When I travel, my entire crew is a pretty affable bunch.  They are pleasant and polite when warranted, chatting up clients and winning over waitresses.  In Redding, California this week, they were absolutely gushy over, of all things, an orange cat.

When we stumbled in to our hotel, we were greeted by the world’s laziest feline holding court in the lobby.  To be honest, it wasn’t really even a greeting, more like just a casual acknowledgement of our arrival.  We all did a double take … asking the front desk clerk if someone had lost a cat.  “That’s Jack … our lobby cat,” she said.  “He just kinda hangs out here.”  My crew immediately rushed over and started fawning over Jack like they’d never seen a cute, furry animal in their life before.

And Jack was pretty cute, for an oversized ball of fluff.  He looked like orange meringue with fur.

Jack took the attention in stride … feigning ambivalence with a muted, “Mew.”  That’s right … “Mew”.  He was so apathetic; he didn’t even have the energy to utter a full on, “Meow”.   After two minutes of my crew petting him, picking him up and nuzzling him, Jack ambled away and parked his butt near the hotel’s fireplace.

My crew, who were running on fumes from a long day of travel, suddenly had all the energy in the world.  They peppered the clerk with questions.  “WheredidJackcomefrom?  AreyouafraidJackwillescape?  WheredoesJackeat?”, they asked in unison.  The front desk clerk took a cue from Jack’s can’t-be-bothered attitude and responded, “I dunno, he’s always just sorta been here.  And his bed is over there.”  Of course, his bed was an impossibly cute pet carrier shaped like a mini-castle.

I’m not a cat person, but Jack’s lethargy intrigued me.  I would watch with wide-eyed abandon as Jack would have just enough energy to hoist himself up on to the hotel lobby’s counter.  He would then collapse and sprawl out, taking up as much space as possible.  It’s clearly Jack’s world, hotel patrons are just living in it.

Our photographer Penny lost her big orange cat about a week ago.  I think Jack sensed that … because he had a particular affinity for her.  Penny took several pictures of him while we were there.  I think he secretly enjoys the attention, but because rules of Feline-Dom state cats must look disinterested at all times, Jack was holding up his end of the bargain.

I wish I could go through life completely unbothered by anyone or anything.  I think I may take a few cues from Jack, the lobby cat.