Patricia Kase was working late, and if mother was working late, all the sons were working late as well.  Friday evening wasn't necessarily the best time of the week for a young student to be out working, but since it was for a gaming company, it could be worse.  Justin, Ed, and Phil had the latest build of the company's first person shooter "Captain America and the Red Skull".  It had no sound just yet, but level design needed to be tested as well as a full selection of weapons and enemies.  Mama Kase, or sometimes referred to as Mama Cass, was trying to engineer the audio to the environment and to the weapons commands, which is what kept her late.

Ed dropped the Wii controller onto the floor next to his bean bag and let out an exasperated sigh.  "Why can't this be next gen?  The Nintendo WiX is so much cooler and I get tired of flipping this controller from side to side."

Phil, seeming to possess Herculean endurance swings the controller out a couple more times, playing a mini game of knocking metal cans off a fence with the shield.  "Blah Blah Blah, the WiX is even more immersive, you get tired too easily.  Justin, how's your testing going?"  Justin was in charge of testing level design and exploration and what was needed to get to all points of a level.

Justin grimaced, “Yep we could do a lot more with the newer stuff... Just have to make do, besides the quicker we get this finished the sooner we’ll be able to get outta here...” he paused noting some results on his blackberry. ”Just think of the extra dosh we’ll get for the effort we've put in.” he prompted hoping to encourage his brother to return to the testing. "Wouldn't want to be caught out by one of those surprise visits Professor Q tends to spring on Fridays" he added crossing the room he flicked off the radio that had been playing in the background "Superpowers indeed, what'll they drag up to report on next. Did either of you catch the recent Hypervidio Kickass III Son of a Gun" he asked

Ed picked up the controller again after an exaggerated yawn, "Awesome." he said.

"Boring, too much like the last," Phil said, shutting down and keying in notes with passes and accolades.  "Super powers would be awesome though.  Captain America, real guy, dropping down with super strength and eliminating bad guys one at a time.  Put a bunch of him in Iraq and whammo, done."

Mother Kase walked in at that moment followed by Professor Q.  "Whammo, Done.  Indeed boys.  Late shift is over.  Wrap it up and let's go get a bite to eat.  Next week you'll be playing with sound!"  Justin's having jumped his super soldier to the top of a building fell off and surpassed the limit and fell through the ground and kept falling despite the lack of scenery change.

"Crap," Professor Q said looking at the screen.  "Mike'll get that fixed too.  Probably nothing m ore than a floating point variable."

"What do you guys want?  Morgan's?" Mrs. Kase asked.

"Sure thing Mom, dibs on a wedge of their Chocolate Mouse Pie." Justin jumped in before his brothers could squark,
 
Morgan's was close by and from what he had gathered, from previous visits there could use the extra custom.  Yolanda and he also found the Café a good place to meet before taking in a flick.

"What you say Phil" he prompted grinning at his brother, who had a bit of a crush Fiona Morrissey

"Sure thing could eat the hind leg off a hippo" his brother responded delighted at the prospect

Justin grabbed his blackberry fingered the keys with a practiced speed, that left many of his friends agape at the amount he could key in a short time, and followed the others out; securing the door behind them he as they left and hitting send to text Yolanda his asking if she wanted to catch up.

Before they had left the building the all to familiar tune alerting him of Yolanda's sms echoed through the hallway.  "Meet you, there, Just Me and Adam." the short message greeted Justin as he followed Phil out the door.  Yolanda would be there in the old civic with one of her little brothers tagging along.  Patty Kase loaded her oldest boys into the Yukon and flipped on the lights.  The light cold rainfall made driving hazardous for most but Kase handled the roads like a pro and had the troupe outside of Morgan's in no time at all.

The parking lot outside of Morgan's was slow the car's there indicated there might be more than a few people inside.  Families could be seen through the windows and the presence of a Big Rig parked on the opposite side of the road meant a face that no one had seen before.  The Yaleford civic was not there yet.
 
Justin who was seated behind his mother grabbed the umbrella slipped out the car opening it in the process.

 "Mum Yolanda and Adam will be joining us shortly" he informed before shepherding her from the car to the Café.  

