Living in Vermont, I have a lot of cool things about Vermonters and I have learned to adapt. One of the things I have quickly learned is enjoying pets: dogs and cats.
Out of ten houses, 9 have a pet (a dog or a cat). I have built very nice relationships with my friends and customers’ pets. Funny enough, dogs like me so much. I have a couple of dog friends: Noodles is one of them whenever she sees me, she wants me to pet her, she follows me everywhere whining , she wants my attention all the time. She won’t let me do my job until her parents take her.
Tucker and wrangler are the first dogs I lived with in the same house.
I also remember my friend Zeva. She passed away after 3 days of sickness.
I learned that cats and dogs are very precious to my customers. They are loving, smart, cute and intelligent creatures. They can recognize people they have already met, they know the difference between a stranger and their owner.
I have met a particular cat. with very special abilities . I have never met one like that. This cat blew my mind. In fact I’m still in aww of this cat’s abilities to make a difference between races.
If we are on the first floor, he will run either in the basement or the first floor. And that will happen every time we are there.
One day, I went to clean for one of my regular customers. A young and nice couple. very sweet. always appreciative of our job. The lady will always give us some snacks, and drinks. We really appreciate her. They have a cat. I have never had a chance to pet this cat. Because whenever it sees people it runs very fast and hides under a chair somewhere in the house.
If we are on the first floor, he will run either in the basement or the first floor. And that will happen every time we are there.
This Tuesday September 14, 2021, it is 1 pm. We just came in to clean. I’m with J. my sweet Jamaican employee, as usually our friend cat runs to the basement.
I thought to myself, this cat is funny, it’s not used to having people in the house. And with the pandemic, people don’t really have company. So the cat is not used to having strangers in the house.
We start cleaning the first floor and finish, we move to the second floor, and we finish. Our last space to clean is the basement where the cat is hiding.
we just had to do a quick vacuum. J, and I are running down the stairs, here comes the cat running upstairs as fast as a Cheetah. And we are just laughing.
Her mom comes downstairs, wondering where the cat is. it’s upstairs, it always runs when it sees us I said.
The lady goes back upstairs and brings the cat and some treats. She hands us the treats. And tells us to give the treats to the cat, it will be more likely to stay with us.
J. and I try to give this cat the treats, but she runs again. And her mom looks at me very disappointed, and says “ I’m sorry my cat is not used to people of color”. And I look at her with a smile on my face and say: “ so your cat is racist”.