It had been a long day. It had begun, and then things had just kept on going. Any one of the specific particulars would, if seen in isolation, have been a manageable routine thing that could be dealt with without thought or effort. It was not any one thing that did it, however. It was all of them, accumulated, all at once, all adding to the overall situation, prodding the limits of manageability and then keeping on keeping on

Tomorrow looked to be more of it. Not necessarily the same, but definitely more

As she slumped into an exhausted sit, a very small thing happened. Without preamble, a head buffed her and made it clear that now was a moment of affection. Petting the purring furball, she accepted the situation