"Where's Mama?" Taylor asked.

"I don't know." said Isaac.

The boys looked around and saw their fat Mum waddling around on the other side of the kennels.

"Mum!" Tay yelled.

Mrs Hanson turned around.

"Where's Mama?" he asked.

"Why she's right behind you."

Taylor turned around.

"Oh," he said, feeling very foolish.

"Hey Mama," Ike whispered.

Taylor watched his brother pat and talk to the cat.

"You're my best friend Mama," Isaac said.

The next week and a half went quickly.

Hanson did the milk ad and went sight - seeing.

They talked to the fans and signed autographs.

And they visited Mama everyday.

But despite their busy schedules all Isaac could think about was Claire.

Oh how he missed her.

He wished he was with her every moment of the day.

He dreamed about her at night.

He regretted his flirting with Kelly so much and vowed he would never flirt again.

At least not until he got home anyway.

Taylor saw how much pain and agony his brother and best friend was in and one day when he and Zac were out shopping (and talking to fans and signing autographs) he spotted Claire walking into a clothes shop.

Good, he thought. She's going to buy some clothes.

"Claire!" Taylor called out.

Claire turned around.

Taylor ran over to her, dragging Zac behind him.

"Uh, hi," he said.

"Hello Isaac's little brother's," she replied.

"Uh, you know, Ike really misses you," Tay said.

"Yeah? Well I sure don't miss him! I've burnt all my posters."

"Even the ones with me in them?" Zac asked.

"Yes," Claire answered with a mean look on her face.

"Hey," Zac said, holding his hands up in protection. "Sorry."

"Yeah. What did we do?" said Taylor. "Anyway why don't you go talk to him?"

"Huh. You have got to be kidding."

"Well, can't say we didn't try," Tay said, and he and Zac walked off.

Soon it was time for the Hanson family to go home.

They packed up and drove to the airport, stopping at the cat kennels on the way to pick up Mama.

Everyone went in except Isaac, who stayed in the van because he was to embaressed.

Of course this message got passed on to Kelly, but she just laughed.

The kennels gave them a cage to take Mama home in.

At the airport an air hostess took Mama and the Hansons got on the plane.

The whole trip home Isaac thought about Claire.

The rest of the Hansons were very noisy as usual, but the trip was pretty uneventful, compered to other flights.

Taylor collapsed on his bed, exhausted from his trip.

His brothers came in.

"What an awful trip!" Ike exclaimed.

"Not for us," Zac said laughing.

Taylor shot a look at him.

Zac shutup.

"Don't worry Ike," Tay said. "I'm sure you'll meet someone else."

"Yeah, I guess," Ike said sighing. "Or maybe me and her will get back together one day!"

"Don't count on it," Zac said.

"What do you mean?" Isaac asked.

"Well, the other day when me and Tay went shopping we.."

"Zac shutup!" Taylor yelled.

"..... saw Claire, and we were talking to her," Zac finished, despite Taylor's objection.

"Really? What did she say?" asked Ike.

"You don't want to know, Ike," Tay said.

"Yes I do," Ike insisted.

"She said that she loves you and she wants to get back together with you again," Zac said.

"Really?" Isaac asked, hopefully.

"Nah. Actually she said that she doesn't miss you and that she's burnt all her posters and she never wants to talk to you again."

"Oh," Ike said and started bawling.

"Oh dear me," Mrs Hanson said coming into the room. "What's happened?"

"Zac was teasing him," Taylor said.

"You mean it wasn't true? You didn't talk to Claire?" Ike asked through his tears. "Swear to me you'll tell the truth!"

"It is true, it is true!" Zac screamed.

"Taylor?"

"It's true," Taylor said looking down at his feet.

Isaac looked up at the ceiling over his head. He felt a lump in his throat.

I'm not going to cry, he thought.

Too late.

"I'm sorry Ike," Tay whispered.

"Mummy!" Mac cried.

Mrs Hanson left the room.

"Are you okay Ike?" Taylor asked.

