This is a story about Holly and me.

Here we go!

Well, I can’t go back to the very beginning, say, when I was born because that was too long ago. And I can’t go back to when Holly was born, because I didn’t know Holly when she was first born, I only met her when she was three.

So I guess I should start when I first found out about Holly, and when I first met her.

This is how it happened. My daughter Laura was about six years old and every time she stayed for weekends at my place she said that I should get a doggie. Well, I didn’t know whether she meant a doggie for Laura or a doggie for me.

I assumed she meant a doggie for Laura, but as she lived with her Mum and already had a doggie of her own, she probably thought that if I found a doggie for me, she could have a doggie at home and a doggie at Dad’s place.

So we discussed it many times. I used to tell her that if I did find a dog, it should be a Kelpie, and, most likely, a bitch, because I had met a beautiful Kelpie bitch when I visited friends in Adelaide and I really took a shine to her.

I also told Laura that she’d have to be a very cheap one, because Kelpies tend to be in great demand and I couldn’t afford an expensive one. It would be far better for me if I could find a Kelpie which cost nothing! Optimistic as ever.

I occasionally looked in the local paper under “Livestock” which included “Pets”. Then one day, about a year later, there was an ad in the Kyneton paper which went something like this:

“Free to a good home, 3 year old Kelpie female, spayed.  

Answers to the name of Holly.

Lovely temperament, ideal for a family.

Call Justin.”

And they gave the phone number. I was very excited and rang straight away, but Justin told me that someone else had called before me, that I would be second in the queue.

Well, what could I do? They had called first, so I just had to wait and see if they took her or not.

I called back the next day, Friday, to see whether she was still available. I didn’t really expect that she would be. To my surprise Justin said that the first people had passed her up so I could come and see her. I asked him what reason they had given and he said they didn’t like the colour of her eyes.

So we arranged that I’d be there at 9 o’clock next morning, Saturday, to check her out.

The next morning I drove to Kyneton to meet Holly. I didn’t know what to expect because I was wondering why the others had not taken her. What was it about her eyes? Or was there something else wrong with her?

Now the house that Justin and his wife and kids lived in had a very small yard, all concrete, high walls, and a high steel gate, just the worst sort of place for a dog. And to make matters worse for them, Justin’s wife was quite ill, and they had two young kids about 4 years old and 2 years old. So, it was no wonder they needed to let Holly go to another home.

Well, they brought Holly to the front door and we met for the first time. I saw she was just so beautiful, and I said,

“Hello Holly, would you like to come with me and live at my place?”

She seemed to like this idea so I nodded to Justin, indicating that I really wanted her and he said OK, and we started walking to my car. I opened the front passenger door and she just jumped straight in. I told Justin he could come and see her at my place if he liked. But he said no, he wouldn’t do that, although I could see he was actually quite upset to see Holly go.

Then I went around to my door and got in and started the car. Before we drove off, Holly put both her paws on my left thigh and looked up at me and said,

“So you belong to me now?”

And I said ,

“Yes Holly, I belong to you and you belong to me.”

Then as we started to drive she asked,

“Where are you taking me to?”

And I answered, “To Paradise, where I live.”

She said,

“Oh, I’ve never been to Paradise before, what’s it like there?”

I told her there were tall trees, lots of land she could roam around, chooks, and a sheep.

She said, “Oh I like sheep very much! You know I’m really a sheep dog, but they didn’t have any sheep at that other place.”

I told her it was probably too small for sheep there, and then she said,

“How many sheep?”

“Just one, her name’s Hannah.”

“But you said you had sheep, now you’re saying just one... are you trying to trick me?”

“No Holly, English is a strange language, you can have one cow or a lot of cows, one rabbit or a lot of rabbits, and you can have one sheep or a lot of sheep, but you can’t have sheeps in English!”

She agreed with me that it was a most strange language, and then she said,

“Can I chase the sheep?”

“Yes, sometimes, when I want you to help me with her.”

And then she asked me, “Can I chase the chooks and round them up too?”

I said that would be OK as long as she promised not to eat them.

She said, “Of course I won’t eat them, I’ll just manage them for you.”

I said, “Now Holly, what was the real reason the other other people did not take you with them?”

She said, “I changed the colour of my eyes so they wouldn’t like me.”

I said, “Gee Holly, that’s a remarkable thing to do. Why did you do that?”

“Because I was waiting for you, silly, and you took such a long time to answer my call.”

Peter Tammer