The Cat That Went to Homecoming Read Online Free PDF Page A

did not hear her enter the
barn.
    Hershey rolled back onto his feet and stood,
keeping himself on guard. He watched Jane as she slowly approached
us, but he did not back away. She crouched in front of him to
stroke his head and he allowed her to do so, but looked up at me as
if to make sure it was okay.
    “It’s okay Hershey,” I said to him. When Jane
stood up, Hershey crawled atop my feet and lay down across
them.
    “Do you see how confident he is that you are
protecting him? He is lying across your feet in order to be
touching you in some way. He’s not afraid and he’s not trying to
hide or escape. This tells me that you two have an amazing bond,”
Jane said.
    “Come sit and let’s talk for a little bit,”
she said as she led my mom and me to a table set up near a
computer. “Let me tell you about animal-assisted activities, and
what you will need to do to become a part of our team.”
    Jane shared her credentials with us. She was
a veterinarian technologist by trade with a degree in
animal-assisted therapy as well as dog training. She began
animal-assisted activities ten years ago and started her own
business, Paws That Heal, after three years of animal therapy
work.
    Jane told me about the different facilities
and schools Hershey and I could volunteer at if we joined her team.
Then she said it was time to evaluate Hershey to see if he had the
right temperament.
    I followed her to the center of the barn
carrying Hershey in my arms. The birds in the rafters above us were
making noises that caught Hershey’s attention. He looked up at them
in curiosity and watched them, but did not try to escape my
hold.
    “Hershey is doing great so far,” she said.
“Most cats can’t resist the lure of the barn swallows. He
definitely notices them, but he isn’t trying to escape to chase
them.”
    We were then put through a series of tests to
see how Hershey reacted to different sounds, people, and actions. I
held Hershey in my arms while Jane came at us briskly using a
walker, dropped items behind us, wheeled towards us in a wheel
chair, and pretended to be a child and gave aggressive child-like
pets and hugs to Hershey. He was visibly uncomfortable with it all,
but he stayed close to me while I whispered reassuringly in his
ear, “It’s all right Hershey, and I’m right here. I won’t let
anything happen to you.”
    Jane sat in a chair and asked me to lay the
towel across her lap and give her Hershey’s brush.
    “For this test, you will have to put Hershey
on my lap and he has to allow me to brush him and pet him for at
least thirty seconds.”
    I wasn’t so sure Hershey would like me
handing him off to a stranger. “You are allowed to crouch next to
him and reassure him with your voice, but no touching.”
    I let out a deep breath, squatted down in
front of Jane and put Hershey on her lap. He stood on her, looking
up at me frightfully.
    “It’s okay Hershey, this is Jane. Jane won’t
hurt you.”
    He circled her lap, and then lay down
apprehensively. Jane smiled and slowly stroked his back.
    “May I brush him?” She asked me. I told her
she could, and she started to brush his coat. He looked a little
startled; no one had ever brushed him but me. He looked at me to
see if it was okay. I gave him reassurance with my eyes and he
looked back at me with half-closed lids. He was enjoying it.
    “Wow,” Jane said in surprise, “He’s actually
purring, Ellen!”
    I smiled and said, “That’s my good boy.” It
was hard not to touch him, but I used my eyes to show him I was
there for him.
    He sat on her lap for well over a minute, in
fact he made no attempt to jump off of her. I had to remove him
myself!
    “This is the last test, Ellen,” Jane said.
“Did you bring any treats?”
    “Yes,” I said. I walked back to the table and
reached into the bag for his treats.
    “I’d like to see if he’ll take a treat from
me,” she said. She pulled one out and offered it to Hershey
open-handed. Hershey just