"I can climb right up to the top!", Etcetera was glaring indignantly at Pouncival . They were stood in front of a huge mound of discarded furniture, bits of old wood, car tyres and general rubbish in a distant corner of the Junkyard.
"I bet you can't," Pouncival glared back challengingly.
Etcetera sulked, "I'll prove it to you!" and she leapt onto a nearby chair and began to make her way slowly up the massive pile of junk.
Feeling slightly less sure about the idea now his sister was actually climbing on the rubbish and thinking how high it looked Pouncival called up, "Be careful, Etcetera! Don't fall."
She turned and laughed. "I'm not going to fall. When do I ever fall when climbing?" She was still quite close to the ground so she still felt very confident that it would be easy.
Pouncival bit his lip and watched her with a worried expression on his face. She was making steady progress and was already a third of the way up when Victoria joined him. "What's going on?", she asked.
"I dared Etcetera to climb to the top of that pile." Pouncival looked guilty.
"What? Why? She could fall," Victoria almost shrieked, "Etcetera, come down before you slip and hurt yourself!"
Etcetera turned and waved to them. She couldn't really hear what Victoria was saying so she turned back to the rubbish she was balancing on. Sitting on an old tin bath Etcetera considered her next move. Above her was some rusty metal object she couldn't identify that stuck out further than the bath she was crouching on so she wouldn't be able to jump straight up. The little kitten looked to her right. No way up there. It was a nasty looking drop all the way to the bottom of the pile. It would have to be left then Electra thought to herself and she shuffled along her perch until she was at the edge. From there she clawed her way up an old rug. As she had almost reached the top of the rug and was stretching her paw out to catch hold of a plank of wood the rug ripped. With a scream Etcetera fell.
"Etcetera!", Pouncival and Victoria shouted far below her.
Fortunately for Etcetera there was a tyre of a lorry below her. She only fell a few feet before she landed on it. Shaking she stood up and looked about her. The little queen breathed a sigh of relief. No harm done. She looked down at her friends and grinned. "I bet that gave them a fright," she thought and to Victoria and Pouncival's horror she began to climb again.
"Etcetera, come back! I believe you can get to the top!", Pouncival shouted up but she couldn't even hear that her was calling let alone what he was saying. Pouncival turned to Victoria, "We have to go up and get her back!"
"Don't be stupid. We can't or we might fall too," Victoria pointed out.
By now Etcetera was over halfway up and feeling very smug and pleased with herself. She would show them all how good she was at this. Then they wouldn't make fun of her again. She jumped onto a slippery, wet chair and had to dig her claws in to not fall again. Maybe she should concentrate on where she was going not on gloating, she thought, after all she wasn't at the top yet.
The higher she got the more nervous Etcetera felt and she had soon forgotten to feel smug. Below her, her friends looked very small and far away and it was windy and cold up there and in places almost impossible to climb. She wished she had just let it go and ignored her brother. Why was she always getting herself into situations like this? She was just considering going back and giving up when she jumped onto a table with two missing legs and a cracked top and saw the top a the stack just a few leaps above her. "I knew I could do it!", she cheered at thin air and sprang up onto a bucket. She then jumped up past a broken door and onto a stack of newspapers right at the top of the mound. As she jumped the bucket she had been stood on went clattering and bouncing of towards the ground. It hit the table and dislodged it so that it began to slide downwards taking smaller items with it. This collection of rubbish hit a washing machine and sent it crashing off taking everything around it as well. Before Etcetera had time to celebrate reaching the top or even to look down at her friends the rubbish she was sat on began to slip sideways. Etcetera screamed and jumped for the table she had been stood on moments ago clawing at it to try and stop herself from falling but it was no longer there.
"Etcetera!", Victoria screamed and went to jump forwards but Pouncival grabbed her and pulled her back just in time before a tyre as big as the kittens themselves landed just where Victoria had been stood. "Etcetera!", they shouted and screamed but they couldn't see the little kitten. She was hidden from view by falling rubbish. All Pouncival and Victoria could do was flee to a safe distance and hope their friend would be ok. Alerted by the crashing Jemima and Electra who had been playing nearby ran up and in a hysterical voice Victoria told them what was going on. They looked on in horror as the whole pile collapsed.
