This semester has been a little more manageable than the other four I’ve had. I owe it all to the little bundle of fur that lives in my room.
I’m not talking about the carpet I haven’t vacuumed in four weeks. I’m talking about Addie, my love that I brought to school with me this year.
Orange and black tortoiseshell, she has always been one for trouble. From all of that trouble that she causes, I never realized how well of a therapy cat she can be. She actually enjoys her belly being rubbed, her paws being adored, and being carried around the room.
I’m a Resident Mentor at Johnson Hall. We are like Resident Assistants, but we do a little more and we work in a freshman only residence hall. Because of my role, I like to be available for residents, so I have my door open.
This isn’t a problem. Addie is terrified of the outside. And that means she is also terrified of anything past the doorframe and any noise that can be heard through the door. She sits on my futon with me, eyeing every person who walks past for the bathroom, scurrying behind the futon when someone comes in too quickly.
That is, she stays put next to me until it is quiet in the hall.
When no one is walking by, their doors are closed, the curiosity takes over her (flash back to ‘curiosity killed the cat’). My door is still propped open and out of the corner of my eye I can see her slink up to the opening. She’ll edge into the hall, rear low and tail swiping against the carpet.
She’s not unattended, so don’t be go calling reslife and housing on me. I follow her into the hallway. At this point, I’m usually snapchatting her to my residents and friends.
As soon as she hears someone come up the stairs, she’ll freeze. When they come into view of the hallway, she slinks back in front of my room. When they start walking down the hall, she runs right into my room.
She did this again tonight. Jon lives a couple doors down and knows Addie. We’ve watched movies in my room before. Addie is friend with Jon. Jon opens his door to go to the bathroom and Addie runs in front of my room. I coo to her to come out, and she doesn’t move. Jon moves slowly toward her, but the first step is a trigger and she sprints towards the end of my room.
Jon laughs and I say I’ll get her back out. He’s skeptical, of course, so I grab one of Addie’s ropes that another resident made for her, roll it around my hand, and fish for her by throwing part of it in the room so it whacks her in the head. She stares at me dispassionately as Jon laughs at me. Wait, I tell him, I’ll get her to come.
I start waving the rope like a madwoman in the hallway. She stays in her loaf like seat, staring at me. I give up and Jon goes.
Addie is stubborn but loves to be loved. So I come back, get a little work done and give her the attention of rubbing her belly while studying.
I leave my door open when I go to the bathroom a few minutes later. When I come out, Addie is waiting outside of the bathroom door for me, in the hallway and unafraid..
I can only roll my eyes. You can lead a cat to the doorway, but you can’t make them come out.
