I will guide you through the hazards of the night

I will hold your trembling hand

Mine the reassuring shoulder

Me the one to understand

 

Nothing asked in recompense

Proud that I could offer help

Stronger bonds empower the friendship

Thoughts of others not of self

 

We shall fight the fight together

Raise our voices, sing as one

‘Til the world around rejoices

Come sweet repose, our day is done

 

RAY DOYLE                       December 2017

A friend of mine has lived the life

He shares it now with his third wife

I saw him just the other day

He didn’t have a lot to say

 

A big weekend, drunk too much red

I really should be home in bed

‘Twas my own fault, expect no mercy

It was our tenth Wedding Anniversary

 

Congrats I said, you’ve done real well

This ones for keeps then, I can tell

He thanked me, said what pleased him more

He’d never lasted ten before

Hello,

My name is Clarence, Clarence C Gull to be precise but you can call me Clarence like all my friends.

Living down here by the sea I have lots of adventures and today I am going to tell you how a very foggy day made me famous.

The night had been a cold one. I was snuggled up warm and cozy in my nest on the top of the cliff. When I woke up the fog was swirling all around me. Everything was still and quiet, that’s how I knew something was wrong. On foggy days the first sound to be heard is the blare of the fo-horn on the Lighthouse.

I waited for a minute, listened some more, still no sound. What could be wrong? Something wasn’t right. I had to fly out at once to investigate.

It took me five minutes fast flying to reach the Lighthouse which sticks up like a big black and white pencil on top of some dangerous rocks. In the old days, many ships got wrecked here and sailors drowned.

All the way I had been listening hoping to hear the familiar booming of the fog-horn but I heard nothing. Was Tommy, the Lighthouse Keeper fast asleep, or was the fog-horn broken?

Every morning I go out to the Lighthouse for breakfast. Tommy, or Albert, the other Keeper, feed me bacon rinds when I fly up to the Light and tap on the wind. Today I went straight to the window and gave it a sharp tap with my beak.

No answer so I hopped around to the other side and tapped again, still no answer. I peered inside, no one there.

Next, I went to the window nearest the bunks. There was Tommy fast asleep. I tapped as hard as I could, ‘Tap, tap, tap.’ Eventually, Tommy sat up in bed and looked towards me. He smiled weakly and beckoned me to come inside, but I couldn’t open the closed window.

I knew that I would have to try all the windows and hope that one would come undone. I went to each one in turn and, with only two more left, found one I could undo. I pulled it open with my beak and was soon sitting on Tommy’ bunk.

‘I’m glad to see you, Clarence,’ said Tommy. ‘ ‘I came on sick in the night and can’t get out of bed and with Albert on shore until tomorrow there’s no one to look after the Light. Do you think you could take a message to the Coastguard for me and raise the alarm?’

I gave him a ‘Caw, caw, of course, I can.’

Tommy took a pad from his bedside table and began writing a message. When he had finished he rolled the note into a tube and put it in my beak. Next minute I was out of the window and flying back to shore as fast as my wings would carry me.

The Coastguard was outside his cottage when I arrived. He looked surprised when I flew straight up to him and started shaking my head to make him see the message I had for him in my beak. He quickly understood and took the note to read.

‘Hang on here a minute Clarence. I’ve got to make a phone call.’

He disappeared inside, and when he came out, he said. ‘You’ve done very well, but there is something else even more important that I want you to do. Will you try for me please?’

I gave him a ‘Caw.’

‘OK. I want you to fly back to the Lighthouse and start the fog-horn. You will need to press a switch. Tommy is too sick to get out of bed and do it himself and we could be stuck here for hours waiting for the fog to clear.

When you get back to the Light, go right to the top. On the wall you will see some switches on the sides of the big grey boxes, the one for the fog-horn is the third box down. Have you got that Clarence?’

I gave him another ‘Caw’ and flew off.

As I arrived, I saw Tommy. He smiled and put his thumb up. He knew I had delivered the message.

Up on top of the Light, I  quickly found the boxes and with a tug of my beak on the third switch the fog-horn started and the whole Lighthouse shook with the noise.

With my job done I went down to Tommy.

‘I always knew you were a smart little chap Clarence, but I never dreamt that you could do all that on your own. I shall have to look out or you will be after my job,’ he laughed.

The fog-horn continued to boom it’s warning to ships to stay clear of the rocks. After a couple of hours, the sun appeared through the haze, and the fog began to clear. As it did. we heard the drone of an approaching helicopter. Soon an Airman climbed the stairs.

