Monday 27 July

So I asked my landlord about his pet policy. The pound nearby has a "rescue kitty" program where people volunteer to be foster parents for kittens until they find a home. I want to do that SO BADLY, not least of all because I want something furry to love (Theodore Laurence just doesn’t cut it), and because next year I won't be able to have a pet either since I'll be at sea several months out of the year.

Landlord’s response: "No pets whatsoever! We've never allowed pets in the units and we're not going to start. Because one person wants a fish, then the next wants a cat and then one wants a dog and next thing you know the cat's making messes on the carpet and the dog's barking all night. No, no, no pets whatsoever."

After some further discussion--I explained what I wanted to do, and how Yasmeen pays a deposit every month on her cats, and I tried to work up some tears like Mom told me to, and finally he said "Well if you reeeeally want, it would be all right if you get a fish. Just so long as you put something under the terrarium so it doesn't leak or get water on the carpet." He then added “Umm…so do you want a fish?”

I bit my tongue instead of saying that the woman upstairs has a baby, for heaven's sake, which is far more likely to "leak or get water on the carpet" than a fish or even a cat, who doesn't bark OR get colic OR cry all night so that its parents have to thump up and down, up and down, rocking it at two in the morning.