Hi all, Were back after a long and Disasterous experiance. We were the proud owners of the best Albino Carpet Shark in the world, named Casper. We Rescued Casper from some people who thought animals were like Knick Knacks, put em on the shelf and watch but dont touch. After Spending a year of patience and a lot of help from the Folks in here and Especially Pam Greene, we Reformed Casper into a lover. With the exception of the habit of biting you on the nose he was perfect :-). But, last year before Christmas I got a call at work and was told my house was on fire. Racing like a madman to get home and check on my family and finding them Ok due to my Wifes quick thinking. I asked the fireman to due their best to check on my other child Casper in the house. I had very Little hope of him being ok but i had to know. When the Fireman came out i could tell by the look on his face, i had lost the best friend/pet i had ever had. He had succumbed to the smoke and heat but fortunately hadn't burned up in the blaze. Ever since then i haven't felt strong enough to get another Fuzzy. The hurt was just too great. While at a family gathering someone brought two of their little rascals. i can r3emeber thinking how skinny and malnourished they looked and it just made the hurt worse, so i never persued even stopping at petstores to browse at the little Beauties. By happenstance about a month ago i walk into alocal Earl May Store while waiting next door for our Van to be serviced. The first thing i saw was in the back of the store in a galvanized cage sitting on top of a bunch of Chinchillas was an Albino ferret al by himself. He was the Spitting image of Casper and i had to hold him. After aasking the manager of the store if it was ok i woke him from his slumber ( this took a bit he sleeps like a rock) I coaxed him out of the cage and picked him up. The first thing he did was chomp down on the knuckle of my middle finger. The store manager started apologizing and everything. I immediately stopped him and told him that was the best thing I'd felt in Months. I couldn't bear to leave him all alone in that store, but i still didn't feel I was up to having another Little friend again. So i went home and mentioned to my wife about him. She sounded happy but didn't say too much, she was still hurting too. About 2 weeks ffrom then we went to town shopping and for the heck of it i stopped at the very same store and told the Wife he's Probably gone by now but we can look. Lo' and behold he was still there. When Brandie saw him, i saw her eyes well up with tears, and i knew right then and there we were taking him home with us. We negotiated with the manager and got all the essentials we needed for the little Carpet bagger, aand loaded up to go home. When we got there we set the cage on the Dining room table un got everything ready. Our 4 year old son David came in with the other kids Ashley 9 and Alisha 1. David knew what happened to Casper in the fire so I knew this was going to be especially hard on him. When i reached in and lifted him out of the box, David's Eyes got as big a a quarter and he yelled at the top of his lungs "CASPER". Him and casper were best of friends. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't Casper but all he could do was say Casper, and ask " Did you unburn him Daddy" I don't think i have ever had the urge to cry more in my life. But now we are in the process of traing our yet unamed little Ball of fluff, and getting him used to us and the Children. I think now that we have him home, I shouldn't have waited so long to get another, but then again maybe it was fate that we waited to give this little guy a good home. My Best wishes to all of you and your Fuzzy little Friends and Enjoy them cause ya never know what can happen until it does. Sincerely Kevin, and Brandie Woodyard Ashley, David and Alisha Baby(the Momma Cat) Whoopie(The Wrotten off spring of baby) and (A fuzzy with No name, but lots of Love) Dooks and Hugs [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1864]