The next morning, I woke confused and distressed that I couldn’t remember where I was. It wasn’t until I rolled off the couch and used my hands to stop me from smacking the floor that I remembered that I was in Connie’s apartment and was a human. The memories of the experience were surreal, I would have totally accepted it had all been a dream if I had woken up again in my feline form.

The sun was just rising, the horizon barely glowing and the city lights still all on and glittering. From the window, I looked down onto the city, the rush of knowing that soon I would be able to join society again running through me and inspiring goosebumps up and down my arms. There had been a large part of me that had accepted that I might have had to spend the rest of whatever life I had left as a cat. My cat body had survived for twenty years, which wasn’t necessarily unheard of for cats, but I was probably reaching the end of the line. I didn’t know what would have happened when my cat form died, but it was logical to assume that I would have died with it.

I watched the sun rise and the city slowly wake up, the streetlights shutting off in a wave towards me until there was nothing but sun lighting up the streets, casting fiery oranges and reds across the buildings. I had a chance in my life that many craved and almost no one ever got. I could take what I had learned over the last two decades and relive my life. I couldn’t wait to walk around like a normal person, but I also felt hesitant to get started. I had literally nothing to my name and I was certain that my bank account, apartment, and all my worldly possessions were long gone.

“You’re up early,” Connie said with a yawn. She had just come out of her room and was still in the over-sized shirt and pajama pants she wore to bed every night.

“Yeah,” I said, “I woke up terrified because I thought for sure it had all been a dream and I would still be a cat.”

“Still feel weird, then?”

“Very weird.”

“We should go out and get you some more clothes today, maybe getting some things to your name will make you feel a little better,” she suggested.

“I don’t have any money,” I sighed.

“Don’t worry about that, I can spare some to cover you for a few outfits,” she offered.

“No, I don’t want you to have to do that,” I protested.

“I know I don’t,” she said, putting her hand on her hips, “but I’m not going to let you walk around in the same outfit day after day. Besides, I have the money to do this and won’t miss it.”

“I guess…” I relented, “but I promise that I will pay you back later.”

“Sure, whatever,” she said. “Let’s get some breakfast first, there’s a little coffee place down the street that has some pretty awesome donuts and pastries. My treat of course.”

I let out a long sigh, but agreed to go. It had been so long since I had “human food” that I was too excited about it to argue about her paying for it. Though, I could hear my grandmother’s voice in my head telling me that a gentlemen should always be the one to pay for a lady.

Connie was dressed and ready after only a few minutes, just long enough to throw on some jeans and a tank top and pull a brush through her sleep frizzed hair. I appreciated how efficient and quick she was, the women in my family tended to be very high maintenance and my mother would very frequently make everyone else late while we waited on her to get ready. It was always incredibly frustrating considering she would rush me into getting ready early, only for me to come out ready with fifteen minutes left until we had to leave and she had yet to shower or get dressed. There was no telling her she was being a hypocrite though, it would only serve to make the rest of the day miserable.

Coffee and a donut in each hand, we settled into a seat in front of the large picture window that looked out into the busy street. The streets were already packed with the morning’s traffic, people stone-faced and barely awake just trying to make it through the tortuous commute on time. The city had grown so much in the time I had been immersed in my own problems that I felt like I could barely recognize it. Sure, there had always been a big population, but it seemed like there was at least double the people I saw in the past, both on the street speed walking by and in cars. The businesses that dotted the road were also almost all new or at least had a name and image change over the years. I felt like I was new to town instead of having lived no where else for the past forty-five years.

“So…” Connie drew out the song and swirled her cup around like she had wanted to speak, but hadn’t thought about what to say before she had spoken.

“So…” I mirrored, unable to think of anything to say either.

“I guess you’ll probably looking up your old family and such now.”

“No,” I answered, “I didn’t have much when I was still a human before and the ones I did have, I was never very close to.”

“Oh, not even your mom?” she asked.

“Uh, no,” I said, knowing that the conversation was about to take an awkward turn. “My immediate family all died in a car crash after I had just moved out of the house.”

“Ah….” she said awkwardly, “sorry to hear that.”

“It was so long ago, I’ve come to peace about it,” I said, wanting to get past it as quickly as possible. “Don’t think anything else about it. What about your family?”

“My parents are still around, they finance most of my life at this point, which you probably guessed from the fact that I don’t work at all.” She laughed dryly and looked a little embarrassed. “I try not to really talk about it, people tend to look at you differently once they know that you come from money.”

