The Small Black Puppy

The Small Black Puppy

If the small black puppy had known it was Halloween, he might have stayed shivering in the old barn and started his search another time.

But he didn't know. All he knew was that he was cold, he was hungry, he was lonely — and he didn't even have a name to call his own. So the small black puppy set off on that cold Halloween night to look for a warm place to stay, some food to eat, and someone to smile at him and pet his fur. In other words, he wanted a home. And hoped to find a name.

As Halloween luck would have it, he hadn't gone very far — just past the graveyard, in fact — when a ghostly white shape floated out of the darkness. "Whoooooooooo are youuuuuuuu?" whispered the ghost.

The puppy bravely stood his ground. "I don't know," he answered. "You look like a small black puppy," the ghost moaned. "Of course I'm a small black puppy!" he tried to bark angrily. "Anyone can see that. But I don't know who I am. I don't have a name." The ghost considered this problem for a moment. "How about 'Tombstone'?" he suggested. "Thank you," the puppy said politely. "But that's not exactly what I had in mind. I think I'll wait until I've found a home. When I'm warm and full of good food, then I can decide about a name." "Why don't you come and live with me in the haunted house?" the ghost asked. "Thank you," said the small black puppy. "But that's not exactly what I had in mind." "Well, good-bye," the ghost moaned. "Nice meeting youuuuuuuu." And he floated off into the darkness.

The wind became colder. Strange noises were ringing in the dark night. The puppy shivered, but he went bravely on...

The wind became colder with every step the small black puppy took. Strange noises echoed through the dark night — a howl here, a creak there, and somewhere far away, the sound of children laughing. He shivered, but kept walking.

Soon he came upon a tall, twisted tree. Sitting on its lowest branch was a large orange cat with glowing eyes. "Well, well, well," the cat purred slowly. "What do we have here?" "I'm a small black puppy," he said. "I'm looking for a home." The cat yawned. "A puppy, looking for a home, on Halloween night. How very unusual." She flicked her tail. "You could stay here with me. I own this tree, you know." "Thank you," said the puppy kindly. "But a tree is not exactly what I had in mind."

The cat shrugged and said nothing more. He walked on. His little paws were tired now. His nose was cold. But something kept pulling him forward — maybe hope, or maybe just hunger.

Then, at the end of a long dirt road, he saw something wonderful. A warm yellow light, glowing softly from the window of a small house. On the porch sat a little girl in a witch costume, still holding her candy bucket, too excited to go inside. She saw him at the same moment he saw her. "Oh!" she whispered. She sat very still, the way you do when you don't want to scare something beautiful away. "Hello, little puppy."

He stopped. He looked at her. She smiled at him — a real smile, a warm smile, the kind he had been searching for all night. Slowly, he walked up the porch steps and sat down beside her. "You don't have a collar," she said softly. "Do you have a name?" He looked up at her with his big dark eyes. "I'll call you Shadow," she said. "Because you found me in the dark." And for the first time that cold Halloween night, the small black puppy felt warm.