Confounded: Part III - 12. Interlude

--==Tom’s POV==--

The man was a basket case in terms of taking care of himself foodwise. Ugh! As soon as I spotted those frozen meals, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Cry as much you want Mister, but no one in my orbit eats frozen meals! Ever!

Dragging him back to where those came from, then hearing that soft whimper as I closed the door on ‘em, I grinned to myself. He would learn. No one is too old to learn how to cook, not even you, Gilmore.

And those friends of his; some friends. Pffft! Didn’t they see he was slowly wasting away? They had eyes, didn’t they? Even that Cindy woman, whose cart had been filled with fresh stuff, should’ve known better. Hadn’t she noticed him losing weight? A man like Mitch? Come on! They clearly knew each other; she was tactile enough to kiss him. Why didn't she notice a man flailing on his own? You don’t help? You don’t offer? Get on your broom and back to your coven then.

Alright, alright, maybe she did offer a meal a few times; who am I to judge. He probably sent her packing, because that’s what his kind of male does; I’m fine, no need to fuss, no need to take care of me, I can do it on my own. No you can’t! Ass!

Ass!

I snickered at the coven joke, though; his remark was funny. Hilarious, really. His worrying about what they would think? Who cares! Spend your life worrying what others think, you forget yourself. Clearly he needed help. This man did not need to have those hollow cheeks. He needed protein; way more than I could supply, hehe. Well, gimme time. Wink. But seriously; vitamins. Iron. B12. Crap he definitely won’t get for himself. I bet he was underweight, by now. I wondered how underweight he was. Quite a bit, I’d imagine. The man I remembered him being had been far more buff.

The woman at the butcher actually knew her business; she pointed out some stuff where I was wrong, which is always a good thing; I like people who are knowledgeable in their field of expertise. Accepting her tips, he got several pounds of meat that were ready to go in the freezer. Never go without meat.

Produce aisle; Oh Mitch, you’ve never seen a whole carrot? Leeks? Dude, where have you been? Yes, you may have green beans. Take more. No, not the canned crap, fresh!

He snuck in candy. Nope, out! You still have your own teeth, nice ones; keep em. Out with the candy. Cheese sticks? Mmk, those you may have. Once a week, so only one box. Nuh-uh, not that second box.

I snuck away multiple items that he dropped in the cart when he thought I wasn’t watching. Sneaky bastard.

Basket case. Seriously!