Hugo: how I almost became a mom

On our Sunday night walk, as we were passing a large chunk of bushes, Dallas and I heard meowing. It was kind of loud and we thought maybe a cat got stuck and needed help. Dallas climbed up in the bushes and searched for the cat. We finally found him, but he kept running back and forth, so I knew he wasn't stuck, so I told Dallas to leave him. He didn't and crawled after it for over 30 minutes. He finally came out with this tiny little thing. He snuggled right into me and started purring when I scratched his ears.

We debated for a long time about what to do. Neither of us can afford a cat right now - shots and all that stuff are expensive. Not to mention what happens in 6-8 months when we go home and can't bring him with us. We decided to feed him and let him go. It was really hard just leaving him, but we knew that if we brought him home, we wouldn't want to give him up again.

The next morning, on my way to dance class, I messaged Dallas and we both still felt really bad. So I decided to go back to the spot where we left him last night to check on him. If he was still there we decided it would be a sign to keep him. Dallas called him Zuko, and I called him Franklin and we came to the happy medium of Hugo. Well, he was there. I crawled though an azalea bush for 10 minutes and got covered in dirt, but I got him.

This is the text conversation I had when I got to my apartment:
Me - Do you have class right now?
D - No, I have a ten minute break.
D - Why?
Me - Someone wants to say hi.
D - You're kidding! Omg.

Hugo sat like this for a long time. He liked being on my neck.

So then I walked to the school and met Dallas outside for a few minutes. As soon as I walked back into the apartment, Hugo hid behind the TV and started meowing like nobody's business. I had some canned chicken and put that out on a Tupperware lid because my bowls are all too big for him. Then I took a shower. When I got out he was still meowing and would not shut up. I had to hold him or he'd meow. Then he got behind the refrigerator and I had to use an umbrella to poke him out. I made a makeshift cage but he really hated that. Dallas came over during his lunch break and watched him while I finished getting dressed and getting ready for work. Right before Dallas left to go back to school, we put Hugo on my bed, where he promptly peed all over my comforter. I threw it in the washing machine while Dallas gave Hugo a rinse in the sink.

I stuck him in a sweatshirt for awhile to see if that calmed him down...it didn't.

Then he became super sweet and snuggly. He crawled on my shoulders and licked my chin. He left me hold him like a baby and tipped his head back while I scratched his chin. He purred like a mad man and fell asleep on my chest. Then I had to leave to go to work and decided to put him in the kitchen because there were less places to hide and if/when he peed again at least I could find it. He didn't like being left alone and meowed again. I could hear him from the window as I walked to school and that's the last memory I'll have of him, which makes me sad.

Kisses

Sleeping on my shoulder

Dallas came to pick him up around 3 and brought him back to school. Hugo hissed at him when he first came in. He acted about the same as he did at my house - super nuts or super sweet. Then he brought him to GNU to meet a friend who's in vet school. That's when we found out that Hugo is actually a girl and that she's about a month old. There is a shelter at the school and a friend of the student's is actually watching her now. I'm glad that she's being taken care of, but I still miss having her around, even though she was annoying with all the meowing.