My Pet Halloween Project

(I have two black cats, both of who in their youth liked to sit on the windowsills and look outside. One Halloween, I’m handing out candy to trick-or-treaters and both of the cats decide to sit on the windowsill and watch the children come and go. A very small child and her mother come to get candy.)

Mother: “So what do you do with them when Halloween’s over?”

Me: “I beg your pardon?”

Mother: “The cats. What do you do with them when Halloween’s over?”

Me: “They aren’t a decoration, ma’am. Those are my real cats. They’re actually alive.”

Mother: “I know they’re real; I can see them moving. I want to know what you do with them when Halloween’s over?”

Me: “Ma’am, they’re my pets. They’re not decorations. I don’t put them in storage when Halloween’s over.”

Mother: “But what point is there to keeping them outside of October?”

Me: “Because they’re my pets! I adopted them as kittens and I love them every day of the year, because they’re living beings and not decorations!”

(Her child seems eager to go get more candy, so they finally start to leave, but I can hear the mother mumbling on the way down my stairs.)

Mother: “But why would anyone want a black cat outside of Halloween?”