The old lady was racked with guilt about what she had done.
She had certainly never acted that way before. It was hard to believe that she’d been that rude; that mean. She was at home now with her shopping, staring down at the tin of cat food. It had all happened so quickly, but that was no excuse. When she entered the aisle to get cat food, they were just about out. There was only one tin of her cat’s favourite left. There was a man, very tall, standing immediately in front of it. She felt sure he was about to pick it up. That’s when she did it! That’s when she grabbed it from right under his nose and hurried off to the checkout, leaving him shell-shocked, watching her go.
That night she was disturbed by noises in the street, but it soon went quiet again and she went back to sleep. The following night, she found there were problems watching her television show and the next day discovered that her email wasn’t working at all. Soon after, she received a notice in the mail from her service provider to say that a fault with her kerbside connection had been detected and that a technician would be coming out to repair it. Almost a week went by before anybody turned up. She had thought about calling them to give them a jog, when the van pulled up outside. A technician, very tall, got out and started to do something by the roadside. After a few minutes, he strolled up the path and rang the bell.
He was smiling when she opened the door. He said, “Good morning madam. You received notification about your faulty connection, I take it?”
“Yes. I’ve got no email at the moment. I received a notice about it in the post.”
“Well, I’ve just had a look at it. I’m afraid we’re having trouble getting the part you need. It could take some time, but we’ll let you know as soon as the parts arrive.”
She frowned. “Oh, dear. Nothing you can do about that, I suppose.”
“Not really. We’ll be in touch.” As he went to go, he saw the cat, curled up on the front lawn. “He’s a nice looking fellow,” he remarked.
She felt a cold shiver run up her spine. She now eyed him suspiciously. She asked herself, could this be the man in the supermarket?
She watched him go.
As he climbed into the van, he called out, “Got to watch what you feed ‘em, eh?”