Lily

 

It was the summer of 2007.  Scott and I had just purchased our new property and were in the middle of a major house remodel.  We had also recently adopted Lily, the barn kitten who Scott fell in love with when we had to clean out her goopy eyes.  

One sunny weekend evening, we decided to go over to our new property and hang out by the creek for a bit.  Scott suggested we take Lily to get her used to the new area.  The three of us, plus our dog Maddie, loaded up in the truck and drove over to our new place.  We went down to the creek and sat down in the shade.  It was the perfect summer evening.  The grass was tall and green, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the cottonwoods that towered overhead, the creek whispered softly as it meandered over rocks and roots, and the shade offered a cool respite from the hot summer sun.

Scott started tossing a stick in the creek for Maddie to fetch.  Lily, about four months old at the time, frolicked and pounced in the tall grass, chasing bugs and digging in the dirt, exploring and discovering as only a kitten can do.  

There was an old shed next to the creek where we were sitting.  Over the years, a Ponderosa pine tree had grown up against the back of the shed, soaring high above the shed and lifting the back of the shed slightly off the ground.  The previous owners had built a few braces on the back of the shed in an attempt to fortify it.  The braces also acted as a perfect ladder to get onto the low shed roof.  

Scott continued to throw the stick for Maddie as I watched Lily scamper and play in the grass.  She pounced her way over to one of the braces on the back of the shed and quickly scurried up it and onto the roof.  I laughed as I watched her run around, dive onto the metal roof screws like they were hard, round bugs ready to attack the world.  She ran, lunged, pounced, and before I realized what had happened, she launched herself onto the bark of the massive Ponderosa and shimmied her way up to the first branch.  From there, it was an easy jump up to the next branch, and the next, and the next.  Before I could utter a sound, Lily had scurried forty feet up the pine tree.  She finally settled on a high branch overlooking the creek and the pasture.  I stared up at her, my mouth agape.  She looked down at me, proud of herself.  About that time, the realization of how high she had climbed settled in, and she started to cry.

"Um," I said.

Scott moved his eyes from his game of fetch to me, then followed my gaze up the tree to Lily.

"Huh," he said.

We both stood, heads tipped back, staring forty feet up the tree to Lily, who stared right back down at us.  We could hear her tiny kitten cries.  "Mew, mew, mew."

I had visions of the fire department coming with the ladder truck to rescue poor Lily from the tree.

"Maybe she'll come down on her own," I offered hopefully.

Scott shrugged.  "We'll see."

He resumed his game of fetch with Maddie, and we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  It soon became clear that Lily had no intentions of coming down.  

"What do we do?" I finally asked Scott.

He stood staring up at Lily, at the tree, at the shed.  I could see the wheels turning.  

I watched as he walked over, hoisted himself up the ladder bracing and onto the low shed roof.  He easily reached the first branch and pulled himself up.  From there, he climbed up the branches, scaling the tree like King Kong climbing the Empire State Building, up and up and up, until he reached the branch where Lily sat perched.  He perched next to her, and she immediately crawled onto his lap.  He sat for a while, petting Lily and looking around.

"It's really cool up here," he finally said.  

"How are you going to get down?" I asked, envisioning the two of them tumbling down the tree, hitting every branch on the way.  

Scott sat for a moment, then grabbed Lily and tucked her under his shirt.  He stuffed the bottom of his shirt into the waistband of his shorts and cinched the waistband tight so Lily was safely stashed inside his shirt with no way to fall out.  He sat for a moment, letting her settle.    

Slowly, he started making his way down the tree, stepping from limb to limb, using his arms to slow his descent, using his feet to find each branch.  As he made his way down the tree, I could hear him speaking quietly to Lily.

"It's ok, Lily.  Just a few more branches.  I have to make a big step here.  It might be a little rough.  You are doing a good job.  Thank you for not scratching me."  

He talked to her all the way down, slowly and deliberately moving from branch to branch.  He finally made it down to the roof, then down off the ladder bracing and onto the ground.  He untucked his shirt and gently removed Lily, hugging her to his chest.  She purred and purred, grateful for her knight in shining armor.  

Scott smiled at me as he held Lily.  "I got her."

Looking at this giant of a man, holding this fluffball of a kitten in his massive hands, I felt my world shift all over again.  Just like Lily, I was grateful for my knight in shining armor.