The alarm sounded. It was 6:30 am.

“Good morning.” Heather looked over at her new fiancé, Gary.

“Good morning.” As he was looking her in the eyes, they heard a ‘meow’ and an orange striped cat jumped on the bed. Heather giggled and rolled onto her back, grabbing the cat and pulled it between them.

“We need to name the cat, Gary.” Heather said, as she said everyday, while Gary got up and went for the paper at the foot of the bed. She never expected an answer from Gary.

You see, Heather and Gary were no ordinary couple. Gary had been, for the last seven years, getting tomorrow’s newspaper today. Heather had come into his life because of the paper, and they had hit it off right away. They had been living together for about a month.

“What’s in the newspaper today?” Heather asked as she finished dressing and went to make them coffee.

“Do you really want to know?” Gary asked as he perused the paper.

“You know I like to know, Gary. I can never help, I know that, but I’d like to know.” Heather walked over to Gary and sat beside him. “I mean, what if something should happen and you’d have to choose between me and the people in the paper?” Gary looked Heather in the eyes. “You shouldn’t have to make that decision, Gary.” Heather kissed him. “Or, the situation might be reversed, and I’d have to make that decision. It wouldn’t be fair to the people in the paper who really need to be saved.” They kissed again, and then Heather went back into the kitchen to get the coffee while Gary went back to the paper.

“Busy day today.” Gary muttered. “There was a woman standing at the corner of Washington and Dearborn when she was hit by a bus… The driver came around the corner and didn’t see her.” Gary looked up. Heather was standing over him, reading the paper. “But first I have to go catch some kids who are going to fall off a fire escape.” Gary stood up and grabbed the cup of coffee from Heather.

Heather took advantage of the situation. “Hold out your arms.” Gary looked at her funny. “Just hold out your arms, Gary.” Gary shrugged and complied, so Heather hugged him.

“I know how to hug, and I’d like to do it properly.” Gary put down the mug and stuffed the paper into his back pocket. Then he hugged her back. They stayed like that for about two minutes before Heather pulled away.

“Now go save some people, Gary.” Gary nodded and headed for the door. “And be careful, I want to see you again tonight! I love you.”

Gary paused at the door. “I love you too.” He left.

About five minutes later, there was a knocking on the door, which Heather went to answer.

“Hi, Chuck.” Heather smiled. “You just missed Gary by about five minutes.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“No, no, come in.” Heather turned around and went back to sitting on the couch. Chuck went in and sat beside her. “When I accepted Gary, I accepted his friends, and you’re his best.” Heather smiled at him.

“Thank you.”

“Well, you are Gary’s friend. What brings you up here?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Sure.” Heather wondered what was going on. Chuck could be serious sometimes, but she could tell something wasn’t right.

“Gary’s old high school sweetheart is dead.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I saw the obituary… in today’s newspaper.”

“Oh my God, Chuck. Does Gary know?”

“I’m guessing no.”

“I want to be with him when you tell him.”

“I understand.”

Meanwhile, Gary was having an adventure of his own…

Outside the restaurant, Gary ran into a woman who lived in and ran a flower shop from a nearby building with her husband.

“Good morning, Mr. Hobson!” The woman called out to him.

“Good morning.” Gary said, absent mindedly. He was trying to figure out the fastest way to get to those kids…

“Could you help me, dear?” The lady asked as her husband came out.

He grabbed Gary and dragged him inside their little store. The guy held Gary up against the wall as his wife addressed Gary.

“Now, we know you have some sort of power that lets you see the future. You’ve got to help us! My son is in Iraq. I need to know if my son is going to come home alive... Please help us!”

Gary was at a loss… He wanted to help, but if there was nothing in the newspaper… “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Don’t lie to us, Gary, we know all about you.” The woman pulled out a knife.

“Is that really necessary, dear? Can’t we just stick him in the refrigerator?” The man asked his wife.

“Good idea. We’ll stick you in the refrigerator until you change your mind.” The man pulled Gary towards the walk-in refrigerator as his wife opened the door. They both pushed him inside.

“Hey! Let me out, you don’t understand! I need to be somewhere! Let me out!” Gary called out, thinking of those children…

“Well, you should have thought of that before you refused to help us.” The lady said as she left to wait on some customers. No one could hear Gary calling for help…

Later on that evening, after Heather had gotten back from her job as a history professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, she came back to McGinty’s. Chuck was still there, even though it was after closing time.

“Chuck, what are you still doing here? Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine. Marissa and I were waiting for Gary. Do you know where he is?”

“No. He had only mentioned two things in the paper today… I would think he’d be back by now.” They shrugged, but as it got darker, they began to worry.

“I’m going to go looking for him.” Heather decided, and neither Chuck nor Marissa tried to stop her.

Outside, as she looked around, thinking of who could have possibly see him that morning, the neighboring lady came out to sweep the steps in front of her shop.

“Excuse me, were you outside this morning?” Heather asked her.

“I was, dear. What’s the matter?”

“I’m looking for someone who passed by this morning.” Heather described Gary.

“Oh, yes… Mr. Hobson.”

“You know Gary! Which way did he go?”

“He came inside my shop and…” The lady motioned Heather to come in closer, “I kept him.”

Heather straightened up. “You what?”

The lady shrugged. “I kept him. Come in, I’ll show you.”

What kind of nut jobs are living next to us? Heather thought.

The lady opened the door and went inside with Heather following. “I suppose I ought to let him go, he obviously isn’t going to help us.”

Heather was confused. That didn’t sound like Gary; not helping… there’s something funny going on in here…

As they rounded the corner, Heather could hear someone shouting.

“Can’t anyone here me?!”

“Gary?”

“Heather!”

“Oh, Gary, hold on, I’ll get you out of there!” Heather pulled open the door and out came Gary, a little frosted and blue.

“Oh, Gary, thank God you’re all right!” Heather hugged Gary, and he hugged her back while the lady smiled behind them.

“Sometimes, you weren’t meant to know.” The lady left them to walk back to the restaurant, where Chuck and Marissa were waiting.

“What happened to you, Gar?” Chuck asked when he saw Gary’s blue-tinted face.

Gary explained the whole story. “But I didn’t get out in time to save those people… that woman…” Gary looked ill.

“Gary, look at the paper.” Heather gently prodded him as she pulled the paper out of his back pants pocket.

Gary looked at it. “The headlines changed!” Gary was astonished.

Heather shrugged. “The lady that was hit by the bus was detained while she kept someone’s fiancé locked in her refrigerator, and the kids were stopped by an unassuming, kindly professor from the University.”

Gary looked at Heather and kissed her. “Thank you so much, Heather. You really saved a lot today.”

“Yeah, but you do a much better job.”

“And I’ll be ready for it tomorrow.” Gary and Heather kissed again.