Cats' Eyes by Mollie Hunt

Author:Mollie Hunt [Hunt, Mollie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery.Cozy, Pets.Cats
ISBN: 9781500999148
Google: UFO0oQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 23181806
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-12-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Calico- and Tortoiseshell-colored cats are predominantly female. Only one in 3000 is male. The males are usually sterile.

In the morning, after an unexpectedly deep and dreamless slumber, the events of the previous day seemed like fiction: a television show I had been watching too late at night, or a book I had fallen asleep reading. I enjoyed that feeling of denial and I wanted to perpetuate it, so instead of calling Halle and going over my legal problems, I put on my kitty socks and my volunteer apron and went to the shelter.

It had been several days since I had been there, what with the Highland Games and being detained by the police, and there was a whole raft of new faces. Some of the old faces were absent, having been adopted over the weekend. Though I missed the kitties I’d gotten to know throughout their stay at Chez FOF, I was happy for them and wished them the best in their forever homes.

The FOF volunteers are an autonomous bunch, rather like the cats themselves. There was no set routine; everything requiring a schedule such as feeding and medication was done by paid staff, leaving us free to play or groom or help potential adopters, whatever struck our fancy at the moment. Since my fancy wanted desperately to run away and hide, I had taken Pumpkin, a feisty tortoiseshell who had been there way too long, into the Real Life room for an opportunity to stretch her legs. Pumpkin needed some serious socializing. She was a conundrum that was all too common in shelter life: petulant to begin with, she had not shown well to folks looking for a friendly family pet; the longer she languished in her little metal prison, the more cantankerous she got, making her even less appealing. Some of the other volunteers and I had taken on the project of reintegrating her into society which involved, among other things, as much people contact outside the kennel environment as possible.

The Real Life room was a brilliant contrivance for just that purpose. It was exactly what it sounds like: a room designed as much like your living room as could be pulled off in a shelter environment where everything has to be disinfected between feline visits. There were soft chairs, a coffee table, cat toys, food, water, and even a TV that ran Animal Planet and other cat-friendly shows. As I lounged in one of the low chairs, Pumpkin could hide, play, eat, or sleep, whatever she wanted. I just let her be, talking to her and every so often inviting her to come take a treat from me. Socializing cats isn’t terribly interactive since most things cats like to do they do on their own, but they appreciate the company and the chance to blatantly ignore you. And every once in a while, they have a breakthrough that makes it all worthwhile.

Pumpkin swaggered up to me, her round tummy swaying—there’s a reason she’s called Pumpkin besides the bright orange color in her coat.

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