Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of these characters. Damn I wish I did….specially Gary…I would be the luckiest woman alive, even if he was chasing the paper all the time. Well I hope you enjoy this, and don't forget to feed the author! (or in other words….R&R people!)
Shadows
The last thing he felt was a sense of falling, then the cold concrete. Hard and cold, but only for a moment. Then everything went black…
******************
It was strange, but he felt at peace. The sunlight was warm on his face, and he could hear, somewhere, water gushing gently. And beneath him, the grass was soft. Grass? Not concrete? Yes, it definitely was grass, gently swaying, caressing his skin. It was so restful, just lying there. He could have stayed there forever. Then he could feel someone standing above him. Whoever it was was gently calling his name. It had to be a she. A young she. Her voice..it was beautiful. Beautiful, but insistent.
"Gary..Gary. Come on now."
Gary slowly opened his eyes, and blinked, trying to focus on the face leaning over him. After a couple of blinks he was able to see her clearly. Her figure, bent over him, with her hands resting on her knees as she leant. She was smiling at him. What a lovely looking face she had. She was a youngish girl. Her skin was smooth like porcelain, and she had large swirling eyes, dusky blue in colour. Her hair was long and fine. It cascaded gently over her shoulders, down to her waist, like a pale brown waterfall. Her figure delicate, and her short stature made Gary think she couldn't have been older than thirteen. She held out her hand to him, and he took it. She helped him sit up, and she sat down next to him, her legs tucked under her. Gary looked at her bewildered. Who was this girl? And when he came to think about it, where exactly was he? Apparently the confusion showed on his face, as the girl laughed gently. She picked a daisy from the grass with her slender fingers, and ran the tip of her index finger through the petals. She looked up from the flower into his face. She smiled
"I expect you're a little confused Gary?"
He nodded, feeling unable to speak yet.
"I'm not surprised really. I would be in your place. I was, actually. My name is Alana, Gary. I'm here for a reason. I'm here to look after you, at least for a while."
Gary felt then that he could use his voice again, and he spoke to her.
"Just where am I exactly? I-I don't remember coming here, wherever, wherever here is."
"No, you won't remember coming here. You don't. They never do. Or so I'm told."
The young girl's voice was so, so, what was the word? Not sincere. Trustworthy? Gary thought it was the best description he could come up with at that time. But he wished she would just tell him where he was. He saw she was still looking at him, her pale hair and the material of her pale dress shimmying slightly with the breeze.
"So…where you are. It's hard to describe to you Gary. So let me ask you a question. What is the last thing you remember before waking up here?"
He opened his mouth to respond, before realising that he didn't know. He had to think about it. So he did. Ah yes. He remembered.
"Concrete. It was cold. And, and some sort of impact?"
"Mmmhmm. Now take a moment Gary and think alright?"
Gary was if anything, slightly more confused. But he thought anyway. Some sort of impact, then…then concrete. Oh my God. He-he couldn't be….could he?
"Alana? I'm not, I'm I'm not dead, am I?"
She spoke back quickly. "Oh, dead? No. I thought you might think that. But, no, you're not dead Gary Hobson. But, you are in trouble. And I'm here to help you alright? Will you let me help you?"
Gary looked at her. What did she mean?
"What kind of trouble? Why do I need your help?"
"Well, when you wake up, you're probably going to want someone there who you recognise. That's why you're here. To meet me. So you'll know me when you see me again."
"Alana?"
"Yes?"
"Are-are you dead?"
"Yes. In a sense. I've lived my life, on earth anyway. And I've been waiting for you."
"For me?"
"Yes, for you. For a very long time. I only get one person to look after you see? I was lucky.. I got you." There was a pause. "So will you let me help you Gary?"
"Well…….yes. I suppose you know more about what's going on than I do. But Alana, can't I just stay here? It's so peaceful here."
Alana looked at him slightly sternly. "No Gary. No you can't stay here. You're not allowed." Then her voice softened. "It's time to go back Gary. Are you ready?"
"I-I suppose so."
"Alright then. Just remember, I'm going to be there for you." She smiled at him softly, then she placed a hand on his chest, forcing him back down, so he was lying on the grass once again. She bent over him, and gently kissed his forehead. His surroundings started to get blurred, and he closed his eyes; they were so heavy. So tired. He could just lie there, forever.
