Director's Notes: 207 - LOST: CAT

I have three cats: Barry, Carol, and Reba. They're very different kids. Carol is the spoiled indoor-kid. Reba is a feral rescue and tends to be the elusive, quiet goth. And Barry, is something else entirely. 

Barry is a rescue, as well, and we think she might have been a bodega cat, or maybe in a home with people. She's very comfortable around humans. She's the greeter, the networker, the party planner. I've never had a cat quite like Barry. 

I don't really believe that souls are reincarnated, or at least not that they're reincarnated with accessible memories of past lives. But if I were to believe such a thing, I'd believe that Barry is not actually a cat, but a human person who somehow ended up in a cat's body. 

And listen, I understand how cat owners are. Every cat is special and unique. My cat is the smartest cat. My cat is the most playful cat. Etc. And, well, fair enough. I don't bring Barry up to brag about my cat (or at least, not primarily to brag). I bring Barry up because she inspired this thought that maybe cats aren't actually any kind of animal at all. What if cats are just the bodily vessels through which we place other souls?

In the case of Khoshekh, a self-obsessed art thief, who was cursed into the body of a cat. And not just a cat, but a cat that cannot moved from a fixed location 4 feet off the ground in the restroom of a community radio station. 

I'm torn about how I would feel about having my soul placed into a cat's body, myself. On the one hand, lower stress. My food and housing and health care are all taken care of. I can sleep, play, and eat each day. And get lots of pets. 

On the other hand, I have little agency. I can only meow for food and attention and hope my owner isn't busy or cranky. I can't slip out for hamburgers if I'm not vibing on the food we have in the pantry. And everyone's going to talk to me like a baby. That sounds borderline nightmare. 

So, in that, maybe Barry's not a human after all. She's just really weird, for a cat.

-Jeffrey Cranor
May 1, 2022