Claire Butler, Jasper & Casey
Casey ( left), Jasper (right)
I always wanted cats growing up, but my dad and brother are allergic, which made it impossible. When I was living on my own in New York City in a pet-friendly apartment, I was thrilled to finally fulfill my dream of becoming a cat lady! I decided it was best to adopt two cats so that they could keep each other company. I went to the ASPCA, and I felt overwhelmed as I was ushered into a room full of cages filled with adorable, meowing kittens. I wished I could take them all home. I didn’t know where to start, so the employee brought me over to a cage and said, “Do you want to see these?” She opened the cage, picked up a tiny, fluffy orange kitten, and put him in my arms. He was warm and impossibly soft and didn’t mind letting me hold him. He reached his nose up to mine, and that was the moment I knew we belonged together. I named him Jasper. The ASPCA then handed me his brother, who was mostly white. He wasn’t as sure about me as Jasper was, and he wiggled around in my arms. I named him Casey. On the way home I sat on the bus full of excitement, surrounded by people staring at me as loud meows emanated from the small cardboard box on my lap. I opened the top a tiny bit so I could reach my hand in and comfort them, but I quickly had to close it back up when they tried to escape. I know they must have been terrified, but I was thrilled.
Right from the beginning each cat clearly had his own personality. Casey is feisty and stubborn, and he loves me fiercely. He always makes it very clear how he feels. He loves snuggling with me and licking my face and arms, and he gets upset when anyone else (a person, his brother, anyone) tries to take my attention away from him. Jasper is shy around other people but he is always kind; he wouldn’t hurt a fly (seriously, if he comes across a bug in the apartment he gets up close and just stares at it). He loves snuggling with me, too, and he loves climbing onto my back for rides. He loves when I walk around the apartment as he sits or lies on my back.
In the summer of 2020, I was stuck at home in my tiny studio apartment feeling lonely. As a teacher, I don’t work during the summer, and usually, I find lots to do around NYC, but COVID curtailed the possibility of exploration. My parents live in Colorado, and my amazing mom offered to drive to NYC in 2020 to collect me and my cats and bring us to Colorado for the summer. My cats, who had spent their whole lives in a tiny studio apartment, became interstate travelers as we drove across the country. I dreamed of them becoming adventure cats who went on hikes, but that didn’t happen; it turns out they are indoor cats at heart. They did a great job on the journey, though, and settled into my parent's home for the summer.
On our drive back to NYC, we stopped at a Motel 6 in Topeka, Kansas for the night. The next morning we prepared to continue our journey; I was in the bathroom as my mom went outside to load up the car. When I came out of the bathroom, I put Jasper in his carrier, but I couldn’t find Casey anywhere. I looked everywhere in that hotel room; I opened drawers and closets we hadn’t even used. The bottoms of the two beds were surrounded by wooden panels so it seemed impossible to get under the bed, but I even pulled one bed out from against the wall to make sure a cat couldn’t have gotten under there. There was no sign of Casey. I started to panic. It seemed that he must have escaped from the motel room when my mom went to load up the car.
We searched the area outside of the motel. It was around 5am, before sunrise, so we used our flashlights on our phones. We woke up the employee at the front desk, who told us they didn’t have working security cameras that might have helped us. We scoured the parking lot, neighboring businesses, and nearby woods. I was peeking in the cab of a pickup truck when the owner came outside, and he helped us look around for a while. We spent nearly two hours searching outside, calling Casey’s name, to no avail. I went back into our motel room and sobbed. I opened up Facebook, found two missing pet groups in Topeka, and posted Casey’s picture and description. I didn’t know what else to do. I snuggled with Jasper for a few minutes, who reliably comforted me. I went into the bathroom to wash my face, and I exited the bathroom at the same time as my mom came back into the motel room from outside. As we both stepped into the room, there was Casey, sitting in the middle of the room looking as happy as could be. I didn’t know where he had come from, and at first, I assumed my mom had found him outside and brought him in. She was just as surprised as I was to see him, though. I picked him up, buried my face in his fluff, and cried some more. My mom put her arms around us both (which upset Casey). He must have been in the hotel room the whole time, probably under the bed I didn’t check, although I still don’t understand how he possibly could have gotten under there. That morning was the scariest time of my life, and I have never felt more relieved than I did when Casey appeared.
I am so incredibly lucky to be a cat mom to Casey and Jasper. We’ve been a family for twelve years, and I can’t remember what I did without them. They’ve given me an immeasurable amount of unconditional love, especially during the pandemic, and they always seem to know when I need comfort.
Claire Butler is in her 16th year as a public high school teacher in NYC. In her free time, she loves attending live theater and concerts, crocheting, and binge-watching TV with her cats.