My mom and I had gone to the pet store to buy her a fish for a fish tank I had given her, for her birthday.

This is a pet store that still sells dogs and cats, and I usually would never go to the back where they are, because it always breaks my heart! But, Mother was with me so I felt brave enough to see what was back there.

All the cages were, surprisingly, empty.....except for one.

And there sat Preston!

Oh, he was so cute. I played with him for awhile and every time I tried to walk away, he whined so pathetically that I came back. Finally, I did leave. While at the counter, I asked the ladies why they did not give the little chihuahua any toys? They told me that they had to be careful, that he was on consignment and they couldn't take the chance of him choking on anything......I told them how chihuahuas would play by themselves if they had something to play with and that a stuffed toy couldn't hurt him. They really didn't care....We left the store after getting Mom's birthday fish...... BUT,

Preston did not leave my mind. The next day, a friend of mine wanted me to go to a casino with her. HMMM....

I only had $30.00 on me, but I figured I would take a chance on winning the $350.00 needed to buy Preston!

So, we went. And I did really good. I won $500.00 on the third spin of a slot machine! My friend, though, lost the $50.00 she brought with her, really fast. I gave her $60.00. She lost it. And while she was doing that, I lost as much more!

My friend wanted more and 'felt lucky!! So, I gave her $100.00, which made me $70.00 short of what I needed for Preston.

After borrowing another $50.00, my friend disappeared! She was nowhere in the casino. (I found out later, she had left me there with no ride home).

By the time I found someone I knew to give me a ride home, I was almost back down to my original $30.00 and paid $10.00 for gas!

Anyway, I felt just horrible! I had the money to rescue poor Preston, and stupidly gave it and threw it all away! I told my mom what had happened, crying the whole time.

Well.......we went and got Preston! My stupidity broke her heart, I guess, and she wanted to rescue Preston too.

She IS the best Mom in the world.

By the way, Preston, who's nickname is "FeeFiFoFum", is still a big whiner!! And he really wants to be the only dog. With ten brothers and sisters that ain't gonna happen!?!