It was Johnny's birthday. He was eight years old. His parents promised he could get a puppy when he was eight, so right after breakfast, they hopped in the car and drove to Grandma's house to get his puppy.
Grandma lived several miles away in a much bigger city. Shortly after arriving at Grandma's house, Johnny's mother asked, "Johnny, would you like to walk to the pet store to look at the puppies?"
Johnny proudly walked on his own down to Main Street where the pet store was located. As he approached the store, he could see several puppies bobbing up and down in the big store window. As he entered the store, four puppies huddled together in the display area began to jump up and down when Johnny came near.
Johnny introduced himself to the store owners and explained why he was there. He asked if it would be alright to hold some of the puppies; they agreed. While playing with the four puppies, he noticed a fifth puppy all alone curled up in the far corner and asked the owners if that puppy was from the same litter?
The lady responded he was but that he was not for sale. "How come?" Johnny asked.
"That puppy was born with a bad hip socket," she said, "and one of his back legs doesn't work very well."
"Wow," Johnny said, "What will you do with him?"
"Well, tomorrow my husband will take him to the vet and have him put to sleep."
Johnny asked if he could hold that fifth puppy and the lady nodded yes. Instantly, the puppy responded to Johnny's touch with several big licks and they immediately became friends. "This is the puppy for me. This is the puppy I want to buy," Johnny said.
The pet store owners reminded Johnny that the puppy was not for sale; however, Johnny insisted that this was the puppy he wanted to buy.
Johnny turned to walk out the door and he said, "I'll go home and get my money and be right back."
The wife said, "I don't understand. Why do you want this puppy when you could get one that is perfect and won't cause you any trouble?"
Without saying a word, Johnny lifted his left trouser leg and exposed a large chrome brace circling his leg and running up the entire length of his leg. The owners looked at each other in silence. Finally the husband spoke, "Son you don't need to go get any money. We would like you to have that puppy."
