In response to Shamera's challenge #3
A Cat Stuck in A Tree by Saturnine rated G (I know, I'm not in a wildly inventive mood)
From outside the window of the kitchen, Sam spotted a cute, gray kitten stuck in a tree. At the bottom of the tree was an old lady wearing a shawl. The kitten belonged to her.
“Help!” she cried out.
I’ll climb up and rescue the cat and be a hero! thought Sam. He stopped washing the dishes and would have dashed out the door if his mother didn’t grab his collar and pull him back into the kitchen.
“Sam, you can’t go outside until you wash the dishes.”
Sam didn’t care for washing dishes very much. He never heard of a person who became a hero by solely washing dishes. His sister came into the kitchen to eat something.
“Hey, if you wash these dishes, I’ll do your homework for a week,” said Sam.
“I can do my own homework,” said his sister.
“I will give you a quarter,” he offered.
“A quarter! Wow, I’m going to be rich!” His sister quickly agreed to wash the dishes, even pushing Sam out of the way.
Sam went outside to rescue the kitten, but his sister blocked the doorway.
“How do I know you’re not tricking me into doing the dishes?”
Sam reached his hand into his trousers and upon finding a coin, placed it into his sister’s hands as she smiled complacently.
He walked out into the lawn and took two steps when his mother called out for him.
“Sam, don’t forget to close the door. You’re going to let flies in!”
I’m never going to save that cat if I keep being interrupted, thought Sam as he closed the door.
It opened into his face.
“I just wanted to let you know that you gave me a nickel and not a quarter,” his sister said.
Sam pointed to his bleeding nose.
“Omigosh, I’m so sorry,” his sister said. “I guess that means I don’t get the quarter?” He glared at her.
He came back into the house to wash the blood off. It had trickled into his shirt and he had to go to his room to change it. By the time he was ready to go outside, he saw a firefighter climbing up a ladder perched on the tree to save the cat.
Awwww, I missed my chance at being a hero, he thought. He walked up to the lady and asked her how the cat got stuck up in the tree.
“Cut!” a director called out from behind the bushes.
“Huh?” said Sam.
The director explained that Sam had walked into the middle of a scene from her latest movie. Sam apologized.
Later, while he was walking back to the house, he noticed the old lady pulling at her hair, which came off. It was a wig and the old lady was neither old nor a lady. It was a man in disguise, working undercover.
Oh well, thought Sam. He didn’t get to be a hero, but the director promised him a role as an extra in the movie.
And... for those who want to check if I followed the recipe correctly:
1 cat stuck in a tree
2 surprising moments - walking into the middle of a movie set, old lady is really a guy
3 articles of clothing - shawl, trousers, shirt
5 interruptions - mom: washing dishes, sister demanding payment for chore, mom: close door, sister opening door into his face, Sam's nose bleeding
and 1 cupful of fluff/ 2/3 teaspoons of sap - well, it's a generally happy story, no angst