I remember: Jasmine

Jasmine and I met when I was living in South Hedland. My dog Sheila had a prickle in her paw and Jasmine's dad Phil took it out. Thats how I met her. She was a nice girl only lived a house away from me. So we became friends like that.

Her parents were christian and I'm catholic but I used to go to her church to see her. My parents came aswell sometimes. She had a brother and 2 older sisters. We used to just muck around everyday. We mostly went walking around behind our houses. There was heaps of dirt and animals and stuff there.

We had to do this play one day at her church about all these animals. I was a kangaroo. We had to sing aswell.

" If I were a kangaroo, I would thank the lord that I could hop."

It probably had lyrics that could rhyme but I don't remember. It was nice seeing Jasmine all the time. She used to always wear this overall skirt thing and a tshirt. James and Stephen used to come over to Jasmines aswell sometimes and we would all have water balloon fights or something like that.

After a few years Jasmine's family moved into a new built house right infront of their church. It wasn't far away from my house so I used to go visit her when I got the chance. I remember that in her house they weren't allowed to watch too many things especially stuff to do with religion. But they had videogames and stuff where you play as Jesus or Moses. We also used to jump on the trampoline alot.

When I was in about year 4 I had moved to Port Hedland. Jasmine lived in South. After a few months of living in Port Jasmine told me she was moving to Perth. I went to say goodbye but I lost contact with her for years and years. Dad saw Phil in the airport one time and gave me her email address. I got no reply though.

When I started getting into computers I found Phil's email on some website. I tried to get in contact with Jasmine again but there was no reply.

Then one day I was on myspace and I searched for Jasmine. She came up so I added her. I asked if she wanted to meet up and she said she did. So me and my parents drove out to her house which was far out from Perth. She was working in a kiosk.

We ended up sitting waiting for some food and then I went and had some small talk with her. I gave her an old photo of us and told her to keep it. Then her dad showed us around their new home. It was a big Wildlife park sort of place. With kangaroo's and birds and other animals. I saw Jasmine's younger brother Reece aswell. It was nice seeing them again. But then we went back home.

I remember: Jesse

Jesse is one of my best friends. I met him when I was 6 at a friends birthday party. We instantly became friends. I was playing with my tamagotchi and he was playing with his. Davids birthday party was good fun. We eneded up watching the lion king I think in the living room. But after that me and Jesse would hang out alot.

Jesse lived in Pretty Pool so I used to go there alot. He lived with his mum, 2 brothers, sister, pop and a cousin called Mandy. When I first went to Jesse's house me and his sister Renae were in the kitchen. Renae farted and I started saying "Eww you stink" to her. Then her mum Sharon came over and said "Did you just say my daughter stinks?" I could hear anger in her voice. Then Renae just said "I farted mum." Sharon broke into a smile and we all started laughing.

I used to like going to Jesse's house. He was a really layed back guy. We used to just watch heaps of movies, play videogames and muck around Pretty Pool all day. James's used to hang around Jesse's older brother Ronald. Jesse's little brother trindal used to come with us sometimes when we went to the beach or other peoples houses. I didn't really talk to Jesse's pop much but then he wasn't in the house very often. He lived in the back of the house in a Granny flat.

One day when I moved to Pretty Pool Jesse wanted to try out new bike. So I let him and we were at a friend's place at the time. Jesse took ages coming back and the other kids were like "Oh he stole it." I was thinking nah maybe he just stacked it or something. But he came back after a while. I didn't like how judgemental those kids were.

We went for a swim in pretty pool sometimes with other kids around the area. One time there were a few sharks in the water and we all started swimming to the shore. I was the weakest swimmer so I was left in the water. I started shouting "Jesse don't leave me here!" and he turned around laughed and just said "Stand up." So I stood up in ankle deep water looking like a moron.

After we moved away from Pretty Pool I didn't see Jesse that much. But when we did it was like it had only been yesterday since the last time. There was a lightning storm hitting Hedland one night and I was at Jesse's house. We were sitting on the verandah on white plastic chairs watching the lightning strikes. It was amazing.

Jesse had always stuck up for me when people ever did put me down. A new kid had moved to town called Trent. The first time I met him was on the jeti near where bruno's pizza used to be. He said to me "This kids mum's a ho!" Jesse was standing next to me and before I could even react Jesse had a knife up to his neck holding him over the railing sayin "Take that back his mum is one of the nicest ladies you'll ever meet." That kid never talked to me again.

Me and Jesse are still good friends and probably always will be. He's like family.

I remember: Nanna

My nanna some people called her Kitty. She was a funny woman. When i first met her I was 7. She was a lovely lady. She was always feeding us stuff when we were there on our holiday. Porridge in the morning which I wouldn't eat being a brat. Cupcakes, yogurt and chocolate. She was a short fair skinned woman with grey hair and blue eyes. She always wore the same outfit. A skirt, top, cardigan, slippers, stockings and a coat if it was cold, the colours would just change day to day. She walked around with a brown walking stick. The top was carved into a horses head. She also had another stick which was just a plain brown spare one.