The aroma of coffee, apple pie mixed with sizzling steak greeted them. Looking about Justin spotted uniforms from the Gas Mining Company Factory; at the same time he notices Miss Fiona Morrissey beelined her way towards the group; prompting  his brother to ask about seating for six.

Ed flops into the back corner of the booth leaving room for Justin and Yolanda beside them with Mother Kase opposite him and Phil opposite of Justin.  Morgan's looks like business is good for the evening despite the Shale Gas employee manhandling the jukebox.  Old Man Morgan is on top of him like a mountain lion on a wounded deer.  Justin can see the Yaleford civic pull up outside and he knows his sweetheart is only a minute from his side.

A strange sound behind him catches his attention and even though there is a wall there, Justin sees in his mind the image of a kitten in a box pitifully mewing, but neither Ed nor anyone else seems to see or here this. Turning his head further around to see if there was any opening nearby he stared blankly at the unbroken surface. With a shrug he passed the thought of as fatigue from a long day testing. Turning back he watched the Civic pleased that Yolanda had arrived.

Yolanda and Adam came in with smiles and joined the other at the table.  "Hello's all around," Yolanda said happily and scooped up Justin's menu.  Justin sensed that the kitten had fallen asleep and was taking it's final breaths.  It weighed on his back and his mind a waterfall pouring onto his head and shoulders.

As Yolanda slipped in beside him Justin gave her hand a squeeze grateful that she could be here. Absently  he rubbed a shoulder in an attempt to ease the tension and shake oft the strange thoughts that rushed through his head. "Hows your day been Yolanda" he asked eagerly.  

"Good enough," she said, "the girls have been torturing pour Adam there, so I thought I'd bring him along as a kind of reprieve.  Zill and Barn are at the library trying to do some research project on superheroes of all things.  can you believe the stuff they put in the news nowadays.  Of all the things that are happening and this is what we want to talk about.  Miley Cyrus could give birth any day now and some no name in Arkansas who allegedly can run the minute mile gets a five second news blurb."

The weight of the waterfall crashes down upon him and Justin is forced to take a deep breath.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows the kitten just passed away, just on the other side of the wall in some storage room.

Justin hadn’t felt this bad since he played three sequential basketball matches in the pewee league. Leaning heavily on his elbows and rubbing his forehead. He started to wonder if he’d been working too hard. Leaning towards Yolanda and giving her a half smile “Yeah the things the press dig up just to make copy.” he agreed “It's like they couldn’t give a brass razoo about all the really important things and it’s not like they don’t have anything else to do.”

Fiona Morrissey arrived carrying a try laden with their orders, and placed them on the table. Justin couldn’t shake the feeling about the kitten and tried to avoid her gaze. Looking up to see she was looking straight at him which prompted a sympathetic smile from him.  Fiona turned quickly away and disappeared into the back room that must have been right behind the table.  Justin hears the door closed and old Man Morgan started running the register as company people paid for their meal and sat back down to enjoy a last cup of coffee before either their trip home or the rest of their shift.

A shifting sound like a box quietly moving occurred behind Justin and he could see in his mind on the other side of the wall, the waitress Fiona cradling a dead kitten while shadows crept across the floor.  Yolanda, Adam, Phil, and Ed started talking about the new movie previews for M.A.S.K. and how it won't hold up to Transformers 4 coming out at the same time.

Justin gave his head a shake hoping to dislodge the jumbled thoughts and images he had been experiencing then focused on what the others were talking about. “Considering the background and length the Transformers has been around. M.A.S.K. doesn’t have a hope it’ll crash and burn.  If the shorts are anythng to go on the T animations and graphics leave M for dead.“ he agreed
 
Justin shakes the feelings and it feels like a strange sort of half dream.  Their waitress however doesn't seem to be coming back and even though the food is on the table, Mother Kase signals for Morgan to drop by and bring her the check and refills while they chatted it up about movies new and old.  Justin's about to take a drink of ice water and  Yolanda laughs at something Phil says and grabs Justin's hand and squeezes.  It shakes the ice in the glass before he takes a drink and even though her is looking up at a slight angle, he sees Adam and Phil and his mother from a slightly different perspective for a brief instant like he was sitting where Yolanda was sitting.

