Gardening Sale!
 
 

Special Offers see all

Enter to WIN!

Weekly drawing for $100 credit. Subscribe to our Specials newsletter for a chance to win.
Privacy Policy

More at Powell's

Pets

Indiespensable
spacer

Fup. Store Cat.

Chapter 108

In Loving Memory
Fup. Store Cat.
1988 — 2007
fup 18 fup 19
Click here for details on our specially designed Fup. Store Cat. T-shirts!
Fup. Store Cat.
Fup watercolor courtesy of reader Linda McDougall. Click here for a larger view.
Bear
bear 		Zooey
zooey

see Fup's photo album

"A cat in a hat!"

Every ten minutes, another customer says the words. It's a bit like having a parrot in the store, except the voice changes every time. Women tend to need the exclamation point more often than men — for whatever reason, the men are prone to mumbling — but it's always the same four words.

"It's heated," Lisa tells a shopper. "And the inside is shaped for a cat."

Ryan, Amber, Collier, and Jay have a bet going: How long before Fup gets tired of the attention and retires to the back office? Closest time wins; guess too short and you lose.

A half-hour passes. And another. Most everyone (staff excluded) passing by Fup's spot near the window feels an obligation to pet her. Each time she starts to doze off, the same four words ring out, and scratching typically follows. Which is nice, the scratching is, but now and then a guest crosses the line to pure pest. The man who wouldn't stop speaking to Fup in Seuss rhymes, for example — Collier was sure he'd drive her away, but no.

"That must be the most comfortable hat ever made," Amber complains as she's eliminated from competition. Ryan (who guessed ninety-seven minutes) and Jay (he said Fup wouldn't move till after closing) are all that remain.

previous   next

The Trip to Kahani

1  ·  2  ·  2.5  ·  3  ·  4  ·  5  ·  6  ·  7  ·  8  ·  9  ·  10  ·  11  ·  12  ·  13  ·  14  ·  15  ·  16  ·  17  ·  18  ·  19  ·  20  ·  21  ·  22  ·  23  ·  24  ·  25  ·  26  ·  27  ·  28  ·  29  ·  30  ·  31  ·  32  ·  33  ·  34  ·  35  ·  36  ·  37  ·  38  ·  39  ·  40  ·  41  ·  42  ·  43  ·  44  ·  45  ·  46  ·  47  ·  48

Read the press release.

Follow the links to more Fup adventures
1  ·  2  ·  3  ·  4  ·  5  ·  6  ·  7  ·  8  ·  9  ·  10  ·  11  ·  12  ·  13  ·  14  ·  15  ·  16  ·  17  ·  18  ·  19  ·  20  ·  21  ·  22  ·  23  ·  24  ·  25  ·  26  ·  27  ·  28  ·  29  ·  30  ·  31  ·  32  ·  33  ·  34  ·  35  ·  36  ·  37  ·  38  ·  39  ·  40  ·  41  ·  42  ·  43  ·  44  ·  45  ·  46  ·  47  ·  48  ·  49  ·  50  ·  51  ·  52  ·  53  ·  54  ·  55  ·  56  ·  57  ·  58  ·  59  ·  60  ·  61  ·  62  ·  63  ·  64  ·  65  ·  66  ·  67  ·  68  ·  69  ·  70  ·  71  ·  72  ·  73  ·  74  ·  75  ·  76  ·  77  ·  78  ·  79  ·  80  ·  81  ·  82  ·  83  ·  84  ·  85  ·  86  ·  87  ·  88  ·  89  ·  90  ·  91  ·  92  ·  93  ·  94  ·  95  ·  96  ·  97  ·  98  ·  99  ·  100  ·  101  ·  102  ·  103  ·  104  ·  105  ·  106  ·  107  ·  108  ·  109  ·  110  ·  111  ·  112  ·  113  ·  114  ·  115  ·  116  ·  117  ·  118  ·  119  ·  120  ·  121  ·  122  ·  123  ·  124  ·  125  ·  126  ·  127  ·  128  ·  129  ·  130  ·  131  ·  132  ·  133  ·  134  ·  135  ·  136  ·  137  ·  138  ·  139  ·  140  ·  141  ·  142  ·  143  ·  144  ·  145  ·  146  ·  147  ·  148  ·  149  ·  150  ·  151  ·  152  ·  153  ·  154  ·  155  ·  156  ·  157  ·  158  ·  159  ·  160  ·  161  ·  162  ·  163  ·  164  ·  165  ·  166  ·  167  ·  168  ·  169  ·  170  ·  171  ·  172  ·  173  ·  174  ·  175  ·  176  ·  177  ·  178  ·  179  ·  180  ·  181  ·  182  ·  183  ·  184  ·  185  ·  186  ·  187  ·  188  ·  189  ·  190  ·  191  ·  192  ·  193  ·  194  ·  195  ·  196  ·  197  ·  198  ·  199  ·  200

Fup's Picks

That Cat That Changed My Life: 50 Cats Talk About How They Became Who They Are That Cat That Changed My Life: 50 Cats Talk About How They Became Who They Are
by Bruce Eric Kaplan

"All these cats lead exciting and varied lives wholly independent of the human race," notes the editor in his Introduction. Well, duh. Scant attention has been paid to the role of community in modern cat culture, so what a relief that here, finally, fifty articulate felines set the record straight. Funny, sad, occasionally shocking, but never less than true, these brave monologues reaffirm our interdependency in ways that choreographed public displays such as Paws Across America never can.

Unleashed: Poems by Writers' Dogs Unleashed: Poems by Writers' Dogs
by Amy Hempel

In "Dog Kibble," Tasha Baxter's verse exhibits a brutal economy of words: "Life is never meaningless," her villanelle announces, "there is always food." Here and throughout this collection these authors demand your attention, as if to bark, "You can send me to my room for yelling at the neighbors but you cannot silence what woofs in my heart!" Among the selections nominated for Best American Writing by Pets 2000 are Bob Barker Barry's sordid and hilarious hallucinogenic escapades with Lynda; a tragic, posthumous prose poem by Marrow Irving; and Sadie Louise Lamott's "Spoon River Sadie Louise," a wildly metered exploration of the cross-cultural dynamics within a household occupied by dogs, cats, birds, and small children. The sheer intellect of these collected pieces will renew your faith in dogs.

Is Your Cat Too Fat?Is Your Cat Too Fat?
by Bronwen Meredith

Too fat for what? And what business is it of this Meredith person's anyway? Bronwen sounds like the kind of lady I wouldn't like at all.

 
spacer spacer
Follow us on...




Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.