If I got scratched, it was my own fault

So I had a dream last night that I lost Maud.

We were Christmas shopping in a store, one of those giant winding ones with crystals and ungents and scarves, and Maud was trotting along quietly and not swatting at anything. Don't ask me why she was out shopping with me, or who we thought we were shopping for in a store like that, dreams don't respond to logic.

There were lots of other cats there, and I was heading into a section where there weren't any--the guy's section. I asked the owner of the store if I could leave my cat to hang out with all her cats, and I'd be right back.

I wanted to try on a dress, you see--a red, oddly constructed dress--potentially either very flattering or godawful. But the man wouldn't let me go try it on! He was a big biker guy, so again don't ask why a big biker guy was working at a store with red flowy dresses.

"You're not going to buy it," he said, "so why should I let you try it on?"
"I MIGHT buy it," I said. "I can't know if it'll look good until I try it on."
"You're just one of those girls who likes to go into expensive stores and try on the dresses and pop all the sequins off and then leave."
"I am not one of those girls," I protested. Although I may have been at one point in my life. "Do you know what a pain it is to take off one set of clothes--especially when it's cold out and you have on lots of layers--put on another, and then take that set off, and put on the original ones? It's annoying! I don't do it for my own amusement!"

But he would not budge. So I went off in a huff to go find Maud. I asked the lady where she had gone, and the woman stared at me blankly. What cat? There are like a hundred cats here.

And there were--cute kitten after cute kitten, most cuter than Maud because they were younger, but no Maud. I went to the sacrificed animals section--nothing. The tiger balm section--a white kitten. In the way of dreams, I went round and round, getting increasingly more panicked.

However, unlike most anxiety dreams, this one solved itself! I did find her--lying in one of those chairs that look like they're carved out of a whole tree, next to a fire. I picked her up and she purred, forgiving me instantly, and we proceeded to shop for presents for my sister--would she and her roommates have time for a complicated foot scrub regimen?

Sorry sis, that was crazy dream talk. I already bought all your presents.

And so when I got up this morning, I heard Maud yowling outside my bedroom like she does, and went to scoop her up and give her a hug. She dashed up the stairs like a mad thing. Sorry Maud.