Shiraz

It was a quiet time on Sunday.  Some went for walks, others dealt with homework.  I did a little of all.  Well, a little walk, a little homework and a lot of nap.  Today is a non-travel day – we’ll be back in regular classes for the day.  But, I have to tell you about Shiraz.



Shiraz



He is the unofficial dorm cat.  A big, beautiful black boy with a constant purr, a red collar and a tag with his name on it.  He also has his own Facebook page.  Shiraz hangs out in the downstairs laundry when he can’t get into the dorms.  When I came back from breakfast this morning, he was waiting outside the doors.  As I approached, he sauntered up to the glass and pawed at it, then turned to look at me and meowed just to be sure that I had gotten the message.  Being able to speak “cat”, I had.  Not that he hadn’t made it plain enough.  There was just one hurdle to be overcome.

The ladies were in the reception area and as he’s not to be in the dorms, we had to get by quickly before we got caught.  I explained the situation to him, telling him that, while I understand that, as a rule cats prefer to meander rather than move quickly and directly, this time he was going to hustle.  We got through the reception area and the first set of doors into the ground floor hallway, then through the stairwell doors.

He followed me up the first two flights of stairs before he reverted into cat mode and expected me to carry him the rest of the way up the stairs.  I told him that I’d split it halfway, but I wasn’t going to go back down to get him.  He’d have to come to where I was and I’d carry him the rest of the way.  That’s the way it went.  Shiraz snuggled in for the ride and we made it safely back to my room.

He’s now snuggled up in my fleecy, sound asleep, but is going to have to come back downstairs with me for classes.  If he stays up here, the cleaning ladies will find him and boot him back outside.  Neither one of us will like that much, although sooner or later he will have to go out for his business and for lunch.  It feels much more like home now that I have a fur ball curled up beside me.  I miss my own babies, so it helps that Shiraz is here.

Update:  Some of my class has cat allergies, so Shiraz had to stay upstairs in another student's room.  She put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, with the idea of keeping the cleaning people out.  As it turns out, to no avail.  We got busted, but even that was pretty funny.  One the dorm ladies came into class with an announcement about the cat.  Initially, everyone thought she was talking about Kat, but she meant cat, so it was pretty funny until the confusion got sorted out.  I did "fess up" about being the smuggler and gave the dorm crew a very nice thank you card before departing to make up for my bad behaviour.