Things stayed the same in the house for a number of years. Jeff would get down to his writing every evening after some light eating. He and Andrea did not speak as often as you might imagine. There was a sense of love, albeit unspoken love in the utmost literal way. Andrea would sit in the lounge while Jeff tried to write. On the rare occasion Jeff had something he was truly proud of, Andrea would read it through. She was always a great fan of his work, but it did not seem to matter a large part of the time. He was more interested in what his people in London, New York and Sydney thought, or I feel, at least that was what I picked up.
The night Maus returned was a pink one. The light around the whole sky conveyed a feeling that would have been romantic to many other couples, perhaps in more ways than one. Andrea had picked a chocolate mousse out of the fridge, when Jeff groaned in the study. I saw Andrea look around and take a fingerful of her dessert before going to check on Jeff. I did not want to listen in on their conversation. Their talk was always filled with self-pity that I could not stand, and made no effort to understand. Instead, I remained in the kitchen to do my chores. That is, until, there was a knock on the door.
When I opened the door, I recognised Maus immediatly. In fact, she looked exactly the same as she did the last time she banned me on the Newgrounds BBS. I was surprised, but it didn't stop me going into inane banter mode. After what must have been two minutes, I went to tell Andrea Maus had returned. She leapt with joy and ran back into the study.
"Jeff, Jeff, Jeff darling! Maus is here! Maus has returned!"
"Who?" asked Jeff, mildly confused. "The gypsy boy?"
"No, Maus!" she replied.
"Well, if you know this person, ask her in, get Helen to get you two drinks. I'm finishing this off."
So Maus came in, good times were had, memories were recalled, etc. Jeff eventually moved to New York and came out as a homosexual. To be continued?
In other words, hello Maus. Sticking around long, or just popping in? Either way, woo Maus!.