Etcetera gasped and coughed. She was squashed under something hard and heavy but she was alive and that was the main thing after a fall like that. She tried to turn her head but could barely move at all. As far as she could see there was junk on all side of her and she seemed to be lying on something soft that had probably saved he life. She had fallen to the right so Etcetera calculated she must have gone over the edge of the big drop she hadn't been able to climb up. That meant she must be quiet close to the ground she hoped and so might be rescued. She struggled to move and as she did so felt a pain in her side. She couldn't look round but could feel that the fur was warm and sticky. "I must be bleeding," Etcetera thought, "I do hope they find me soon."
"She was sliding this way when I last saw her," Victoria insisted, "Move all the rubbish! Find her!" The kittens spread out searching.
Under the rubbish Etcetera was staring to feel really ill. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander...
It was a warm sunny afternoon and she was playing with Jemima. They were trying to build a little village out of rubbish. Jemima laughed as Etcetera knocked over one of the houses in her excitement to make a river running through the town out of a bit of blue plastic Admetus had found for them. "You have to be more careful," Jemima told her and picked up the tin can house and put it back in it's place. "I think we've finished," Etcetera said and they stepped back to admire their handiwork beaming at each other. "I have something that will just finish it off nicely," a voice behind them said and they turned to see Jellylorum holding a little pair of battered, old felt cats, "Some cats to live in your village." "Thank you!," Jemima laughed and they each took a toy cat and placed it in the centre of the village by the river. "It's perfect," Etcetera said, "Now let's go and have some food. We missed lunch making this." Jellylorum had spread out a patchwork blanket on the car boot for them and had saved some food so they sat there in the sun eating and laughing.
Etcetera shivered. She was so cold and her whole body hurt. "Please find me," she whispered.
"She's not here!", Jemima sobbed rummaging through stacks of tin cans, "I can't find her."
"Keep looking," ordered Pouncival fiercely. He had cut his paws on broken glass and a brick had fallen on his tail but he just ignored the pain. It was all his fault that Etcetera was hurt or...he couldn't bring himself to think about it.
"Shouldn't we fetch somebody," Electra asked in tears.
"We can't. We don't have time. We have to find her as fast as possible," sniffed Victoria.
While Etcetera's four friends were searching for her she was thinking about them and wishing she was safe with them or that this was just a harmless game of hide-and-seek.
"I've found you!", Pouncival gloated above Etcetera. She was curled up in the bottom of a flowerpot. "Have you found anyone else yet?", she asked Pouncival. He shook his head, "Just you." He smirked down at her. Etcetera frowned. Why was she always the first to be found? It just wasn't fair. She went to clamber out of the flowerpot and found that she couldn't move a muscle. She was stuck. "Pounce, help I'm stuck!", she wailed. Pouncival looked down at her and toppled out of sight laughing. "Come back here, it's not funny," Etcetera called but she was starting to giggle. It was a bit funny. Pouncival's face reappeared over the edge of her prison. He was trying desperately not to laugh but he had tears of laughter streaming down his face. He reached into the pot and grabbed Etcetera's tail in his mouth and pulled. "It's not working,"Etcetera gasped giggling helplessly now. Pouncival lent back and tugged. "Ow!" "Well you shouldn't have gone in there and then I wouldn't have to pull you out, would I?" Suddenly the flowerpot tipped and Etcetera popped out firing Pouncival backward so he landed in a heap. The kittens looked at each other and collapsed in fits of laughter.
Etcetera opened her eyes again. Faintly she could hear a noise through the rubble. It sounded like somebody moving something heavy. "Please let that be somebody looking for me," Etcetera thought. Then very distantly she heard the sound of her sisters voice, "I can't find her! Etcetera! Etcetera! Where are you?" "I'm here," Etcetera tried to call but the dust and dirt had made her throat so dry that she could only croak. "Electra come and help me move this," Etcetera heard Jemima's voice say and she heard Electra moving away from her through the fallen junk. "No! Come back!," she tried to shout but all that came out was a feeble whisper. She closed her eyes again and thought of Electra.
