He tried the kitchen light, just to be sure, but it worked just fine. "What the hell?" he grumbled to himself. "Can't be a blown circuit either." Then he spied a plug poking out suspiciously from behind the microwave. Upon closer examination, Zephyr discovered that yes, indeed, it had been unplugged. So had the fridge, the coffee machine, the toaster oven, and the television and stereo system in the living room. After plugging everything back in, Zephyr returned to the kitchen and tried to remember what he was originally going to do.

"Maow," said 3.

Zephyr looked down at her, and she met his gaze with her intense, unblinking stare. "What? Are you hungry?" he asked her rhetorically. Of course she was hungry. For that matter, he was hungry too. It must have been close to noon.

"Mrrl," 3 replied, and glanced meaningfully at the counter and back at Zephyr.

Zephyr opened the cabinet and rifled through the cans of cat food. Just as he had feared, they all had pop tops. He much preferred cans that required a can opener, but the online grocery service he used didn't have any good way of specifying. He chose a can and put it on the counter.

"Yum, savory salmon and tuna," he said to 3. "We're going to have to wait for Reg to come out and open this. Okay?"

"Aaaaaaooooow," said 3 in a tone of voice that made it clear that waiting was not okay.

"Wait!" Zephyr insisted.

"Aaaaooooow!" 3 countered. To dispel any doubt, she stretched upward and scraped her claws on the edge of the counter.

"Fine. I'll do it myself." Zephyr opened the silverware drawer. "But I want you to know I'm probably going to ruin another knife on this." On second thought, he grabbed a spoon. He pushed the tip under the pop top ring and pried it up, bending the spoon back in the process. "Stupid cheapo piece of junk," he muttered as he turned it around and used the handle to pull the top the rest of the way off.

"Maaaaoooow," 3 said impatiently as she nudged his leg.

"It's coming! Get off my case!" Zephyr used the mutilated spoon to scoop half of the cat food into an old margarine tub and placed the tub on the floor next to 3's dry food bowl. He located a plastic cover, crammed it over the top of the can, and put the leftovers into the fridge. Now that 3 was happily munching away, it was time to feed Reg.

Where was Reg?

Probably still in the bedroom. He'd make something for Reg later. But first, he would cook a nice, loaded omelet for himself. He searched the pantry and fridge for ingredients and found ham, cheese, and half an onion. He pulled out the small cutting board and a knife and cut into the onion.

"Too loud!" shouted Reg from the direction of the bedroom.

"What?" Zephyr shouted back, thinking a little too late that it probably wasn't helpful to do so.

"Too loud too loud," Reg repeated.

"I'm cutting as quietly as I can," Zephyr said more to himself than to Reg. He went back to work on the onion, but had only managed two more chops before Reg stormed into the room.

Mumbling, "Too loud too loud too loud," to himself, Reg proceeded to toss the onion, the ham, and the cheese into the trash. Zephyr watched helplessly, and as Reg left again he supposed he ought to be grateful that Reg had ignored the carton of eggs entirely. He considered making himself a plain-egg omelet, but he really wasn't in the mood anymore. Maybe Reg wouldn't object if he made himself a couple of slices of toast with butter.

The phone rang. Perfect timing, Zephyr thought bitterly as he rushed to answer it before Reg freaked out again. As he hit the speakerphone button, however, he heard the bedroom door close and nothing else.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi, Zephyr? It's Tracy."

"Oh, hi." Zephyr thought better of the speakerphone and picked up the receiver as he sat down in the easy chair beside the phone. "How are you?"

"It's been one of those weeks."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Zephyr replied.

"You too?" Tracy asked. "I was thinking it'd be nice to relax with some friends. Do you want to come over and have lunch? We could see a movie if you want."

"Um, no." Zephyr kept his voice low and even, just in case. "Sorry, I'd love to, really. But, um, Reg isn't feeling well. I don't think he'd enjoy himself, and I can't... y'know."

"It's okay," Tracy said, but Zephyr could tell she was disappointed. "May I come over there instead? We don't have to do anything. We could just hang out."

Zephyr almost said yes, but he knew he wouldn't be able to deal with guests at the moment. "I don't think so. Some other time, okay?"

"Oh. Okay. What's wrong with Reg? Anything I can do?"

"Mm... no. Thanks. Just... some other time. Sorry."

"It's okay. I hope he feels better soon. Bye." Tracy hung up.

Zephyr did too, feeling really lousy. Tracy deserved to be treated better; he didn't know why he insisted on being so stand-offish around her. Maybe her niceness creeped him out. She kept trying to be his friend - and even stranger, Reg's friend - and Zephyr didn't know how to respond to that sort of behavior. After talking to her, he always felt so... so... he didn't have the words to describe it. But it wasn't pleasant. It was similar to the way he had felt in college after he had started spending every moment with Reg and discovered that a number of people were suddenly interested in talking to him. It was that kind of joyful exhilaration that made him want to curl up in the back of the closet, if that made any sense. Nah, it probably didn't. He was just being stupid.

