322 'BUT SHE'S ONLY A PUPPY?'
by Roderick Lovesay (b.1944)

"She could sit on my lap and she's so good. Honestly, she really, really is".
Despite her desperate pleas, the conductor seems uninterested and is ready to ring the bell for the driver to move on. They'll miss their tea at the depot if they hang around any longer.

"Why does it always happen to me when we're running late?"
"We can't have nice fresh, clean trams with the likes of soaking wet dogs as passengers. Next it'll be farmers demanding a ride with their chickens and goats!"

Everyone else in the queue has boarded the tram now. All are out of the wet drizzle and in the dry, except our little girl with her dripping hair and damp tam o' shanter.

"I told you before young miss, that no dogs are aloud on my tram. Them's the strict regulations and I've got to obey them"!

"But she's only a puppy and Granny is waiting for me. If I don't do her shopping .....Oh! Please, please let me on".

That was it. Our defiant conductor was beginning to bristle when he reflected........
"She's trying to soften me, just like my own little daughter. Gets round your little finger before you know it. My wife would never forgive me if I told her what I'd done".

"Alright, just this once but don't try it on again! ...Up-top and don't let the driver see you!"
The tram rolled forwards as she mounted the stairs with her shivering bundle, when in a moment she would be sitting down to watch her every-day world flash by. The winding sound of the tram was as familiar as the screeching of the wheels scraping on the lines - and as it sped along, it seemed to be chattering something important with its ceaseless clickety-clacking - if only she knew what it meant? What joy a such a ride was to most children.

Soon she'd be at Grandma's village stop. Down the twisting stairway she would rush, with puppy and shopping list at the ready. Bread and eggs, butter and tea and strawberry jam. Once out of the shop they would both run as fast as their legs could carry them, splashing through the puddles until reaching the front porch. At last!

"Hello Grandma! Guess who I've brought with me today".
"Well I'll be blessed. 'Tis the prettiest little puppy I've ever seen. Come on into the back parlour where the stove will dry you both off. It'll take no time at all".

Here they were at last in such cosy warmth from the glow of the fire. The shopping had been transformed into cups of tea; jam sandwiches would be at the table too. Then there would be currant cakes and iced buns - all such irresistible temptations to a ten-year old. The tram crew might be having their tea now in the depot. Would they be enjoying cakes and jam sandwiches?

Her little damp and shivering friend, having been curled up drying out in front of the stove was nowhere to be seen at first sight. But little puppies too just love cakes!