Needless to say, Cara had been having a bad week.
There had been the green cat, of course. That had distracted her from her history exam. Then there had been Cat Blue, who insisted on reading all her books before she could, and giving away all the good parts. And, worst of all, there had been the substitute teacher in her math class. A cat, of course, and a six-foot-tall one, at that.
Cara had resolved to put an end to this nonsense at once. The next time I see a cat, she told herself, I am going to smile, say "nice kitty," and look the other way.
Thus armed with her resolution to ignore the absurdities life kept insisting on throwing at her, Cara walked into her fifth period Economics class with a spring in her step and a smile on her face.
Until she saw the cat sitting in her seat.
She closed her eyes. "Okay," she told herself.
"There is no cat in my seat. I am hallucinating it. When I open my eyes,
there will be nothing there." She opened her eyes.
"Hi," said the cat.
"Okay, that's great," Cara said. Then she
ran screaming from the room.
They caught up with her outside the attendance
office. She was parading back and forth, carrying a hastily made sign that
bore the motto "GET THE CATS
OFF OUR
CAMPUS!"
All attempts at calming her proved useless, and they were forced to put her in the nurse's office. "Good," replied Cara. "At least there are no cats here."
She sat calmly in the darkness, her head propped up on one hand, until suddenly, with no warning, a meow sounded. She bolted up. "No! Not another cat!"
Dozens of cats appeared, closing in on her, their tails slashing back and forth. She recognized Cat Blue, and the green cat she had seen on Monday. The cat from Econ class was nowhere to be seen.
"Cats, cats, cats! I'm seeing cats everywhere!"
"Of course," replied Cat Blue. "What's so odd about that?"
Cara stared. "Odd? ODD?! What's ODD about it is that cats don't belong at school! What is your problem, anyway?"
Suddenly the green cat spoke up. "It's not our problem, Cara. It's yours."
"What? What do you mean?"
The cat from Econ class suddenly appeared, and jumped up on the chair beside her. "It's very simple, Cara. You've been seeing cats everywhere because you're crazy."
"Oh." Cara nodded. "That makes sense."
"Good," replied a passing dog. "I'm glad we've got that cleared up."