******************
It wasn't grass. Or concrete. This was confusing. He was lying on something slightly soft, but more firm. It was noisy here. Not terribly, but there was the not-so distant sound of squeaky footsteps, and rolling wheels. Ringing phones. Bleeps. But close to him, the sound of voices. Murmuring. There was some sort of light nearby. It wasn't that bright, but it made his eyelids twitch. He blinked, and then there were more shuffling footsteps, and that feeling, the sixth sense was it? Someone nearby. He blinked again, and then wherever he was started swimming into focus. A ceiling? Well that wasn't very helpful. Gary realised that he was lying in a bed. And that there was still someone next to him. He turned gently to his right. His head hurt, he realised, and he wanted to keep as still as possible. There were two people there. A man and a woman. The woman was coloured, quite attractive to look at. But she didn't really appear to be looking at him. Was she blind? Heck he didn't know. The man was fairly short, brown hair, lighter than the woman's by far. They smiled at him hopefully. The man moved a little closer.
"Hey buddy. How're you feeling?"
"You had us so worried Gary.."
"Gary?"
Gary looked around. This wasn't right somehow…
"Where-where am I?"
The man looked a little perplexed, but smiled gently.
"Hospital Gar. You fell remember?"
He shook his head softly. "Fell? What from? Where to?"
The man laughed kindly. "One level of the multi-storey parking lot to another." He shook his head. "Only you Gary."
Well, he thought, that took care of where he was and why he was there, but there was something else bugging him. He stared at the two of them. He was disconcerted. The man looked worried.
"Gary, what's wrong buddy?"
Gary just kept on looking at the two of them. Then the woman took her turn to ask.
"Gary, what is it?"
He found his voice. "Who-who are you two?"
******************
The two of them went very quiet. She spoke first.
"That's not funny Gary. That's not funny at all."
The guy just looked at him. "No Marissa. No. I don't think he's kidding us."
Gary just looked on at the pair. Trying to remember if he knew them or not. He couldn't remember them. Well he knew the woman's name was Marissa, as the man had just called her that.
"Chuck, I'm going to go and find his doctor alright?"
Her voice was low, and had a sense of urgency to it. The woman turned around and headed out of the cubicle they were in. He could hear her talking to someone outside. The man slumped into a chair next to the bed. He sighed, and looked at Gary with concern in his eyes.
"Gary, what are you telling us buddy?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are telling us the truth right?"
Gary was slightly hurt. "Why, why would I lie?"
The man, Chuck was his name? sighed. "I don't know."
The curtain around the cubicle moved, and a man walked in, accompanied by that woman. He walked over to the bed. He stepped over to the side opposite - Chuck? Gary felt he should really try to remember the names of these people. The woman sat down on the other chair next to him.
"Mr Hobson?" The man, presumably his doctor asked him.
"Erm, I think so."
"I've been told you're having a few problems remembering things. Is that right?"
"You could say that."
"Alright. Well let's just see what you *can* remember huh?"
******************
He was asked a *lot* of questions. What was his name? What was the date? What was his hometown? When was his birthday? Where did he work? Who was the president? What state were they in? Gary was pretty sure by the look on the faces of these people, that the only one he got right was his name, and that was no great feat, because it was a stupid question to ask. They'd already told him the answer. About half way through the interrogation, he realised his ankle was hurting like crazy. Apparently he had landed on it strangely, but there was nothing that badly wrong with it. It wasn't something he should really worry about. They seemed more concerned about what he couldn't remember. Then they sent him for a CAT scan, and lots of other stuff. They thought maybe it might have been a concussion or something like that. But by the look on their faces, they knew what it was. Gary felt awfully alone. These people, they seemed to know him, and he felt awful that he didn't know them, because they seemed so worried, and he couldn't reassure them. All Gary wanted right now was someone familiar. Someone he recognised.
He was alone in his cubicle. Those two people….Marissa and Chuck…had gone to get some coffee, and the doctors were outside. Now he just didn't *feel* alone, he actually was. Then he felt a strangely warm feeling around his neck, like someone had their arms around him. He was being pushed slightly forwards by the sensation. He looked, and someone did have their arms around his neck. It was someone he recognised. A girl? She was sitting with her arms there, at the back of his bed, with her legs around his waist, her feet nearly together, her toes meeting each other. Her long hair was flicked in front of her, and was brushing Gary's back…..
