“I Was Painting My Plastic Pumpkin for The Library’s Art Contest And My CAT Tried To Drink My Paint-Water (Yo, Twice!) AND He Walked In My Paint *And* Bruh Shook Paint Off His Paw Onto My ‘Finished’ Pumpkin, So I Had To Repaint It (Again !) --And, (Heh) Does Anybody Want A Cat?”

By Hailey Cash ___



I actually rescued my tabby kitten, “Leroy,” from a bully of a sister: “June,” our 80-pound boxer/bloodhound-mix (dog). And, ah, ya’ know what ? Bro’ "rewarded" me (rather long irony pause here) by, yeah, repeatedly attempting to drink from my cup of paint-water that I was using whilst putting the finishing touches on my pumpkin for the school library's seasonal, crafty, popular plastic pumpkin painting-competition.

(Note: NCHS art teacher Mr. Ward unusually allowed Cash to take home the plastic pumpkin in progress at Cash’s request and also let Cash work further on it from home for Art 2 class’ Project Pumpkin for the library’s contest. Usually there are no housecats actually walking around “live” in the NCHS Art Room --almost always .)

Hailey continues: because of cat influence, I had already moved the cup of paint-water away from my cat, Leroy, slightly --about four times. He, had continued to try to drink from it. I moved it (the water cup) all the way over to the other side of my painting area --the other side of the pumpkin. Leroy then walked across my work surface. But instead of walking around the pumpkin, he walked in front and stepped directly on the wet white paint in my pallet. I gathered him before he could walk on the table and cover it in white paw prints. I walked him to a nearby sink and washed the paint from his paw. Leroy returned to what I thought was his normal morning cat activities while I washed the rest of the paint off of my hand, but oh boy was I the furthest away from correct.

Leroy went back to the table and he attempted to drink the paint water once again! And he, for the second time, had stepped in the white paint! Leroy freaked out over the unusual substance on his paw and walked all over the kitchen table.

I brought him back to the sink and had him in what I would consider a chokehold as he panicked in my hands over the water. After the endeavor was over, I had to clean the white paint off of my expensive sweater. Once I finished, I returned to my work surface to clean the paint off of the table.

In my fervor of cleaning the quickly-drying paint, I found out Leroy shook the pure white paint off of his paw and onto my freshly-painted Halloween-themed pumpkin!

So after many hours of my thoughtful consideration I have come up with the conclusion of giving my kitten Leroy up for adoption. Who wants a cat?

(By the way, that last bit is very unserious: I love my cat-baby.)









By Hailey Cash (self-portrait)