April 2007                                                The Megaphone                                                     Page 4

His Dog, Pal

by Karen (Stine) Hollies

This dog was not mine -- thank God! My brother, Larry, used to attract dogs and was constantly bringing them home. It was sort of a cause for a constant rumble in the house because most of the time, the dogs were un-trainable and they usually always caused some type of trouble.

Larry called this dog, Pal. Pal was a cross between a Doberman and lord knows what. He would follow us to school creeping along in the leaves beside the curb whenever he could. He also had a propensity for chasing cars. He would run at them with demonic glee, barking the whole while. It did not take long for people not to like Pal.

Anyway, Pal disappeared one day and came limping home bleeding from a bullet wound to his shoulder. It seems that he was running through Frenchie Joe's fields, causing chaos and Frenchie Joe shot him. Dad and Larry took him to the vet to have the bullet removed. Now I came from a family where visits to the doctor were considered slightly less extravagant than a European vacation so one only has to use their imagination to know how my parents felt about this. Pal laid low for a few days and then resumed his old ways. However, he no longer frequented Frenchie Joe's fields.

Pal never actually warmed to staying in one place and eventually disappeared. We never quite knew what happened to him. He simply left.  In retrospect, I believe we were all so tired of his character flaws that no one looked for him too hard.

Karen (Stine) Hollies, '54

Virginia Beach, VA

It Was November 6, 1941

And this was Bobbie *Doggie* Henderson's First Grade Class at Edgewood

Front row left to right:

   Sue Mason, Everett Bennett, Lois Gifford, Arthur Wells, Violet Bannon, Becky Shaw 

Second row left to right: 

   Jack Whitacre, Barbra Gentry, Jack Kelley, Susie Underwood, Joe Devaney, Vera Savage, Neal Musselman, Danny Hendricks, Virgil Whistler 

Third row left to right:

   Dorothy Miller, Gene Stage, Betty Brown, Bobbie Henderson, Madeline Lou Seeley, Verna Mae Knotts 

Fourth Row left to right:

   Shirley Barnett, Madonna Wilson, Marvin Jo Jackson, Meredith Martin, Charles Weir 

Fifth row left to right: 

   John Hocker, Garry Rex Clark, Merle Singer, Gene Whitacre, Dick Roller, Teacher Miss Vera Highley