Dogs have owners, cats have ‘staff’

Your TIMES office cat, Opal, is starting to grow on me.

I thought that being the owner of four grown cats and four kittens would make me an automatic cat whisperer but turns out, it doesn‚t. Just because you‚re a cat owner doesn‚t mean every cat you come in contact with will like you; it just means your cats like you more because you feed them.

When I started working in the TIMES office in May, Opal roamed around as she wished but never paid much attention to me, even when I called her by name. Instead, she would act like she never heard me and walk past me with her tail and nose in the air. So much for bonding. I could have waved a fresh piece of fish in her face and she wouldn‚t have looked up.

All that changed one morning, a few weeks ago. I came into the office and found Opal under my desk, rolling around on her back and playing with something in the floor. I was so excited that she finally noticed me and the unconditional love I have for her.

I sat down my belongings and gave her a pat on the head. She meowed and continued to play with what looked like some type of candy wrapper that I thought she‚d found in the floor. I moved it with my foot and she continued to roll around on her back and let me pet her as much as I wanted. We were really bonding.

I saw something small move out of the corner of my eye from under my desk and realized Opal wasn‚t there for me, she was there for the tiny mouse that had crawled up the leg of my desk. In a panic, I screamed and jumped up in my desk chair, knees first, as Opal slapped the little fella with her paws.

My scream got the attention of my coworkers who thought something was terribly wrong. They were right, there was something terribly wrong because there was a baby mouse under my desk and I knew it wasn‚t alone. There were probably parents, siblings and even a few cousins waiting to come in next.

Beth Mayo and one of our pressmen, Josh Drew, actually captured the mouse with an empty cup and an ink pen. I don‚t know what they did with it and I don‚t want to know. It was gone and I had no intention of inviting it back.

Later on, I opened all my desk drawers and storage areas, letting Opal do ’mice checks‚ in my workspace. She continued to lay around my desk that day and I was okay with that since she was technically ’doing her job.‚ Why? Because she works hard for the money, and you better treat her right, unless you want a mouse in your workspace. Thanks for welcoming me to the TIMES staff, Opal. Turns out, you‚re a real jewel!