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Jack lay beside Donna on the floor with his cat, he watched over their sleeping forms. Outside, occasional pops of gunfire sounded out in the darkness.
It had been three years since Jack had been this close to a woman. He still talked to the girl of his dreams and played out their lives together in his mind; her name was Karen and she had been Jack's world.
"Jack, I want to go look at houses today,” Karen said. “I found this cute three story brick home that was just placed on the market and it looks too good to pass up."
"Babe, we can't afford a house right now," Jack said. "I know we have the money for a down payment, but a house is a long term commitment."
Karen flashed him a smile with her full lips that set off her dark hair and eyes. She slid over closer on the couch next to Jack and took his hand. "I've already made the appointment, so you'll just have to go to keep me from buying it," Karen said. She squeezed Jack's hand and grinned at him playfully.
The problem was that after looking at it, Jack loved the house. It had been completely rebuilt by the previous owner with more quality finish than most new houses possessed. They made an offer on the house and moved in with in a month. A few weeks later, Jack received a promotion at the shipping company where he worked.
He felt blessed sitting in his new home at the dinner table with his wife. "I think we need to think about adding an addition to our family,” Karen said. “It’s kind of lonely in the house with just the two of us."
"You got me with the house," Jack replied, "I’m not going to fall for that trick twice this year. Plus, I thought we discussed that we were not ready for kids yet."
Karen pointed her fork at Jack. "Come on, it could be fun," she said. “I know what you like.”
"No."
"I promise to feed it and take care of it," she pleaded.
"I should hope so,” Jack said. “Just think of the horror of pushing all that on me. I’ve never even changed a diaper."
"Who said anything about diapers?" Karen said.
"I’d think it would get messy pretty quick with out them," he said.
"I'm talking about getting a cat," Karen said.
"You're a bad girl,” Jack said. “You had me going there."
"I always have you going babe," Karen smiled. "Seriously though, I was talking to my mom last week and she wants to do something nice for us. I told her I wanted to get a cat, and she offered to buy us a Siamese cat like the one she grew up with as a kid."
"Haven't you seen that Disney movie," Jack said. "Those cats are mean; plus, they are all thin and alien looking."
"I'll have you know that’s a load of crap," Karen said. "Siamese cats have gotten a bad rap from that movie over the years. I can assure you that they are quite loyal loving cats; my aunt has two of them. Plus, the ones in the movie are bred to be all skinny and alien looking, but I'm talking about a traditional Siamese."
"Ok, so what the hell is a traditional Siamese?" Jack said.
"They’re a normal sized feline with the shape of a big housecat,” Karen said. “But they have the brown coloration with the blue eyes you would expect of Siamese."
"And you're sure they're not all alien looking?" Jack said.
"Yes, I’m sure,” Karen said. “You’re such a silly little goober."
The next day Jack found himself sitting in his car with his wife Karen in front of a Cattery sign. "What the hell is a cattery?" Jack asked his wife.
Karen punched his arm, "The first rule of Fight Club is we don’t talk about Fight Club," Karen said.
"So maybe this won’t be so bad after all," Jack said, "But I do notice that you seem to have all these little decisions mapped out ahead of time before you spring them on me."
"Nonsense," Karen replied. "If I had any such intentions I wouldn't have brought you along to pick the cat with me. Let's not waste any more time. I want to go pick out our new baby."
Walking in the door of the Cattery, Jack was greeted by dozens of pairs of deep blue eyes.
"Oh you must be Karen and Jack," a man said sitting behind a desk. "The kitties seem to like you Jack."
Jack felt a slight weight on the back of his coat.
"Oh Jack, look at you," Karen said.
Jacked turned his head back and looked down to find the source of the weight, but he could not see over his shoulder. He twisted to his left and right and looking down under his armpits to finally catch a glimpse of two legs hanging in the air.
"Oh, she's so cute Jack," Karen sang.
"That’s my little Eclipse," the man said. "She is one of my breeders, and as luck would have it, she had some of the kittens that I have for sale. You two must be good people, if she is trying to get your attention to visit her babies."
"And we know cats are a good judge of character," Karen added.
“Is that seriously the best sales pitch the two of you could come up with,” Jack said.
“Be nice Jack,” Karen said, “Or you’re going to upset Eclipse.”
The man led the couple behind a glass enclosure to Eclipse's litter.
"Pick whichever one or ones you want," the man said.
The little cats ran and played in their enclosure, barely taking the time out of their games with each other to notice Jack and Karen. The couple inspected the litter comparing temperament, gender, or anything else that could possibly distinguish between the nearly identical cats. Jack looked down at his watch and realized an hour had passed while the couple struggled with their decision.
"Karen, you realize we have spent more time on choosing a kitten then it did for us to decide to buy our house."
"Well, we have to make sure it’s the right choice, and they are all so cute, but I think I know which one I want."
"Which one?" Jack said.
"This little one by the water dish has been watching you for the past five minutes,” Karen said. She reached down and picked the little kitten up; she pulled the kitten’s tail back and smiled. "She's a girl Jack, and the way she was watching you, she will keep an eye on you when I am not at home. We'll call her Naomi," Karen said as she petted the kitten.
Jack reached out in the darkness of his house and petted Naomi. I wish you were here Karen, he thought. In the darkness, Donna had enough of the same features as Karen that he felt tempted to entertain the fantasy that she was his wife.
That wouldn't be fair, Jack, he thought to himself in his wife's voice. He often thought of his wife talking to him in his head. He recognized it for what it was. It was how a horribly hurt widower coped with the loss of his wife.
Karen's voice continued on in his head, "It's been three years since I died. I told you I wanted you to be happy and move on. This is an unusual circumstance, and she needs your protection, so don’t feel guilty about her sleeping next to you. Just watch out for my Naomi and don’t worry about any feelings of guilt you may have."
It was nice to feel a woman beside him, Jack thought.
"I won’t hold this against you," Karen's voice said in his head, "I want you to be happy, Jack, and if a girl is willing to respect and love you like I did, then don’t you dare push her away."
Jack realized the strain in his face as muscles had been holding his eyes shut against the strain behind them. He purged the thoughts from his mind and listened to the world outside while trying to focus on the day ahead of them.
Donna woke up beside Jack and his cat Naomi. She enjoyed Jack's warmth beside her until reality rushed back into her mind. They had barricaded themselves on the third floor of Jack’s home after an explosion down the street. The propane depot took out a number of buildings around it when it went and caught dozens of homes on fire. The direction of the wind saved Jack’s home from the blaze, but it attracted a number of zombies.