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Shane loved routine. He loved every day being the exact same and everything being unchanged. He loved his little cat kibbles that Miss Sheila gave him every day for breakfast and dinner. He loved laying in the living room directly in the afternoon sunlight. He especially loved laying on Miss Sheila’s lap every evening as she read her book. Sometimes he even purred a little bit, just to let Miss Sheila know that he loved her.
Shane’s routines were enough for him to forget about the Before Times. The scary place with all of the screams and yells of other cats, the fights that he had to get into to protect himself and his food. All of the strangers who would walk past his prison and ignore him for all the younger stupider kittens. He was sure the strangers were judging him based only on the black of his fur. He knew he was a sweetheart, all of the staff told him so.
His routine was well established now though with Miss Sheila. Every day followed the same pattern, just like Shane wanted. He didn’t have to fight anymore and after so many years of being with Miss Sheila Shane figured he had it made for the rest of his life.
Look, Shane wasn’t stupid. He was very intelligent for a cat. He understood English, even though when he tried to speak it Miss Sheila would always reply with absolutely nonsensical words. He could even read a little bit from all the time he spent looking at Miss Sheila’s books. He just chose to ignore all of the photos of Miss Sheila with all her previous animals because it hurt Shane’s little heart to think that Miss Sheila thought he was just another animal to take pictures with.
Shane fully expected Miss Sheila to get another pet at some point but he didn’t expect it to be when he was still around. It started like this:
Shane was confused to be left all alone in the middle of the day. Miss Sheila had left after his breakfast which was totally unlike her. Usually, she would be in her home office all day, typing little buttons to make words. Sometimes Shane would join her but after a few minutes the typing noises would give him a headache so he usually ended up in his favourite spot in the living room.
Today though she had left in a whirlwind, yelling that she would be back in a few hours with a surprise and Shane should be good while she was gone. Shane was always good when she was gone. He liked the idea of a surprise though.
And now Miss Sheila returned with a big plastic box that made noise. It smelled like the Bad Place, like the Before Times. Shane did not like that smell and he barely put up a fight when Miss Sheila put him into the laundry room.
“Now Shane, we are going to be nice kitties right? You are the nicest kitty in the whole world so we have to be polite to the new foster dog right? I’ll leave you here while the puppy gets used to his new surroundings. I’ll be back in a few hours.” Miss Sheila left him alone and closed the door behind her.
Oh no. Dogs were a nightmare. Shane barely interacted with them when he was still at the shelter but he had heard horror stories. The volunteers would talk about how high energy they were and how they jumped and licked and were nuisances all the time. This new puppy was going to destroy Shane’s beloved routines. Shane tried not to pace in this tiny laundry room but there wasn’t any other activity for him to focus on while he waited for Miss Sheila to get back.
It had been hours and hours and hours of being trapped in the laundry room. There were no comfy spots for Shane to lay and sun himself so he was doing his best to sit in the windowsill and watch the birds outside. It was one of his favourite frivolous activities, but it wasn’t the same from the laundry room window.
Finally Miss Sheila returned, opening the door just a crack to peek her head in. Shane gracefully jumped down from the window sill, it must be close to dinner time.
“Ok Shane, baby cat. We are going to see Ilya now. He’s a golden retriever and only about a year old so we have to be patient and nice. No hissing or swiping ok?” Miss Sheila picked Shane up in her arms and he let her get in a quick cuddle. He knew that this was his way of paying rent. He wondered if this new puppy would also have to pay rent.
Shane stayed calm in Miss Sheila’s arms. Maybe if he was very calm and polite, he could have the fancy wet food dinner tonight. She crouched down in front of a jail cell, wires crossing and keeping this new dog, Ilya, away from Shane. Ilya was big and fluffy, with a dumb smile on his face as he looked directly into Shane’s eyes. Didn’t this little puppy know better than to make eye contact with the lion of the house?
Shane could feel a little growl starting in the base of his throat. He wanted to be on his best behaviour but this little dog was making that impossible. Shane refused to feel challenged by this new arrival. He gracefully flipped out of Miss Sheila’s arms and trotted to his food bowl. He knew what he deserved for the gracious introduction he let happen, wet food or bust.
“Alright. Better than I hoped I guess. No fighting is a win in my book. We will keep working on it. Good job Shane, wet food for you tonight for being such a good kitty! We will try again tomorrow.”
Shane just harrumphed and went to eat his well deserved wet food. From the corner of his eye he could see the puppy jumping for Miss Sheila’s attention, yipping excitedly. What did he have to be excited about inside his dog jail? Shane knew he would not be trying anything tomorrow. He was going back to his routine.
—-
It had been days and Shane’s routine was broken. He was no longer allowed to lounge in the living room to his heart’s content. He was locked in the laundry room whenever Ilya had free reign in the house. Whenever Ilya was put into his dumb jail cage, Shane refused to share the living room so he would have to hide under various pieces of furniture until Miss Sheila forgot about him. He hated hiding under the beds, there was so much dust down there.
