Gavin always wore the color black. His shoes were black; his socks were black; his shirt, his pants and his coat were black. That's the way he liked it. Gavin's hair was black and his eyes were dark brown, almost black. Some of his friends liked to wear blue and green and red, but not Gavin. His favorite color was black and he wouldn't wear anything but that color.

When school was done and it was time for summer holidays, Gavin went to visit his grandmother at the seashore. She had a cottage up the hill from a beach. Gavin loved going to his grandma's house. When she saw Gavin a frown crossed her face. "Gavin, why are you dressed in black? You look sad and very drab. Why don't you wear blue or green?"

"I don't like those colors, Grandma. I like black. It's my favorite color." Gavin unpacked his suitcase.

Grandma helped him and saw that every single thing he wore was black. When Gavin went down to the beach with his grandpa, Grandma sat in her chair looking out the window. "This will not do. My grandson is not wearing black all the time. I'm going to knit him a scarf. He can take it home and wear it this winter." She grabbed her knitting needles and whenever Gavin went to the beach, she knitted.

All summer long Gavin swam. His black swim trunks were worn out by the end of the season. "Thanks for having me, Grandma and Grandpa. I love it here. Thanks for feeding me and taking me to the beach all the time." Gavin hugged his grandpa.

"Gavin, I've got a present for you. I want you to take it home and when it gets cold I want you to open it," Grandma said. She handed him a package.

"All right, Grandma. Thank you." Gavin hugged her and then Grandpa took him to the train.

School started again and Gavin still wore black every day. His mom and dad wished that he'd wear something else, but  he didn't want to. One day the wind blew and it was very cold. Gavin remembered what his grandma had said.  He opened the present. There was a scarf in the box. It was black with yellow. There was a note inside. "Dear Gavin, I know you like to wear black, but would you please wear this scarf. I love you. Grandma."

Gavin stared at the scarf. It did have black in it, but  yellow too? When the wind rattled the windows, he decided it was too cold to go out without a scarf, so he put it around his neck. He looked in the mirror. "Not bad."

He went downstairs to eat and his mom and dad stared at him. "You look very nice, Gavin. I love the scarf," his dad said.

"Oh, Gavin, you look so nice," his mom said.

At school that day all the teachers and some of his friends told him how nice he looked in his new scarf. Gavin felt a smile growing inside him. The next day he wore the scarf again and people kept telling him how nice he looked. The day after that he put on a blue shirt that he'd found in his closet. Everyone told him how nice he looked. The day after that Gavin asked his mom to take him shopping. He bought a few green shirts and blue pants and red socks and a yellow jacket. Even though black was still his favorite color and he always wore some black, he started wearing other colors too. He was happy. His mom and dad was happy and when his grandma found out, she was happy too.