Trying to fathom what just happened he stares blankly at Yolanda. Following the revelation that was something slipped into the food he eyes the food suspiciously. Leans forward and asks Yolanda if she is feeling alright. 

"I'm feeling alright," she smiles.  "Aren't you?"

"Justin, are you not feeling well?" Mother Kase asks, her keen motherly hearing picking up in the event that one of her babies is not at one hundred percent.  "We can go home and rest.  Mr. Morgan will be closing soon enough anyway.  Tomorrow is Saturday, you can rest."  Mother Kase flags down Morgan for the check.

"Sure I'll get it," he says.  "If I can't find Fiona, I'll just write up a new ticket"

Justin pointed with his thumb over his shoulder towards the wall. "I think Miss Morrissey went into the storeroom"  then smiled at Yolanda and his mother, "Probably staring at screens for too long." giving Yolanda's hand a gentle squeeze, "Perhaps some fresh air will help."

Morgan disappeared around the corner and Yolanda took fresh air as a signal and got up out of the booth and pulled Justin along with her nearly dragging him out the front of the building.  The sound of Morgan yelling is the background could be heard through the restaurant, "Bob, get into this storeroom and tell me what the hell this is?"

Out front Yolanda looked at Justin's eyes, "You didn't have to come up with some excuse to get us out front, you could've just said."  Yolanda had got Justin on the side of the building where they could still be under the awning but not in view of any window.

Giving Yolanda an affectionate hug and somewhat sloppy kiss he grinned noting how her warmth was helping to relieve the tension in his shoulders and neck. "Am I that transparent"  Taking a few breaths of crisp air which helped to clear his thoughts.

Yolanda giggles and presses herself close to him.  "I don't know what you and Fiona were thinking, Bob.  Damn kittens, cats, dogs, puppies, whatever are always hanging around behind restaurants.  What do you think you're going to do save one and you start saving a whole world.  Just cook the burgers Bob, leave the animals some scraps.  Geez.  Disgusting.  That'd be a healthcode violation waiting to happen."  Morgan's voice starts far off, then gets louder as he comes out the back then gets softer again as he goes back inside.

Morgan's journey seemed simply to deposit a box outside beside the dumpster, which was in Justin and Yolanda's field of view down the side of the building.  The box looked very familiar to Justin.

Justin duplicated Yolanda's action then nuzzled her neck; pausing momentarily when he noticed of the box Mr Morgan was carrying "Well if that doesn't beat all... not quite Déjà vu but close" he thought as the pounding returned along with the tension in his shoulders prompting him to roll his shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension.

"What do you mean?" Yolanda asked as she pulled Justin down the solid wall of the building to look into the box.  Her curiosity was a vice at times.  At other times a welcome blessing.  Once she got within range to look into the contents of the box she started and looked away briefly, "oh, God, a kitten."

No don't... he started but it was too late... Yolanda had peered into the box... gently moving her from the body "I had a sort of flash picture of the box with the kitten... Haven't you felt you've been somewhere before or seen something that you just saw only you've never been there or seen that before..."

"Who hasn't?" she asks before looking back at the small lifeless form.  "Maybe we should take it and bury it somewhere?  I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep knowing that it was simply tossed into a dumpster as so much trash.  You could wrap it up in those clothes and bury it somewhere in your back yard?"  The sound of laughter out the front of the restaurant alerted them to the end of the meal by the others. 

"You've such a warm heart" Justin declared giving Yolanda another Kiss, then scooped up the box. "Would you like to attend the burial and wake" he added solemnly.  Justin felt the weight again, like a waterfall.  It was sudden and he nearly dropped the box, but then the sensation was reversed and he felt like the water was rushing upwards around him.  Justin stumbled a little not of his own volition and Yolanda reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"You all right?" she asked.  Some pain could be felt along Justin's back and shoulders.  The box moved a little and the kitten cried out with a soft pitiful mew.  It voided its bowels and a stinky glob of mucous and feces spread out behind the kitten.  "Oh, God," Yolanda gasped.

