Author's note: This is the last chapter. Sorry to those of you who liked this story, I'll start on a new one very soon. Hopefully, it'll be less depressing and better written. In any case, I now present to you...
ACT THREE
Years had passed since the first Jellicle Ball, and Gus had fallen ill. He had all but completely lost his sight, and was already losing his memory. He had also taken up talking to the Moon, whom he called Elaine.
Eventually, he began to confuse Asparagus for Macavity, and for that matter didn't seem to recall anyone properly, with the exception of Elaine, who he thought was still alive.
Jellylorum, Asparagus, and even Skimbleshanks came to visit him every day, hoping that he would recognize them, hoping he might get better. On one such occasion, there was a glimmer of hope. He was just waking up, and looked from side to side. Seeing Jellylorum, he said:
"Hey, you look kind of like my daughter."
She was overwhelmed with joy, until he followed up with "...but you're too old. My daughter's still a kitten."
The next day, as he took his last breath, he said:
"I'll see you soon."
CURTAIN FALLS.
JJ: There, wasn't that a happy little ending?
Readers: NO!
JJ: You're absolutely right! That sucked. Still, I hope it was more enjoyable reading this than it would be debating religion.
Anyways, here are the inspirations behind this, in case anyone's interested. First, I wanted to write a story about Gus. I wondered why he always seemed so sad, and I didn't have the heart to kill off one of his kids, so it ended up being his mate who died. Elaine is slightly inspired by a girl I used to have a crush on, no she didn't die, no I don't want to kill her, we're still friends. Also, this last chapter was inspired by my Grandfather's struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He died before I was 8.
Dedicated to the memory of Donald Alexander MacKinnon.
May he rest in peace.