He remembered how his grandfather used to record "messages" through Tom, making the cat say things like, "Eat your vegetables, Leo!" only for the cat to let out a giant digital fart afterward.

Specifically, it was version 2.7. To anyone else, it was an outdated file. To Leo, it was a piece of his childhood.

Leo laughed, a deep, adult sound. Tom mimicked it perfectly, the animation of his shoulders shaking exactly as Leo remembered. He spent the next hour rediscovering the old tricks: poking Tom's belly to hear him grunt, "grabbing" his tail, and feeding him a digital watermelon—his favorite.