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Buckaroo loved trading stories with Christopher and his daddy Eddie, the alley cats who lived in the alley behind the 118, where Buckaroo was the fire dog. He loved to hear about their day.
Christopher was a little down, today, because he was having trouble learning how to pounce. Buckaroo didn't understand, because his daddy was teaching him, and Buckaroo had known from their very first meeting that Eddie was very good at pouncing.
Still one of Buckaroo's very favorite things was helping his friends, and if Christopher wanted to learn how to pounce, well Buckaroo wanted to help him figure it out.
As a dog Buckaroo didn't do much pouncing. He learned early on that a big dog pouncing led to lots of broken things and unhappy humans, so he was hardly an expert on the subject. Luckily he had an expert pouncer as one of his best friends.
He waited until it was time for Christopher to settle in and eat his share of Captain Bobby's yummy food. While he was busy chasing a meatball around his bowl, Buckaroo was sharing his kibble with Eddie.
"Christopher wants to be the very best pouncer, just like his daddy." Buckaroo said, between bites of yummy kibble. "Could you teach me the secrets of pouncing, so we can help him do his very best?"
Eddie was quiet as he crunched his share of kibble. "Christopher's paws are turned just a little more than some other cat's paws. Because of his twisty paws, Christopher has a little trouble with jumping, and jumping is a very important step in pouncing."
Christopher, who'd caught and ate his meatball, was wiggling with joy. "Captain Bobby makes the best food." He said while Eddie cleaned the extra sauce off his face.
Buckaroo loved it when someone realized how great his humans were, and he stretched out and wagged his tail in joy. Christopher watched him, and then scrunched his own tail end down and wagged his tail in perfect imitation.
Buckaroo looked at Eddie, and Eddie looked at Buckaroo, then they both looked at Christopher with the same idea.
"Christopher, could you get down real low and then wag your tail again, and then at the very end jump for us?"
Christopher got really low on his front paws, and he put his tail end high in the air, and he wound it up nice and tight, and then jumped. He didn't just jump he made a perfect pounce.
Eddie and Buckaroo both cheered.
From then on, pouncing and bouncing were one of Christopher's favorite things. One day pouncing and bouncing sent him on a very big adventure.
Now if there was one thing that cats and kittens like more than pouncing, its taking nice long naps, especially in a sunbeam. And if there was one spot Christopher longed to sleep in, it was a sunbeam that always fell right on the top of the fire truck.
That perfect napping spot was very high up, but Chris was a very smart kitten, and he had been learning all the bounces and pounces that would finally take him to that one perfect sunbeam.
It took Chris ten whole bounces and pounces to get to that perfect spot, and by the time he'd bounced and pounced that many times Christopher was very tired. He curled right up in that perfect spot and took a nap.
While Christopher was sleeping, the 118 got a call, and all the firefighters and Buckaroo climbed into the firetruck and went out into the city to help people.
Buckaroo was very happy. Not only was he going out into the city to help people, but they were going to the zoo, which meant he got to help other animals too. Maybe once he helped them, he could make some new friends.
When they got to the zoo, Officer 'thena let them know what the problem was. A very big tiger had jumped out of its cage, because even big cats like bouncing and pouncing.
Buckaroo and his humans searched the zoo for the tiger. Buckaroo found him first. The tiger was growling at a grumpy looking man who was sitting up a tree.
"Hi there, my name's Buckaroo and I'm a fire dog. Who are you and why are you so mad at that human."
"My name is Coby, the tiger, and that human was very mean to me. He came to my zoo and then threw things at the animals." The tiger said, grouchy. "So I jumped out of my cage to give him a really big scare."
Buckaroo nodded, because any human that was mean to animals needed a really big scare in Buckaroo's book. "He looks pretty scared, so maybe just one more good roar, and then we can go find the zookeeper and get you back home." Buckaroo offered.
Coby let out his very best roar, and suddenly Christopher, was standing in front of Buckaroo. "You don't get to roar at my Buckaroo, he's my very best friend." Christopher said, puffing himself up to his very biggest and fluffiest self.
"You're absolutely right. There is no call for me to roar at such a very good fire dog, like your friend Buckaroo. He must be a very good fire dog to have such a big strong cat as a friend." Coby offered, before turning his tail towards the mean human and walking along next to Buckaroo and Christopher to find the zookeeper.
Once the trio found the zookeeper and Coby laid down to wash his paw and wait to be shown the way back to his home, Buckaroo went about figuring out how to get Christopher back to the firehouse.
No matter how many good bounces and pounces, Buckaroo was not letting him ride back to the firehouse on the top of the truck in his new favorite napping spot. Instead, when all his humans were ready to go back to the 118, Buckaroo picked Christopher up by the scruff and did his best leap into the truck.
Christopher and Buckaroo told Eddie all about their adventure, and he was very proud of both of them for helping, and for being brave.
And really what other fire house dog and alley cat could say they had a tiger for a friend?