“We’re here,” Andrew says as he jumps out of the truck. I look around, and I don’t see any smoke or even any emergency lights or anything. If nothing else, it looks like they’ve driven me to a quiet part of town.
I get out and shut the door. “All right, guys, what is this, some kind of initiation? You drop me off and make me walk back or what?”
Porter laughs. “Would we do that?”
I nod emphatically. “Yes, you would.”
Andrew shoves Porter. “Well, that’s not today, but that’s definitely a good idea for another time. Today we are appointing you lead on the Code Astor.”
Before I can ask again what Code Astor is, I hear a woman hollering, “Come here, Astor. Come here, kitty, kitty.”
I look across the street, and there’s a woman staring up a tall oak tree. I look between the woman, the tree, and back at the guys. “Code Astor, I presume?”
They both burst out laughing, thinking they’ve pulled one over on me. I barely resist rolling my eyes. It’s a cat. How hard can it be?
I walk across the street and stop next to the woman with the walker. “Hey, there. I’m Ava Catlett with the Cherry Falls Fire Department.”
“Oh, thank you. I’m so glad you’re here. It’s starting to get dark, and I don’t want Astor to be stuck there all night. He likes to sleep all tight and cozy in his bed inside.”
I nod. “No problem, ma’am. We’ll – I mean I’ll get him down. Do you have a can of tuna or something?”
Porter interrupts. “He won’t come down for tuna.”
I know the guys see the shocked look on my face. What cat doesn’t come for tuna?
Andrew hits Porter in the side with his elbow and tries not to laugh. “Yeah, the only way to get Astor down is to climb the tree.”
I look up into the tall oak tree and then at the woman, who seems to be really worried about her cat. She nods. “They’re right. They usually have to climb up to get him.”
With both Porter and Andrew now fully laughing, I realize why they brought me. But what they don’t realize is that I was raised with two brothers. Do they think I’m scared to climb a tree?
I pull my sleeves up to my elbows, grab on to a branch, and start to scale the tree. I’m definitely slower than I was back in elementary school, but I’m proud of how fast I get to the large branch that I sit down on. I grab the cat and pet and coo. Both of the men are staring at me with their mouths hanging open. I hold the cat with one hand close to my chest as I scale down the tree. Once I get close enough, I drop and land on my feet. Still holding the cat, I follow the woman to help her get Astor back inside. Even though it was easy, I don’t want to chance my luck and have to climb it again.
Once we’re at the door, I am passing Astor over to her when the flash of Porter’s phone goes off, and a few seconds later, there’s a ding on my phone.
We tell the woman bye, and I follow Andrew and Porter back to the truck. “Really, guys, is that the best you got?”
Porter starts the truck. “Check your phone, Catlett.”
I pull out my phone and look at the text. It’s a group text that was sent to all the guys back at the station. Except for the chief, I don’t think he’s on there. I look at the picture and somehow the yo-yo’s got me smiling. I’m about to hand Astor to the woman, and amazingly, it’s actually a good shot of me if I do say so myself. But it’s the text with the picture that I start to smile about. She passed, guys. Not a scratch on her.
All three of our phones start to blow up with the guys back at the station congratulating me. Who would have thought saving a cat in a tree would be my way to fit in?
I shrugged. “I passed? Was that a test?”
Porter slaps the steering wheel. “Heck yeah, that was a test. Every time we come to get Astor, we get bitten or scratched.”
Andrew holds his arm back to show me a long thin scar on it. “See, that’s my battle scar.”
Porter nods. “I know, I hate getting the Astor call, but I can’t tell ol’ Miss Jamison no.”
I lean my head back in the seat and remember some of the calls I’ve been on back in the city. “Guys, that’s one of the easy calls. We should appreciate the easy ones. It’s the hard ones...” I sigh softly and stop talking.
Both guys are quiet for a minute before Porter agrees. “You got that right, Catlett.”