The Story Of Daniel

/t w e n t y - o n e/

Chapter 21

Four Years Before

There's a universal law that states that you will be nervous on your first day of high school. Of course you will. There is no escaping it. You can keep your cool on the outside, but on the inside you're a ball of anxiety.

And then there's the universal law that every puppy has to be adorable. You can't deny it. Even if you're not a dog person, you have to find every puppy you see inexplicably endearing.

But never, in a million years, would Daniel think that both of these universal laws would apply to his first day of freshman year, let alone in the same day.

But against all odds, they did.

Daniel and Amelia were, like always, walking to school, this time to the high school instead of middle. They had just refurbished the garden area in front of the school. Around the edges of the building were shrubberies.

And from these shrubs came a whining sound. It was out of place in the slightly chilled morning air. It cut through the silence and Daniel and Amelia mirrored shocked expressions. Why was there a whining noise coming from the bush?

Amelia was the first to act. She rushed up to the shrubs and started to part them with her hands even though they were kind of sharp. "Danny!" she called. "Look!"

Daniel came over to see where the annoying sound was coming from. And there, sat on the ground, was a puppy. With his head stuck in a jar. Yes, you heard correctly. There was a puppy with its head stuck in a jelly jar in a bush at Daniel's school. This is where the second universal law came into place. This puppy was adorable. It looked mix-breed, but had prominent beagle features. It had black and white colored fur patterns and the most adorable pink nose. And it had its head stuck in a jelly jar.

Amelia scooped it up and eased its head out of the jar. It had been trying to lick a scrap of jelly near the bottom of the jar. That's how it had gotten its head stuck. "What do we do?" Amelia asked. "We can't just leave it here." Daniel looked around him hoping that an answer would just magically appear.

"I can call my mom. Maybe she'll come pick it up, take care of it till we get back." Amelia nodded and then went back to petting the puppy in her arms while Daniel called his mom.

His mother wasn't necessarily angry, just confused. But she eventually agreed and drove to the school to pick up the pup.

***

Through the course of the day, Daniel forgot about the little dog they found in the bushes. He was too busy by his classes to think about petty things like that. But when school was over and he and Amelia walked to Daniel's house, they found his mom cuddling a puppy on the couch. Amelia picked it up and looked at it in awe.

"So, what are you kids doing with it?" his mom asked.

"Amelia found it, it's up to her," Daniel replied. The puppy had been dirty when they found it, but now its coat was clean, probably from a nice bath. It was obvious that the dog didn't have an owner.

"My aunt would never let me keep him," she said. "But we can't just abandon the poor thing."

Daniel looked at his mom with a pleading look. "Maybe we could keep him?" She looked indecisive, but when Amelia gave her an imploring look as well, she gave in.

"Fine. I've become quite attached to him today, anyways." She sighed and got up, probably to go start dinner.

"What do we name him?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know. But it has to be a good name," she replied.

"How about Joe. Joe is a nice name."