"Gack that's foul" he exclaimed holding the box away from Yolanda and himself; his arm stretched out he bent and placed it on the ground. Standing he leaned against the wall to brace himself and watched as the emancipated kitten leapt from the box and begin to clean itself. He stared blankly at it, in the vision...It was dead.  He saw Morgan dump the creature.  They both, Yolanda and he had looked at the motionless dead body just minutes before. He couldn't understand how they could make such a mistake. His shoulders and back ached  more than he'd ever known.  The only thing he'd ever experienced that was more painful was how his head felt.  It was like someone had it in a vice and was slowly crushing it... "I'm not feeling well, Yolanda... think I'll go to the Hospital to see what's up."  

"Are you sure?  The Morgantown Hospital is an hour and a half away?" Yolanda rubbed Justin's arm looking concerned.

Mother Kase and Justin's brothers came around the corner, "There you are."  Mother Kase came close to the two of them but stopped short when the smell reached her.  "My goodness," she said and closed her eyes and looked away.  "What happened here?"

Justin stared blankly towards his mother, his eyes partially clouded with pain. "We found a dead cat, that isn't... Well we thought it was dead." he nodded towards the box, he had placed on the ground and held the kitten. "Thats where the smell's coming from" he added taking several steps away from it, leading Yolanda in the process.

Yolanda was happy to come away from the box.  The kitten finished cleaning its behind and then ran off behind the dumpster.  The box remained, as well as the pain across his back.  Mother Kase ushered Yolanda and Justin back towards the front of the restaurant and the vehicles.  "I've told you before, Justin.  Leave stray animals alone.  That thing could have been crazy or have rabies or worse.  Yolanda, don't let him talk you into such nonsense.  Do you need us to follow you home?"

"No, Mama Kase," Yolanda said and tapped Adam on the shoulder and unlocked their car with the remote.  "Justin, are you going to be alright?"

"Going to be alright?" Mother Kase asked.  "What happened?  Did that cat scratch you?"

Justin offered a weak smile, "Probably just staring too long into a monitor and overworking those buttons and keys" he offered running a hand through his hair "I think the stink just aggravated my tiredness." Turning he Waved "See you Adam" Moving beside Yolanda and giving her a hug. "Call you tomorrow..." he suggested.

"Tomorrow," she said and let Justin go home with his mother.  At home, Mother Kase quickly slammed a hand against his forehead and rested it there for a moment.

"Well you're not hot.  Get some rest boys," Mother said as she went about rounding up all her kids and assigning them the nighttime tasks that would safely put everyone to bed in an orderly fashion from youngest to oldest and maintain sanity in the household.

"Hot enough for Yolanda," Ed said as he slipped past Justin snickering.

“Just because she didn’t like your looks needn’t just jealous,” he retorted following his mother into the kitchen giving her a hug.  Ed fixed a glare at Justin for a moment then looked confused, pointing from himself to Phil to Justin then throwing up his hands, a practiced act and the comedian of the three.

“Will do Mom, could I have a mug of warm cocoa to help me relax” Justin asked prompting his mothers caring side.

"I have some things to do.  Olivia, could you make some warm cocoa for everyone," adding to Olivia's normally light load.  Olivia walked past Justin and made a face of disgust complete with snarled upper lip and tongue.  She would do it all the same.  It didn't take her long before Olivia was calling out names for appropriate size cups of cocoa, Justin's amongst the last called.  Base don the order, it seemed that Henry and Paul were at the top of her shit list that night, probably something that happened earlier in the evening.

The combination of being removed from the situation at the restaurant, warm drink, and having a long day to boot was putting the strain on Justin's ability to stay awake any longer. 

Justin savoured the hot coco thanked his sister bid them all a good night. Sleepily staggering into the bathroom for his pre-sleep ablations. Eyes heavy and muscles aching from the heavy day only managed to complete this task. Moving sluggishly he entered his room flopped on the bed and was fast asleep.  As Justin lied down the slight nagging pain in his back disappeared.

GO TO April 6th