THE OFFICE CAT WILLIAM -- A GENUINE NAPPER WITH CREDENTIALS

Our featured fellow for this weekend’s edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap is my dear office cat and friend William Powell.
Little is known about him except that his humans — that’s me and my funspouse Martha — named him in honor of one of our favorite film stars, the legendary William Powell. He is known to many as Nick Charles of The Thin Man series of detective films from prior to the mid-20th century.
Martha and I have seen the films only on TV or cable — neither of us was born in time to catch the fifth and final film in 1947. (I am a pre-mid-Century baby and Martha is so close to the 21st Century that she never saw a black-and-white TV or a car without air-conditioning. )
Back to William Powell, the adorable office cat. That first photo is William asleep in my lap — my typing puts him to sleep -- something a writer doesn't like to hear, of course.
The second photo is what happens when William hears the click of the camera. Wakes right up. It’s that advice that, if memory serves, came from Cary Grant: Always be camera-ready.

This photograph with the graying gentleman is my personal cat Deputy Chief Kittie Leigh Johnson — Martha and I named her in honor of Kyra Sedgwick’s charter Brenda Leigh Johnson on the police show The Closer. Kittie Leigh has always been a curious cat. 
I bring her up because I think she may be a clue about William’s past.
She was a cross-eyed tabby kitten, maybe 7 weeks old, when she came onto our porch, through our front door and into our hearts in 2011. Yes, she’s probably 11 years old now. 
On the left, that’s Kittie Leigh posing with me in July 2018.
On July 24, 2018, we snapped this photo (right) of William Powell — he was probably 2 or 3 months old. And I think you can see some resemblance in the striped faces and eyes of Kittie Leigh and William.
We’d been attempting to bring a halt to a consistently reproductive feral colony that lived on and around our house. We fed them twice daily on our front porch. Whenever we could, we’d catch cats and get them neutered, spayed or sternly lectured — whatever it took.
[FYI TO CASUAL READERS: A stern lecture in these matters is as effective with cats and dogs as it is with lovestruck teenagers.]

These tabbies — Kittie Leigh and William — were not siblings. And they were definitely not mates — Kittie Leigh had been “fixed” years before William showed up in 2018.  [That's William out like a light on the bed.] He and Kittie Leigh could be cousins!
As I’ve reported before, William showed up on our front sidewalk when I was on a ladder repainting the woodwork. 
William watched — as if he were trying out for the job of Attentive Office Cat. Yes, he watched me paint from the sidewalk that ran along our flowerbed between our driveway and our porch “door of bars.” It was part of the “Burglar Bar Theme” on the house.
Now, William never gave any painting tips though he would occasionally flick his handsome tail as if trying to suggest to an ungifted painter that my method of stroking on the paint was not the method he’d us if given a chance and, of course, a salary.

After I finished, and after I had a conversation with him, William agreed to come inside, look around and, if he wanted, enjoy a lifetime of not having to wander around and look for food. 
And, William and Kittie Leigh both like to watch detective mysteries on television. Neither will go to a movie theater. “Concessions are more expensive than movie tickets,” William said. “You’d think a U.S. gasoline company was pricing the popcorn.”
He and Kittie Leigh both enjoy watching detective mysteries on TV. I swear.
To the left, that is William camouflaging with his stripes. On the right, that is William with Stevie Ray, a feral colony foundling from the old neighborhood in Dallas who trained as an Apprentice Office Cat with William. Needs more training and prefers to sleep in the living room.
[We’ve been posting this weekend feature Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap since May of 2005 — a few years after we launched readlarrypowell.com via a corporate site. So, yeah, we need photos of your sleeping dogs, napping cats or any other slumbering household dwellers for the next edition — send photos and info to dallrp@aol.com. You’ll be helping people see how great life with an animal is. And you’ll be helping insomniacs have hope for finding a way to nod off. Works for animals, anyway, he typed with false drowsiness. That's the actor, if you didn't know. (Dear Readers, I am William Powell, that is my mousepad pose and I am BEGGING you to send photos of your slumbering animals to dallrp@aol.com and include their biographies, too. Otherwise, I'm led to believe that I will be forced to wear famous costumes and pretend to sleep while posing in them. I'm not doing any more poses from Cats, the movie, I swear. With catitude, William.]
—Offer ideas or William Powell movies by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing dallrp@aol.com and put ‘YOU AIN’T NO THIN MAN’ in the subject line.—