Shrimp Climbs A Tree
It was a sunny but cool afternoon and Shrimp just woke up from a nap. She arched her back and stretched her legs one by one. She walked out of the barn and looked around.
“I wonder where everyone is?” Shrimp said.
The farm was pretty quiet right now with no sign of farmer Joe or his family. Shrimp didn’t even see her mom or brother anywhere. Well, maybe everyone is still taking a nap, she thought. Shrimp hopped and jumped in between walking to Joe's back porch. She jumped up each step of the porch and then walked up to the bench that sits near a window. Shrimp has gotten much bigger now so it has gotten a little easier for her to get up onto things like the bench. Shrimp jumped up at the bench seat but didn’t quite make it.
“I can do this,” Shrimp said.
She focused on the muscles in her legs and jumped up again. This time she made it on top of the bench seat. She walked to one end of the bench and peeked in the window.
“Hmm, I don’t see anyone,” Shrimp stared in the window.
With no one around or possibly sleeping, what is Shrimp going to do? What can she do? After all, she’s just a little kitten. Shrimp sat down for a moment and looked out into the yard.
“I know what I’ll do. I’ll climb that big tree,” She said.
Shrimp hopped down off of the bench and trotted down the porch steps. She ran over to the large maple tree and looked up at it.
“It sure is big,” she said.
Shrimp never climbed a tree before but have always wanted to try it. She walked up to the trunk of the tree and looked straight up at it.
“It sure is a tall tree,” she said.
Shrimp thought for a moment and then jumped up. She grabbed onto the bark of the tree with her claws and slowly pulled herself up. She gripped on with her back claws as well and climbed up to the first branch. When she got up on the first branch, she looked down. Wow, this is pretty high, she thought. Shrimp was only about five feet off the ground but that is pretty high for a kitten. Shrimp looked up and decided to climb higher. She jumped and hopped, and then hung on tight as she nearly slipped.
“Wow, I’m pretty far off the ground now,” Shrimp looked down.
Shrimp was now about ten feet off the ground and clinging to a thick branch. She looked out over the farmland and saw how pretty it was. Even though winter was coming and it wasn’t as green as it was this summer, Shrimp still thought it was beautiful.
Just then, Billy, the blackbird flew over and landed on a branch way above her. He didn’t notice Shrimp at first until she said hi to him.
“Hi Billy,” Shrimp called out.
Billy looked around on the ground but didn’t see her, “Shrimp? Where are you?”
Shrimp giggled, “I’m right below you.”
Billy turned and looked down inside the tree, “oh what on earth are you doing in the tree little one?”
Looking straight up at him, Shrimp said, “I wanted to climb it.”
“Well, you must get down before you fall,” Billy said as he hopped down two branches.
“But I want to go all the way to the top,” Shrimp said.
Billy hopped all the way down and landed on the branch that Shrimp was sitting on.
“Shrimp, you are too small to be this high in the tree. Maybe when you get bigger, then you can climb higher,” Billy said to her.
“Okay Billy, I’ll get down,” Shrimp lowered her head and said.
As Shrimp moved and started to climb down, she noticed that it was scarier going down. Shrimp clung to the branch and held it tight, “Billy, I’m scared.”
“You can do it Shrimp, just back down and move one paw at a time,” Billy said.
Shrimp clung to the branch but slowly lowered her back left foot. She looked at Billy as he watched her. She then gripped the tree with her back foot and lowered her body down. Little by little and step by step, Shrimp carefully climbed down the tree.
“I can do this,” Shrimp said.
It took a little longer to climb down the tree than it did to climb up it but Shrimp did it. As she took her last step onto the ground Billy sighed with relief.
“Nice job Shrimp,” Billy said as he flew down to the ground next to her.
“Thank you, Billy. I learned a lesson today,” Shrimp said.
“Oh yeah, what did you learn?” Billy asked.
“I learned to make sure that you have someone you trust with you when you want to take on something big. That way if you get stuck, you can always ask for help,” Shrimp smiled at Billy.
“That’s a good lesson to learn,” Billy patted Shrimp on the back with his wing.
Please join me again for another story with Shrimp, Tiger, and her friends. And don’t forget to subscribe so that you can get this story sent to you email.