Shrimp Learned A Scary Lesson
One sunny afternoon Shrimp was on the back porch of farmer Joes house. She was hopping around and playing by herself for a while until she got bored. Shrimp looked at the railing that surrounded the porch. I wonder if I could walk on that, she thought. Shrimp saw the wood crate that sat near the railing at the end of the porch and jumped up onto it. Even though she was closer to the top of the railing, Shrimp wasn’t sure if she could balance on top of it.
“Well, I won’t know unless I try,” Shrimp said.
Shrimp looked up at the railing, bent her knees, and jumped up onto it. She wobbled back and forth at first until she got her balance. With one front paw she took a small step forward and followed with her opposite back paw. She took her next step carefully forward and wobbled back and forth. Shrimp looked down and saw how far away the green grass seemed. I don’t want to fall, I might hurt myself, she thought.
Before she could turn around and jump back down onto the crate, Shrimp wobbled and slipped. Since she was a cat, her instincts were to twist her body so that she would land on her feet. But when Shrimp twisted, she sort of did a summer salt in the air before she landed on the grass. Shrimp looked at the grass and then up at the railing on the porch.
“Wow, that was scary but pretty great at the same time,” Shrimp said.
Just then, Tiger walked over to Shrimp, “whatcha doing?”
“Did you see that?” Shrimp asked.
“See what?” Tiger asked as he looked around.
“I was up on the railing and I fell off but did a summer salt before I landed on the grass,” Shrimp said.
“You fell off? Don’t let momma hear that. Are you okay?” Tiger asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. It was scary but I landed on all four feet. You should try it… Here I’ll show you,” Shrimp ran around to the steps of the porch.
“No, I’m not going to try it, and you shouldn’t do it again either,” Tiger ran after her.
Shrimp scurried up the steps and over to the wood crate. Tiger ran up the steps after her and then saw his sister jump up onto the railing.
“Wait, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Tiger yelled.
Shrimp was startled by Tiger yelling at her so she slipped. She gripped onto the wood with her claws as she hung on the railing six feet in the air.
“Hold on, I’ll try and get you,” Tiger said as he jumped up onto the wood crate.
Tiger reached through the railing but couldn’t get her. So he meowed and meowed while he watched his sister dangle. It wasn’t long before farmer Joe opened up the back door to see who was meowing. He looked toward the end of the porch and saw Tiger first.
“What’s wrong Tiger?” Joe asked as he walked over to the railing. “Oh, you little rascal, what are you doing?” Joe reached over the railing and grabbed Shrimp.
Shrimp clung to Joes shirt as he walked away from the railing. Tiger followed Joe over to the chair.
“What are you doing Shrimp? You aren’t big enough to be doing stuff like that,” Joe pried Shrimps claws off of his shirt. Tiger rubbed up against Joe’s legs as he put Shrimp down on the chair.
“Now, wait until you are bigger before you do things like that,” Joe said as he petted her.
When Joe went back inside the house, Shrimp hopped down off the chair.
“See, I told you not to do that,” Tiger said.
“Well, I did okay before. It was because you yelled at me and scared me,” Shrimp said.
“Well, do as farmer Joe says and wait until you are bigger, okay?” Tiger asked.
Shrimp looked at the railing, “yes, I might have better balance when I’m bigger.”
Shrimp trotted down the porch steps and headed toward the barn for something to eat. And Tiger wasn’t too far behind her. Shrimp learned that just because her risky behavior worked out the first time doesn’t mean it will work out the next time. Sometimes you have to be older and bigger to do certain things in life.
I hope that you enjoyed this free story. Please let me know in the comments, and share it with someone you know who might enjoy it. Thank you and join me again for another adventure with Shrimp and Tiger.