The Story of Gus
John Spencer, the store manager, and his wife Carolyn had two dogs. During the first year of Biff's Bookstore operation, Carolyn often asked Biff when was he going to get the traditional bookstore cat. Biff was hesitant to do so because he really wasn't a cat lover, thought it might turn off customers who also were not cat lovers or had allergies to cats, and he didn't want a cat disturbing the elaborate window displays or leaving cat hair around the store.
One night, John and Carolyn had to take one of their dogs to the Carytown Veterinary Emergency Center. While their dog was being treated, Carolyn became friendly with a gray and white cat that was roaming around the waiting room. When the vet returned, she asked Carolyn if she wanted to adopt the cat as he was going to be "put down" the next day.
A lady had brought the cat in the have it neutered and de-clawed and had also asked the vet to check for a kidney infection, as the cat would not routinely use his litter box. She had found the cat on "a dark and stormy night", injured, scared, hungry, and soaking wet and feeling sorry for him, took him in. The vet performed the requested operations, and found no kidney problems. The cat had no problems using the litter box at the center. The lady never returned to claim her cat. The vet tried to find a home for the cat to no avail and had finally decided to "put him down".
Carolyn thought the cat would make a great bookstore cat, he being attractive, friendly and frisky and she asked the vet to please wait a couple of days so she could ask the owner of Biff's if he would adopt the cat. The next day she told Biff the cat's story and asked Biff about adopting the cat. Biff's first question was, "What color is the cat?" When he was told gray and white, he said, "Well at least he matches the gray and white carpet so the cat hairs won't show. I'll take him on trial for a week."
So the next day, after Biff had purchased a wicker bed with a flannel pillow, litter box, some toys and gourmet cat food, the cat was brought to Biff's Carytown Book Store. The bed was placed in the window, and there it remains even today. Biff chooses the name Gus for the cat because he felt that it fit. Short, simple, practical, common and unpretentious. It is not short for Asparagus from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats nor is it short for Gustav Flaubert, as some have suggested.
Gus had found a home and everyone loved him.
Years later, a lady was looking in the store window and spied Gus. She rushed into the store and breathlessly asked where we got the cat. She said that it might be her cat Bugger that she thought had died. She called him Bugger because of an unusual marking on his nose. She owned a horse farm. Her cat had a litter and the cat and her kitten's were living in the barn with the horses. Bugger was one of her favorites from the litter. Then on "a dark and stormy night", one of the horses shied and kicked poor Bugger. Bugger was seriously injured and before she could capture him and take him the vet, he disappeared into the night, never to be seen again. She assumed he went someplace and died of his injuries.
...and now you know the rest of the story.
On the inventory list when the bookstore was sold, one line simply stated:
One cat, Gus ................................................................................... $priceless
When Biff sold the bookstore the headline in Richmond's Style Magazine read "Biff leaves, Gus stays".
Other WEB pages featuring "Gus the Great"