CHAPTER 2: BOBBY BECAME A MUM (THE JOY OF MOTHERHOOD)

Bobby became my constant companion. Whether I was fishing, hiking, catching butterflies or on one of my many pursuits, Bobby was there. When I came home from school, she was always the first to greet me. We were inseparable – sometimes, we (including an elder sister, Chrissy and my younger sister, Pam) had to ask her to stop following us when we were going to the market. Sometimes she became quite insistent and would continue to follow us until it dawned on her it was to a place she was not allowed – like going to the market!

Then, one day, without any warning, Bobby gave birth to her first litter. I didn’t know  it was going to happen but was too happy and excited to try to figure it out. 5 pups! I was just on cloud 9.  My mother was the midwife; she calmly attended to each new arrival like a pro while I was in jitters, worrying over whether Bobby was going to be alright and if the pups were fine. After each pup arrived, I kept asking “Ma, anymore? How many more, Ma?” Final count - 3 males and 2 females.

I had the time of my life,  fawning over Bobby and  the pups. Bobby showed how happy she was to be a mother, nursing the pups, nudging them, cleaning after them after they had urinated or done their business.  I didn’t know that pup could not see during the first 10-odd days after birth and that they had to  rely on their sense of smell. Occasionally, one of them would crawl away from Bobby  who would protectively move the pup back using her mouth, very gingerly.  I never ceased to be amazed - Bobby was a first time mother. How did she learn to do all these little things?

One of my biggest worries was when the time come for us to give up the pups for adoption because obviously we could not keep so many of them. And Bobby’s breastmilk was obviously not enough after a month or so and I had to cook for them separately, using unpolished rice (cheaper & more nutritious) fish mainly and it was getting expensive for me.

My father found a way out – sell it to an old man at the market. He has a shop selling  pups+. But I didn’t want to part with t hem. How will I explain to Bobby. So I dreaded the day when they were ready. And they were ready two months later  -  decided by my  mother. I pleaded with her and was finally allowed to keep one of the 5. I chose Maria  although I tried to keep Philip as well (Both names given to them by Chrissie). Finally Maria stayed simply because she seemed most attached to mum Bobby .

It was heartbreaking. Bobby went crazy but seemed to understand that the parting was necessary. She would keep sniffing at the basket in which I had placed the 4 pups and the basket was tied securely on my bicycle’s pillion seat I was grateful that at least she still got Maria. After allowing her one last sniff, one last goodbye to her litter of off-springs, my eyes brimming with tears, and not daring to look back at the mother and daughter watching me from the gate, I cycled off.

Her first litter yielded me, if I recall correctly, some 30 Malaysian ringgit, a princely sum in those days which I got to keep as  reward for looking after them but which I felt obliged to share with 2  sisters, one of whom was senior to me by one year (Chrissy, grandma to the Parkers & the Ratjes children) and the other Pam (youngest and mother to the Ellawanans).

Upon my return, with treats for Bobby & Maria, the both of them sniffed me all over and started whining, as if demanding to know what I have done with the rest of the litter. I couldn’t look them in the eyes………..