Category: Our Team

Bao is our youngest apprentice, a small orange cat of eleven months, eager and gentle. Last week he was given his first candle. It stood on a shelf, white and thin, flickering a little in the breeze from the window.

Bao sat before it for two hours. He studied it. He understood it. He lifted a paw, and then he lowered it. Then he did it again. Master Oolong watched from the doorway and said nothing. Finally, as the sun set, Bao tapped the candle, which rolled gently across the shelf and landed on a rug.

No fire occurred. The rug was lightly singed. Bao has been promoted to Apprentice Second Class, with cautionary notes.

Master Oolong is nine years old, gray as a rain cloud, and has not been seen to hurry since 2019. He trained under a retired lighthouse cat in a coastal town whose name he refuses to reveal. He says only that the sea taught him patience and the lamp taught him edges.

He speaks three words a day. They are usually ‘No.’ ‘Here.’ and ‘Now.’ Clients find this deeply comforting, or deeply alarming, depending on how much is on the shelf.

His signature technique is the Slow Tap. A single claw is placed against the item. The item is considered. The item is released. Many clients cry. Master Oolong accepts this as a form of applause.