When I was a teenager she got run down by a motorbike. She didn't press charges she was too nice for that. But the hit gave her amnesia so she was always forgetting things. When we lived with her for 2 years it was really good. Come home from school sit down next to the fire and talk to nanna. She was always asking for something sweet like chocolate or toffee's. I used to give her that stuff aswell untl I heard she was diabetic. One day when I was living with nanna on my own she hadn't got up out of bed. This was unusual because she always was up before me. I went upstairs to see if she was ok. She was half hanging out of bed. So I helped her back up into her bed and she said "Thankyou." My auntie Eileen used to look after my nanna so I called her and asked what to do. She said she'd be over in a minute so I waited until Eileen got there. When I came home from school nanna was still in bed. So Eileen had been looking after her all day. I walked in to see how she was and she looked ok. So I went to Eileens house for dinner. During dinner Eileen had a concerned look on her face. After a while she hopped up and said "Something isn't right here. I better go check on mammy." So I followed her. When I arrived at nanna's she was still in bed and Eileen was by her side. Nanna looked terrible her tongue was hanging out and she was trying to speak but she couldn't, her eyes were really deep in her face aswell. Eileen told me to stay with nanna. So I kept saying "You'll be alright nanna, don't worry." Eileen called all the other uncles and aunties after calling the doctors. I stood in the doorway as the other reletives arrived all going in too see nanna waiting for the ambulance to arrive. I went into the house for a little while and my auntie Brigie was in the kitchen cleaning everything. I said "Are you OK?" and she just replied "I clean when I get worried." So I went back to my post until the ambulance came. When they came the doctor injected nanna with something insulin I think. She returned to normal almost instantly but she was strapped to a bed and taken to the hospital anyway Eileen went along aswell. The doctor said she was going into a diabetic coma.

After that when nanna came home I was really paranoid about anyone giving her sweets. But her attitude had changed towards meals. She wouldn't even eat them and often tried hiding them or throwing bits in the fire. If I caught her she would give me a cheeky grin at first I went along with it but after a while it was getting ridiculas so i started dobbing her in everytime.

Then we had to leave Ireland. Nanna was under constant care from my other Aunties and Uncles especially Eileen. But nanna got really sick after a while and had to be put into hospital. While she was there all she asked for was "Can I go home now?" but we had to tell her no all the time.

She started getting really skinny from not eating after a few months then she looked alright for a while and then finally past away. Mum was the only one in our family that went to nanna's funeral. We all wanted to go but couldn't afford it.

I couldn't believe my nanna was dead. It was surreal to me so I just didn't think about it. So after about three weeks a guy from work came up to my kiosk and asked me "Are you alright bro? You look a little down." I told him about my nanna passing away. Then it just kinda hit me so I closed the shop up early and went into the storeroom and had a cry. First cry I've had for a very long time.

She will be missed greatly.

I remember: Meat pies and Oklahoma

When I was a little kid I we used to live in the house which had the kitchen and living room together only thing seperating them was a wall. In my spare time I would put on an Oklahoma CD and run around the wall then my mum or dad would make me a meat pie. I could do this for hours. Sometimes I would get ham sandwiches though.

I remember: Pets

Jasper: He was a black dog with little white tips of hair here and there on his coat. Medium size. I used to jump on the trampoline heaps and he'd be jumping around the edges there a photo of him somewhere at a party we had one night walking around in between peoples feet. He ran away.

Zucchini: She was our first kitten. A grey tabby. I didn't know much about kittens and I thought if you chopped stuff off it would grow back. So I chopped off her whiskers one day and she started walking all funny after that. She got run over by a car near the South Hedland video store. I saw her flat on the ground like a pancake.

Sheila: Sheila was a big fat blue healer. She used to chase cars and the postman if the gate was left open. Stephen used to kick her sometimes and it pissed me off but I was too small to do anything about it. One day me or James left the gate open and she never came back.

Shookra: Shookra was my dog. She was a meduim sized dog with the same sort of coat as a doverman but the body shape of a staffy. She was black with brown patches. So I looked after her alot of the time. When we first got her we put her in the laundry to sleep until we made her a bed. I heard whimpering in my sleep so I woke up and went into the laundry. Shookra had her paw jammed in the laundry door yelping. So I took her paw out and she was ok. She was a funny dog. One day she had diarrhea and she was in the living room with me and my brothers. She walked infront of us and pooed all over the carpet. The smell was so bad me and my brothers left the room we almost spewed it was that bad. So mum went in there and she wrapped a tea towel around her mouth and nose while cleaning it up. Shookra used to jump over the fence alot aswell but she would come back. One day she bought home a kangaroo carcass and another day a live rooster. But a lady came and picked up the rooster the same day. We had to give Shookra away because tics kept on infesting her body we literally had a jar full of tics.

