DALLAS — Even in those last months inside the shambles of her white-frame East Dallas home — its bathroom and kitchen plumbing blocked and broken, water-soaked floors rotted out and trash piled three feet high — 87-year-old Poldi Tonin refused to rely on anyone other than her beloved Lexi.
Not a single light works in this little cottage on the edge of Lakewood. As darkness falls, the rats, some with bodies half-a-foot long, come out to feed.
Night after night, Poldi crawled into bed as her protector and best friend in the world, 12-pound terrier Lexi, fended off the rodents, often barking for hours to keep them away.
