KITTENS
Jellylorum was sitting on top of the car in the Jellicle Junkyard, watching the young kittens playing, or sleeping or ... fighting in the junkyard.
She laughed as Bombarulina tried to jump on the Rum Tum Tugger, and he agily sidestepped her, watching her fall down flat on her front, legs splayed everywhere.
"Hey!!!" groaned Bombarulina, semi-angrily "That wasn't very nice!!!"
The Tugger grinned at her and ran off, leaping up the junkyard as fast as his legs could take him.
"Jerrie!!!" a small, accusing voice could be heard across the junkyard.
Jellylorum sighed.
Mungojerrie was leaving his little sister behind again.
"Something up, Jellylorum?" asked Jennyanydots, the Gumbie Cat as she joined Jellylorum ontop of the car.
"Jerrie keeps leaving Rumpelteazer out." replied Jellylorum, watching as Teazer gave up chasing her brother (who was about a month older) and dejectedly crawled around a corner.
Jenny giggled and pointed to poor little Mistoffelees (Misto for short) who was trying to make a piece of metal disappear.
"Concentrate ..." he whispered to himself, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
When he opened them, the piece of metal was still there, but some flowers had appeared around it.
"Aaaw ..."
"Misto? Wotcha doin'?" asked Mungojerrie as he ran over, finally being rid of the burden that was his little sister.
"I'm trying to make this piece of metal disappear." replied Misto, pulling up all of the flowers.
"Can I help?"
"I don't think so."
Misto tried again.
This time, he opened his eyes and it was gone!
He blinked.
"Mungojerrie did you see -" Misto turned to Jerrie, and he was holding the piece of metal.
"Did I help?" he asked brightly.
"No."
Bombarulina, Demeter and Cassandra were all sitting together at the far end of the junkyard - spying on the Tugger.
"Wooooow ..." whispered Bombarulina as the Tugger showed Alonzo how to climb up a straight pole ... only the pole was quite wonky. Bombie had a good view of his rear end, anyway.
Cassandra giggled at Bombie, then joined in with the general process of drooling.
"Guys? do we HAVE to do this?" whined Demeter "Look! Why, all the other cat's have butts too!"
"Ssshh!!!" hissed Bombie as the Tugger's ears pricked.
"OH TUGGER?!!!" yelled Demeter at the top of her young lungs, then she ran away as fast as she could, before Bombarulina could throttle her.
"Oh no ..." whimpered Bombie as the Tugger fell off the top of the pole.
"Are you okay?!" Bombie and Cassandra heard Alonzo desperately asking the Tugger.
The Tugger didn't seem to be okay, infact, he didn't seem to be moving.
"Uh oh!!!" said Cassandra in a low, panicked voice.
"We killed the Tugger!!!" whispered Bombarulina, almost frantic.
"We did?" demanded Cassandra "Demeter killed the Tugger!"
Alonzo turned and ran.
"I'm going to follow him!" declared Cassandra, and silently padded after Alonzo, who was running like a crazed cheetah.
Bombarulina froze.
Then, tentatively crept out of her hiding place, towards the crumpled heap of the Tugger.
As she approached him, she was petrified.
She'd never seen anything so still, unless ... it wasn't alive.
"Tugger?" she squeaked.
Nothing.
She drew in closer and closer, and soon she was right over him.
"Tugger?" she tried again, and managed a stronger voice this time.
Silence.
"Oh no ..." she whimpered sadly.
Just as she was turning to leave, The Tugger sat bolt up right, licked her nose, and dashed off in the direction that Alonzo had gone.
"Wha ...? TUGGER?!!!" roared Bombie, and she took off after him.
Rumpelteazer was lonely. Her big brother kept abandoning her, and the other kittens showed no interest in talking to her at all.
She'd been hiding inside a dank pipe for over an hour, wishing Jerrie would come back and play with her.
Tears began to roll down over her face, and along her whiskers.
She lay there for another long time.
Her coat began to feel damp, from tears and from the tiny dribble of water that was in the pipe.
Teazer sniffled, and curled up as if to sleep.
Mungojerrie, Tumblebrutus, Pouncival, Plato, Misto and Munkustrap were all hanging around near the very back of the Jellicle Junkyard, talking and making fun of each other.
"Shut up!!!" growled Plato, disliking being referred to as "Stuck Up" but the Cockney Jerrie.
"Hey, at least my kid sister doesn't bother me day and night." giggled Tumblebrutus.
Jerrie groaned "Don't REMIND me, I mean can't she find friend of her own?"