They were in the park, chasing each other round and round the flowerbeds. It was night and everything was bathed in moonlight. Their mother sat watching them smiling at their antics. "I'll race you to the duckpond and back," called Electra and set off running. Etcetera followed as fast as she could. "Be careful," Jellylorum called after them. When they reached the pond Etcetera had almost caught up with Electra but not quite. "I win again," Electra grinned at her little sister. Etcetera had been distracted by a mouse in the grass by the water. "Look," she pointed, "Let's try hunting." The two kittens crouched right down so they were almost lying on the ground and crept nearer and nearer to the mouse. Electra prepared to spring. As she took of Etcetera sneezed, the mouse heard them and fled and Electra misjudged her leap and landed with a shriek in the pond. Electra howled and scrambled out of the water dripping wet and fuming. Etcetera had to struggle to keep a straight face. When Electra saw her biting her lip and trying not to laugh she burst out laughing. Jellylorum came hurrying over. She had heard the scream and was relieved to find both kittens laughing and nobody hurt. She insisted they had to go straight home and all the way back the kittens giggle and re-enacted the falling in the pond scene.
Victoria was pulling aside furniture and rubbish. She thought she heard something moving ahead of her. "Hang on, Etcetera," she whispered, "We're coming."
Etcetera had given up on being found. There was just too much junk, she reflected sadly. She hoped Pouncival didn't feel too guilty and wished she had listened to Victoria who she was sure had been telling her to come down when she hadn't been able to hear her. "Poor Victoria. She worries about us so when we do stupid things like this," Etcetera thought to herself.
Etcetera was balancing along the top of a high brick wall. "Do be careful," fretted Victoria, "That wall is quite high. I really hurt an ankle falling of a wall just like that." "I'm fine, Vic. Come and try it. It's so fun and you get a great view from up here. I won't let you fall," Etcetera called down to her friend. Victoria reluctantly climbed up to join her. "Wow, you do get a great view from here. I can see the whole Junkyard," Victoria said. "I told you so. Now come on let's walk along here. You can jump right down onto our den from just along this wall." Etcetera set off with Victoria following. "What if I fall?" Victoria looked worried. Etcetera turned to look at her. "You won't. Here hold my tail then you can't fall." They wandered on. "Here we are," Etcetera said at last and jumped down off the wall onto their den. "Come on." Victoria shuffled her feet and didn't seem keen to jump. "I won't let you get hurt," promised Etcetera. Victoria jumped and landed beside her. "I did it," she laughed and hugged her friend.
Etcetera thought sadly about how much she loved her friends. She wished she told them more often how much they meant to her. She sighed and her head drooped and she didn't remember anything else.
Pouncival was pulling large planks of wood out the way when he thought he saw the tip of a tail under one of them a little way off. He let out an excited yell and the others came sprinting over. "Look, look! Over there! Quick move this wood!" The kittens began dragging aside the junk as fast as they could not caring that the wood was giving them splinters and that they were breaking their claws on the uneven surface. At last they hauled aside the last plank and saw Etcetera lying beneath it. Her side was sticky with blood but they could see her chest rising and falling so she was clearly still alive. Electra rushed over to her and snuggled up to her sobbing. "It'll be ok, it'll be fine, it'll be ok."
"We have to get her home," Victoria told the others. Pouncival picked Etcetera up and with Victoria's help he struggled towards home.
"We'll run on ahead and get help," called Jemima and she and Electra ran away towards home as fast as their legs would carry them.
Pouncival and Victoria struggled on until they heard paws approaching fast. Their friends had returned with Plato, the first person they could find. He took Etcetera off the kittens and ran back with her the kittens running as fast as possible to keep up. He burst into Jennyanydots' den and put Etcetera down in front of her. "Etcetera has had an accident," Plato told Jennyanydots.
A week later Etcetera slowly opened her eyes and blink at the bright light. Her head hurt and her throat felt rough like sandpaper. "What happened?", she croaked. Jennyanydots came into view above her.
"You're safe now, Etcetera. You had an accident and your friends saved you. Do you remember?"
Etcetera did remember now. She had been so stupid. "Are they all ok?", she whispered.
Jennyanydots smiled. "They're all fine. They have been sat with you since Plato put you in here. They've just fallen asleep."
Etcetera looked to her left and sure enough there were all her friends curled up together.
"You should rest," Jennyanydots told her holding out a bowl of water for her to drink.
Etcetera gratefully had a long drink and rested her head on her paws. She still felt very very tired. She snuggled up to Electra and closed her eyes again. "I have the most amazing friends. I'm glad we're all together," she thought to herself just before she fell asleep.