This was not good. Not good at all. The cat was just too high. Even at six foot four Hudson had no way of reaching the poor thing.
He pulled out his cell and hit the number for EJ. Hopefully, he’d catch his friend before the other man headed home.
“Hey!” EJ greeted as he answered. “Already home?”
“No.” Hudson shuffled his feet as he stared up at his cat. “Are you still at the firehouse?”
“Just got in my truck,” EJ replied. “Did something happen? Do you need a lift home?”
“Is that ladder still in the back of your truck? The one we used to put up the basket hoop?”
“Sure is,” EJ said. “You want to borrow it? I can drop it off at your house.”
“I’m at the park,” Hudson informed him.
“Across the street?” EJ paused. “Oh, I see you. What’s up?”
“Cat in a tree,” Hudson told him.
EJ’s laugh was quick and bright. “You know we don’t have to really save cats from trees. That’s like…not what we do.”
Hudson sighed. “He’s really high up there. What if he falls?”
“Hud, buddy, he’s a cat. He got himself up there,” EJ said.
The cat in question started walking down the branch of the tree. Not toward the trunk but close to the smaller branches and leaves. Hudson sucked in a breath.
“What?” EJ demanded.
“He’s going to fall,” Hudson shared. “I just know it. This is bad.”
“I’m on my way,” EJ told him. “We’ll rescue your kitty, but he better not scratch me!”
“He’s not going to scratch you.” Hudson didn’t think.
“I’ll be there in a second.”
“Thanks!” Hudson said then hung up the phone.
The beautiful cat sat at the end of the branch, staring at the ground. He’d walked away from Hudson. That really worried him. Was he scaring the poor thing?
“It’s okay!” Hudson called. “My friend is coming with a ladder. We’ll get you down.”
The cat turned his head like he understood what Hudson had said.
“Just stay right there,” Hudson encouraged.
Of course, the darn thing decided in that moment to stand and walk back up the branch.
Hudson hovered beneath the thing in case the worst happened.
This really was an unusual cat. Not that Hudson was an expert or anything, but it looked a lot bigger than other cats thathe’d seen. Not in size but in length. Maybe it was a kitten? The creature couldn’t weigh more than ten pounds, but it was long. Plus, the tawny color with black circles appeared closer to some of the wild animals that Hudson had seen on TV.
“Be careful!” Hudson said, a little too loud, when the feline began to walk headfirst down the trunk of the tree. That…cats did that?
“What are you yelling at?” EJ asked as he jogged closer.
Hudson had moved closer to the trunk, not realizing that EJ had parked close.