"I just want to be alone right now," Ike answered.

"Okay."

Tay pulled Zac away and left Isaac to be alone.

A few days later Zac came storming into the room.

"Mama's missing!"

"What!" Tay cried.

"I can't find her!"Zac said. "She's always home round this time cause she knows we feed her round about now."

"Mum? Dad? Do you guys know where Mama is?" Taylor asked his parents.

"No. Now let's not panic. If she's not home tomorrow we'll look for her," Mr Hanson said calmly.

"Okay," the boys answered in unison.

The next day Mama still wasn't home.

The whole Hanson family split up into teams to look for her.

But no one found her.

That night there was a knock on the door.

It was their neighbour, Dick Groters.

"Dick! How ya doing," Mr Hanson said. "Come on inside."

"Oh no thanks, I'd rather talk to you out here," Dick said. "I have some rather bad news for your family."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I was out on my farm today and I saw a cat. I looked at it and thought 'By Jim! That's the Hansons cat!'"

"Mama?"

"Mama. Is that it's name?"

Mr Hanson nodded.

"I'm sorry but Mama has passed away," Dick finally told Mr Hanson the bad news.

"Oh dear. The kids shall be traumatised," Mr Hanson said.

"I, um, brought her up, you know, just in case you won'tto bury her or something. She's on the back of the truck."

"That was very kind."

"I'll just go and get her," Dick said and ran over to his truck.

"Thanks! Just put her down on the grass over there. Thanks again!" Mr Hanson waved as the truck drove off.

He went inside.

"Mama's dead," He said to Mrs Hanson.

"Oh dear," Mrs Hanson said.

"Kids!" Mr Hanson called.

They all came running except Isaac.

"Where's Ike?"

"He went to get the mail," Zac answered.

"Oh well. I have some bad news," Mr Hanson said. "I was just talking to Dick Groters. He found Mama. Dead."

Jessica, Avery and Taylor started crying.

"It'll be okay, kids," Mrs Hanson said.

Isaac came in.

"Guess what everyone!" he said. "I got a letter from Claire and she said she wants to get back together and..." he trailed off when he saw his family very upset.

"What happened?"

"Sit down Ike," his Dad said.

"What?"

"Mama has, um, passed away."

"No," Ike said turning a very pale white.

"Yes," Mrs Hanson said.

Ike joined his brothers and sisters in crying.

"We have to have a funeral for her," Zac said, and everyone agreed.

The funeral was held the next morning.

It was very emotional.

First the family sang a hymn, then everyone stood up and said something nice about the cat.

"She was good at catching mice," Mr Hanson said.

"She would always cuddle up to you cosily next to the fire," Mrs Hanson said.

"She was funny," said Zac.

"Mama was always willing to go for walks with me," Taylor said.

Avery's contribution was "She always played dolls with me."

Jessica said "She was cute."

"She protected me from mean kids," Mac said.

"She was my best friend," Isaac whispered.

Zac, Taylor and Mr Hanson started digging the grave, while everyone else prayed for her.

Then Taylor placed Mama in her grave and the Hanson's lined up and, one by one, shoveled some dirt in.

After that they sang another hymn whie Mr Hanson filled the grave in.

And that was the end.

"Goodbye Mama," Taylor whispered.

On Saturday the doorbell rang. Ike jumped up to open it. He was surprised to see who it was. Infact, he was very, very surprised.

Who was standing on his front door step but the one-and-only......... Claire.

"Oh - my - golly - gosh." Ike spat out.

"Hey Ike," said Claire.

"Uh, hello."

Claire strolled into his house. "Oh, so this is the marvellous house I have been told about."

Ike, still dumb-founded to see the first (and most likely only) love of his life standing in his own living room, managed to say, "Uh yeah, I guess, I-I-I mean uh, yeah, yeah I live here alright!"

Ignoring his foolish comment, Claire picked up an vase and inspected it for cracks. "Where's your family?"

Ike shrugged stupidly.

Claire turned to look at him. "Oh, who cares about them, where's Mama?"