Cat and Mouse

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Amy Hugh

Oh Pancake! My Pancake! Stuck 20 feet up a tree.
You've weathered every rack, each shed, trailer, roof & tree...

Pancake and Gnocchi usually greet

Amy when she comes home from work.

Last night

No Pancake.

Right away Amy knew something was amiss.

She scours the neighborhood after checking every

closet, cubbyhole and cubicle in the house.

“She’s high up in a tree in Olsen’s backyard,”

she reports on her return.

“How did you find her?”

“I spied her from the church parking lot.”

Pancake never made a sound.

That’s how we’ve found her before

when she’s gotten into trouble.

“Did she meow until she had no voice?”

We called DeRay to bring the hook he fashioned

when Pancake was stuck high up in a pine tree

when she was a mere baby.

He couldn’t find it.

Meanwhile,

we see a 12’ ladder by Olsen’s shed.

We borrow it without permission

since they obviously are not home.

I don’t dare climb two steps

but Amy climbs clear up on top

holding onto flimsy tree branches.

She can barely touch Pancake

who is clawing in for dear life.

Eventually, Pancake falls down to the next branch

hell-bent on going out on the limb.

Amy holds fast and pulls

At last, Pancake lets go and

Amy hands her down to me.

Its obvious Pancake blames Amy

for her wretchedness:

Being stuck in the tree for maybe eight hours;

and the bruises she sustained when Amy tried to pull her down.

She was petrified, trembling, but fierce.

To her, it was no doubt a matter of life and death.

Pancake didn’t go down to bed with Amy as per ritual.

She didn’t go to her perch on the back of the velvet chair

by the window to scrutinize the front yard.

She curled up on the foot rest of the lazy boy.

All through the night.

When Amy came up in the morning;

Pancake slinked down, avoiding her.

Gnocchi brought a mouse and laid to at the sliding doors

 mayhap as a peace offering.

Pancake briefly checked it out

then went back to her perch on the chair.

A total personality change.

Why did Pancake climb high in that tree two yards over?

She usually browses on a soft chair on our deck.

Amy thinks something must have frightened her.

But since she won’t talk,

we’ll never know.

Next time,

I’m grabbing no rescue paraphernalia, 

only my camera.

Action shot; 
squandered again.