The day was bright and beautiful. The sun shone brightly over the fields, lanes and hedgerows of Devon. The golden rays enhanced the yellow fields of wheat as they swayed in the slight summer breeze. At the top of a small hill sat a quaint little cottage farm, where the summer peace was being broken by the barks and yips of a number of dogs. This was not entirely uncommon for the area except for two particular things; the dogs were Dalmatians, and there were just about ninety-nine of them. Ninety-nine Dalmatians of every size and spot arrangement occupied the barn, house, and fields of Cherry Tree Farm. These ninety-nine Dalmatians were quite famous not only throughout Devon County, but throughout England as well. They were the puppies that had survived and escaped from the clutches of a madwoman known as Cruella De Ville who had intended to use their pelts to create what she believed would be the perfect fur coat. Now, because of her schemes being thwarted by the very dogs she had kidnapped, the cruel woman was now locked well away in one of London's institutions, far away to cause any harm to the Dalmatians.

Now, the puppies could no longer be considered puppies. They were now all nearly the size of their parents, Pongo and Perdita. The Pongos, as they were often addressed, were quite proud of their puppies, even those that were not part of their original litter of fifteen. As they grew up, the Pongo Puppies had proven to be prime examples of what good dogs should be, with even the adventurer Patch beginning to mature beyond his childhood antics, though they were certainly proud when those antics helped to save his brothers and sisters the second time they were snatched from their home. Even so, Pongo and Perdita were glad when he met his now beloved mate Susan, a local Dalmatian from Oak Grove Farm who always kept watch on her husband. It was a good thing that she was as the couple was expecting their first litter of puppies in a few months.

However there was still one child of theirs that Pongo and Perdita still fretted over. It was the one son of theirs that very nearly never was their son, the youngest of the original fifteen, Lucky. Lucky had grown into a fine dog, no question there. He had inherited his father's looks and his mother's heart. The latter trait seemed to be the prevailing one. He was always the shiest of the puppies and that was saying something. He had made friends with his siblings no question there, but he had never ventured beyond family to make other friends. Most of his days were spent wandering about the fields and hills of the farm, sometimes stopping to rest under the oak tree on Grove Hill. He was intelligent, kind, and handsome. His parent's only thought he needed to meet the right dog.

Lucky at that very moment was not out in the fields, but up in the loft of the massive barn that he and his siblings slept in at night. He usually went up there to rest and to just think. It didn't matter what he thought about. He just sometimes liked to be alone with his thoughts. Though sometimes those thoughts weren't the most positive. Like at this very instance he was thinking about Patch and his mate expecting their first litter. While he was indeed happy for his brother and could hardly believe that he was about to become an uncle, he couldn't help but feel something strange inside of him that he needed to be alone to figure out. And now, after having been alone to think he had finally identified the feeling. He was jealous. While it was not unusual for siblings to be jealous of one another, the cause of this jealousy was something that concerned Lucky greatly.

He was lonely. And he was jealous of his brother because he was lonely. He had plenty of friends ne question about that, but he wanted to meet someone who he could become more than friends with. He admired his parents for their loyalty towards one another and their loyalty towards their children, which Lucky had experienced first hand numerous times and aspired to mirror. However it seemed that his own shy and meek personality kept him from finding a suitable mate. Deep down, Lucky had always feared that he would never be the dog that his father was. Even though his name was meant to imply that he had been blessed with good fortune, he had always believed that it only meant that he was lucky to be alive. His parents had told him the story of his birth and therefore in his mind that was all that his name implied. His luck was just not good enough for him to settle down. It was these kinds of thoughts that made him so quiet all the time.

"Lucky?"

His train of thought was brought to a halt by the shout from his father being heard from below. Looking down over the edge of the loft, he spotted his father staring up at him with a smile. Smiling in return, Lucky stood up and leaped down onto the stack of barrels that he had used to climb up in the first place and landed down on the ground in front of him.

"Hello father." He said with a smile. "Did you need anything from me?"

Pongo smiled. "What? Can't a father just stop and have a chat with his son?"

Lucky chuckled slightly. "No I suppose not. How are you today father?"

Pongo turned and began to walk out of the barn with Lucky following him. "Oh quite well son. It is such a beautiful day. Penny and some of the girls are down by the pond gossiping and your brother Patch is off looking after Marigold. I thought it would be nice to have a talk. How about you how is your day coming along?"

