The Jellicle Oath

Chapter One – Pekes and Pollicles

A loud squeal filled the junkyard, followed by an indignant "Rumsy! Don't do that! I almost fell!" A small Maine Coon poked his head out of a disposed tire, laughing as he did so.

"Don't do what? Scare you? You're such a 'fraidy-cat Sanza!" Almost as soon as the words tumbled out of his mouth, a tiny white kitten resembling a ball of fluff landed on the larger kitten's back. "Argh, get off me! Everlasting Cat, your claws are sharp! Get off Sanza or I'll tell Jenny!"

A soft chuckling could be heard from behind the two. "And what will you tell her Tugger? That you spooked Sanza and almost made her fall off the rubbish pile?" The speaker, one of the older kittens in the junkyard, was a black and white cat who had situated himself quite comfortably on an old wooden rocking chair. "Anyway, where's your other partner in crime? Isn't he usually present to break up any of your little spats?"

The adolescent stood and slowly stretched, still stiff from his afternoon nap. He jumped from the chair and padded slowly towards the two troublemakers, yawning as he did so. "It's odd. I don't think I've actually ever seen you two without him. What gives?"

"Oh," the smallest of the three squeaked, "I think I hear Jenny calling us, right Rumsy?" nudging her friend in what looked to be a conspiring way. The cat in question quickly straightened up his posture, nodding his head rapidly.

"Yeah, I think so. Quick, let's hurry before she gets annoyed with us!" They ran off quickly, but not without yelling a departing farewell to their elder. They seemed to trust that he wouldn't tell one of the older cats of their quarrel. Alonzo merely raised an eyebrow at their antics, his whiskers twitching in amusement. The black and white tom was again alone, left to figure out the kitten's mischievous expressions as well as the whereabouts of the third member of the tiny trio. Alonzo scratched his head with a dusty paw. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Munkustrap at all that day. Somewhat worried, Alonzo stalked out of the small clearing and into a much larger one in order to have a look around for the missing kit.

A cold voice stopped him in his tracks. "Oi! Alonzo! Where are ya' goin'? Me and Mac were about to find some rats to mess with. Want to join us?" The speaker, a strong white tom commonly referred to as Octavius, was Sanza's older and more volatile brother. His face, though still retaining some soft fur from his kittenhood, was set in a permanent sneer which often brought about trouble. Unlike his sister, Octavius had a dark nature which, when paired with Macavity, was a force to be reckoned with. The only similar quality the two siblings shared was their white coat and fluffy tails.

Alonzo turned slowly, as if to prolong the time he had in which he didn't have to look at Octavius' face. When faced with the pair he noticed that the quieter of the two, Macavity, had what looked like a large decapitated rat in his mouth. Inwardly shuddering, Alonzo declined their invitation, still wanting to search for the missing kitten.

"Have you guys seen Munkustrap by any chance? It's odd, he's always playing with Sanza and Tugger but today he's nowhere to be found," Alonzo inquired the two cats politely, not wanting to cause any trouble.

Hearing this, Macavity spoke for the first time, the dead rat still hanging from his jaws. "That little runt? Nah, we haven't seen the waste of space since last night when I gave him a bollocking. The little wuss is probably crying somewhere, upset that he's too much of a wimp to become the Jellicle protector." He spoke with a mocking tone, "You know, it's so embarrassing having a twit like him in the family."

Alonzo laughed nervously at the juveniles, shakily nodding his head. "Right, well I best be off. I promised Cassandra that I would visit her today and I don't want a repeat of what happened last week when I forgot." The duo laughed heartily at this statement and bid their farewells, finishing with an "If you see my brother, give him a wallop around the head for me!"

With a heaving sigh, Alonzo walked to an old couch where Cassandra was usually found, intending on getting her to help him with his search.