"Alana?"
She smiled
"Hey Gary. Thought you could use someone with you. You don't want to be alone right now."
"You're not kidding. So this is what you meant I suppose?"
"Yeah. You already know what they're going to say, don't you?"
"You-you do as well I suppose?"
"Mmmhmmm. So I don't need to tell you. You know this time's going to be hard right?"
He nodded slowly
"Well I want to make it as painless as it has to be. I want you to listen to Marissa and Chuck OK? They're your friends. Trust me, they're not gonna hurt you. Alright?"
"Alright…and I do trust you Alana."
She smiled. "I'm glad of that." She looked straight at the curtain. "Eeek Gary, people coming. I've got to go. I'll see you later"
"Alright." he told her sadly. He wanted her to stay. But she was gone before he could say anything. the curtain drew back, and Marissa and Chuck came in. They sat down. It was obvious everyone was slightly uncomfortable. There was definite tension in the air. It was almost a relief when the curtain moved back, and Gary's doctor came back in. But the look on his face made Gary's heart jump, even though he was pretty sure they all knew what he was going to say.
"Well Mr Hobson, we've got the results in."
"Yeah?"
"What is it Doc?" Chuck inquired.
"Well, I'm afraid it's what we were hoping it wasn't"
"Amnesia. That's what it is, isn't it?" Marissa asked. The doctor nodded.
"I'm afraid so. Though we're still not sure how severe. You may get some recall over the next few days Mr Hobson. Or, you may get none at all. I hope that's not the case, but we just don't know. We're going to ask you to stay here at least overnight, alright?"
Gary nodded. His head was still sore. Not as sore as it had been when he came in, but still pretty bad. He winced slightly. The doctor looked at him with kind eyes.
"Yeah, I thought that might be the case. We'll give you something for that in a minute, don't worry." He looked pointedly at Chuck. It was clear he wanted to talk to him and Marissa outside for a minute. They got up to step outside.
"We'll be back in a minute buddy." Chuck reassured him.
******************
The three of them went outside Gary's cubicle, a little way down the corridor.
"Oh Chuck.." Marissa started. Chuck placed his arm around her shoulder comfortingly. She turned into him. The doctor looked at the both of them.
"I'm sure this must be very upsetting for the both of you, and I'm very sorry."
Chuck shook his head. "No, don't apologise, it's not your fault, and it's not his either. It ..just happened."
Marissa was surprised to hear Chuck saying that. It didn't sound like something he'd normally come out with. But she agreed with him if anything.
"Well I'm glad to hear you say that Mr Fishman. I get the feeling that you're both very close to Mr Hobson?"
They both nodded. He continued. "Well then it's probably going to be in your hands after he leaves."
"What will?"
"Helping him get his memory back."
******************
The curtain came open again, and Marissa and Chuck came back in again. Marissa could have sworn she had heard Gary talking to somebody before they had come in, but she hadn't heard anyone come out, and Chuck hadn't acknowledged anyone else's presence. She must just have misheard. Or maybe Gary had been muttering to himself. It was possible. She turned in Gary's direction.
"Look Gary, we've got to go now, they're throwing us out for the night."
"We'll come and see you tomorrow OK buddy?"
He nodded. "Yeah, sure."
Marissa came over, and gave him a quick hug. The two of them left. Once more he was alone. Then someone came and moved him from his current place into a room. He lay back on his pillow. He was so tired. But he felt so, so abandoned. Abandoned by himself, and he was very aware of being *by* himself.
"Hey, hey Gary, don't feel bad."
It was Alana. She was lying there with him on his bed. She had nestled herself up against him. Her presence was comforting. She came and stroked his face.
"We'll get through this. Don't worry."
Strangely, he couldn't feel worried. Not when she was there. There like a mother when her child has just woken up from a nightmare and can't go back to sleep. She settled back down against him, one arm draped over his chest, having positioned herself so one of Gary's arms was around her. She snuggled near to him, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.
******************
Marissa and Chuck sat at the bar in McGinty's. They were both very aware of the huge responsibility they were going to have to undertake. If they didn't, who else would? Gary's parents were out of town, and Gary was the only one who where they currently were. So they weren't going to be a lot of help. They would do it. He was their friend, and they knew they were going to. But at the back of both their minds was a small ginger tabby cat, and the burden that it brought Gary every day.
