Encounter at Daybreak: A New Friend

“Never again,” Becky, a young woman in her early twenties, said. Completely disillusioned, she sat alone, on a wooden, park bench beside the lake, waiting for dawn to break. It had been a long night. There was not a soul in sight. Even the sounds of early morning had not yet begun to resound. 

Becky knew that shortly, the sun would burst through the total darkness and create a blazoning trail of light, right across the lake.

“If only I could walk that trail.” She knew that would not make things right. This time there was nothing that could fix what had been broken. “I need a friend,” she realized. “The only thing I could do was end that relationship, permanently. It's probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do, but I did it.”

Just then, she heard a crackling sound. She turned, but saw no one. 

“I must be imagining things,” she thought. 

Suddenly, she jumped, as something cold and wet, brushed against her leg. Looking down, she spotted a tiny puppy. Its huge, brown eyes caught her attention immediately. The pup was wet, muddy and bedraggled looking, as it tried to snuggle up against her. 

“You poor little pup!” she said, as she picked him up. He was shivering. She held him tight, pulled off her scarf and wrapped him in it. “Where on earth did you come from?”

At that same moment, the sun made its regularly scheduled appearance.

“I don’t know who owns you or where you came from, but from now on, you are Sunny, to me,” she said, carefully checking the pup for any signs of identification. There was nothing.

Telephoning the Humane Society, later that morning, Becky learned that someone not wanting to keep a large litter of pups, had dropped them off right beside the lake. Several other people had found young pups there, too.

“Now you are mine, Sunny,” Becky said, as she cleaned him up. “I’m glad you don’t have anyone. Now, we have each other. I’ll get you checked over and you’ll need some shots, but from now on, we’re together.”