{"id":2827,"date":"2025-11-02T15:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T22:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2025-11-02T15:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T22:06:08","slug":"jonnylad-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/02\/jonnylad-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonnylad Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Start or end your story with a cat or another animal stuck in a tree.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou dope! You climbed up there \u2014 if your ass wasn\u2019t so big you can\u2019t see around it, you could back down the same way you went up.\u201d Ada buttoned up her heavy canvas jacket and put the hood over her head. Some protection was better than nothing against the claws of a frightened jonnylad. With a heavy sigh, she set up the ladder to climb up to the critter\u2019s level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since the introduction of genetically modified pecan trees to the colony, Ada and the other animal control officers spent an inordinate amount of time and effort to get the rear-heavy native fauna called jonnylads out of trees when the flowers bloomed. They were well adapted to the native \u201ckakkle\u201d plants, in that climbing to the plant\u2019s flower caused the stem to droop to a level where they could just step off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As nectarivores, they were attracted by the sweet smell of the pecan flowers. As one of the most important natural pollinators they were protected by colony law. Their real protection, however, came from the fact that they were almost painfully cute. They had soft, thick, silky, light tan fur with darker points at the nose and tail, and white rings around oversized eyes in a small face, with triangular ears that gave fennec foxes a run for their money. This was paired with a body plan that included narrow shoulders, widening to powerful hips and long hind legs they used to jump away from danger. Their zygodactyl paws had four long claws for both grasping and defense. The way they climbed or moved over rough terrain reminded her of a chameleon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The animal control office was trying to get tree owners to add a metal sleeve on the trunks of their pecan trees that prevented animals of any sort from climbing. While the orchards had adopted the practice, some landscapers and many homeowners were against it, calling it an eyesore, saying it ruined the aesthetic of their carefully planned gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ada pulled on her gloves and climbed the ladder with slow, deliberate movements, talking in a soothing, low voice. \u201cIt\u2019s okay, little one. I\u2019m going to get you down, so don\u2019t freak out. We\u2019re friends now, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she climbed closer to the jonnylad it began to whine. Its plaintive distress cry, somewhere between the squeak of a guinea pig and the call of a loon, was well-known in the colony. Jonnylads were not exactly a brain trust, and they had a habit of getting themselves into situations that they found distressing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ada reached a slow hand to the frightened creature. From the close proximity she could tell it was a female. \u201cCome on, girl. Let\u2019s get you down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No sooner had her glove touched the critter than it squealed once and leapt off its perch onto Ada\u2019s head and shoulders. Rear claws dug into and through her jacket, front claws grasped her hood and small clumps of her hair within. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Careful not to call out from the pain, Ada kept talking to the frightened jonnylad and made her way down the ladder. Once on the ground, she knelt and leaned forward until her head was on the ground, putting the jonnylad in the sort of position she\u2019d be in had she climbed a native plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jonnylad moved off Ada to the ground. Once there, however, instead of running off as it usually would, it sat on the Earth-originated grass lawn and mewled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ada finally got her first close look at the creature. The fur directly below the eyes was stained with dark tears that pointed at a possible illness or allergic reaction. One of her front paws looked swollen, and when Ada carefully picked her up, she could feel how thin she was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, this poor girl is unwell. I\u2019ll have to take her to the shelter and call the vet.\u201d Ada turned toward the homeowner. \u201cCall the shelter, and they\u2019ll send someone around to put sleeves on your trees at no cost to you. And before you complain about the looks, they\u2019re the same color as pecan bark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She put the jonnylad in a crate in her truck before going back for the ladder. As she carried it back, Ada fired off a parting shot to the homeowner. \u201cIf one of us has to come back to get another animal out of one of your unsleeved trees, you\u2019ll be billed for our time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ada carried the frightened animal into the shelter\u2019s veterinary bay. \u201cIs doc around?\u201d she called out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m right here.\u201d The veterinarian was a thirty-something man with a boyish face and ready giggle. He looked into the carrier and cooed at the jonnylad. \u201cOh, goopy eyes, do you have a cold? And is that a booboo on your foot?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued to baby talk the animal as he opened the crate and lifted her out. There was something in his demeanor and how he handled her that kept her calm, and saved his bare arms and hands covered only by surgical gloves from claws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pulled a pecan blossom petal from the fur inside her ear. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t belong here. I guess we\u2019ll call you Petal.\u201d He pulled out a tube of artificial nectar, opened it, and laid it on the table near her nose where she could lap at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe seems skinny,\u201d Ada said. \u201cHer back claws work pretty good, though.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you need me to sew you up?\u201d he asked. \u201cI can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNah, I think I\u2019ll be fine. What seems to be her trouble?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, aside from an injured foot we\u2019ll have to x-ray to make sure nothing\u2019s broken, nothing too serious.\u201d He rubbed at the base of the animal\u2019s ears. \u201cThe reason she\u2019s skinny is she\u2019s a recent mama. She sat her eggs until, I would guess, just a couple days ago. There should be some kits near the area you found her. Just in time for the kakkle blooms.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the eye goop?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll run a culture to be sure, but I would guess a minor respiratory virus. After not eating until the eggs hatch, her immune system is weakened.\u201d He continued scratching at the base of Petal\u2019s head. \u201cI won\u2019t be able to get an x-ray until tomorrow, but we\u2019ll keep little Petal here until she\u2019s healed up and back to full weight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ada stroked the half-asleep jonnylad. \u201cThanks, doc. I\u2019m on the overnight shift tonight, so I can check in on her overnight. If anything seems worse, I\u2019ll call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo I need to worry about how much she eats? If I give her too much at once, will it hurt her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese amazing little guys don\u2019t get refeeding syndrome in the wild after sitting their eggs, but there\u2019s all the electrolytes they need in the artificial nectar anyway.\u201d The vet smiled. \u201cI\u2019d recommend giving her as much as she\u2019ll eat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do that, then. If we\u2019re all done, I can put her in a kennel and finish the paperwork.\u201d Ada picked up Petal, careful of her injured foot. \u201cAt least I\u2019ll have someone to talk to tonight.\u201d Petal gave a half-hearted squeak of the sort that earned the jonnylads their odd name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSinging jonnylad, Petal?\u201d the vet asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always thought it sounded like \u2018not me mad,\u2019\u201d Ada said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vet looked at Ada with narrowed eyes. \u201cNow I\u2019m going to always hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re welcome. Let\u2019s get you into your bed for the night, little Petal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Start or end your story with a cat or another animal stuck in a tree. available at Reedsy \u201cYou dope! You climbed up there \u2014 if your ass wasn\u2019t so big you can\u2019t see …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-JB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2828,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions\/2828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}