Tumble on the Thames.
Chapter One.
He didn't remember much about his life before meeting the Bravo Cat; just a few small things such as red and white Big Top's, popcorn and trampoline's – of course he had only been a few days old back then; and when you're that young nothing ever sticks for very long. He remembered what his mother had named him though; during the brief few days he had spent with her – it was Tumblebrutus.
He knew he hadn't been abandoned either. He had fallen out the back of a truck as the tarp flew open and he'd lost his grip as he slid across the floor. The fall out onto the open road had nearly killed him; and the car behind had almost run him over. Blinded by the sunlight and sore he had tiptoed gingerly off the street and taken comfort inside an empty box by the river Thames. He spent three days there – cold, hungry; and lonely.
There wasn't much for him to do except cry; and miss the litter.
On the fourth day he awoke to the sound of a car horn. There were humans scuffling around on the bank nearby; then a heavy THUD as they deposited something by the side of the river. Tumblebrutus kept his head down low and watched them from the safety of his makeshift home. They were throwing old items into the Thames. A broken stove; a box of rolled up magazines, a mattress split straight through the middle; and a pile of wood that could have been a cupboard once upon a time. Tumblebrutus didn't know what these things were; but his curiosity got the better of him; and once the humans were gone he went to investigate.
The broken stove sank into the Thames; but the box floated on the bank for a while and Tumblebrutus found the crumbs of some soggy cake wrapped up in plastic. As hungry as he was he ate most of it; licking the icing mostly, and saved the rest. It was too sugary for his small mouth anyway. Then he found the mattress.
It was soft and bouncy; with its inside springs falling out; and he leapt and skipped across them while laughing. He remembered suddenly, a memory from when he had still been with his mother. One of the humans had taken him on a strange contraption called a trampoline; and together they had bounded high up into the air – so high, in fact, that Tumblebrutus though he might touch the clouds.
Comforted by this memory; Tumblebrutus spent the remainder of the day on the mattress; rolling, jumping, leaping, cart-wheeling and stacking it completely; until he had worn himself out. He returned to the box, with his cake, and silently wept as he fell asleep.
He woke during the night to a chorus of wild laughter and singing.
'Growltiger, yes Growltiger! is the cat upon the Thames! Wherever he and 'is crew go; yerr sure to know 'is name! Oh! Growltiger! Eh! Growltiger!'
Tumblebrutus stumbled out of his box quickly; catching sight of the chorus of cats whose voices rung out loudly in the night. In the middle of the river Thames a barge was being pushed up river by a small tugboat. Upon it were small shipping containers; and dancing around on top of those were cats! Tumblebrutus could barely make out what they looked like; but he had not seen any other creature since he had fallen from the truck. He didn't want to be alone forever; and so with as much strength as his small voice could muster; he meowed and mewled and cried as loudly as he could. He hoped the cats on the barge would hear him.
And they did.
A small boat was pushed off the side of the barge and two cats jumped into it and started rowing across to the shoreline.
'Oi! Landy-legs!' one of the cats called out as they approached, 'oh, he's just a wee lad!'
Tumblebrutus felt his heartbeat quicken as they came closer. One of them shone a flashlight on his small body and he rushed down to the water to greet them. He had been found; he wasn't alone anymore. He felt like crying just thinking about it. He wadded out into the water not caring that his delicate paws would get soaked.
'Ey now! Can yer swim?' the same cat said while laughing; then grabbed Tumblebrutus by the scruff of the neck and pulled him up out of the water, 'why yeh spillin' yer guts out here? What they call yeh?'
'What?' Tumblebrutus replied.
'Yer name! What's yer name!' the cat replied. He was grubby and black with matted fur. His teeth were yellow and his shaggy mane was held off his face with a dirty, red handkerchief. He was nothing like any cat the kitten had seen before; but then again he had only ever seen the litter he was born into.
'Tumblebrutus,' he replied; his voice slightly wavering, 'do you have anything to eat?'
The grubby cat threw back his head and laughed, 'Haha! Yeh hear that?' he cackled to his mate aboard the boat, 'the kit needs some grub! Let's get him back to Growltiger.'
'Righto, Grumbuskin!' the other cat replied; and they started rowing back towards the barge.
Tumblebrutus was dropped down onto the boat and he immediately lost his balance and fell onto his side. He had never been in a boat before; and the rocking and swaying of the strange device left him completely bewildered and amazed. He peered out over the edge into the slowly flowing water and saw his own reflection on its surface. He was small and white; with a large brown patch across his eye. He had never noticed the spot before; and he smiled at himself. He also looked almost as dirty as the grubby cats who had found him.
'Who is Growltiger?' Tumblebrutus asked.
'Eh, you don't know?' the pirate named Grumbuskin replied, 'he's the terror of the Thames! Hahahaha!'
When the small boat came closer to the barge a rope was thrown out to them and Grumbuskin grabbed it in his paws. He tied it to the small boat and they were pulled in. Once close enough an old fishing net was thrown over the side of the barge; resembling a rope ladder. The pirates climbed up by using their claws to stabilize themselves and hold onto the wire. Tumblebrutus, who was being held by the scruff in Grumbuskin's jaws; watched their graceful climbing with curiosity and enthusiasm.
When they came on deck a crowd of equally mangy pirate cats swarmed around them. Tumblebrutus looked at them with wide-eyes and slight fear. He had never seen anything more monstrous than the state of their coats and limbs. One cat was missing a paw; and another had his ears pierced with strange metal studs. One cat had no coat; just flesh and an array of rags and cloths wrapped around his torso. Grumbuskin, compared to them, looked like a gentleman.
The mangy cat dropped him, quite hardly, onto the deck in front of Growltiger. The kitten looked up at the Terror of the Thames with his jaw hanging open in awe. Growltiger was a bravo cat clothed in black, orange, yellow and cream rags. His back legs were wrapped in dirty bandages from some previous scuffle and his paws were scratched and bloody. His coat was torn and seedy and one ear was somewhat missing. His left eye was covered by a bandage; and when he removed the bandage Tumblebrutus nearly yelped in fear; since there was no eye in the socket at all! He was the personification of a nightmare Tumblebrutus might have had long ago; and it left him silent and still.
'Well, well well,' said Growltiger with a guttural laugh, 'what 'ave we 'ere?' He bent down to grin at the small kitten; and there was a smell of dead tuna in his sleazy breathing. The fur on the back of Tumblebrutus' neck stood on end.
'A new deck hand!' Grumbuskin said with a grin, 'Tumblebrutus.'
Growltiger picked up the kitten and rotated him in his large paws as though he were scrutinizing a gem that could have been phony. The other cats milled around him curiously; touching the kittens soft coat and pointing at the brown patch across his eye. They seemed to find it interesting.
'Yarr gonna be jus' fine 'ere!' Growltiger boomed loudly; dropping the kitten and ruffling up his fur, 'get the kit somethin' to eat!' he gave a hearty laugh as one of the cats ran off to grab some food and grinned broadly at Tumblebrutus, 'welcome to me barge!' Growltiger growled, 'yer one of us now!'
Author's Note: In "Growltiger's Last Stand" Tumblebrutus is mentioned only slightly; but as I usually do; I'm going to take that small reference and turn it into a story. Hope you like it so far! By the way; when you choose options for who appears in your fic; there's an option for Griddlebone but not Growltiger! Wierd, right? I was deeply offended! Haha.