The Super Team's Worst Mission

The Super Team had their headquarters in a treehouse behind Maya's house. It wasn't a fancy treehouse. One of the walls was really just a bedsheet nailed to a branch. But it had a rope ladder, a bucket for pulling up snacks, and a sign that said "SUPER TEAM HQ" in wobbly red letters.

Maya was the leader. She wore a cape made from a bath towel and carried a walkie-talkie that only worked sometimes.

Devin was the inventor. He kept his pockets full of rubber bands, paper clips, and things he called "gadgets" but were mostly just rubber bands and paper clips.

And Lily was the lookout. She had binoculars — real ones — that her grandpa gave her. She was very proud of them.

On Tuesday morning, Maya called an emergency meeting.

"Team," she said, standing as tall as she could. "Mrs. Hoffman's cat, Butterscotch, is stuck in the big oak tree on Maple Street. She's been up there since yesterday. Mrs. Hoffman is very worried. This is our mission."

Devin saluted. Lily looked through her binoculars even though Maya was standing three feet away.

"Let's move out!" Maya said.

They rode their bikes to Maple Street. Well — they tried to ride their bikes to Maple Street.

Maya's bike chain popped off before they even reached the corner.

"No problem," said Devin. "I can fix it." He pulled out a rubber band and a paper clip. He fiddled with the chain for a long time. Grease got all over his fingers, then his shirt, then somehow his forehead.

The chain went back on. Then it popped off again.

"I'll just walk my bike," Maya sighed.

So the Super Team walked their bikes to Maple Street, which took four times as long and was not very super.

When they got there, Lily lifted her binoculars and pointed them up at the big oak tree.

"I see Butterscotch!" she announced. "She's way, way, WAY up there."

The cat was a round orange puffball wedged between two high branches. She looked down at them and meowed. It was a very grumpy meow.

"Okay," said Maya. "Plan A. Devin, the ladder."

Devin had brought a folding step stool from his garage. He unfolded it beneath the tree and climbed to the top step. He stretched his arms up as high as they would go.

Butterscotch was still about a million feet above his fingertips.

"Plan A is not working," Devin reported.

"I can see that," said Maya.

"Plan B," said Maya. "We'll stack things."

They found a recycling bin and two milk crates by the curb. They stacked them on top of the step stool. It was the wobbliest tower in the history of towers.

Maya climbed up. The whole stack leaned left. Then right. Then left again.

"Be careful!" Lily squeaked.

Maya stretched one hand toward the branch. Butterscotch looked at her, yawned, and climbed one branch higher.

"Are you KIDDING me?" Maya said.

The tower wobbled one final time, and everything crashed down. Maya tumbled onto the grass and rolled to a stop against a fire hydrant.

She was fine. Her pride was not.

"Plan C," Maya said, brushing grass off her cape. "Devin, use a gadget."

Devin rummaged through his pockets. He pulled out three rubber bands, two paper clips, a piece of string, and half a granola bar.

"I'll build a grappling hook," he said confidently.

He tied the paper clips to the string and flung it up at the tree.

It went about two feet in the air and landed on Lily's shoe.

"That's the worst grappling hook I've ever seen," Lily said.

"It's the only grappling hook you've ever seen," Devin said.

"Still the worst."

They sat on the curb. Nobody said anything for a minute.

Butterscotch meowed again from the tree. It sounded like she was complaining about them.

"Maybe we're not a very good super team," Maya said quietly.

"My binoculars work great," Lily offered. "I can see her whiskers. She looks annoyed."

"That doesn't help us get her down, Lily."

"I know. I'm just saying. My part is going fine."

Maya put her head in her hands. Devin ate the half granola bar.

Then Lily said, "Wait. What if we're thinking about this wrong?"

"What do you mean?" asked Maya.

"We keep trying to go UP to the cat. What if we make the cat want to come DOWN?"

They all looked at each other.

"What does Butterscotch like more than anything?" Lily asked.

"Tuna fish," Maya said slowly. "Mrs. Hoffman told me Butterscotch goes completely bonkers for tuna fish."

"Devin," Lily said. "Do you have anything in those pockets that smells like tuna?"

"No! Why would I — okay wait, actually…" He pulled out a small zip-lock bag. "Tuna sandwich from yesterday's lunch. I forgot about it."

Maya and Lily stared at him.

"What?" he said. "My pockets are deep."

Maya took the very squished, very smelly tuna sandwich and unwrapped it at the base of the tree. The smell floated upward.

Nothing happened at first.

Then Butterscotch's nose twitched.

Her ears perked forward.

She meowed — but this was a different meow. An interested meow.

Slowly, carefully, one branch at a time, the round orange puffball began climbing down. Her eyes were locked on that sandwich like it was made of gold.

"It's working!" Devin whispered.

"Nobody move," Maya whispered back.

They stood perfectly still. Butterscotch made it to the lowest branch, then the trunk, then she dug her claws into the bark and half-slid, half-scrambled the rest of the way down. She landed on all four paws, waddled straight to the sandwich, and started eating it like she hadn't seen food in a hundred years.

Maya gently scooped her up — tuna and all — and the team walked to Mrs. Hoffman's house.

Mrs. Hoffman opened the door and burst into happy tears when she saw Butterscotch.

"My baby! Oh, my sweet girl! You found her!" She hugged the cat, then hugged Maya, then hugged Devin (who still had grease on his forehead), then hugged Lily and her binoculars.

"Thank you, thank you, THANK you," Mrs. Hoffman said. "How did you do it? Was it hard?"

The Super Team looked at each other.

Maya had grass stains on her cape. Devin's pockets were empty for the first time in his life. Lily's binoculars were smudged with cat hair.

"Piece of cake," Maya said.

On the walk back, they were quiet for a while. The good kind of quiet.

"So," Devin said. "The bike chain broke."

"Yep," said Maya.

"The step stool was too short."

"Yep."

"The tower collapsed. The grappling hook was a disaster. And we rescued the cat with a forgotten tuna sandwich from my pocket."

"Yep."

Devin grinned. "Best mission ever?"

Maya laughed. Then Lily laughed. Then they were all laughing so hard they had to stop walking.

"Best mission ever," Maya agreed.

They climbed back up to headquarters, pulled up a bucket of juice boxes, and Devin added a tally mark to the wall under the words: MISSIONS COMPLETED.

It was their first tally mark.

It would not be their last.