Barry Rosenberg

I was sitting at the desk. Pheebs bursts in, as she tends to do. The next door neighbour’s beautiful 13-year-old big black poodle paying Uncle Barry a visit.

Sometimes she precedes her person, sometimes she just moseys over on her own to say gidday. She's usually frisky upon spotting me, prancing around then coming close for cuddles.

This time no prancing, comes right over, snuggles her chin on my lap, then looks up at me. I get up, walk her outside. No master cometh. I walk along the deck, right to left.

Whenever I do this, generally she bolts off home. Not this time; she stays directly behind me, twice nudging the back of my leg.

Follows me past the garage, then bolts once we hit the sidewalk. I follow, figuring to open the neighbour’s front door to let her in the house, as I frequently do.

That’s when I spot my neighbour. Hell, what is he doing? He’s bent over just to the left of the building, not moving.

“You okay?” I ask as I approach.

“No,” he replies. He's kneeling on one knee, his hands running over the side of the house, trying to stand up but no way he can gain purchase. He's a mess, his trous filthy, blood on one of his ankles.

I take his hand, pull as hard as I can – the 10.5 stone 87-year-old trying to lever up the 20 stone 80-year-old.

Somehow I get him to his feet. He takes his hand out of mine ... and immediately falls backwards.

Fortunately, he lands on his arse, his back (and not his head) hitting the wall. I figure I’m gonna have to find a strong stick for him to lean on before I have another go.

Suddenly, a tall, slim woman comes out the door. The cleaner. She stands there nonplused, staring at the scene.

I ask her to grab one of his hands while I take the other. We yank. Somehow we get him to his feet.

I walk him slowly inside the house, push him up the steps. We sit at the long table. He seems out of sorts.

As he slowly gains clarity, it occurs to me: Pheebs had cottoned on to what happened when he fell, ran off to fetch Uncle Barry, made absolutely sure I went round and helped him.