On the other side of the clearing, two impish kittens were crawling through a large pipe towards a TSE1, a car that had clearly been in the junkyard much longer than the kits. As they slinked through the pipe, the only sound that could be heard was the soft pad of their paws against the concrete and their somewhat muffled breathing. The pipe helped to both conceal the kits from the prying eyes of their elders, as well as shading them from the overbearingly bright sun which was generally an uncommon occurrence in the United Kingdom.

A quiet voice then spoke up, almost destroying the harmonious silence. "Rumsy," the kitten whispered with a tinge of fear in her voice. The tom remained silent, provoking Sanza into repeating his name in a louder and more persistent voice.

"RUMSY!" The Maine Coon whipped his head around and glared at the young Turkish Angora, whilst wondering how such a loud noise could come from such a small creature. He mumbled an incoherent response as turned back around and discretely poked his head out of the pipe. The kitten, determined not to be ignored, silently came up beside the tom, conveniently placing her muzzle beside his ear and yelled, "RUM TUM TUGGER!" The male kitten jumped up, almost hitting the roof of the pipe, his fur on end and claws unsheathed.

The kitten let out loud peals of laughter following Tugger's reaction to her scare whilst he, in an attempt to regain some of his lost dignity, turned his face away from her and lifted his nose in disdain.

"Anyway," started the young queen, after regaining some of her composure, "I just wanted to know, well, er, do you think he's okay?" The kit seemed fearful, looking around wildly before continuing. "He's the only one of us who's been out of the junkyard alone, and he didn't tell any of the elders! What if a pollicle gets him..or..or maybe Macavity will find out and.."

Tugger abruptly cut her off, quashing her worries. "He'll be fine Sanza, he just wanted to let off some steam. You know how he gets after Macavity picks on him. He's a tough kit. Why're you so scared anyway? He's been out there before. Maybe not without one of the elders, but he'll be able to handle himself. He isn't stupid!" The larger kitten pulled his ears back slightly in annoyance before finishing. "If anything, he'll be able to handle it better than both of us put together."

Looking at him through large, tearful green eyes, Sanza sniffled then straightened up, wiping all sadness from her face with a large grin. "He might be able to handle it better than you, but not me! You couldn't scare away a pollicle!" She giggled somewhat hysterically and then said, "Well, you couldn't scare him away with your claws, but definitely with your face!"

The tom pulled an affronted face before snapping back at the kitten. "My face is perfect! You're just jealous because you're a hideous little beast! Besides," he added childishly, "A pollicle would eat you like the little rodent you are; you're no match for one of them. Now, be quiet! We don't want to be caught by Jelly or Jenny." The white kit huffed in response and stuck her head out of the pipe, deeming a crouching position.

"Quick Sanz, the coast is clear! Just follow my lead." Tugger hastily leapt off the edge of the pipe, jumping onto the TSE1 with grace only a feline could manage. Bounding off the car, closely followed by Sanza, the tom raced through the clearing and disappeared through a small gap in a rubbish pile, large enough only for kittens to shimmy through. The pair leapt out of the pile with renewed vigour after realizing they hadn't yet been caught, running alongside various forgotten items that humans had thrown away in the past. The twosome quickly came across a large wooden fence which had surrounded the junkyard for many generations. It was warped and broken in places, allowing for easy access into and out of the junkyard for smaller cats and kittens. The larger cats, however, would have to either jump the towering barrier, or walk to the front entrance where a Jellicle cat was usually situated during the day.

The kittens, humming with excitement, raced over to the fence and hurriedly shimmied beneath one of the broken panels, only to stand in awe once they escaped the junkyard. They enthusiastically looked around their new surroundings, taking in deep, gulping breaths, as if they were afraid that their new domain would disappear within seconds. Their amazement was short-lived, however, when they heard frantic scampering of paws and vicious barking.

"GET IN! Go back inside!" The speaker was none other than the missing kitten, Munkustrap himself. The kit was on the other side of the road being chased by large, savage pollicles who looked like they wanted nothing more than to eat the poor tabby for lunch. "Go back in! Quick!" The kittens, frozen in shock at the scene, were jerked back to reality and quickly ducked back into the gap in the fence they originally came through.

