Hang on while I get a twinny to fetch the phone to her.” Reg remembered that the twins were still doing the nursing and quarantine tasks, this time ...ith his mother, so he waited patiently.At last he heard his mother’s voice.“Reg? Is that you, son?”“It is, Mum. Happy New Year!”“The same to you, Reg. It was nice of you to think of ringing me to say that.”“There was another reason, Mum. I have discovered that when Dad was killed, I was there with him. You never told me that.”“Yes, that’s right.. “You find what you needed?”“Yup, now I have to try them on,” I said, dragging him to the fitting rooms. The attendant was busy with his phone so I dragged him back with me. “And stay with me, you have to guard the door,” I instructed him meaningfully.I pulled off my t-shirt and hung it on the door that way he’d know I was in here topless. I smiled, ‘Oh he’s going to get teased now.’ I pulled down my shorts too and hung them up there too. He had a few moments to contemplate my nakedness while I. But the mage knew it was not from physical discomfort. He watched as the young woman tried to fight the words she felt forming in her mind. He smiled as she slowly lost the fight."Say it." he thought to her in a gentle yet firm mental command.First her lips parted, though no sound followed. Her eyes hardened and she pressed her lips firmly together."Say it!" he thought more forcefully.In no time her lips had parted again and a low moan escaped them. Her chin quivered and a tear fell down her. His only thoughts were the scream his mouth couldn’t deliver. The blackness before his closed eyes became red, and then black again. -=- He watches, curious, as the cat examines its prey. In a moment, he knows, it will pounce on the tiny baby mouse, ending its life. Probably it will play with it for a while, harassing the terrified creature until at last the terrible journey is ended. Although he knows he could stop this if we wanted, he does not move. He has already seen the baby mouse’s.