Pet Shop [Joshler]

Saturday, 1:03 p.m.

Word Count: 1558

It was about one o'clock, which meant, thankfully, I was about halfway through my day. But I still hadn't stopped thinking about Katie. I hoped and prayed to god I would see her again. Even if she only came in once a month, I would still be grateful for the visit. It would be a little bit of joy in my otherwise fairly unhappy life.

I had just closed my journal after tweaking the chorus for the song I had started last night when the dogs in the window started barking for the first time in maybe a whole half hour. I looked up just in time to see a man with bright green hair and a nose ring stroll into the store. Normally, I wouldn't be interested in a person like that, but something attracted me to him.

The man didn't go straight to a section like he was looking for something in particular. He just wandered around, stopping to look at all the animals. He watched the rabbits and ferrets, whose cages were right next to each other, for awhile, then moved on to the wall of dogs. He stopped and looked at each one of them, the whole wall, three stacked on top of each other. He would talk to them and put his hands up on the glass too when one would put it's paws up. It took him maybe twenty minutes to get through them all, but it didn't seem like he was in much of a hurry.

He watched the birds and mice and hamsters on the back wall of the store for a while, and, despite the fact that I was craning my neck as far as I could and as discreetly as I could to see him, when he turned the bend around the first shelf to look at the rest of the back wall, he was lost and I wouldn't be able to see him until he came around again.

I assume he admired the reptiles and amphibians and fish for a while on the wall behind me before he came around again. When he passed the counter, he must have noticed me staring and gave me a quick nod and a smile. For some reason, I noticed that his eyes crinkled slightly when he grinned. The man kept the small smile on his face as he made his way to the one thing he hadn't looked at yet: the kittens.

He stopped in front of the few cages stacked on top of each other and scanned them. We had a limited stock of kittens right now since it wasn't necessarily kitten season, but there were a few. He cooed at each one of them, sticking his finger through the bars occasionally to pet one or play with it. The man eventually sank to his knees so he could see the kittens in the first and second levels of the tower. The one in the second level cage must have caught his eye, because after he had looked at all of them, he stuck his fingers back in that cage.

The one he was playing with was named Pumpkin, I believe. We had sold his brother, Latte, yesterday to a nice older lady who had even brought her own carrier to take him home in. I had been surprised that Latte had gone first because he was much more laid back than Pumpkin, but that was just what the lady had been looking for, I guess.

Pumpkin was the smallest kitten we had right now at about twelve weeks old. He was a Domestic Medium Hair, which meant, obviously, his fur length was in between long and short. He was a light gray color, but all four of his paws were white. From his nose down to his chin was white and his eyes were ringed in the same color. His nose was a dusty rose color, and, like any other kitten, he was adorable. But what was special about him were his eyes. They were a powder blue color with just a hint of teal. I had only ever petted him once, but he was soft and fluffy. It wasn't a surprise that the man had chosen that one to play with the longest.

I looked up from the man, making sure I didn't have a line or anything but soon realized that the store was empty. All the other employees had gone on lunch and I hadn't even noticed. I sighed, figuring I wouldn't have lunch again today, then went back to watching the man.

After about another five minutes of petting Pumpkin, the man with the green locks reluctantly pulled himself off the floor and walked over to the cat aisle.