Marley and Me

CHAPTER ONE

The New Puppy

My name is John Grogan and I love dogs. When I was ten years old, my father gave me my first dog. I called him Shaun.

Shaun was my best friend. He went everywhere with me and he was very obedient. When I called him, he came to me. He played with me and he walked next to me without a leash. In the car, he sat next to me quietly.

After many years, Shaun died. He was fourteen years old. By that time, I wasn't a boy; I was a man. I had my first job.

Shaun was a great dog. I wanted to get another dog, but it had to be as wonderful as Shaun.

Some years later, I moved to Florida and married Jenny. Jenny and I had jobs with newspapers. We were very happy. We were young and in love, and life was wonderful.

One day, I bought a plant for Jenny. It was very large, with beautiful white flowers. Jenny loved it - maybe too much. Every day, she gave it water. In the end, the plant got sick and died.

Some days later, I woke up early. Jenny wasn't in bed. I found her at the table with a newspaper. She had a red pen in her hand.

"Jenny," I said, "what are you doing?"

She showed me the newspaper. It was open at a page of ads. "Look at this, John," she said.

I saw an ad with a big red line under it:

Beautiful Labrador puppies. Five weeks old.

"I can't forget about that plant," Jenny said. "Why couldn't I look after a plant? I only had to give it water, but I killed it." She looked sad, but then she smiled. "I can't look after a plant, but maybe I can look after a dog. And later, maybe I'll be ready for a baby."

I thought about that. Jenny and I wanted to have children one day, but we loved dogs, too. Our little house was a good place for a dog. We lived near a park and near a beach. And the house had a big yard with lots of trees.

"OK," I said. I put my arms around Jenny. "Let's get a dog."

So some days later, we drove to the address in the ad. The house was in the middle of some woods. A woman came to the door and there was a beautiful yellow Labrador with her.

"I'm Lori," said the woman. "And this is Lily. She's the puppies' mother."