loved the country life. Chasing birds and squirrels, and rolling in fresh manure. Then getting a bath and repeating the cycle. They both trotted around like they were big strong dogs, but they were very small.
Alfie was a Methodist.
When dad had his stroke, in July, 1988, Alfie was mom and dad's only dog. Dad was at parkview Hospital for 63 days. Some of that in intensive care, the rest in stroke Center Rehab. Melanie and Sheri got the idea of sneaking Alfie in to the hospital to see dad. Since Alfie almost never barked, we might get away with it. We got him to Nashville no problem, then into a big shoulder bag one of the girls carried, and into dad's room. Dad was so excited to see Alfie, and Alfie behaved perfectly. Little things like that helped dad get better.
Melanie lived in Nashville at Hickory Club apartments. It was up the hill on the right, past Hickory Hollow Mall, on Bell Road. It was late, on a Friday night, and were there to spend the night. Before we got to bed, Alfie needed to go outside to use the bathroom. He was usually good off leash, and stayed with his person. Well, Alfie got a sniff of something and took off. Melanie's apartment was at the very back of the complex. The last we saw of Alfie that night was him running into the night, toward the overgrown power line right of way, and some distant farm land.
We hollered, and walked, and looked for him. Nothing. We were heartbroke. How could he survive the night in Nashville? The next morning, still no Alfie. We walked, and drove around the complex. Then we drove up and down Bell road. We worried we would find him ran over, but we didn't. Saturday came and went. Back at the hospital, visiting with dad, we didn't tell him that Alfie ran off. We all acted like everything was ok.
Saturday night, we searched again. Nothing. He had been gone 24 hours. A little country puppy in big busy Nashville. We just knew he was gone for good.
Sunday morning, we went out again, walking, and hollering his name. Mom and the girls had the idea of driving around again. Mom went Bell Road up and over the hill to Murfreesboro road. She turned right and went about a half mile, then pulled into the back parking lot at the Hamilton United Methodist Church to turn around.
We were all facing the fact that he was gone.
There, in the distance, on the other side of the parking lot, they saw a familiar, dirty little, white poodle. Alfie saw them, and he came running. With his usual prancing and hopping, he now had a pretty bad limp.
With tears of joy, we got him in the car. It was a miracle. Alfie was exhausted. He got a good bath, and we removed cuckleboros and stick tights, and much dirt. He had a limp after that, and his hip was never quite the same. We wonder about the details of his 36 hours on the run in Nashville. If only he could tell us about his survival experience. We were amazed that he made it and wondered how many times he crossed Murfreesboro road. Many prayers were answered.
One thing we never doubted after that. Alfie, was a Methodist.
A.J.
Melanie had a small puppy in her apartment. At some point it got to be too much, with her long working hours, and she brought it to mom and dads house. Dad renamed it AJ, for Alfie Junior. It was a long haired chihuahua, and very sweet.
Mystery
Mystery was another long haired chihuahua. By the time mom and dad had Mystery, Karen and Robin were about ten and 8, Claire was about 4. On our nightly call out there to tell them goodnight, Mema would ask the girls if they wanted to talk to Mystery. Of course they said yes! Then Mema would whimper and bark into the phone while the kids thought they were talking to the dog. Mom loved doing this, and Claire called the dog, Mistamee.
During this time, dad would get out on his mower and mow off the field. As long as he stayed on the mower he was ok. A couple of times he had to get off the mower, and ended up on the ground. When that happenned, Mystery would go to him, and stay with him till help arrived. Sometimes that was a neighbor stopping that was driving by, or one of us getting there to help out. Mystery was good company for dad.
Red
The last dog mom and dad had was Red. She was a neighborhood dog that didn't belong to anyone. Her name was from her appearance. She had a reddish coat, like a coyote. We wondered if she was part Coyote, or a coy dog as they say. It's not unusual in the country for a coyote and a regular dog to have puppies.
She was a good momma dog, and had a couple of litters of puppies before mom and dad got her fixed. Melanie took Red to Cookeville to see Uncle Jerry Flatt. He is retired now, but was a veterinarian for years there. Uncle Jerry got Red all her shots, and neutered. When she returned, she was mom and dad's dog. Very sweet, and affectionate.