Shane was over it. He wanted his living room sunbathing time back. He was making it known by yelling his little head off, telling Miss Sheila to take that dog back to his previous home or so help him, he was going to lock Ilya into a closet. Miss Sheila just copied his words back to him trying to placate him but Shane knew it was a ruse. She never knew what Shane was talking about.
Ilya was being so weird, trying to sniff at Shane whenever Shane got slightly too close to his jail cell. He tried to copy the way that Shane sat, tucking all his paws under him. It looked uncomfortable for the dog, but Shane wasn’t going to tell Ilya that wasn’t how dogs sat. It was such a trying time to be a cat, nobody listened to him. He was pretty sure Golden Retrievers spoke Russian or something because everything this dumb dog said was definitely not English.
Shane’s least favourite change to his routine was that he no longer got to curl up on Miss Sheila’s lap for an entire evening. She would have to take Ilya outside for hours. He wasn’t sure what they did out there but it always made Ilya exhausted enough that he would sleep for hours after.
After weeks of Shane trying to avoid being around Ilya, Miss Sheila made changes. She got rid of Ilya’s jail cell and let him freely roam. All the time. Since then Shane was trying to stay on the high ground and ignore the whiny puppy. It didn’t matter how cute Ilya was when he was playing with his fluffy toys or curling up to nap on his new dog bed. Shane hated how this dog watched him with his begging puppy eyes.
Shane wanted to watch the birds from his perch on the back of the couch in peace. The sunshine was beaming through the window so nicely and would feel so nice on his fur, but Ilya was already sprawled out over two of the couch cushions. It was rude for this dog to take up so much space and especially right where Shane wanted to be.
Shane gazed around the living room, trying to calculate the best way to get to the back of the couch without coming too close to the dog. If he used the armchair and jumped from there to the back of the couch he could get to his spot without interacting with Ilya.
Finally as he was curling up on his worn out divot in his favourite couch cushion. There weren’t any birds outside yet, maybe he had time for a nap before they came around. Just as Shane was about to tuck all of his paws under his chin for a lovely afternoon nap he felt Ilya’s eyes on him. The dog had moved closer and was sticking his head entirely too close to Shane’s body for his comfort.
Shane quickly smacked his front paw out towards the puppy to get Ilya out of his personal space. He had to let this puppy know who the boss was. Ilya let out a quick whimper, but finally moved away from Shane. Not as far as Shane would have liked but at least out of Shane’s personal sun beam. He didn’t want to share. Ilya curled up on the cushion beside Shane and kept his eyes open. Maybe they could nap together if Ilya was going to be calm like this. Many hours later Miss Sheila found them in the living room.
“Oh the two of you are adorable like this! I need to send a photo to my mom.”
Shane figured he could stay still long enough for Miss Sheila to get her photo. He and Ilya were quite cozy on the couch, no need to ruin their first picture together.
Shane was starting to get used to the puppy. They liked to spend time in the living room sun and sometimes they would even yell at the birds together. Ilya seemed to enjoy antagonizing the mailman but Shane didn’t feel like it was productive behaviour so he left Ilya to it. So far they had still kept a decent amount of distance between them. Shane only enjoyed cuddling with Miss Sheila.
But lately Shane had been getting nightmares whenever he slept. Usually during the early morning before Miss Sheila was awake for the day. He would dream of the Before Times. He always woke up in a cold sweat thinking that Miss Sheila was trying to return him to the Bad Place. Shane tried his best not to cry when he woke up from these nightmares. He didn’t want to disturb Miss Sheila, or let Ilya know that he was a scaredy cat.
He would try and leave the bedroom without disturbing either of the other two bed occupants. The living room at least would be lit up from the street lights outside so that it was less scary. This time though as Shane was leaping off of the bed, Ilya woke up.
The puppy followed him to the living room and Shane tried to quickly get to his favourite couch spot before Ilya could notice his distress. As Shane curled up on his couch cushion and tucked his nose into his tail, Ilya sat on the spot beside him. Shane tried to regulate his breathing, trying to calm himself.
Ilya stayed beside him just to keep him company. When Shane finally began to feel slightly better he brought his face out of the safety of his tail and saw Ilya’s sad puppy eyes watching him. Shane stayed entirely still, waiting to see what this dog was going to do.
Ilya slowly brought up a paw and clumsily attempted to stroke Shane’s back. Maybe a very weird pet that he was trying to copy from Miss Sheila when she comforted Ilya? Shane let it happen. The touch was quite comforting.
They stayed on the couch. They watched the sunrise together and waited for Miss Sheila to wake up for the day. When Ilya finally lay down, Shane waited even longer and then slowly inched his way toward Ilya.
Ilya only slightly shifted, making a nice cozy opening between his snout and his front paw. Shane delicately stepped in, rotated twice before plopping down. Ilya’s and Shane’s noses were pressed close together. Shane felt truly safe for the first time in his life with the warmth of this puppy pressing in on all sides of him. They breathed the same air and Shane felt like he needed to make his affection for this silly routine disrupter of a dog. So before they settled into sleep Shane licked at Ilya’s ear as a quick little kiss of thanks.
Maybe tomorrow they could share the sunbeams together for their afternoon nap.