Little furry friends

 The house we lived in was an old victorian one with a large attic and some little stairs that led up to the roof.  The roof was quite flat on top and it had a little iron fence running around it. When the roof started leaking they discovered that the leaks were caused by the fence where it joined to the roof and so some roof menders were called to fix it.Chloe was always a very sociable dog and liked to join in with any activity around the school where we lived.  When she saw the work men going up the little stairs and up on to the roof she decided that she would join them.  It was a sunny day and the men had their lunches with them.  Chloe was always hopeful of a little snack.The men had to take the fence down so that they could seal up the roof and they became quite used to Chloe’s company and threw her a word occasionally if not a sandwich.She enjoyed being on the roof and liked to lie near the edge with her paws crossed neatly in front of her.  From the edge of the roof she could see out across the oval.  The sun was warm and she dozed for a while.And then Toby the gardener came walking across the oval and looked up and saw Chloe sitting up there on the roof and he said, “Hello Chloe!”Chloe looked up and saw Toby.  She was very fond of Toby and so without thinking about where she was, she stood up and stepped out on to the sloping roof.As Toby walked in under the shadow of the house he became aware of a scrabbling noise on the roof.  He looked up but he couldn’t see her.  So he tried working out which way she was coming by the sounds of her paws on the tiles.  And then he saw her as she flew out over the spouting and he was too far away to catch her and she flew gracefully into a camellia bush, which thankfully broke her fall.  It was just as well that he didn’t catch her as she was a big dog and she might have squashed him.But he felt terrible about it all and felt that he had encouraged her by speaking to her while she was up there on the roof.After a quick look to see that she was still alive he rushed off to the library where my mother worked and she came running back.  Chloe was sitting in the remains of the camellia bush licking her paw.  She was really very lucky and escaped with only a bruised leg.  She limped a bit for a week or two and eventually we forgot about it.But Chloe didn’t forget about it and a couple of months later mum had some people in for tea and Chloe joined them, always hopeful of a biscuit crumb.Someone admired her and mum told them the story of Chloe and the camellia bush, and when she had finished every one laughed.   And then Chloe stood up and limped across the room to my mother and leant against her with a mournful look in her eye.She hadn’t limped for weeks.”She understands everything I say to her,” my mother said.  And Chloe thumped her tail on the floor and smiled at everyone.She really was a remarkable dog.