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Love in Paris
Paris, France
April, 2005
Ah, life at Shakespeare and Company, Paris. You can read lots of stories about the most fantastic place in the world on my web sight. This is a very special story about one of the most famous residents of the bookstore, Kitty.
There have been at least a couple of generations of “Kitty’s” living at the bookstore. When I look at old photos there is a black and white “Kitty” who seems just in place as our current cat.
George, the proprietor of Shakespeare and Co. loves cats and always names the Bookstore Cat “Kitty”. He strictly feeds the cat once a day, but Kitty has the habit of mooching from the Tumbleweeds (Residents of the bookstore) and working the cafes next door. George always says, “If you feed the cat more than once a day it becomes obese and lives a terrible life.”
Kitty is 7 years old, black with yellow eyes and has a little belly, but I don't think George has anything to worry about. He still quite frisky and loves living in the bookstore.
Kitty is very used to the Shakespeare crowds. During his life, Kitty has seen thousands of Tumbleweeds; writers, artists, musicians, students, crazies, all walks of life, move in and out of his home. That doesn’t include the hundreds of daily customers. Kitty welcomes each person with non-chalance, unless, of course, you are holding a grec or a crepe.
Kitty rules the Rue de la Bucherie. Kitty’s territory includes the entire park St Julien le Pauvre to the east and all of the cafes up to rue St Jacques to the west. Kitty never crosses the Quay de Montebello and stays on the left bank.
He is an avid hunter and often returns from the park with a small bird. The problem is that Kitty likes to eat the bird right in the middle of the fiction section which is often met with dismay by the customers. One time I grabbed the bird and threw it over the fence of the garden across the way. A few minutes later kitty returned with his prey, but at least this time he ate the bird at the desk under my feet.
One evening at closing, I was outside of the bookstore with the rest of the Tumbleweeds. We were carrying in the boxes and benches and chatting when all of the sudden a pretty white cat with a little bell on its collar came around the corner. I was standing there with my friend Julie and we couldn’t believe our eyes. Then, to our astonishment, kitty came running out of the bookstore and met the fair white cat in front of the Antiquarian. They stood around for a minute, her bell jingling, kitty playing hard to get, and then ran off together toward the park.
Gay Paris, love comes in all shapes and sizes. Even though we didn’t think she was the perfect match, being obviously Bourgeoisie, Kitty was in love and he and the mystery lady met every evening that week. There was even rumors that kitty returned home in the morning with a little bit of white hair in his claws...
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