The doorbell rang.

“Who was it?” I wondered to myself.
So of course I asked my mom. As all kids do.

“Mom!” I yelled up over the stairs.

“What?” she replied.

“Were we expecting anyone this morning?” I asked.

“Not that I know of.” she answered slowly, slurring her words.
I gently turned the knob, and slowly opened the bright red door with the gold plaque on the front that stated it was our home. No one was there. Just a small black bag. The size of a suit case. Assuming that it was my mothers I dragged it up the stairs, up to where she was picking up her work stuff from off the table.

“I found your bag out on the doorstep.” I sighed.
Making it sound so unimportant. Except to me it was unimportant because everyday she got multiple packages. So to me I didn’t care all that much.

“ My bag is sitting in the office near my desk.” she answered.

“ hmm, can I open the bag to see what it is?” I asked.

“ yeah sure” She answered hoping that it wasn’t another thing that would help clutter the office even more.
I brought the bag more carefully to the living room, I gently set it down on the rug. I unbuckled the bag, I lifted the lid. Not knowing what it was going to be. Then a little white fluffy head poked out of the bag and stared at me. At first I thought it was a stuffed animal. I lifted it up out of the bag and placed it on the rug. It started moving slowly, and sniffing around. By then I knew that it was a puppy. I had to announce it to someone, quickly.

“MOM IT”S A PUPPY!!! I screamed”

“What? it can’t be a puppy.” She said it so casually.

“Come look for yourself” I was beyond excited by then.

She walked down the hallway. Her eyes opened wide, her jaw dropped. It was a priceless expression, as some would say. She knelt down on her knees scooping the little puppy up into her arms. Cradling it just like it was a baby. I was curious. There had to be a clue to who had given us this small bundle of love.
I started scavenging through the bag to see if their was anything left that might have given us a clue to who had left us this small puppy. I found a small orange envelope with our names on it.


“Mom I found an envelope, with all of our names on it, may I open it?” I asked.

I was hoping to find out who it was from. But before I opened the mysterious envelope, I remembered that I hadn’t told my dad about who came to our house. (The puppy)


“Dad! dad!” I sprinted down the stairs, hoping that I wouldn’t trip as I went.

I swung the door open. It startled him.


“Sorry to startle you but it’s very important!” I said very impatiently.

“Okay, what is it?” he asked.

“ Your going to have to come upstairs to find out!” I shouted up over the stairs.

I took his arm and tugged him up the stairs. I was hoping that he would be a little more enthusiastic about seeing what I was talking about, but he went at his normal pace. Which wasn’t fast enough for me. Once we finally made it to the top of the stairs, he was in disbelief. The look on his face made me smile. It was almost the exact same as my mom’s reaction. We all sat down. I started scavenging through the bag for more things. I figured I could open the envelope after one final scan of the little bag. In the front pocket I found a pamphlet. It was from Pet-land. Well thats what it said anyway. I opened it up for all of us to see what was inside. There was a CD about how to properly train puppy’s. While my mom and dad looked closer at the pamphlet I started slowly pulling the corners open on the envelope. I found a letter inside. It had a very nice christmas theme border around the edges. And it had a picture of Santa Clause towards the top of the paper. I read it aloud. The sentence that meant the most to me was when the letter stated that she was now our puppy. She was a female Maltese, born on October 16. The letter also stated that the rest of her things were placed in the garage.

“ Placed in the garage?” my dad asked.

“Thats odd I just went into the garage about ten minutes ago.” he stated.

“Wait the rest of her things? what other things did she have?” my brother asked my parents.

“ well I guess we better check out what’s in the garage.” I said.
My brother and I bolted down the stairs like it was a life or death situation. I unlocked the door slowly.

“ come one! it doesn’t take that long to unlock a door!” my brother stated impatiently.

He gave the door a little nudge. It swung right open. Sitting right near the garage door was a small black crate. With many things lying inside. My dad carried the heavy metal crate up the stairs. Their were many supplies that we would have had to buy ourselves but now we didn’t have thanks to whoever bought these things for us. The only thing that we had to go out and buy was puppy food. The people gave us pee pads, toys, bowls, shampoo, pretty much all that we needed. Once my dad placed the crate down he took out the pee pads. The letter instructed us to let her go to the bathroom because she hadn’t gone in a while. So as instructed we did what the letter asked us to do, we placed down a pee pad and we all sat in a circle around her, thinking of a name that would best suit her.

“ buddy?” my brother guessed, not thinking of what gender she is.

“no! she’s a girl!” I reminded him.

“oh” he sighed.
We were all going around in a circle. Each time guessing one name that we thought would best suit her. It was my turn to guess. I had to think hard because, first she just showed up, and second we didn’t know her personality yet. Which for me helps me think of names fast. I inhaled deeply, thinking hard and fast.

“ Cassidy!, what about Cassidy!?” I blurted.
It was silent. As if they were trying out the name in their head.

“Cassidy?” I tried called out the name to see if she would respond.
Her head whipped around as if she already knew her name.

“ It’s a keeper” my mom said. I was excited that she liked the name that I picked.
I wasn’t just excited, I was ecstatic! It wasn’t the fact that I named the dog, It was the fact that we had a dog. Once Cassidy had gone to the bathroom on the little pee pad we had placed her back in the crate. It was time for us to head to Rockland. We loaded her into the back of the truck. Already she was whining. It was going to be a long ride. I can’t wait. The whole ride there I thought about who could have dropped her off. But then I stopped in mid thought and said to myself. Dreams can come true.