The Day the Trellis Fell

In the garden, there was a trellis within Yuki’s reach.

I didn’t pound this trellis into the ground. 

Instead, ‘twas held between a rock and a hard place (literally—no joke.) 

Leaning against one side of the trellis was a shelf of sorts, which I placed there to add texture and vertical space to her outside domain.

Turns out though, this little sneaky snake loves climbing trellisis (trelli?) like a ladder. 

But since I like tempting fate to teach me lessons I could have figured out for myself, I left things as they were and kept an eye on her whenever she’d lounge on the shelf.

There were a few instances where I had to talk her down, but for the most part she seemed to accept that climbing this rickety tower of temptation wasn’t a great idea.

“For the most part,” I’ll stress.

Indeed, one day I watched helplessly from the kitchen window while the trellis fell.

I couldn’t move, knew I’d be too late to stop what was already in motion, rooted in place by the horrified certainty that surely I was about to scoop up a yowling cat and make a beeline for the emergency vet with a broken leg or bunged up shoulder.

Fortunately, Yuki had her own plans.

My horror turned to awe-njoyment and a grin cracked my face wide open as I watched her first pause for a casual beat in mid-air to figure out what the hell was happening…

Then, with the trellis cartwheeling and Yuki descending like Mary Poppins, she reoriented her body parallel to the ground and dove through one of the trelli’s (small!) gaps, scooting out into a perfect landing, sauntering away as if she’d planned the whole show for an audience of gods and goddesses.

Cue the applause. 

‘Twas one of those scenes that unfolded in slow motion, and is etched into my mind.

I’m well-versed in the feline capacity for acrobatics, but even so, I thought there was no way she’d turn what looked like a sure disaster into a perfect moment of grace.

What a treat, what a joy, what a goddamn gift of a cat.

(I did learn my lesson and have since removed the trellis.)

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander

P.S. Yuki may be a goddess of grace…

But don’t let her silky-soft fur and dainty little paws fool you. She’s a creature born of chaos, a hunter of the unseen, an agent of entropy wrapped in purrrs and trrrills.

Some nights, I catch her staring into the trees like she remembers something I’ve forgotten, as if she’s processing information I’ll never perceive (probably true.)

I’m starting to wonder if she reports to the Sprites, or if they report to her.