Sheseemed to be in remission for now, but the surgery, radiation andchemotherapy had exacted their toll, including the loss of her hair,which was just...beginning to grow back. The doctors had been optimisticafter the last round of tests had found no sign of the cancer, andMelissa had assured her she had beaten it, but Claire wasn't sure,something told her that her journey on earth was nearing its end, and shewas at peace with that, completely at peace.It had been a fabulous adventure, far beyond. My heart started to ache around noon that day, I was sure it was because I missed him so. The problem with three words seemed stupid now, insignificant and small. I became angry at myself for being so scared of every little thing in this world, for being a wimp, for only having the courage to touch him when he wanted to hear my words too. God, it was so frustrating to see how stupid I have been. Stupid, stupid little hang ups that just make me unhappy, that make us unhappy. ‘Damn.’ I said. He found Max at the local rescue shelter. He was a mutt of sorts. Part Rottweiler and poodle, plus maybe a few other breeds mixed in. The shelter told him the groomed dog was only three years old. And with the poodle mix, the dog did not shed like other breeds. He was also a very big dog, weighing around 120 pounds and stood very tall, having the longer legs of a large breed poodle. His snout was a bit longer too than the normal nose of a rottie. And being of a poodle breed, it meant they would. Val, however, was blissfully oblivious to the tempest raging in her partner’s mind. George was not a happy man. Val’s sister was known to joke ‘we were happily married for a couple of years and now I’m just hanging around to piss him off’. George often wondered if Val was also thinking the same thing. ‘Happily married is such a cliché,’ he thought. ‘You start off happily married, then get comfortable and then some degree of discomfort sets in,’ was more accurate in his opinion. George and Val.