Katie B. Cooke The boy woke up before his family on a Saturday morning. He ate breakfast cereal in front of the TV. The black and white set only received one station through the rabbit ears sticking out of the top. It was early, 5:30 AM, and Tarzan Theater was the first show on TV. The boy just loved Saturday morning TV. After Tarzan Theater the boy watched his favorite cartoons: Scooby-doo, Space Ghost, the Herculoids, the Lone Ranger and Jonny Quest.
Cartoons over, he went down the hallway to his room. His room was formerly the house’s foyer. Getting dressed, he went out to the front porch directly from his room. He knelt, petting all the puppies in turn on the ‘dog’ porch. His dog Cissy was nursing a new set of puppies.
Cissy always had one litter of puppies, and his sisters usually had a litter or two of kittens. His family had close to 20 animals usually, however the attrition was high. This was rural North Florida in the 1960s and his yard backed up to ten acres of abandoned phosphate mines filled with snakes. The snakes took a toll on his puppies and his sister's kittens.
The puppy names, Brownie, Blackie, Jody, etc., had no rhyme or reason, except that of a first-grade boy. When his puppies grew up his mother gave them away to people in the town.
The boy ran from the puppy porch to begin his favorite errand, visiting his grown puppies. Out of the house, past his father's church in the front yard, he jumped on his bike. It was sky blue and a little big for him. He rode onto the dirt road toward the town of Newberry. Riding fast he soon came to the first big house in town right across from the First Baptist Church. It was home to one of his puppies: Brownie. This former puppy was now owned by Mrs. Katie B. Cooke. The boy dropped his bike in the yard and knocked on the door. Mrs. Cooke came to the door, “Well hello William, good morning.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Cooke, I came to see Brownie, I mean Lassie.”
Mrs. Cooke had changed Brownie’s name to Lassie. “Oh, this is great. We'll be right out. Lassie,” she called back into the house and the dog came running.
Brownie / Lassie was a mix of Collie, Beagle, Spaniel and Lord knows what else. She jumped up on the boy standing on her hind legs. They ran around Mrs. Cooke's yard playing and wrestling.
After a while the boy would sit in the side yard petting Lassie / Brownie and Mrs. Cooke would bring out cookies on a plate. She sat on her covered terrazzo side porch. The boy and Mrs. Cooke talked while he rubbed Brownie’s / Lassie’s stomach and ate cookies.
The boy thought Mrs. Cooke had the nicest house in Newberry. Hers was a city house and had a grass yard on Newberry’s main street. His house was in the woods outside of town.
Sometimes they would sit inside, and Mrs. Cooke would talk about her paintings. Her son, Tucker II, was a famous artist and taught at the University of Florida down the street in Gainesville. He had painted very Audubon like birds and flowers for his mother. The boy would later learn that Tucker was an abstract artist and asked his mother not to show anyone these realistic bird paintings. He had painted them just for his mother.
Mrs. Cooke’s house was built in 1907 and still stands today; it’s a real estate office. Inside is a nice display of Newberry historical photos.
When the first-grade boy rode his Saturday rounds visiting his former puppies, he didn't call ahead. Sometimes, he rode off on his errand before his parents were awake. He didn’t know it, but his mother never missed hearing him leaving. Mrs. Cooke always greeted the boy with a smile; she never said that she didn't have time or was too busy.
Occasionally the boy brought a friend with him to visit Lassie. Mrs. Cooke didn’t mind. If a boy or two were over at lunch time, she made them a sandwich.
After a while the boy got up to visit one of his other puppies named Brownie. She was owned by the Laird family.
“Goodbye Mrs. Cooke! Thank you for the cookies. Bye Lassie!”
“Goodbye William, tell your mother hello for me.”
“I will, bye-bye,” the boy waved as he rode away standing on the bike pedals.
Note Mrs. Cooke’s full name is Katie Obedience Cooke, born 1910.