On a whim, he dialed Portia's number. He wasn't sure what he planned to say to her. Oh well, he'd find out soon enough.

"Hello," a man's voice, obviously Dan's, said.

"Hi. Is... is Portia there?"

"Yup. Hold on." Dan pulled away from the receiver, and Zephyr could hear the children laughing in the background as he yelled, "Porsh! It's your brother!"

There was half a minute of fumbling, and then Portia took over with a cheerful, "Hey, dude!"

"Hey, dude," Zephyr replied. "Just called to see how you're doing."

"Good and bad. This is like the easiest pregnancy I've ever had! I've only woken up with morning sickness maybe five times so far. But I have this really inconvenient craving for curry shrimp, and there's only one restaurant around here that makes it, and the kids hate that place. Oh, and I also have a craving for beets. I hate beets! I hate them I hate them! You have no idea what it's like to obsess over something you hate as much as I hate beets."

"Oh," said Zephyr. "You're right. I probably don't."

"But the OB says everything's good so far."

"Would that be Dr. Bryce Asel?" Zephyr asked, remembering Portia's story about how she had named her fourth child.

Portia laughed. "No, Bryce Asel Muamaa isn't my OB. He's just on the same sign. I think he's an... um, I forget. Some ologist. Oh, speaking of which, Bryce Asel is talking now, and guess what he said for the first time yesterday!"

"What?"

"Zephyr! Or at least he tried. He actually said 'Deppa' or something. Brit and Tammy taught him. They've been trying for like a month now. At least. His first word was 'bug'. Which makes sense, because he's really into playing with bugs. I blame Brit for that one, too. That girl is not squeamish at all. Was I that fearless when I was little?"

"You were always fearless."

"Ha! Yeah, I guess I was! Oh, so anyway. What's up?"

Zephyr hesitated. "Um... I just... hey, maybe you can help me with something."

"Sure, Zeph."

"Okay, it's just... I don't know, there's probably nothing anyone can do."

"Tell me anyway," Portia insisted.

"All right. I'm worried about Reg. He's acting weird. I mean, weird for him."

"Weird how?" Portia prodded.

"Oh, all sorts of things. He doesn't talk anymore. I mean, even less than usual. Actually, that's not true, but he always says the same thing. He goes around saying, 'Too loud, too loud,' or 'Quiet' all the time. And he turns things off. That's all he ever does; complains about things being too loud and turns everything off. He unplugged all of the kitchen appliances this morning. He doesn't do anything else. He won't even drive anymore. The last few days, I had to call the office and get someone to drive us to work."

"That sucks," Portia said. "Do you have any idea why?"

"No. I can't think of anything relevant that might have happened a week ago. It's almost like something inside him just clicked for no good reason. No, it wasn't that sudden. On Monday, I caught him sitting in the dark. That was the first time I noticed him doing anything strange. Oh, and then he asked for lunch. He almost never does that. But his eating habits got really weird after that... he still acts like he wants to eat, but he only eats things like bread and crackers. Oh, and lettuce. He suddenly loves lettuce. Everything else, he throws it away and complains about something being too loud. He went totally ballistic when Marsh ordered pizza. He wouldn't even come upstairs."

"Maybe he's got that ringing ears thing," Portia suggested.

"Oh, I never thought of that. Tinnitus?"

"Uh... I don't know what it's called. When your ears never stop ringing. The guy who plays Captain Kirk has it. Maybe you should take him to the doctor and get him checked out."

Zephyr sighed. "I don't think I can get him there. I can't seem to get him to do anything. Every time I try, he stares at me blankly and tells me to be quiet. I don't know what to do. I don't know if he's going to snap out of it, or what. The best I can do is let him sit around in the dark and not force him to do anything."

"Poor Reg," Portia said. "I really think you should get him checked out. At least call somebody and ask. Do you have someone to call?"

"You," Zephyr half-joked. He started as 3 jumped unexpectedly into his lap. She kneaded his sweatpants, making him chuckle in spite of himself, and curled up in a loose ball on top of him.

"Oh." Portia paused. "I don't know if I have any answers for you. Now, if you ask me what it means if a three-year-old starts acting weird..."

"It's okay," Zephyr reassured her. "Thanks for listening. That was enough. I should go now."

"Okay. Call me again if you need to. Love you, dude!"

"Love you too, dude."

"And tell Reg-dude I love him too. Bye!"

"Okay. Bye." Zephyr reached over and hung up the receiver. 3 raised her head and looked at him, so he smirked back at her. As he stroked her back absently, she began to purr.