Shadows
The last thing he felt was a sense of falling, then the cold concrete. Hard and cold, but only for a moment. Then everything went black…
******************
It was strange, but he felt at peace. The sunlight was warm on his face, and he could hear, somewhere, water gushing gently. And beneath him, the grass was soft. Grass? Not concrete? Yes, it definitely was grass, gently swaying, caressing his skin. It was so restful, just lying there. He could have stayed there forever. Then he could feel someone standing above him. Whoever it was was gently calling his name. It had to be a she. A young she. Her voice..it was beautiful. Beautiful, but insistent.
"Gary..Gary. Come on now."
Gary slowly opened his eyes, and blinked, trying to focus on the face leaning over him. After a couple of blinks he was able to see her clearly. Her figure, bent over him, with her hands resting on her knees as she leant. She was smiling at him. What a lovely looking face she had. She was a youngish girl. Her skin was smooth like porcelain, and she had large swirling eyes, dusky blue in colour. Her hair was long and fine. It cascaded gently over her shoulders, down to her waist, like a pale brown waterfall. Her figure delicate, and her short stature made Gary think she couldn't have been older than thirteen. She held out her hand to him, and he took it. She helped him sit up, and she sat down next to him, her legs tucked under her. Gary looked at her bewildered. Who was this girl? And when he came to think about it, where exactly was he? Apparently the confusion showed on his face, as the girl laughed gently. She picked a daisy from the grass with her slender fingers, and ran the tip of her index finger through the petals. She looked up from the flower into his face. She smiled
"I expect you're a little confused Gary?"
He nodded, feeling unable to speak yet.
"I'm not surprised really. I would be in your place. I was, actually. My name is Alana, Gary. I'm here for a reason. I'm here to look after you, at least for a while."
Gary felt then that he could use his voice again, and he spoke to her.
"Just where am I exactly? I-I don't remember coming here, wherever, wherever here is."
"No, you won't remember coming here. You don't. They never do. Or so I'm told."
The young girl's voice was so, so, what was the word? Not sincere. Trustworthy? Gary thought it was the best description he could come up with at that time. But he wished she would just tell him where he was. He saw she was still looking at him, her pale hair and the material of her pale dress shimmying slightly with the breeze.
"So…where you are. It's hard to describe to you Gary. So let me ask you a question. What is the last thing you remember before waking up here?"
He opened his mouth to respond, before realising that he didn't know. He had to think about it. So he did. Ah yes. He remembered.
"Concrete. It was cold. And, and some sort of impact?"
"Mmmhmm. Now take a moment Gary and think alright?"
Gary was if anything, slightly more confused. But he thought anyway. Some sort of impact, then…then concrete. Oh my God. He-he couldn't be….could he?
"Alana? I'm not, I'm I'm not dead, am I?"
She spoke back quickly. "Oh, dead? No. I thought you might think that. But, no, you're not dead Gary Hobson. But, you are in trouble. And I'm here to help you alright? Will you let me help you?"
Gary looked at her. What did she mean?
"What kind of trouble? Why do I need your help?"
"Well, when you wake up, you're probably going to want someone there who you recognise. That's why you're here. To meet me. So you'll know me when you see me again."
"Alana?"
"Yes?"
"Are-are you dead?"
"Yes. In a sense. I've lived my life, on earth anyway. And I've been waiting for you."
"For me?"
"Yes, for you. For a very long time. I only get one person to look after you see? I was lucky.. I got you." There was a pause. "So will you let me help you Gary?"
"Well…….yes. I suppose you know more about what's going on than I do. But Alana, can't I just stay here? It's so peaceful here."
Alana looked at him slightly sternly. "No Gary. No you can't stay here. You're not allowed." Then her voice softened. "It's time to go back Gary. Are you ready?"
"I-I suppose so."
"Alright then. Just remember, I'm going to be there for you." She smiled at him softly, then she placed a hand on his chest, forcing him back down, so he was lying on the grass once again. She bent over him, and gently kissed his forehead. His surroundings started to get blurred, and he closed his eyes; they were so heavy. So tired. He could just lie there, forever.
