horrified at the sight of him.The creature was blue, he wasn’t waking up, and he had a giant bruise on the middle of his forehead. Dan wanted to cry just looking at the poor thing. Without thinking, he put the puppy inside is coat and zipped it high enough so that the little guy could get air. And he ran as fast as he could to the vet’s office.

With luck, the vet’s was still open, or at least the vet was still inside, probably because of the storm. Dan rushed to the door and knocked on it, but the vet was already there before the third knock. He was watching out the window.

“I’m sorry, little boy but we’re closed.” The vet said.

“Please! I want you to make sure this puppy is alive! That’s all you gotta do! I just wanna know if he’s okay!”

The vet thought for a short moment while looking at the poor creature in the boy’s arms.

“Well, alright. Come inside.”

After a brief overlook of the puppy, the vet confirmed that the pup was very much alive, but only unconscious. He would wake up again in a day or two with proper care. Dan thanked the vet for his help and he went out the door and walked back home. The vet soon did the same.

Dan quietly tip toed inside his house, with the puppy still inside his coat. He shut the door ever so gently and then turned around to see two people glaring at him. His parents.

“Daniel! What were you DOING out there in the middle of a storm!” His mother, Jill, exclaimed.

“You should’ve been in bed.” His father, Nick, crossed his arms.

“I’m sorry I ran out there, but I had to do something important.” Dan tried to explain.

Jill put her hand to her forehead. “What was SO important that you had to walk outside in a blizzard in the middle of the night?!”

“Well…this.” He opened his coat to reveal the red pup inside.

“A…puppy?!” Nick exclaimed.

“Yeah, I found him all alone, buried in snow. The vet said he’s still alive, he just needs to be cared for until he wakes up.” Dan snuggled the puppy to his face and smiled.

“So you want us to take care of a puppy that you found on the street?! What if it has rabies?! Take that thing to the animal shelter, right now!” Jill pointed towards the door.

“No!” Dan hugged the puppy tighter. “Without the right care, he’s gonna die! And I don’t wanna go back out in that storm again, even YOU don’t want me to!”

“Well, you seemed just fine waltzing out there once.” Nick said.

“Nick!” Jill hissed. She looked at her son. “Fine, he can stay the night. But tomorrow morning before we leave that pup is going to the shelter!” And then she went upstairs, followed by her husband.

Dan took the puppy to his room and laid him on his bed. He took a towel and dried the pup off as best he could, then hugged him again before going to sleep.

The next morning, Dan woke up, still feeling tired from all the craziness last night, but knew he had to get ready to go back to Montana. He looked at the foot of his bed to see that the pup was still unconscious, but he looked a lot better than he did before.

Just as Dan was getting out of his bed, his father came in through the door.

“Dan? Can we talk?”

Dan nodded, now realizing he’ll have to give up the pup before they leave. He looked back at the cute sleeping face of the adorable creature before he turned to look at his dad.

“What is it, Dad?”

“Your mother and I were talking last night when you went back to bed. We were talking about the pup you brought home.”

“I know, I know. I’ll remember to take him to the shelter before we leave.” He said in an annoyed tone.

“No, son.”

Dan’s eye widened. “What?”

“We know we can’t give that pup up to the shelter when he needs a family to take care of him, and since he has no collar…”

Dan’s smile was forming and getting bigger by the second. “You don’t mean…”

“And you DO need someone to keep you company while your mother and I both are at work…”

“You really mean it?!”

“ONE catch!” Nick pointed his pointer finger up. “The puppy will be your responsibility to care for. That means feeding him, giving him water, walking him, AND cleaning up after him. Do you think you can do that?”

“YES YES YES!! Thank you SO much Dad! I love you!” He tackled his Dad and hugged his neck until he started chocking.

“Okay-ack! You can stop now-ack! You’re hurting me.”

“Oh. Sorry. Dad, do you think the people on the train will mind if we bring a puppy on board?”

“As long as you keep him in your coat, I don’t think anyone would notice. Plus, I’ve seen weirder things on trains.” He chuckled.

When everyone was all set to go, and Dan had said goodbye to all of his relatives, he picked up a still unconscious pup turned him toward the tiny town, and waved his paw for him.

“Goodbye Nome!” He shouted. Then he spoke softly to his new pet. “I know you’re not going to wake up for a while, but when you do, it’ll be in somewhere really great!”

“Daniel! Hurry up or we are going to miss our train!” Jill called from afar.

“Coming!” Dan said back. He turned to the pup again as he was putting him into his coat once more. “Ready for a little train ride, boy?” Of course, the pup didn’t reply. Little did he know what the pup was about to experience.

It turns out, no one noticed a puppy on the train ride to Montana. They were probably more concerned with the passenger who brought a snake on board. While riding, Dan was thinking of names for his new puppy as he was looking out the window at the falling snow. It was many hours before they even caught a glimpse of Montana.

As the puppy continued to sleep in the boy’s arms, Dan was getting a little worried.

“Don’tcha think he should’ve woken up by now?” Dan asked his parents.

“The Vet said a day or two, right? It’s barely been a day. I’m sure the little guy would be fine.” His dad assured him.

Dan looked back at the poor thin on his lap. He picked him up, held him close to his heart, eyes a little bit watery.

“I really hope you wake up soon, boy. I wanna do so much with you.”

When the sun had set on their journey, the boy fell asleep while Nick took over carrying the pup.

“Nick, even though I did agree to this, I still don’t like it.” Jill whispered to him.

“We’ll make sure he gets all his shots, don’t worry.”

“No, just about the fact that Dan thinks the puppy is going to be okay. What if he doesn’t end up waking up?”

“He’ll wake up. It’s only been a day, and he could wake up at any time.”

“I just have a feeling. I didn’t want Dan to keep the puppy because in its condition, I don’t think it will survive.”

Nick put the puppy’s chest to his ear, then after a few seconds he smiled. “He has a heartbeat. It’s slow but it’s going. Listen.” He put him close to Jill’s ear and she listened to the slow faint pounding.

Jill sat back in her seat. “I’m just saying, I don’t want to get Dan’s hopes up. I don’t want to see him heartbroken.”

“Trust me. He’s gonna be okay.”

Jill sighed. “I hope so, for Dan’s sake.” And with that both parents fell asleep as well.

The next day, Dan could not have been more excited to come back home after the long train ride. The moment the family arrived back at the house, Dan could not contain his joy. He picked up the puppy in his arms and ran from the cab all the way up the driveway into his home. He put the still sleeping pup on his bed carefully.

“We’re home!” She shouted to the skies.

“Dainel, get back here and help us carry the things back in the house!” His mother screamed from outside.

“Whoops. Gotta go, I’ll be back soon to name you!” Then he dashed out the door to help with the suitcases.

Later that day, when everything was back in its place, Dan sat in a chair by his bed, watching his new puppy sleep, sleep, sleep the day away on his mattress. He became a little worried again, it’s been almost two days now.  He should have woken up. But then Dan stopped himself and even chuckled.

“I have nothing to worry about. He’s gonna be fine, just like Dad said.” He thought aloud. “In fact…I’m gonna name you right now! I was gonna wait until you woke up, but you’re making me really impatient.” He scratched behind the pup’s ears. His foot made the tiniest little twitch when he did, and it really surprised him. He kept it to himself, though. He would soon wake up anyway.

The boy smiled. “I’m gonna call you…” He looked around the room for ideas. And after stopping to look out his window, he saw, out in the distance, his old bicycle. He got a new one recently and didn’t need his little kid one, so Dan’s parents put it out on the lawn,