Once there was a boy named Dan. He loved puppies. It was Dan's birthday the other day. Dan asked his parents to buy him one. But his parents were not interested.

That day, Dan accompanied his Mom to the local supermarket to buy groceries for his birthday party. It was afternoon. Dan's Mom told Dan to sit in the car until she came back after shopping.

Next to the supermarket was a pet shop which sold all kinds of pets. Cats, rabbits, parrots and of course puppies. Dan watched the puppies in the pet shop. How he wished he could have one to play with! He enjoyed watching the puppies so much that the time passed quickly. His Mom stepped down the stairs and they drove back home.

As soon as they reached home, the phone inside the house started ringing. Dan's Mom hastily got out of the car, and went to attend the call saying, "Dan please get the groceries to the kitchen." Dan nodded. His Mom hurried to open the door.

One after the other, Dan unloaded the things from the car. He suddenly started hearing noises. Dan turned around and looked all over the place, but couldn't find the source of the noise. He checked the car to see whether the sound was coming from inside.

Just as Dan peeked into the window of the car, he shrieked out as something black pounced on him. "What happened?" asked Dan's Mom from within the house, holding the phone. Dan replied, "Nothing mom! It is just an insect." His Mom continued her conversation on the phone.

Dan couldn't believe it. He rubbed his eyes to see. It was a black puppy. Dan was so happy that he finally had a Puppy. He thought of naming it as "Blackie." Suddenly, Dan heard her Mom say furiously, "Dan! Where are you? Didn't I tell you something?" Dan replied nervously, "Yes! I'm coming mom."

Dan didn't have any idea where Blackie had come from, though it didn’t matter to him now. Dan carefully picked up Blackie and placed him near a bush. He then carried the bag containing the groceries and hurried to place them in the Kitchen. Dan came back and ran towards the bush. To his horror, he couldn't find the puppy. Depressed, Dan looked all over the place, but there was no sign of Blackie, his first pet.

It was evening now and the sun had shown signs of its departure. Dan sat on the steps of his house, tired of searching. He hadn't found Blackie. He went back to the house, to his room, and lay on his bed, thinking about Blackie.

"Dan, where are you?" enquired Dan's dad. "I am in my room," said Dan in a low tone. Dan heard a knock on his room's door. "Dan! I have brought you something."

"I don't want anything," said Dan in a depressed tone, covering his face with a pillow.

"Well, I know you will like this," said Dan's dad placing the gift on Dan’s tummy.

Dan removed the pillow from his face. "Blackie!!" said Dan. It was indeed Blackie. He couldn't understand how his dad had found Blackie.

"Do you know him?" asked his dad suspiciously.

"No!! I don’t know him!" replied Dan.

"I was driving down from my office when I saw this pup stranded on the road. As there were no houses around I thought maybe he had lost his path home. So I brought him here. You can keep him here, but you have to promise to be good in studies."

"Yes! I will!" replied Dan.

At night, Dan fed Blackie his dinner. Then Dan placed Blackie beside him on the bed. Dan had to get up early the next day, as it was his birthday. The birthday party was planned to be held in the evening. He wasn’t excited about the gifts he would be receiving at the party, though. Because, he had already received the biggest gift on his birthday, a puppy named "Blackie."