there is a general belief that, in most cases, dogs and their owners seem to look alike.

precious is an unkempt pomeranian standing no more than 8 inches off the ground at the shoulder. she obviously has issues. she would like to be more beautiful, but her small toy tongue can no longer groom her long silken hair. she prefers not to walk; it takes to long to get from here to there on such tiny little legs and it's just so much nicer to be carried. she is tired of being by the door. where is sam?

sam is in his mid fifties and smells of marlboro reds, lone star, and bad hygiene. his short frame has put on an extra 150 pounds or so over the years and it would seem that no comb or razor has come near his head in several weeks. sam is loud and very vocal. sam doesn't understand why anyone would not want to eat meat.

sam loves precious.

precious sometimes dreams of years past when that nice lady that smoked too much would comb her hair and put a small pink ribbon on top of her head. it's been long enough now that she has to really concentrate to remember her face. she does remember the yelling and fighting that seemed to happen nightly in the months before nice lady disappeared. don't misunderstand. she loves sam. afterall, he takes her from place to place and supports her bottom just so that she can sit up in his arms. he doesn't serve her the good tasting food from the can anymore, but most of the time there is a good supply of crunchy stuff in her bowl and she is always sure to get pieces of a big, fat, juicy steak once or twice a week.

but she misses nice lady. even when she would come home late at night with that aroma of stale beer and cigarettes, she would talk in that high pitched voice that made precious turn her head ever so slightly in interest.

precious knows that sam misses nice lady too. for a long time after she stopped coming home, sam would sit in the big cooshy chair and tears would drop onto precious' nose. she liked to lick them from his face and taste the salt, but she felt sad for sam. often she would bark and try to get sam to stop, but it only seemed to make him weep even more. one time last year, sam held up the phone to precious' ears and she could hear nice lady's high pitched voice, but she couldn't see where she was.

precious wants to go find nice lady, but these damn legs are so short and the pavement gets so hot. maybe sam will take her to nice lady some day.

sam, come here, i want to go over by the pool.