As I walked down the main street of my little tiny village, I noticed how all the century old windows in the stores were decorated for Halloween. Very quaint and very creative.
As I walked by a window decorated as a Halloween Village, it came to life. What had looked like a colorful rug, stood up and followed my shadow as I walked by.
Of course I had to go into the store and meet this delightful creature.
As I entered, she greeted me, pawed me with her many toes, sniffed me all over and started doing her gymnastics all over the hundreds of boxes that were piled high to the ceilings in this little shoe store.
The store owner emerged and introduced herself and apologized for "Paws" behavior. She explained that this petite calico cat is the only full time store employee. She is a rodent deterrent, village watchdog, store security, merchandise inspector, box recycler, in charge of sales, education, store tours, customer service and entertainment. Paws was rescued off the streets of this tiny town, down by the river where someone had dumped her. She was almost dead when her rescuer found her. A real rags to riches story.
I suggested she run for Mayor and I volunteered to be her campagne manager.
I left the store with a big smile on my face, a new pair of shoes at an excellant price and a new friendship with an extraordinary feline. Another great day in Vermont!
I have a hunch that, if you haven't already, you would love to read "The Cat Who" series of books by Lilian Jackson Braun. There are over twenty books in the series. I have just started reading them from the beginning and have read five. The first book is not her best, but it is important in that it is the one the others build on. Her writing seems to improve as she writes; now at age 97 or so, she is no longer writing of course, and her readers miss her terribly.
ReplyDeleteThat is the best story. Even the cats in Vermont are special. If ever there was a place (that wasn't Texas) that I would like to visit, it would be magical Vermont.
ReplyDeleteI just love stories like this. We have a couple of stores in town that they owners recused cats and those two cats love people. So it's very fun to go to the store.
ReplyDeleteLinda
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