SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

From time to time, one of my students will ask me who my oldest cat is, and the answer is Lucky, who is almost 17 years old.

He was trapped as a 3-month old feral kitten, along with his brother, Star and his sister, Juli. Lucky is the only survivor now. I think the kids are always amazed to hear about a cat that is as old as they are, or older.

“When are you bringing Lucky?” is a question I have heard over and over.

Tisa, who has been my student since kindergarten and who is nearly the same age as Lucky, brought up the subject again not long before school was out.

“Well, why not bring him,” I thought. So I set a day that Tisa would be in the library and told both her and Lucky that we had a date.

Lucky has actually been to school once, years ago. It was when Tisa was in kindergarten, and we think they met then. It was about time they got reacquainted!

Lucky has always been calm and laid back, except for the first few days after he was trapped.

He tamed down in the blink of an eye, faster than either Star or Juli did. I wasn’t sure, though, that he would remain calm and laid back when it came to hanging out in the library with the kids.

Oh, me of little faith!

Lucky hopped out of the carrier and immediately began to explore. He talked and talked, but it was conversational in tone, not distressed. He made his way to the computer to keep Patrick company.

“Hey, he likes me!” Patrick petted him as Lucky hung out by his chair.

Soon Tisa came in, and Lucky let her pick him up and hold him. When he got down he followed her all over the library, answering her as she talked to him.

“Oh, Ms. Loesch,” she said over and over. “Thank you for bringing Lucky for me.”

As the day wore on, Lucky amazed me more and more. He explored the library, jumped up on the computer desks to help out and posed for pictures as everyone admired him.

Before long I had lots of kids hanging out with Lucky, and someone suggested trying on Footsie’s Harley bandana and Alex’s Harley cap.

Well, what can I say … Lucky was a natural-born biker cat!

That called for more pictures, of course, and Lucky basked in the attention and admiration.

What a fun day we all had, Lucky included!

The comment I heard multiple times was, “Is Lucky coming back next year?”

I told the kids that we just might work out an occasional visit, and I bet Lucky will be looking forward to school starting in August since he had such a good time in May!