NSCnews Online August_2017 | Page 60

For L AST month I lost my best friend. My bestest best friend. Not the friend who talks behind your back or secretly criticises an outfi t you wear or avidly monitors your weight fl uctuations. This was my very bestest friend. There was nothing about me that she didn’t love. I must admit though she did have a tendency to give me a disparaging look when the treats were doled out... she had a pretty high treat ration expectation which she obviously regularly felt I failed to reach...but she always forgave me by the time the next treat time came around. My mind is so full of memories clamouring and colliding with one another to tumble out that it leaves little room for anything else. At the moment the memories are hard to sort as they are so sharp with sadness but in time I know they will settle and fi nd the soft focus needed for remembering. Of course it will be impossible to ever forget her signature wiggle. I’ve never seen anything to match it before and probably never will again. Anyone she met in her younger years would be greeted by a wiggle that involved her whole back end moving as though articulated and no-one, no matter how grumpy, could help but smile at her enthusiasm. There’s the picture that pops up of her as she reluctantly traipsed along behind her previous partner in crime (who we lost several years ago...but that’s a whole other heartache) on morning boundary patrol and you just knew she was thinking...I’m only doing this because you seem to think it’s our job...it is nearly time for breakfast after all. She found going for walks highly overrated...as was in fact any form of exercise...a girl after my own heart. 60 | AUGUST 2017