******************
It wasn't grass. Or concrete. This was confusing. He was lying on something slightly soft, but more firm. It was noisy here. Not terribly, but there was the not-so distant sound of squeaky footsteps, and rolling wheels. Ringing phones. Bleeps. But close to him, the sound of voices. Murmuring. There was some sort of light nearby. It wasn't that bright, but it made his eyelids twitch. He blinked, and then there were more shuffling footsteps, and that feeling, the sixth sense was it? Someone nearby. He blinked again, and then wherever he was started swimming into focus. A ceiling? Well that wasn't very helpful. Gary realised that he was lying in a bed. And that there was still someone next to him. He turned gently to his right. His head hurt, he realised, and he wanted to keep as still as possible. There were two people there. A man and a woman. The woman was coloured, quite attractive to look at. But she didn't really appear to be looking at him. Was she blind? Heck he didn't know. The man was fairly short, brown hair, lighter than the woman's by far. They smiled at him hopefully. The man moved a little closer.
"Hey buddy. How're you feeling?"
"You had us so worried Gary.."
"Gary?"
Gary looked around. This wasn't right somehow…
"Where-where am I?"
The man looked a little perplexed, but smiled gently.
"Hospital Gar. You fell remember?"
He shook his head softly. "Fell? What from? Where to?"
The man laughed kindly. "One level of the multi-storey parking lot to another." He shook his head. "Only you Gary."
Well, he thought, that took care of where he was and why he was there, but there was something else bugging him. He stared at the two of them. He was disconcerted. The man looked worried.
"Gary, what's wrong buddy?"
Gary just kept on looking at the two of them. Then the woman took her turn to ask.
"Gary, what is it?"
He found his voice. "Who-who are you two?"
******************
The two of them went very quiet. She spoke first.
"That's not funny Gary. That's not funny at all."
The guy just looked at him. "No Marissa. No. I don't think he's kidding us."
Gary just looked on at the pair. Trying to remember if he knew them or not. He couldn't remember them. Well he knew the woman's name was Marissa, as the man had just called her that.
"Chuck, I'm going to go and find his doctor alright?"
Her voice was low, and had a sense of urgency to it. The woman turned around and headed out of the cubicle they were in. He could hear her talking to someone outside. The man slumped into a chair next to the bed. He sighed, and looked at Gary with concern in his eyes.
"Gary, what are you telling us buddy?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are telling us the truth right?"
Gary was slightly hurt. "Why, why would I lie?"
The man, Chuck was his name? sighed. "I don't know."
The curtain around the cubicle moved, and a man walked in, accompanied by that woman. He walked over to the bed. He stepped over to the side opposite - Chuck? Gary felt he should really try to remember the names of these people. The woman sat down on the other chair next to him.
"Mr Hobson?" The man, presumably his doctor asked him.
"Erm, I think so."
"I've been told you're having a few problems remembering things. Is that right?"
"You could say that."
"Alright. Well let's just see what you *can* remember huh?"
******************
He was asked a *lot* of questions. What was his name? What was the date? What was his hometown? When was his birthday? Where did he work? Who was the president? What state were they in? Gary was pretty sure by the look on the faces of these people, that the only one he got right was his name, and that was no great feat, because it was a stupid question to ask. They'd already told him the answer. About half way through the interrogation, he realised his ankle was hurting like crazy. Apparently he had landed on it strangely, but there was nothing that badly wrong with it. It wasn't something he should really worry about. They seemed more concerned about what he couldn't remember. Then they sent him for a CAT scan, and lots of other stuff. They thought maybe it might have been a concussion or something like that. But by the look on their faces, they knew what it was. Gary felt awfully alone. These people, they seemed to know him, and he felt awful that he didn't know them, because they seemed so worried, and he couldn't reassure them. All Gary wanted right now was someone familiar. Someone he recognised.
He was alone in his cubicle. Those two people….Marissa and Chuck…had gone to get some coffee, and the doctors were outside. Now he just didn't *feel* alone, he actually was. Then he felt a strangely warm feeling around his neck, like someone had their arms around him. He was being pushed slightly forwards by the sensation. He looked, and someone did have their arms around his neck. It was someone he recognised. A girl? She was sitting with her arms there, at the back of his bed, with her legs around his waist, her feet nearly together, her toes meeting each other. Her long hair was flicked in front of her, and was brushing Gary's back…..
"Alana?"
