WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:12.400 The library cat. The Maple Hills Public Library is a 2 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:17.320 brick building with tall windows and a roof that leaks 3 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:23.440 in exactly one place, right above the mystery section. It 4 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:27.839 has been there for over a hundred years. The shelves 5 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:31.160 are made of dark oak, the floors are made of 6 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:35.320 wide planks that creak when you walk, and the air 7 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:40.159 smells like paper and dust and something warm that no 8 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:45.960 one can quite name. The library As a cat, his 9 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:50.880 name is Dewey, named after the old filing system that 10 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.399 no one uses anymore. He is a calico, which means 11 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:00.799 he is mostly orange and white with patches of black 12 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.560 that make him look like he is wearing a tuxedo 13 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:08.400 to the wrong event. He is twelve years old, which 14 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:12.599 is old for a cat, but not too old. He 15 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:18.200 has a favorite windowsill, a favorite chair, and a favorite person, 16 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:24.319 though the favorite person changes every evening. Dewey chooses his 17 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:28.640 person at six o'clock, that is when the evening crowd 18 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:33.760 settles in. The after work people, the after school people, 19 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.439 the people who come to the library not because they 20 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:40.519 need a book, but because they need a room that 21 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:45.680 is quiet and warm and does not ask anything of them. 22 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:50.519 At six o'clock, Dewey jumps down from his windowsill and 23 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:55.439 walks through the stacks. He does not rush. He is 24 00:01:55.480 --> 00:02:01.000 a library cat, and library cats do not rush. He 25 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:06.719 walks past the new releases, past the reference section, past 26 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.759 the computer lab where a teenager is doing homework and 27 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:16.800 trying not to fall asleep. He stops, He looks. He 28 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:24.360 chooses one evening. Dewey chose a girl named Sophie. Sophie 29 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:28.240 was twelve and had a math worksheet spread out on 30 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:31.919 the table in front of her. She was staring at 31 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.199 it the way a person stares at a locked door 32 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.599 when they have lost the key. Her pencil was still, 33 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:45.360 her shoulders were tight. Dewey jumped onto the table. He 34 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.800 walked across the worksheet, leaving paw prints on the lined paper. 35 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:55.520 Sophie looked up. She laughed. It was the first time 36 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.759 she had laughed all day. Dewey settled on her lap. 37 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:05.080 He purred. The sound was low and steady, like a 38 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:09.479 small engine running. Sophie put her hand on his back 39 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:13.840 and felt the vibration travel up her arm. She picked 40 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.120 up her pencil. She started to work. The numbers did 41 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:23.680 not seem so sharp anymore. Dewey purred through the entire worksheet, 42 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:28.159 and when Sophie packed up to leave, she whispered thank 43 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:33.479 you into his fur. The next evening, Dewey chose an 44 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.240 old man named Gerald. Gerald came to the library every 45 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:43.759 day at six. He read the newspaper, the real one, 46 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.400 the kind that leaves ink on your fingers. He sat 47 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:51.960 in the same chair, the one by the window that 48 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:56.840 looked out onto the parking lot. Dewey jucked onto Gerald's lap. 49 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:01.560 Gerald looked down. He had not been touched by another 50 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:05.280 living thing in three days. He put his hand on 51 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:10.960 the cat's back. Dewey purred. Gerald read his newspaper with 52 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:14.759 one hand and petted the cat with the other, and 53 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.519 for a few minutes the parking lot outside the window 54 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:22.839 did not look so empty. One evening, Dewey chose a 55 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:27.319 woman named Ruth. Ruth was sitting in the poetry section, 56 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:32.000 which was the quietest part of the library. She was 57 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:37.800 not reading. She was crying very softly, the way people 58 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:42.360 cry when they do not want anyone to notice. Dewey 59 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.480 jumped onto the shelf beside her. He sat there for 60 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:51.160 a moment, looking at her with his yellow eyes. Then 61 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:55.360 he stepped carefully onto her lap, as if he understood 62 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:59.680 that this was a person who needed gentleness. Ruth put 63 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:03.879 her hand on the cat. She felt his warmth, his 64 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:08.199 heart beat, the slow rise and fall of his breathing. 