I had almost made up my mind — I was going to take him with me. I couldn’t just leave him there. Thoughts began to form: where would he sleep? What would I feed him?

But then the store manager walked over. He stopped next to me and quietly said something that left me in shock — I stood frozen for about ten minutes. Continued in the first comment 

— “Oh, excuse me, is he with you? That’s Richie. His owner collapsed right here, in the aisle between the shelves. A few hours ago. We called an ambulance, and they took him to the hospital.