With Cats, Nothing Comes For Free

Last week, around Friday, I was so burnt out from my remote work that I went to the living room to cool off. Normally, my cat mostly sleeps at these hours (I work early night shifts); it was around two in the morning. He just woke up and leaped down from the couch. He meowed a lot, rubbed my legs, and even followed me to my room, meowing and meowing.

When I went back to the living room and sat down on the couch, he put his paws on my thigh, indicating he wanted to be on my lap. I put him on my lap and then petted him. He sat down, with his purrs comforting me. Then, he rubbed his head on my chest and stared at me with those cutesy eyes, blinking. He kept changing positions and made me pet different parts of his body.

I felt lighter somehow, and I became calm. After that, he leaped off my lap.

When I was about to go back to work, he wouldn’t stop meowing. He gestured toward his food container and then “asked” for food.

Me: “Wow, you want payment, huh?”

I fed him. When he finished eating, he groomed himself and then went back to sleep.

Please note that his feeding schedule is at 5:30 am, not 3:32 am. That blasted cat. I never asked him to comfort me in the first place. But, well, it was worth it.

He then ate another meal at his designated time that day.