“I wouldn’t know, but I can imagine,” I replied. “My family was comfortable, but definitely not well enough to be considered rich.”

“Yeah, well, my father is restaurateur and owns like five or six very prominent restaurants in the city,” she explained. “He also made sure to save up into an account for me for when I moved out of the house and went to college. He’s not going to pay for me forever, of course, but the account shouldn’t run out until I’m out of school. How did we even get on this topic?” She laughed a little and ran her hand through her hair.

“I am just interested.” I shrugged and took a bite of my donut. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having money. Some people are just luckier than others.”

“I wouldn’t consider myself very lucky, really. Honestly, it sets me apart from a lot of people when they find out. Despite how I’ve acted around them, people always seem to assume that I’m a spoiled brat once they know. My ex boyfriend even used it as a reason to break up with me, that I would expect too much from him and he would never be able to make enough money to keep me happy.” She rolled her eyes. “It didn’t seem to matter that I had never acted like I needed or wanted his money, he just assumed.”

“That sounds like he just wanted an out.” I shrugged and popped the rest of the donut in my mouth.

“Probably, he was kind of a jerk sometimes,” she admitted. “Even Rachael didn’t like him very much and she gives most people the benefit of the doubt.”

“Have you heard from her at all?”

“No,” Connie answered, “I don’t think we’ll hear from her for a while. That’s why we haven’t called another meeting for the club either. She won’t have anything to do with it or me until she comes back to reality.”

“We could just have the club meet on campus somewhere or in your apartment,” I suggested. “We can always invite Rachael and hope that she decides to show up to one of them. Actually, why don’t we just invite her out for dinner or something? I know I’m volunteering your money here, but I kind of feel obligated to help her considering she started the chain of events that lead to me finally being free.”

“Hmm, that might work.” Connie downed the rest of her latte and gave me a serious look. “If I can get her to agree to go to dinner with us, do not tell her, under any circumstances, that you are living with me. I know it’s silly and it sounds like we’re sixteen trying to hide things from our parents, but it will bug her and only drive her further away. We can tell her later when this cycle of crazy is out of her system.”

“I understand. I mean, twenty years ago our arrangement would have been considered rebellious and still a bit taboo. I still think it’s silly, but I won’t say anything,” I promised.

We finished our breakfast and cleaned up our dishes, then found ourselves back on the sidewalk outside the little cafe. The morning sun was warm and I had to take a minute to close my eyes and point my face towards the sun. I had sunned many times as a cat, but it felt entirely different having the sun wash over my skin. I felt free in a way that made me feel lighter and deliriously happy, like anything was possible and today was the start of something new. It was the kind of feeling I could only compare to the times I found a relationship that I really looked forward to, the blissful moment where you realize that someone you really liked feels the same way about you.

I was about to snap out of it and return to reality to ask what we were going to do next, but the beep of Connie’s cellphone beat me to it. She opened the message, then began to type a reply.

“Terry wants to know what you would like your new name to be,” she said, glancing up from the screen. “He suggests not using your actual name as that might cause complications.”

“So I’m just to pick one right here, right now?” I questioned. It seemed absurd to think of a name right on the spot.

“I think so, he says his wife is ready to send the paperwork as soon as she has the name,” she answered. “You remember how she was about this whole thing last night, I don’t think we should keep her waiting and risk her changing her mind and backing out.”

“Right, of course,” I said, “I just don’t know what I should call myself. I might be stuck with this name for the rest of my life.”

“True, and at the rate you’re going, who knows just how long that will be.”

While trying to think, another message came through from Terry.

“He says to hurry up,” Connie warned, “she’s getting really antsy and upset.”

“Theodore Smith,” I blurted out.

“Theodore?” she asked with amusement. “You’re actually going to go with ‘Teddy?’”

“Just send it,” I said and gave a sheepish shrug. I really couldn’t think of anything better and it didn’t really matter to me what my official name would be, I would never be anything but “Eric” to myself.

“Okay, Mr. Smith, she’s going to send the paperwork somewhere we can get you an id, he’s going to text us exactly where in a few minutes,” she explained. “Which name do you prefer I call you by?”

I thought for a moment, considering if sticking with just the new name would be the safest route, but being called what I had been named as a cat felt really odd. “Let’s stick with ‘Eric’ for now,” I said. “I think I want to stay away from my ‘cat name’ for now. I would like to put that part of my life as far in the past as possible.”