It was the last week of service before Winter Break, and I was deceived by two cats.

The first cat is named Fiona, and she’s been at the shelter since I began volunteering. She’s a little crazy, and likes to sprint around whatever room she’s in. She was in one of the common rooms and I went to play with her. When I took a seat on the floor, she climbed into my lap. Seeing as she approached me, I began to pet her. All was going well, until about 3 minutes later when she decided that she no longer wanted to be pet, slapped my hand, and jumped out of my lap at mach 12.

Dejected, I found a black cat who was recovering from ear surgery. Although fine, he was tilting his head slightly, a temporary side effect of the procedure. Sitting is his room to introduce myself, he also climbed into my lap. Again, all was going well, until he decided that my hands, which he had previously been running into to scratch himself, were no longer favorable, and started to slap them. Unlike Fiona, however, he stayed planted in my lap, trapping me with my arms up.

Despite my rather poor final visit, I’m excited to start volunteering again in the spring. I feel like I know some of the other volunteers much better than I did at the beginning of the semester and am excited to continue working with them.