Reason No. 8,698 to Be Wary of Pets

[Note: names have been changed to protect the innocent. seriously.]

Yesterday was my first violin lesson with Grace, the cute, sweet flower girl from my wedding. Her mom, Abigail, asked if I would be interested and able to give Grace some lessons this summer. She'd never played a violin before and didn't read music, but she was so excited about playing, and her parents wanted to see if she really did want to pursue it. 

So I showed up at their house at 4:45, holding my violin in my left hand and ringing their doorbell with my right. Abigail opened the door with a smile and invited me in. Grace was standing by, ready and excited to begin our lesson.

I went through the basics of holding the violin, holding the bow, and what the strings were called. Everything was going great, until their cat calmly walked into the room. As a rule, I am not a cat lover, but neither am I a huge pet fan in general (don't hate me). However, as long as the animal doesn't bother me, I'm fine, and I'd been over to their house before. I didn't have a problem with this cat specifically. 

So the cat, as cats do, meandered around our instruments and music that were strewn about. My violin case was sitting open on the floor behind me, and Grace sat in facing me, her back against the wall. I was just in the middle of explaining how to tighten the bow hair, when her eyes got wide. She sat up straight and stared intently at something behind me. 

I turned and saw the cat sitting inside my case. 

Oh that's funny, I thought. It's sitting in my case. 

Then, to my surprise, amazement, and, shock, it stood up, lifted its tail, and began to pee. 

"It's PEEING!" I shouted. 

Then I started laughing. 

I laughed as Abigail jumped up in horror. 

I laughed as she grabbed the cat, said, "I'm so embarrassed," and ran from the room, shouting something at her son about cleaning the litter box. 

I laughed as I turned and looked back at Grace, who said quietly, "I've never seen him do that before."

I should have been horrified, and I guess I was, but it was just. so. funny. He just squatted right down on the green felt that lined the inside of my case and peed his little heart out.

To end this little story, I'll tell you that the cat mostly just peed on the green covering, which, thankfully, could be removed. So that got washed, and the little spot where pee got on the case itself is nothing a little febreze won't fix. Overall there was no harm done, except now I'll be much more wary of that cat. 

And next time I'll be shutting my violin case.