65 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:13.839 She cried a little more, but differently now, not the 66 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:18.120 sharp crying of someone who is alone, the softer crying 67 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:22.199 of someone who is being held. Dewey stayed with Ruth 68 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:25.560 for an hour. He did not try to fix anything, 69 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:29.439 He did not try to make her stop crying. He 70 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:36.639 just sat there, warm and alive, purring. When Ruth left, 71 00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:40.199 she stopped at the front desk and asked the librarian 72 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:45.480 if the cat belonged to anyone. The librarian smiled. He 73 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:50.279 belongs to everyone, she said, and no one. He just 74 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.920 lips here. Ruth came back the next evening and the 75 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:00.399 evening after that. She did not always cry. Sometimes she 76 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:06.560 read poetry. Sometimes she just sat. Dewey did not always 77 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:10.720 choose her, but when he did, she felt it like 78 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:16.800 a gift. The library closed at nine. At eight fifty five, 79 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:24.160 the lights flickered to signal closing time. Dewey would stretch, yawn, 80 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:29.040 and jump down from wherever he had been sitting. He 81 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:32.319 would walk to the front door, wait for the last 82 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.519 person to leave, and then settle into his bed behind 83 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:41.279 the circulation desk, a cardboard box lined with a fleece 84 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:47.519 blanket that a volunteer had donated years ago. The night janitor, 85 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:53.040 a man named Louis, always checked on Dewey before locking up. 86 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:57.160 He would find the cat curled in his box, eyes 87 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:03.079 half closed, purring faintly. Louis would say good night, and 88 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:08.199 Dewey would blink once, slowly, which is the catway of 89 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:13.079 saying I trust you. The library was quiet at night. 90 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.000 The books sat on their shelves, the dust settled, the 91 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:22.839 leaking ceiling dripped into the bucket in the mystery section, 92 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:30.399 a slow metronome marking the hours, and Dewey slept warm 93 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:36.480 and safe, surrounded by stories. In the morning, when the 94 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:40.720 first librarian arrived at eight, Dewey would be sitting on 95 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:45.920 the front desk, washed and composed, ready to begin again. 96 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.480 He would watch the people come in. He would watch 97 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:56.839 them choose their books, their tables, their corners. He would 98 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:01.600 wait until six o'clock and then he would choose people. 99 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.240 Sometimes asked why the library had a cat. The answer 100 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:08.360 was simple. A library is a place where people go 101 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:14.319 to be alone together. A cat understands this perfectly. A 102 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:16.920 cat is an animal that loves you without asking you 103 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:20.360 to explain yourself. A cat sits on your lap and 104 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:23.120 does not care about your grades, or your job or 105 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:28.000 your grief. A cat just purrs, and sometimes that is 106 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.519 exactly what a person needs. The Maple Hill's Public Library 107 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:37.200 is open Monday through Saturday, nine to nine. Admission is free. 108 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.480 The cat is free too. If you go at six o'clock, 109 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:44.840 you might be the one he chooses. If not, you 110 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:47.200 can sit in the quiet and listen to the page's 111 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:50.759 turn and the floor creek and the ceiling drip, and 112 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.320 you can know that you are welcome here in this 113 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:57.200 warm room full of stories, where an old calico cat 114 00:08:57.320 --> 00:09:01.279 walks through the stacks and chooses every evening someone to 115 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.320 sit with. And if you fall asleep in the library, 116 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:08.799 that is all right too. Dewey will not mind. He 117 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.559 will sit on your lap and purr, and the books 118 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.399 will keep their stories for when you are ready, and 119 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:18.080 the night will be gentle, and the morning will come softly, 120 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.519 and you will wake feeling rested, with the faint smell 121 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.279 of paper in your hair and the memory of a 122 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:26.919 warm weight on your legs.