I'm like a five or six years old.

My father says to me, come take a ride with me.

So I get in the vehicle and we go and ride out to this person's house that my father knows.

And she had dogs.

One of her dogs had puppies.

She and my father say, pick out one, pick out one, you know, I get to have a dog.

My father had not told my mother.

We bring the dog home.

Of course my mom has a fit.

She doesn't want the dog in the house, she's nothing come outside, et cetera, et cetera.

So I'm playing with my new dog on the porch.

My mom came to the door to call me to come in for dinner.

And then the little dog came running out, excited to see her and ran to sniff her ankles

or whatever.

And when the little puppy ran up to her, my mom jumped out of fear.

And threw a disc in her back.

She was in back pain from that day until she died in 1986.

The next morning when I woke up, my mom had gone to the hospital.

The first thing I'd go to do is go see my puppy.

My puppy was gone.

My dad had taken the dog back, I couldn't have it.

And I cried for days, you know.

...