Lucky shrugged. "Oh it's alright father. Just been thinking that's all."

"Oh really? What about?"

Lucky hesitated before answering as his smile faltered. "N-nothing really. Just…thinking."

Pongo's smile dropped at this moment. "Lucky. My boy. You know that if there is anything that is bothering you that your mother and I are always open for a talk."

Lucky looked at his father as he continued. "You have grown into a fine young dog Lucky and you know that we are quite proud of you."

Lucky smiled slightly at this. "Thank you father. You have no idea how nice it is to hear that." His smiled dropped. "But I'm not sure if you two could help with this problem. Now if you don't mind father, I'd like to go for a walk. Tell mother I'll be back in time for dinner."

Before Pongo could say anything more, Lucky walked away towards the fields. Pongo sighed as he watched him go. This was not the ending of the conversation that he had wanted.

"I take it there was no progress?"

Pongo looked beside him to see that his wife Perdita was now standing at his side with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"No I'm afraid not." Pongo sighed.

Perdita looked out towards where her son had walked off with a worried look. "Oh Pongo." She said softly. "I do wish he would talk to us."

It wasn't too long until Lucky found himself at his favorite tree. Taking a seat down beside hit, he let his father's words sink in. He was right. If he ever did need to talk, he knew that his parents were always there to listen. But this wasn't something that he was comfortable expressing to his parents. There were to many intimate details to the problem that would just be awkward to talk about. No the problem was his and his alone. That was what made it all the more depressing. His problem was that he was lonely, but he had no one to lighten the burden. He let out a long and sad sigh as he once again acknowledged this. It looked like it would just be another afternoon mulling over his fears.

-rustle-

Lucky's ear flicked in the direction that the sound had come from, and turning his head saw that it came from the grove of trees a little way down the hill. Sniffing the air, he tasted the smell of a fellow canine, though it was not any that he or his family knew. Curiosity began to guide his mind as he made his way over to the grove to investigate. Upon arriving, he initially couldn't see anyone, though he was sure that a dog was there as the scent was too strong.

"Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone there?"

…. whimper….

Lucky turned to his left and found himself facing a large clump of bushes. Below the branches he saw that the grass and dirt had been kicked up, a sign that some creature had skirted under it. He took a few slow steps towards the bush before lowering his head down to try and see under the bush.

"Hello?" He called softly. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. I just want to talk. Could you come out?"

For a few moments there was only silence. Then Lucky began to hear more rustling and saw the leaves of the bush begin to shake. He took a few steps back to make room for whoever was coming out of the bushes. He then saw a black paw appear into the light, then another, and then a black nose and snout, followed by a set of beautiful blue eyes. Lucky froze.

Crawling out from under the bushes was a slender and glossy female black lab. Her coat shone in the sun. He blue eyes reflected the blue sky. She was absolutely gorgeous, which presented a problem to Lucky, as his shyness was threatening to kick in and leave him at a loss for words as the beautiful lab stood before him. But somehow, something inside of him this time prevented such a thing from happening as he began to move his mouth and to his surprise began to speak.

"Hello." He said softly. "I'm sorry if I uh startled you earlier."

The lab gave a slight smile. "That's alright." Her voice was soft and smooth. Lucky had to shake his head slightly after a few moments of just listening to it over and over again in his head.

"Uh…My name is Lucky." He smiled. "And yours?"

"Marigold." She replied. "My name is Marigold."

Lucky smiled even more. It was such a lovely name. "Nice to meet you Marigold." He nodded. "Do you live around here?"

Marigold nodded. "Yes. I do."

"Well where? I've never seen you around here before."

There was a long moment of silence.

"I need to get back home." Marigold said quickly before turning to walk away.

"Wait!" Lucky called out which made Marigold stop. When she did, Luck caught sight of a long scar that ran down here right shoulder.

"Could we meet again maybe?" He asked. "If you have somewhere to go I understand but could we meet again sometime?"

Marigold didn't answer at first. She then turned to face Lucky again and smiled.

"Yes." She said softly. "We can meet again."

"Well when then?" Lucky smiled.

"Tomorrow. Noon." She said. "Goodbye for now Lucky." She then took off up the hill with Lucky watching her the entire way.

"Goodbye Marigold." Lucky whispered as she disappeared over the hill. "See you tomorrow.