To me, however, that was a wonderful Christmas present. I love rescuing cats out of trees, so I was not only willing, I was happy to go right away. And to rescue Simba, one of my most favorite cats ever, made it even better. When I arrived and told the apologetic family that this was a wonderful Christmas present, they all laughed, but I was serious.


The first two times I rescued Simba, he came down in my lap, but that was in a tree with a short and clear path down. This time, however, there were numerous and aggravating small branches that we would have to push through on the way down, so coming down in my lap was not advisable. I pulled up the carrier to see if he would go into it. He looked inside once and then pulled out. I petted him some more and put the carrier up to him again. This time, he seemed more interested in standing on top of it. I discouraged that and made him get back down on his perch. Then he looked inside the carrier and, without hesitation, walked all the way inside. I closed the door and brought him down.
I carried him back to the house, and we set him down just inside the back door next to their beautiful Christmas tree. There were several people there all enjoying the holiday together. I released Simba, and Shelley picked him up to love on him. She then gave me a small box of tasty goodies to take home with me to say thank-you for rescuing Simba. The contents of that box somehow mysteriously disappeared on my drive home.
Simba is now tied again with Kitty at five rescues each. The battle for first place continues.