Despite the fact that there was already an old man on the bench, Steven sat down and looked out over the park’s pond. The old man was extremely thin and shook inside a new coat that was a few sizes too large for him. “Must be an alcoholic,” Steven thought judgmentally, though he couldn’t smell any drink on the man. No, with those dilated pupils, he was probably into drugs. Steven sighed.

Mommy is home! Yay! I hope she does not have water leaking from her eyes like she did when she went out to that work she goes to.

Oh! My name is Baby. Mommy tells everyone my name is something else, so I know Baby is my secret name. Mommy calls me Baby and when she says it her voice is soft and makes me warm, so I know Baby is my special name.

How bleak the world is. The only light that shone through my dreary life has been blown out with a gale-force wind. I was almost obliterated in the aftershock.

 How can you be gone from me?

Xanthe darted, into the Lutterworth Country Park trees. Choosing one strategically, she scrambled up and perched on a branch.

 There was not a lot of business at the LuttCat AGM, and, as expected, cats yawned and paid little attention.