A few days later, Becca was walking to the store when she spotted the dog again. This time she dared to move closer to it. Walking slowly over to it, she had the strange feeling that it was trying to ask her something. As she was approaching it, it turned and started walking away. She followed unquestionably. The dog led her into the backyard of a vacant house. A privacy fence surrounded the yard and there were very few neighbors.

"You are the weirdest dog that I have ever met," Becca said. The dog barked and sat down by a large stone. To Becca's surprise, the dog suddenly changed into a man. The man had long, matted, elbow-length hair. His face looked tired and he was very pale.

"W-Who are you?" Becca finally managed to stutter after a moment. She started backing away. The man could tell that she was frightened and was thinking of running when he said.

"I'm Sirius Black. I don't know why, but for some reason I was drawn to you. It might be that you look so much like someone I used to know," he said.

"Sirius black was my father's name," Becca said. She was now quite calm, since she knew that he wouldn't hurt her. "My mother mentioned that name a lot." She pulled the picture of her parents out of her pocket and looked at it. Could this man be her father? He looked similar to the man in the picture, but she wasn't sure.

"Your father? Could you tell me your mother's name?" Sirius asked. Becca nodded and spoke very slowly.

"My mother's name was Rosa," she said. The truth hit Sirius like a brick wall. All these years he had had a daughter, yet he never knew about her, until now. No wonder he was so drawn to her. She looked almost exactly like Rosa except for her eyes. Rosa had had green eyes, but Becca's eyes were dark brown, almost black. Sirius had those same eyes.

"All these years, I had a daughter and I never knew it," Sirius said. Tears began to swell in Becca's eyes. She tried blinking them away, but they wouldn't stay. She hugged her father as she started to cry. To her surprise, her father was crying too. She hugged him so hard he thought his ribs were going to break. He let go and stood back to look her over, not being able to get over how much she looked like Rosa.

"Where is your mother?" Sirius asked. Becca looked down at her shoes. Since he was away, he didn't know about Rosa's tragic end.

"Rosa died in a car crash six years ago," she said. He had a right to know, but Becca couldn't help thinking that she shouldn't have told him. A disbelieving look came over Sirius's face. On the day that he gained a daughter, he also lost a wife. He sniffled again.

"Come on," he said. "I'll walk you home. It's getting late." Becca put her hand into her pocket and felt the shopping list. She still needed to pick up some things for Meredith's party tonight.

"Hold on," she said. "I need to go pick up some things for my friend's coming home party." Sirius nodded, changed back into a dog, and walked beside her. She walked back to the corner store. Walking slowly, she looked at the list. It read:

Potato Chips

Orange Soda

3 Bags of Confetti

1/2 gallon of Vanilla Ice Cream

Sugar

2 bags of candy

She walked into the store while Sirius sat outside and collected the things on her list. Walking up to the counter, she set the things down and a boy, not more then 17 started ringing up her purchases.

"That'll be $19.44," he said. Becca pulled a $20 out of her pocket and gave it to the boy. He smiled and showed a mouth full of braces. She smiled back as she picked up her bags and walked out of the door. She was back home in five minutes.

"You need to stay out here," she said to Sirius. "I f my mom sees a dog in the house, she'll skin me alive. The back gate is open if you want to stay back there." The dog ran around the side of the house and out of sight. Becca went inside and started getting things ready for Mere's party. She handed the bag of sugar to her mother so that she could finish the cake she was baking and she put tie ice cream in the fridge.

She left to go set up Mere's party at four o'clock. Becca unlocked the door and turned on the light. Two hours later there were lots of people there. Since it was a surprise party, Mere didn't know about it. At seven thirty, Mere walked up the driveway and opened the door.