All of a sudden, Lucky ran off again, right in front of the reporter, right between a policeman's legs and into the crowd. Charlie ran after Lucky as fast as his short little legs would let him. He finally found Lucky, who was climbing all over a lady who was in tears. Charlie ran up and apologized, explaining to the lady that Lucky was just trying to help her stop crying. Charlie asked why she was crying and regretted it a second later as he figured it out for himself. The police cars, the reporters, the little boy missing, and this woman in tears had to be Jimmy's mother. Now they were really in trouble.

Charlie again started to apologize and the lady looked at him with tear-filled eyes and said, "It's OK, I think it's sweet that your dog wants to stop my tears." Charlie didn't know what to say, and then Jimmy's mother picked up Lucky and held him close. Lucky quickly nuzzled his way close to her face and tried to kiss away her tears. The lady actually laughed. Let's face it, Lucky was great at stopping tears, he just licked them all away. Charlie was still squirming because he worried that he would be in trouble, but the lady seemed to genuinely enjoy holding Lucky in her arms. It was like she had felt so alone and Lucky had given her someone to hold on to when she cried.

Finally, she explained to Charlie that Jimmy had gone into the woods early that morning and no one had seen him since. They were worried that he was lost. The police formed a search party. She started crying again. Charlie quickly volunteered to help look. He said, "Lucky was missing all day and I found him, maybe I can help you find Jimmy. Lucky is great at finding things. He always finds where I hide my candy, he finds my old socks, he even found a skunk hiding under the house once."

Jimmy's mom smiled and said that it was very sweet of him to offer, then she asked, "What's your name? Charlie? I like that name, but I'm sure the police will find Jimmy. It's just hard when you can't find someone you love." Charlie felt a huge lump form in his throat as he thought just how true this was. He knew what it was like to be alone, with no one to love you, no one to hold you, and no one to stop your tears.

Charlie said, "I think Lucky really likes you. Where I live I'm not allowed to have a dog. They were going to make me get rid of him soon anyway, and the truth is that he's always getting me in trouble, so I want to give him to you. He can make your tears stop until Jimmy comes home." Charlie saw that she was going to say no, so he did the only thing he could think of. He ran away. Charlie ran away leaving Jimmy's mom holding Lucky in her arms. Part of him wanted to cry because he missed Lucky already, but a bigger part of him wanted to cry for Jimmy's mom. So Charlie ran and never looked back. He just ran as fast as he could.

The first night back home was the hardest. Charlie lay awake most of the night. He thought about Lucky and about his parents, he thought about Jimmy and his mom. He prayed that Lucky would take care of Jimmy's mom until they found Jimmy, that is, if they did find Jimmy. That night Charlie cried himself to sleep. He missed Lucky, but he felt he had done the right thing.

It went much the same way for the rest of the week. Sitting alone all day, no one could cheer him up. He cried himself to sleep each night, sometimes wishing he had not given Lucky away, other times glad that he did. Somehow, even if he was a child, Charlie knew that this was the most grownup thing he had ever done.

On Saturday night, as Charlie lay crying in bed, Mrs. Cutter, the lady who ran the home, told Charlie that he had a visitor. Charlie had never had a visitor before. Through tear-stained cheeks he asked who it was. Mrs. Cutter told him to come look for himself, and as Charlie headed for the door, a four-legged fuzz ball ran into him like a miniature freight train, knocking him to the floor. Charlie began laughing with the true happiness and joy that only children can experience as Lucky licked his face without mercy.

Finally, Charlie and Lucky calmed down, allowing Charlie to realize that they were not alone. Jimmy's mom was standing there. Charlie felt a lump in his throat. He wasn't sure if he was in trouble for running away and leaving Lucky there, but there was something that worried him even more. What about Jimmy, had they found him?

It was all he could do to stammer out, "Did you find Jimmy?"

She smiled and said, "They found Jimmy five minutes after you ran away, Charlie. I guess that you and Lucky brought us a lot of luck. Jimmy had fallen into an abandoned well and broken his leg. He's in the hospital right now, but he's going to be all right. I told him what you did and he can't wait to meet you."

Charlie cried tears of joy for a little boy he had never met, and for the little boy's mother. She asked Charlie why he was crying but Charlie couldn't say a word. Jimmy's mother took Charlie into her arms and held him while Lucky yipped and yapped around their ankles. When Charlie finally stopped crying, he saw that Mrs. Cutter was carrying his suitcase towards the front door. Charlie said, "Did I do something wrong? Are you throwing me out?"

At this, Jimmy's mom took Charlie's face between her hands, looked him in the eyes and said, "Mrs. Cutter told me how you lost your mother and father. I lost my husband and nearly lost my son. I don't want to lose you. When you did the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me in my life, and then ran away so I couldn't refuse, I felt like I was missing two sons. So, after we found Jimmy, we went looking for you. It took a week, but we finally found you. You're coming home with me."

"But you already have a son." Charlie stammered in shock, to which Jimmy's mom said, "I told Jimmy what you had done by giving me Lucky to hold on to while he was missing, and it was his idea for you to come live with us. Jimmy wants you to become part of our family." Charlie could barely gasp as he said, "Family?" Jimmy's mom said, "Jimmy wants you to be his brother, and I would love it if you would start calling me Mom." Jimmy's mom was going to be his mom too? Did this mean what he thought it did? Then he realized that they were standing outside, and Mrs. Cutter had closed the door behind them.

Jimmy's mom, oops, his mom, was holding his hand as they headed towards the car to go home.

Charlie had a sudden thought, "Can Lucky come too?" to which his new mother replied, "He's already in the car waiting for us," and Charlie saw that it was true. Lucky was in the front seat yip-yapping at them as if urging them to hurry up. This was Lucky's special way of saying, "Its time to go home."

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Sometimes we create our own luck in life through small acts of kindness.