SUSAN LOESCH

Here we are back at school; it’s Registration Day, when the kids come back. I remember this day last year, Alex with me, bad news about Footsie to deliver to the kids. I wondered if we would make it through the year.

Make it we did, even with Alex’s sudden death, and now a new year begins.

Shadow, Barney, Hexie and Tank will share Library Cat duties, with Shadow and Barney as co-Head
Library Cats.

They all got plenty of work experience with our weekly field trips during the summer.

Shadow was here with me the week the staff had meetings, and he has had a ball!

Lots of staff members have come by to say hello to him, and he has been at his charming best as he greeted them!

Mail continues to come in during the summer, so the library is always piled high when I come back in August. To Shadow this made for a wonderful playground, boxes stacked on the front desk so high that he could go face-to-face with the great white shark model some of the kids created in
art years ago. It will “swim” in the air over the desk until the day I retire and then it will “dive.”

Shadow met his good friend, our instrumental music director, with enthusiasm.

I think they were both smiling as Shadow rolled and head-butted as he was petted. Mr. G. pronounced him very Footsie-esque, which is a big compliment. His Footsie traits include not only the good things but some not so good!

One of the first things Shadow did was go for the Styrofoam cup full of coffee on my desk and knock it over. That got the cup out of his way so he could roll on the desk and my keyboard!

When one of our mobility instructors, Ms. Pam, came in, he was ready to play and rolled and played with her hand.

She brings her mobility students to the library, and they get some kitty time as part of their lessons.

Our English teacher, Ms. Cynda, had ordered lots of books for her students and she came up to see what we had gotten in.

Shadow helped her unpack the boxes and look through the books.

We all think the kids will be excited with the new reading material.

Every time I left the library, Shadow sat looking at the door, talking.

When I would come back, there he was, watching for me.

He was probably thinking, “Come on back, Mom, we have work to do to get ready for our kids!”

It won’t be long; another year of adventures is about to begin.

BY SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

Here we are again – Registration Day at Arkansas School for the Blind.  For the 35^th time I am going to be greeting students…and for the first time in many years I do not have our wonderful Library Cat, Big Footsie, here with me on Registration Day. We lost our big fella over the summer to heart disease and renal failure. I am not alone here today; with me is Alex, Big Footsie’s  main Assistant Library Cat, but everything feels different.

Big Footsie has been coming to school for 8 years, so we have students entering the 9^th grade who don’t remember a time without him.  He has been their friend, confidant and cheerleader, loving them unconditionally and letting them know it! They have adored him in return.

Many will be hearing for the first time that he has died. We will have some sadness and some tears, and lots of hugs and lots of talking about our Foots. We will create a memory book for him and perhaps have a memorial service, and then I think we will be able to get down to the business of celebrating his life. And what a life! To be rescued from Death Row at a kill shelter and live as the cherished – and yes, spoiled – friend of a whole school is pretty darn good.

We will also head off on a great adventure this year…the picking of a successor to Footsie as Head Library Cat. Not a replacement, because no cat could possibly replace him!

With the title of Head Library Cat come duties and responsibilities…being photographed when school pictures are taken and appearing in the faculty section of the yearbook,  riding in the Library Cat float for our homecoming parade and being the Accelerated Reader Program “Reading Motivator” for our elementary students. Heavy stuff, so it takes a special cat!

Footsie’s assistant, Alex, will be our Acting Library Cat for now. He first came to school almost six years ago as a 3-week old bottle baby. He was named by one of our students, after herself, Alexandra. He grew up working side-by-side with Big Footsie, his mentor. Being a bottle baby, though, he is quite the mama’s boy. He is content to sit in my lap all day or on my desk and has not been one to run to the front desk to greet visitors the way Footsie did. Given the chance to come every day, though, he might decide to do that!

Alex may decide that he wants the “Head” job, and if he does, it is his. If not, we will “interview” kitties who are in the FuRR (Feline Rescue and Rehome) foster program until we come up with just the right match!

Alex has already decided that Registration Day has quite a lot of appeal…the cafeteria staff always invites the faculty to have lunch. It is always yummy and it ALWAYS has something to appeal to library cats!   Alex thoroughly enjoyed the turkey and is now snoozing on my desk.  He woke up to greet a new faculty member and an old friend, our speech teacher, who brought a wonderful book to us to put in the library in memory of Footsie. Soon it will be time to welcome the students.

I think Alex and I are ready to face the school year and the kids and to head off on this great adventure. Join us and come along!