It was a pet store. Pet stores were normal everywhere, but why did this one have to have cats, of all things, mewing in the window? Vlad caught himself staring at the snowy white cat for over 5 seconds before he snapped his head away. "I will not get a cat, I will not get a cat," he told himself. "I don't need one," He lectured himself, "I don't want one," he lied to himself. He sighed, pressing his face against the window, not caring who was watching. I'd be a rich, creepy, dimwit in a huge mansion with a cat, the multi-billionaire thought to himself. The last thing he needed was for Daniel, the one boy who he thought of like a son, to laugh at him for it. The 14-year old had disrespectfully joked around about how Vlad should get a cat since he was lonely multiple times, so actually getting a cat, of course, would be embarrassing. Vlad stared at the felines in adoration for a minute longer. He could just feel their soft, fluffy fur beneath his stroking fingers along with the vibration of their purrs like soft motor engines. "She looks like a 'Maddie'," Mr. Masters whispered to himself, referring to the woman he had loved for over 20 years. "Do you like that name? Do you like the sound of 'Maddie Masters' as much as I do?" Vlad asked the cat in the window as if she could understand him. "I'll take you home and—Oh, Cream Cheese Danish, I can't! I can't get a cat!" Vlad thought back. He remembered once in college when he, Jack, and the lovely Maddie were talking about cats. He could remember losing himself in the wonderful woman's deep violet eyes as she expressed her admiration in the pet, not so well known by its scientific name, the Felis Catus. "I like cats," Vlad remembered himself saying back then, wishing he had said more. But then again, he had agreed that he'd liked cats while that stupid oaf Fenton had allergies to cats. "Poor Maddie," Vlad said to himself, "you've suffered all these years without a cat because you're married to Jack," Vlad spat the name in disgust. "Come to me, Maddie, and I'll get you a cat…" Running his fingers across the glass, the half-ghost glanced up at the pet store's sign. "Maybe it won't count as 'getting a cat' if I buy the store?"