She smiled
"Hey Gary. Thought you could use someone with you. You don't want to be alone right now."
"You're not kidding. So this is what you meant I suppose?"
"Yeah. You already know what they're going to say, don't you?"
"You-you do as well I suppose?"
"Mmmhmmm. So I don't need to tell you. You know this time's going to be hard right?"
He nodded slowly
"Well I want to make it as painless as it has to be. I want you to listen to Marissa and Chuck OK? They're your friends. Trust me, they're not gonna hurt you. Alright?"
"Alright…and I do trust you Alana."
She smiled. "I'm glad of that." She looked straight at the curtain. "Eeek Gary, people coming. I've got to go. I'll see you later"
"Alright." he told her sadly. He wanted her to stay. But she was gone before he could say anything. the curtain drew back, and Marissa and Chuck came in. They sat down. It was obvious everyone was slightly uncomfortable. There was definite tension in the air. It was almost a relief when the curtain moved back, and Gary's doctor came back in. But the look on his face made Gary's heart jump, even though he was pretty sure they all knew what he was going to say.
"Well Mr Hobson, we've got the results in."
"Yeah?"
"What is it Doc?" Chuck inquired.
"Well, I'm afraid it's what we were hoping it wasn't"
"Amnesia. That's what it is, isn't it?" Marissa asked. The doctor nodded.
"I'm afraid so. Though we're still not sure how severe. You may get some recall over the next few days Mr Hobson. Or, you may get none at all. I hope that's not the case, but we just don't know. We're going to ask you to stay here at least overnight, alright?"
Gary nodded. His head was still sore. Not as sore as it had been when he came in, but still pretty bad. He winced slightly. The doctor looked at him with kind eyes.
"Yeah, I thought that might be the case. We'll give you something for that in a minute, don't worry." He looked pointedly at Chuck. It was clear he wanted to talk to him and Marissa outside for a minute. They got up to step outside.
"We'll be back in a minute buddy." Chuck reassured him.
******************
The three of them went outside Gary's cubicle, a little way down the corridor.
"Oh Chuck.." Marissa started. Chuck placed his arm around her shoulder comfortingly. She turned into him. The doctor looked at the both of them.
"I'm sure this must be very upsetting for the both of you, and I'm very sorry."
Chuck shook his head. "No, don't apologise, it's not your fault, and it's not his either. It ..just happened."
Marissa was surprised to hear Chuck saying that. It didn't sound like something he'd normally come out with. But she agreed with him if anything.
"Well I'm glad to hear you say that Mr Fishman. I get the feeling that you're both very close to Mr Hobson?"
They both nodded. He continued. "Well then it's probably going to be in your hands after he leaves."
"What will?"
"Helping him get his memory back."
******************
The curtain came open again, and Marissa and Chuck came back in again. Marissa could have sworn she had heard Gary talking to somebody before they had come in, but she hadn't heard anyone come out, and Chuck hadn't acknowledged anyone else's presence. She must just have misheard. Or maybe Gary had been muttering to himself. It was possible. She turned in Gary's direction.
"Look Gary, we've got to go now, they're throwing us out for the night."
"We'll come and see you tomorrow OK buddy?"
He nodded. "Yeah, sure."
Marissa came over, and gave him a quick hug. The two of them left. Once more he was alone. Then someone came and moved him from his current place into a room. He lay back on his pillow. He was so tired. But he felt so, so abandoned. Abandoned by himself, and he was very aware of being *by* himself.
"Hey, hey Gary, don't feel bad."
It was Alana. She was lying there with him on his bed. She had nestled herself up against him. Her presence was comforting. She came and stroked his face.
"We'll get through this. Don't worry."
Strangely, he couldn't feel worried. Not when she was there. There like a mother when her child has just woken up from a nightmare and can't go back to sleep. She settled back down against him, one arm draped over his chest, having positioned herself so one of Gary's arms was around her. She snuggled near to him, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.
******************
Marissa and Chuck sat at the bar in McGinty's. They were both very aware of the huge responsibility they were going to have to undertake. If they didn't, who else would? Gary's parents were out of town, and Gary was the only one who where they currently were. So they weren't going to be a lot of help. They would do it. He was their friend, and they knew they were going to. But at the back of both their minds was a small ginger tabby cat, and the burden that it brought Gary every day.