The Mr. Mulliner and Webster Years –

The first feline to join the staff was Mr. Mulliner, who was named after a character you may know from P. G. Wodehouse’s Mulliner stories.  Or perhaps, the character was named after our Mr. Mulliner –  it is difficult to say for sure.

As the business grew, Mr. Mulliner became indispensable, and, we often suspected, was the real brains behind the store’s success.  Some people did come to buy books but others just came to spend time with Mr. Mulliner and perhaps absorb some of his Lebensstimmung, which he regally wore like a cloak.  More than once, members of the community expressed disappointment, or even concern, if he was not to be found ensconced in the store window as they sought his council.

As cats will do, he usually kept a low profile, at least until closing time when he assumed his rightful role as sole proprietor of the establishment.  The entire store (just one story then) was his empire and the display window his throne. 

Since humans seldom seem to understand the concept of leaving well enough alone, there came a time when a second cat, dubbed Webster for obvious literary reasons, was invited to join the staff.  Mr. Mulliner was not pleased, to say the least.  Sensing a bit of hostility over his arrival, Webster promptly disappeared and was not seen or heard from for weeks (giving new meaning to the term “low profile”).  The only signs of his existence were an empty dish (he was never one to miss a meal) and bits of cat fur found here and there when Brian returned to the store each morning.  Apparently Mr. Mulliner and Webster were working out their differences during non-business hours (ever the professionals) and within a matter of just a few weeks –  or months –  had reached a détente that lasted throughout the rest of their years together.

Speaking of low profile, a customer once approached the front desk with his purchases and discretely asked, “Do you know you have a dead cat in the window?”  He was serious.  (To be fair, there was a good deal of dusty random stuff stacked in the window and a cat who wedged himself amid it might easily be mistaken for something that had died there some time in the past.)