The magazine

Meanwhile, Tata and Leonard had set off on their expedition.

Leonard opened the back door for Tata and she leaped in with one graceful bound. Leonard stood there admiring her beauty and athleticism.

"Ruff," she barked at him, interrupting his reverie and wondering when on earth he was going to get in the Land Rover and start the engine.

"Sorry, Tata," said Leonard, and promptly opened the driver's door, threw the little crutch on the passenger seat, and climbed in very inelegantly. The exact opposite of Tata in fact.

Tata sniffed the air at the open window, and then settled down to be driven into town. Leonard reached for the CD player, trying to decide between Basement Jaxx and Armada Groove.

A stern "Ruff" came from the back. Tata hated Basement Jaxx and Armada Groove, and did not intend to listen to either of them.

"Aw Tata, come on, you know how much I like them when I'm driving."

"Grruff," she said in the tone of voice that was not to be argued with.

Leonard sadly did as he was told, and started to tantalise himself wondering which magazine he should buy.

Long ago he had done the sums about whether it was better to pay for a subscription to his favourite magazines, and get one or two free over the year, or to go to the effort of visiting the shop and reading each magazine to decide whether it was really good value and worth buying.

So he had never gone down the subscription road, and spent a few hours browsing the magazines every month. He thought he was rather subtle about this and at least he didn't go through them writing down 'phone numbers for interesting adverts. He had done in the past of course, before the days of 24hour broadband connections, but he was sure no-one had noticed him doing it.

He pulled into a parking space in the shade, got out and locked up.

"Bye Tata, I won't be long."

Tata didn't even bother lifting up her head. She knew exactly how long he would be so she curled up for a long snooze.

Leonard walked into the shop. He looked for Air Rifle Monthly. Nothing. Sadly he looked to see if Air Gunner or Airgun World or Air Gun World were in, although Air Rifle Monthly was his magazine of choice. No. Not a single air gun magazine in the shop.

Then he looked for Essential Gadgets Just For Men. Another blank. Well, he would just have to settle for Boys Toys which he wasn't too keen on, but it would do. He rubbed his eyes. No, that wasn't there either.

As a last resort he decided to buy The Geocacher's Anorak. That was always in stock because he lived in a popular area for geocaches. But not today.

It had to be a conspiracy. He had forgotten to buy a magazine twice earlier today, and now that he had deliberately come to buy one after Tata's sensible suggestion, there wasn't a single wanted magazine in the shop.

But Leonard was not one to be defeated so easily. He had come to buy a magazine and buy a magazine he would. He defiantly picked up the nearest one. Fusion Flowers. Er no, Leonard thought not, and hastily dropped it.

He resorted to his last stand-by and went to pick up a Land Rover magazine. Half the time he didn't like these. He wasn't interested in Freelanders. Series vehicles were old and uncomfortable. Although he had once vaguely aspired to a Range Rover, he had ended up buying a Discovery. Then he had changed for a Defender. He liked the rugged appearance of the Defender, good looking, tough and practical. Exactly like Leonard.

He took the magazine to the counter without even looking inside it, paid, and walked back outside to Tata and the Land Rover.