Shadow: Shadow was a cross between a pitbull and a staffy. She belonged to James. I didn't really spend much time with this dog. She was a golden colour and we had to give her away after a while because we were moving house. I saw her one day in some man's ute.

Dero: We had a dog from Gero so mum named him Dero. He was a very good dog. I used to bring him to the beach in Geraldton and spend heaps of time playing with him because I didn't really fit in at all there. None of my family did really. He was a white pitbull with bits of black sprinkled across his fur. I used to swing him in circles around the back yard when he lock jawed some dog toys. But I stopped it after I while because he got pretty agressive sometimes. When we moved away from Geraldton mum had him up in South Hedland for a while but she gave him away because she had to go to work alot and he kept getting sunburnt. She gave him to the couple that had time to look after him. It was because we were still in Gero when mum had to go back to Hedland.

Pebbles: Pebbles was our dog for a while. He was a little yorkshire terrior black with brown patches. I used to walk him around Gorey when we lived there almost everynight. He belonged to my nanna. I didn't really like walking a small dog much but when nanna got him I was on holiday and I promised her I would look after him when I was there. So I did. He's living with my auntie Eileen now because my nanna passed away. He used to get out alot but he would always come home. But when nanna was alive she'd stand at the door until he came home no matter the time or weather.

Charlotte: Charlotte was my cat growing up she belonged to the whole family. Mum used to call her "Susie" because thats what her cats name was when she was little. She was a light grey tabby with green eyes and she never really filled out you would think she was in between a kitten and an adult cat. I used to pat her sometimes but she would bite you or scratch you after a while. She was a feral cat that we found so we didn't even know her real age because she always stayed the same size. When we first had her I wanted to play a trick on James so I put her in a drawer but then when I went to find him he had gone out. So I forgot she was in there. Me and james used to share a room and the next day I heard a scratching noise coming from the drawer. She jumped out and ran out of the room. I felt really bad for forgetting after that. Later on when we had her she started warming to another tabby that was identical to her. He used to hang around our house alot when we lived in pretty pool. Any other cats no matter how big they were Charlotte would scare them away. She did come back home some nights with the odd scratch on her. Anyway one day when Stpehen was reversing out of the driveway he accidently ran over Charlottes boyfriend mistaking him for her because she knew to move out of the way. I was coming home at the time and saw blood all over the side of our house. I walked to the front of the car to see Stephen and James standing over the dying cat. I leaned down to take a look at him he was covered in blood. The cats eyes kept staring into mine then it died. We put it in a plastic bag and threw it into the tip. We moved house a few years later and Charlotte was still alive. In our new house she got bitten by a snake. She lay in the shed for 3 days but then she recovered and was fine. But about a year later she disappeared. Mum said she probably went away to die because thats what cats do. We had her over 10 years.

Opal: My first cat was Opal a multicoloured cat but mostly white. When she was a kitten I tried feeding her ham, catfood and some other meats but she didn't eat any of them. So I gave her a peice of polony and she stood on her hind paws and grabbed the circle of polony with her other paws and started eating it. It looked like a human eating so it was pretty funny. James started calling her "Cat" in this really loud fast voice. So she started responding to that. When I went for a walk anywhere Opal would follow me. So one day when I had to go really far I tried to get her to go home but she wouldn't. So she end up getting tired and I tried picking her up but she just clawed me. She ran off somewhere. I didn't see her for months but then she just turned up at the house one day. She looked alright so we fed her but then she went away again.

Tyson: Was James's dog when he lived in Ireland. He was a big doverman with little white speckles on his fur. James's said it was because his last owner abused him. Tyson was a friendly dog and he was really dopey. He reminded me of Bambi when he first tries to walk but all the time. I took him for walks sometimes aswell. James's had to give him away to a friend because we had to leave Ireland.

We also owned a black rabbit, some goldfish and looked after a cockadoo but it died after a while and we buried it in the backyard.

I remember: Swinging a kitten

When I was young the neighbours one day got a kitten. I never had been around cats much so I didn't know what to think of it. We did have a dog called Jasper though. I went over to their house to see what the kitten was like. It came over to me and I grabbed it by the tail. I started swinging it in circles. The neighbours dad Larry came out and started slapping me on the ass and I ran home. I told my parents and remember them being really pissed off but I don't remember if they confronted him about it.

I remember: Neighbours drink

My brothers and I used to hang around the next door neighbours when I was really young. A boy and 2 girls. One of the girls was alot older than us so she wasn't really around much. But my brothers James and Stephen decided to one day make a drink for the boy. The sister was in on the joke aswell. We filled a glass of coke up and started putting alot of other crap in it like toothpaste, chilli sauce, salt and pepper ect. Anyway just as the boy was about to take a drink his sister Brooke shouted "No don't do it!" So he poured it out and they went home. I kinda wanted to see his reaction to tell the truth but I suppose it was good of his sister to tell him.