29.....

Continued......

'A happy birthday is measured not in the amount of gifts, but in the amount one is loved.'
-Todd Stocker


It was the morning of Marta's 40th birthday. She made herself a coffee and opened a little package that Jamie had left for her the day before.

It contained..... an orange and pink patterned scarf. And bizarrely, it seemed to smell faintly of TCP.

'This,' she said to Genghis, 'is truly hideous. Maybe it's a joke present.' She looked at the label and showed it to him. 'Well, call me a snob Genghi, but it's nylon. From Asda.'

Genghis was appalled. The static in the material was making his fur stand on end....

Marta called Jamie, to thank him.

'I've never actually worn orange before. It's an interesting colour choice.'

'It was my mother's.'

'Your mother's choice?'

'My mother's scarf. I told her I had little time, and couldn't think of anything to get you. So she took off the scarf she was wearing and said to give it to you. Wasn't that kind.'

'You mean it's second hand?'

'No!' He seemed offended. 'I believe they call it vintage.'

'Vintage is great,' she murmured, 'if it's champagne.'

As she hung up the phone, she gave herself a little lecture about gratitude. 'It's not about what you're given,' she said to Genghis, 'or where it comes from. It's the thought that counts.'

Genghis yowled in agreement. And the only thought that counts right now, he decided, was how to get rid of Jamie....