A Day of Pawsomeness

Martha woke up five minutes before her alarm clock and felt genuinely well-rested, which was very rare for her. She stretched and looked outside. The sun was shining brightly. What a great way to start the weekend!

This week had been rough: she lost her job, and it felt like the weather mimicked her inner feelings. It had been gloomy the whole week.

But today was different. She felt energized and had made lots of plans for how she was going to spend the day. She decided she wouldn’t let the universe affect her mood and dictate how to live her life!

No matter what happens today, she was determined to have a good day. No, she was going to have her BEST day!

She’d visit all her favorite spots: the cute coffee shop where she’d get cake and a cappuccino; the florist to buy fresh flowers and a new plant; and then the library to spend the rest of her day among books in a quiet place. What else could anyone need for a great day?

But first, she needed to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready.

As she opened the bathroom door, she realized she had left the bathroom window wide open the previous evening. She suddenly saw movement and looked over to the sink where her toothbrush was: a cat was licking her toothbrush... her last toothbrush, and she had no replacement.

Martha stared at the cat in disbelief. But she wasn’t going to let this ruin her day. Instead, she focused on how cute the cat was, rather than the fact that it was now putting its rear end on her toothbrush.

So what? She’d just go out without brushing her teeth. She took a quick shower while the cat watched her. It was a bizarre show, so she cut the shower short.

She got dressed and prepared to leave the house, but what was she going to do with the darn cat?

She couldn’t leave it inside, and she couldn’t leave the window open during the day. She decided to take it outside and let it find its way home. She grabbed a bag with the idea of putting the cat inside. The cat did not like the idea of Martha touching it, so the moment she put her hand on it, it scratched her and ran away.

“Aww, you piece of...” she blurted out, but then she remembered that today was her best day, so she wasn’t going to let a cat ruin it. She put a smile on her face and jumped after the cat.

After 30 minutes of attempts, breaking some stuff in the house, and getting scratched all over, she finally got the cat in the bag. Who’s a smart ass now? She smirked.

She put on her jacket, grabbed the bag quickly before the cat could try to get out, and left the house.

She hadn’t brushed her teeth, she was covered in scratches, and she had a stranger’s cat in her bag, but it was still going to be her best day! All she needed was a toothbrush, a first aid kit, and then she’d go to the vet, drop the cat off, and go about her day as planned.

The pharmacy was not too far, a 5-10 minute walk.

On the way there, for some reason, all the dogs she passed by barked at her and tried to jump on her, but she was not going to let it bother her. It was just a minor setback.

She arrived at the pharmacy, grabbed what she needed from the shelf, and went to pay. She put her bag down and placed the items on the counter. While she was looking for her wallet, she suddenly heard a “meow” and saw the bag moving. Oh, the damn cat!

The cat somehow found a way to stick its paws through the bag and was now running around inside the pharmacy.

The pharmacist looked at her with a confused smile and then looked at the bag.

“I’m sorry, I have a cat in my bag and it just ran away. Can I leave my stuff here on the counter until I grab her?” she apologized with a smile.

“Sure, but I can also help catch her,” the pharmacist replied, smiling back warmly. She just noticed how warm his smile was, though now wasn’t the time to think about it.

So Martha and the pharmacist started the hunt for the cat. First, they closed the door to make sure it couldn’t get out, and then they started running after it between the shelves. Because the cat couldn’t see them but could hear them, it was running away and bumping into stuff, knocking things over left and right. They tried for a long time to catch it, but the cat always outsmarted them. Then the pharmacist had a great idea: let’s open a can of cat food.

They did just that, opened the can, and placed it in a location where they could corner the cat. The moment they popped open the can, the cat started running blindly towards the noise, still with the bag on its head, unable to see, but moving with surprising speed. It found the can easily, hovered over it with the whole bag, and started to eat.

Martha and the pharmacist then grabbed the bag! Now they had outsmarted the cat! They smiled happily and high-fived each other triumphantly while the cat loudly meowed in objection to the whole situation.

After all the endeavors at the pharmacy, Martha decided to go directly to the vet. The pharmacist gave her the address of a vet nearby that was open on Saturdays, so she decided to head there.

She hadn’t brushed her teeth, had some scratches on her, and her bag smelled of cat food. Half of Saturday was gone, so maybe it wasn’t the best day to have a best day. She might give up and reschedule it for another day. The cat had ruined everything.

Once she arrived at the vet, Martha took the cat out of the bag and put it on the vet’s table.

“Miss Pawesome!” she shouted. “You are okay?! It’s so nice to see you!”

“So, you know her?” Martha asked.

“Yes, it’s a rather sad story really. Her owner was an old lady who really loved this rascal, but she died a week ago. The relatives didn’t want to take care of the cat, so they scheduled to put her down. But she ran away, and they couldn’t catch her,” the vet smiled happily.

Martha looked at the cat with fresh eyes, now having the full backstory. The cat looked back at her with sad eyes, the sadness she hadn’t noticed before.

“Would you like us to give a call to the former owners?” the receptionist asked.

“No, you know what, I would like to keep her,” Martha said, grabbing the cat, putting it back in the bag, and leaving the vet.

On her way home, she looked down in the bag. The cat was looking up and meowing happily. She stopped at the pharmacy to buy some more cat food.

“Can I visit the little troublemaker sometimes?” asked the pharmacist. “I’m talking about the cat, of course,” he added with a laugh.

“Of course, you are welcome to visit her as long as you bring cat food,” Martha replied, chuckling.

As she left the pharmacy, Martha was still chuckling from the joke, and also because the pharmacist was very cute with a warm smile and a great sense of humor.

The cat was happily purring in her bag as she approached home, and she realized today indeed was the best day — not for her, but for Miss Pawesome.