Droopy Drawers

Daily Prompt: Prized Possession

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a child. What became of it?

Droopy entered my life when I was 4, I think. I can remember… just… choosing him from a counter in British Home Stores. My twin chose a white rabbit, in blue trousers. She named him Whiskey – he was over-stuffed and filled with sawdust.   Droopy on the other hand was soft and squishy and plush. I fell in love with him the moment that I lay my hands on him. He was known in our house as a bloodhound. The breed, I  feel, was debatable. He resembled in no way any real dog that I have ever met.

Droopy was a dark golden brown, with a white chest. The plush fur that he was made from rippled when he was fondled, and it shaded with the light – endlessly fascinating my young eyes. He had a short stub of a tail and two long floppy ears that reached almost to his waist. Yes, Droopy was an upright dog. I made him a pair of trousers from some cotton scraps in the family rag bag. The trousers were of a different colour front and back and had a hole in the seat, to hang his tail through.

Droopy’s name now became Droopy Drawers.

On my first day at school, Droopy came with me. At lunchtime my cousin, who was then in the Big school, came over to examine my friend. She made a grab for him and I would not let him go. We held a brief tug of war. I ended up with Droopy, and cousin Pauline ended up with one of his ears. I sewed the ear back on as best I could, but it never stayed put and eventually was lost, leaving my dog not only drooping, but also lop-sided.

When Droopy first came to live with me he had a bark; squeezing his white tummy made him emit a deep groaning noise.

I was five, going on six, when I was admitted to hospital to have my tonsils out. Of course, Droopy had to come too. Mother, being the mother that she was, suffered some mortification at this idea. Droopy had been much-loved in the time that we had together and was now less than white, shall we say. Missing an ear, and all… There was some arbitration, which ended up with Droopy hanging by his one good ear from the washing line.

The poor dog was never the same again. One-eared, and with all his stuffing now migrated to the ends of his limbs, his bark had also disappeared. Droopy did his duty, keeping me company in the hospital and he did not seem to mind the nurses laughing at his trousers.

When we were discharged, I had a period of recuperation at home before returning to school. During this hiatus, I turned surgeon myself, operating on poor Droopy to remove his broken bark – which was located somewhere around his appendix – a misshapen lump of cardboard bellows and now-rusty metal spring. Bath-time had not been kind to poor Droopy. I stitched him up and solemnly promised no future indignities of a watery nature.

Droopy lived in my bed for many years. I moved him out when I reached an age where boys figured larger than cuddly toys did in my life. Droopy sat guard on the shelf. I was 16 the first time that he went missing. I came home from school and… no Droopy! Where was he? He was in the bin! My mother had decided that I was too old for toys and just tossed the “dirty old thing” out for the bin men.  I retrieved my best friend  forthwith.

A war of attrition followed; periodically I would rescue Droopy from the rubbish and restore him to my bedroom.

I left home at 18, and went to live in the Nurses Home at the hospital where I was to train as a Radiographer. Droopy kept me company for a while. Then the awful day came when I told myself that I was all grown up and in a fit of prematurely adult behaviour, I tossed Droopy out into the rubbish myself.

I regretted it of course. I still do. Whatever possessed me, I do not know.

Bloodhound image: By Bruce (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Other Proud Owners:

1. Ilya Fostiy. Clone | Inside My Schizophrenic Mind
2. Prized Possession – I’m Afraid Of The Dark
3. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | pandora’s island 2
4. You’re the Beary Best! | Misifusa’s Blog
5. 57/365 – childhood attachment | Camera Girl
6. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | To Name a Few | Loading…
7. Books of my grandfather, or what you need French for | Standing Ovation, Seated
8. Puff, the Magic Turtle | Conversations
9. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | The Gozum Show
10. Old Glove Old Desk Old Sweater Old Me | The Jittery Goat
11. Step aside Blankie… | thoughtsofrkh
12. Ever decreasing comforter (Daily Prompt) | Prompt Queen
13. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | My Daily Prompt Blog
14. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Alex Hurst
15. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | The Dork Life
16. The Pendleton | Kansa Muse on Micro Farming and More
17. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession — Annabelle | SERENDIPITY
18. Anne | Hope* the happy hugger
19. My most prized, loved possessions. | Random Encounters of an Inquisitive Mind
20. Waiting Upon My Every Move | Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | likereadingontrains
21. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | JUkk
22. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession « Mama Bear Musings
23. My Most Prized Possession | Chatter From a Single Mom
24. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession 2nd April, 2013 | ittikorn1994
25. You’re Too Slow! A Story About My Experience With the Sonic Games | Eyes Through The Glass – A Blog About Asperger’s
26. Evoking Nostalgia | Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness
27. Humpty Dumpty is Starting to Smell . . . | Pondering Spawned
28. Purple Bear… | Haiku By Ku
29. My Jassem Doll | das Nicht-zuhause-sein
30. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
31. Rolling stone.. | Head full of Fluff
32. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | baka’s blog
33. Daily Prompt: Where Is It?! | One Starving Activist
34. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Diary of Dennis
35. Childhood Artifacts | Fish Of Gold
36. Daily Prompt: Ringa Ringa Roses!! | it’s just abOut Me 🙂
37. the blonde-haired girl with the longest legs | Pigments of Life
38. Daily Prompt: It’s not as much fun to pick up the pieces | emma wolf
39. The adventures of Zoe and Zelda | Five Uninterrupted Minutes
40. My Childhood Friend | draliman on life
41. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | My Atheist Blog
42. One Of The Sixty. | paul scribbles
43. Michael Jackson and a Stuffed Platypus | History & Wine
44. I’m not sure if I’d call it a possession…Daily Prompt | polysyllabic profundities
45. My Prized Possession? | The Nameless One
46. Prized Possession: A library filled with 66 books | Not The Sword But The Pen
47. Daily Prompt: Baby Bottle | Lines by Linda
48. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | The Blogging Path
49. Cherished for a Lifetime? | theconsciouswriter
50. April 2 Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Nadeen’s Corner
51. Not So Fuzzy Memories | My Latter Half
52. Little Cars Were (ARE) Amazing! | Brother Jon
53. Nostalgia:SurPRIZES of the Soul | Sisters of Christ
54. Daily Prompt: Golden Ted – A Toy Story | jwdwrites
55. The Quiet One | The little bunny that could
56. Daily prompt: prize possession – my beloved and loyal bolster | Mud Pie
57. My Circle of Comfort | Wiley’s Wisdom
58. Daily Prompt: 4/2/13 | One for the Big Guy.. sometimes.
59. Daily Prompt: Sophie | A Sign Of Life
60. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Basically Beyond Basic
61. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession . . .That Would Be Lucky. | Pam Tanzey, Artist
62. Pinky | Housewife Down Under
63. My prized childhood possession | Jose Franco
64. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession: Teddy | This and That
65. 2nd April Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Family Photos Food & Craft
66. #46 – Gone | shatteringlove
67. Daily prompt: prized possession | Empressnasigoreng’s Blog
68. A Child’s Most Prized Posession | Eccentric Lady’s Stuff
69. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | Dianaruth’s Journal
70. Daily Prompt: Prized Possession | onmonruecha
71. Childhood Dolls | It’s a wander-ful world