‘Air Sea Rescue Tommy, we’ve come to take you off. Albert’s here to take over the Light.

Coastguard rang us as soon as Clarence got there with your message. Goodness knows what disasters might have occurred if he had not been so prompt. He’s a hero and no mistake.’

‘I’m sure he will be pleased to hear that,’ said Tommy.

‘Tell him yourself, he’s right here under my bunk.’

The next minute someone was pushing a bacon rind under the bunk and calling for me to come out. As soon as I did the Airman picked me up and put me in the warm lining of his flying-jacket.

‘You will be coming back in style young Clarence.You deserve a Hero’s Reception.’

Well, you will probably never believe this, but when we got back to shore, there were crowds to greet us. The people cheered, the Lord Mayor welcomed us and read from a roll of paper. )A much bigger one than I had carried). I think it was called a citation. When he finished his speech he gave my feathers a rub, everybody cheered.

Just as they were putting Tommy in the ambulance to take him to the hospital, he called me over, ‘Did you understand what they were saying, Clarence? If not, I will explain.

‘You, Clarence C Gull are the only bird around these parts to be made a Freeman of the City. That means you can go anywhere you like, and people will feed you and look after you because you have been such a brave and clever bird today.’

Tommy was right. I still go to the Lighthouse each morning for the bacon rinds, I also call in at the greengrocers and the butchers and, favorite of all, the cake shop. I go there in the afternoon as they get ready to close. They leave the unsold cakes out on a tray at the back of the shop for my friends and me to eat.

‘Hey, I’ve just had a great idea. Why don’t we go there now and see if there is anything you would like for tea.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never fail to be astonished by grief.

Some devastating event will occur, and within minutes the world around continues on as if nothing has happened.

I recall my wife’s anger when her Mother died. Anger not at the event itself but the normality that surrounded it.

‘The ocean continues to roll in and out; waves hit the shore, and nothing seems to change yet so much has suddenly changed for all of us who have lost a beloved friend and relative.’ She commented.

Yesterday we lost another beloved friend.

Billy, our Maltese/Silky Cross, had graced our lives for sixteen plus years. I guess he must have decided that his time had come, he just stopped eating and over a period of four days reached a point where he could hardly stand up.

We saw the Vet two days into his fasting. She said that there was little chance of his appetite returning, but we hoped for a miracle. To see that once lively animal reduced to such a sad state forced us into the inevitable decision.

Yesterday morning we sat in the Vet’s ant-room. The Nurse explained the procedure as Hazel cuddled Billy on her lap.

‘I’ll take him into Surgery and prepare him for a needle. There will be two injections, a strong sedative that will ensure he feels no pain and a second to euthanase.’

It all seemed so matter of fact. Did they not appreciate that this was the end of a life  and not some routine car service? We sat there in tears as Billy slept soundly cradled in my wife’s arms.

The Nurse gently lifted him up without waking him. A couple of minutes later he was back, a tube strapped to his front leg. The experienced hands of the Nurse moved swiftly. First, the sedative was linked and delivered and then the coup de grace. A quick check with the stethoscope and the words, ‘He’s gone.’

Billy died the most serene of deaths. His quality of life had deserted him and he had nothing left. I know that if I die as peacefully, I will be content.

What a chasm had been left in our lives. We left the Vet’s devastated at our loss but reassured that we had done the right thing. Now the priority was to return to normality. We went to our local Shopping Centre and commenced the weekly grocery shop, Inevitably we met people we knew who commented on how upset we appeared to be and, of course, we had to give them an explanation.

Then we had to go home and advise our children that Billy had gone and our house would no longer echo to his welcoming bark next time they visited.

Just two old people living normal, even hum-drum lives. Today we don’t feel normal and the atmosphere surrounding us is not the same. the sense of loss is overwhelming. Of course, we know the reality is that life goes on but, without our companion fixture of the last sixteen years it will be a different life.

I share my wife’s sorrow, and I empathize with her feeling of anger. The world should NOT be the same, the waves should take a moment to pause out of respect, that will not happen, and Billy’s memory will fade into an infrequent faded sepia flashback.

For now, though it is raw and real whilst the cherished memories this little black and white dog has given us will become his enduring legacy.

Thank you, Billy.

 

RAY  DOYLE                                                                                           Friday 02 December 2017