Mr. Personality

Published September 6, 2012

Stockton Sentinel

Stockton, Kansas

           Last week I wrote about the menagerie of animals who also work here at the Sentinel. If you saw last week’s story, you know that their job is keeping us stress-free, although I dare say none of us would agree with that. Most people who come to the store are used to seeing Shandy and Hallie. But invariably, once or twice a day someone will say, “Oh, you have a cat, too?”

             

           The short answer is, yes, we have a cat. But truthfully, the cat has us. You know the saying? “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.” That couldn’t be more true than with our Beauregard, or Beau, as he is called. He is definitely our Mr. Personality.

The fact that we were all here first is of no consequence to Beau. Ever since he moved in, the place is his. His boxes. His pens. His trashcans. His paper. His chair. His desk. It’s really his place now; the rest of us just stop in to visit him and try to get some work done. He’s a great lap cat, and wants nothing more than our full attention whenever he hops up on someone’s lap.

Even though he’s not yet two years old, he’s huge. And when Bart first brought him in, he was fluffy. Well, parts of him were fluffy–most of his fur was a matted mess. So we convinced Bart that what Beau needed more than anything was a shave, and after a pricey trip to the pet vet, Beau didn’t look like Beau at all. After he got over his embarrassment and realized he was still the same cat he had been before, his personality came back, and so did his hair.

Beau is not like any cat I’ve ever known, and I’ve known quite a few. He is the most inquisitive cat; nothing gets past him without a thorough investigation. And he’s a climber, always wanting to scale to new heights where no animal has ever gone before. There’s not a dusty ledge in the store that he hasn’t trekked on; he’s been everywhere.

Everywhere, that is, except our back storeroom, which would lead to two more unexplored floors above us. We have to be very careful to close the storeroom door immediately behind us because if he gets past that door, it could be weeks before we would see him again. If I knew he would catch the bat that keeps leaving its droppings on the floor of the storeroom, it might be worth it to let Beau go in there to hunt. But knowing him, there’s way too many other things to explore and he would forget the very thing he was sent back there to take care of.

At the end of the day, I know Beau does a pretty good job of keeping our stress levels in check. He certainly does a better job of that than the dogs who just make noise. We know Beau will always do something entertaining, even when he’s taking a nap.