My son came home with a boy I’d never seen before.

They slipped upstairs quickly. I called out to ask who it was, but my son just yelled back, “A friend!” As I approached the room, I overheard the boy say, “Your mom shouldn’t know about this.”

Alarmed, I opened the door to find them huddled on the bed with a cardboard box. Inside was a tiny, squirming puppy. They admitted they’d found the puppy abandoned at the park and didn’t know what to do with it. While I was upset they didn’t come to me first, I couldn’t stay mad. Together, we took the puppy to a nearest shelter, and I promised them we’d volunteer there to help.