Sanza, the ever-loyal feline, stuck her head back out of the gap and yelled to her friend, "Cross the road Munkus, you can get in over here!" The cat she was referring to quickly looked across to her, changing his direction as he did so in order for him to get to the opening and to safety. However, in his rush to get back to his friends, the silver and black tabby did not notice the oncoming car. He raced across the road, the ferocious beasts right on his tail, slobbering and snarling behind him. The vehicle was fast approaching but it appeared that the driver had noticed the animals crossing the road, albeit a moment too late. The breaks of the car were put in motion and a loud screeching of tyres ensued, which was followed by a muted thud. When the vehicle finally reached a halt, an elderly man climbed out to observe the damage. With a slight gasp and a soft cooing sound, the man shrugged off his coat and draped it over whatever the car had hit.

"Munkus?" A tiny voice squeaked, "Munkustrap? Are you okay?" Though the growling of the canines had stopped, the kittens were still immensely worried for their friend. "Munkustrap, please answer!" Tugger, who stood in shock, suddenly snapped to attention upon hearing the growing hysteria in the little queen's voice.

"Sanza. Stay here, I'll go check." He walked through the fence for the second time that day, sniffing lightly at the air with his ears back and his coat on end. "Munkustrap?" he called lightly, still treading softly to the vehicle.

"I'm over here Rumsy!" a soft groan was emitted from the kitten who Tugger still could not see. "Everlasting Cat, that was terrifying. One of the pollicles knocked me over when they were trying to get away from the car and I thought it was going to hit into me!" A slight rustling noise could be heard and Munkustrap walked out from behind the human, who incidentally was carrying a dog-sized mound to the back of his car. Tugger gave Munkustrap a once over, and decided that although he was shaking from both fear and exhilaration, he was unharmed.

"MUNKUS! MUNKUS! You're alive! I don't know what I would've done if you weren't." Sanza babbled as she ran over to the toms and looked for any injuries on the tabby. The kittens walked back through the fence and took the long route back to the main clearing. The toms looked at each other in amusement as the queen continued talking, occasionally nudging the silver tabby with her shoulder.

"Why were you being chased anyway Munkus? You told us you'd be careful! We were really worried!" The kitten twitched his tail nervously before launching into his story.

"Well, I was just walking around on the street, minding my own business, when I overheard these huge pollicles talking about something that happened the other night. You know that night when we heard the barking? Well, apparently the big pollicles met up with the little pollicles, who are known as pekes or something like that, and they had this big barking fight! The next bit is the interesting bit though, guess who they mentioned?" Munkustrap took a huge breath at this point and started to grin wildly at his two friends, "They were talking about the Rumpus Cat! Apparently he jumped in and scared all the dogs away!"

At this point, the three kittens had found their way to the main clearing and were walking towards the rusty TSE1, which was often referred to as their spot by the other cats due to the amount of time they spent on, or in it.

"What's that got to do with why they were chasing you?" Tugger questioned, jumping on top of the old car. The other two kittens made their way up and once they comfortably settled themselves, Tugger started to groom himself and Munkustrap continued his tale.

"Well, I think it was 'cause I started laughing when he said that they got scared away! I might have, er, said that pollicles were chickens and afraid of all cats. When they saw me, they had a really mean look in their eyes and they started chasing me. They didn't look so big from further away." The kitten flicked his tail back and forth at the memory, his ears laid back. Upon seeing his reaction, Sanza scooted closer to him and nuzzled him softly with her head until he let out a soft purr.

"Ah, there you are Munkustrap! We've been looking all over for you! Alonzo's been worried sick." Cassandra's soft voice broke through the silence. The Abyssinian was being followed by Alonzo, who had a sheepish look on his face, and their friend Exotica.

"Where have you been?" The black and silver tabby looked towards two of his closest friends before replying with a mysterious smile.

"Oh, I was just exploring."