Pouncival laughed, and said "Hopefully she'll grow out of it before you find a MATE!!!"
All of them giggled hysterically at the mention of mating.
Munkustrap looked up and said "You know, maybe you shouldn't be so hard on her ... she is only a kitten you know."
Everyone stopped and looked at him for a second, then collapsed into fits of laughter again.
Bombarulina was one the rampage.
If that Tugger thought he could get away with pretending to be DEAD and scaring her half to death and then KISSING her of all things he was in for a shock ...
She rounded a corner, and heard soft crying noises coming from inside a nearby pipe.
She stopped and looked at it curiously, then went to investigate.
Inside the pipe, she saw a young kitten she didn't know very well.
"Hey!!" she meowed "Are you okay?"
The kitten's head snapped up suddenly, and she banged it off the top of the pipe.
The kitten yelped out in pain and sniffled angrily "I was FINE 'til you showed up!!"
Bombie was insulted, and she was about stalk away and continue on her rampage after the Tugger, when the kitten started crying all over again.
"Why are you in there?" Bombie crouched down low.
She was too big to get into the pipe.
"I have nowhere else to be."
"Are you coming out?"
"No."
"Are you stuck?"
"No."
"Okay...um ... what's your name?" Bombie decided this was her last shot at getting the kitten out of the pipe.
"Rumpelteazer."
Bombie stopped "Jerrie's sister?"
This brought on a whole wave of new tears from Rumpelteazer.
"I'll come back later," promised Bombie, and she trotted away, making note to tell Jerrie where his sister was if she saw him in her travels.
"C'mon, Misty!!!" prompted Jerrie "Make it disappear!!!"
"WITHOUT your help, if you please." said Misto flatley.
"I promise!"
Misto concentrated really hard.
This time the wheel WOULD disappear.
He opened his eyes.
The wheel remained ... but Pouncival was gone.
"Uh oh." it seemed the appropriate thing to say in such a situation.
The Rum Tum Tugger needed a hiding place where Bombarulina would NEVER find him, that way he would live to see adulthood
He trotted through the deserted part of the Jellicle junkyard - near the entrance.
He spotted the perfect hiding place - a large, damp looking over turned cardboard box, filled with polystyrene balls.
He giggled as he clambered underneath it and pulled it down over him.
He couldn't see or hear anything.
Suddenly, to his horror, the box lifted.
He was shocked when Bombarulina slid inside with him.
There was definately not room for two inside the box, she was extremely close for comfort.
"Hi..." she whispered and licked his face.
"Hello," replied the Tugger coolly, and licked her face back.
Apparently Bombie wasn't expecting that, she sat back on her haunches suddenly and the weight of both of them turned it right over, so it was facing up the right way.
The kittens landed inside the box with a thud and a tangle of paws and tails.
"Ow!!!" squealed Bombarulina as the Tugger's tail whipped across her eye.
"Sorry!!!" said the Tugger quickly, and tried to get off of her, and just succeeded in making the tangle more difficult to escape from.
Bombie started giggling hysterically.
"What's so funny?" demanded Tugger, his fragile ego taking offense.
"N....nothing ..." gasped Bombie.
Tugger began to see the funny side of it too, and he began to laugh with her.
As they laughed and struggled to pull apart, the box burst, sending them and a sea of polystyrene skidding across the junkyard.
Bombarulina giggled, and licked Tugger's nose again.
This time, he seemed less likely to either return the gesture or continue with the strange game they were playing.
He pulled away.
"Don't you go telling this to anyone!" he growled.
Bombie was hurt.
"Why not?"
"Just ... don't. It's not cool to ... to ..." he struggled with the best way to place his words.
"Alright." agreed Bombie, deciding something "But you better not play anymore tricks on me, buster!"
"Promise!!!" he held up his right paw angelically.
Pouncival panicked, one second he'd been standing there, laughing with the other boys, then he was suddenly underneath the car in the junkyard.
As he blinked a few times, and tried to come to terms with his disorientation, he over heard Jellylorum talking to Jennyanydots.
"...poor little kitten..." he heard.
Who were they talking about? What had happened?
"I know," Jennyanydots agreed "I would really like to shake that little menace she call's a brother sometimes!!!"
Huh? Pouncival thought for a few seconds.
They must be talking about Jerrie's sister.
"I can't think where Teazer gotten to all day! She disappeared this morning, after Mungojerrie ran away from her."
Pouncival decided on two things.
One: He wasn't going to play with Misto again until he learned to control his magic, and two: He was going to be a detective!
Case one - Find Teazer!
He crept out from beneath the car, and slipped away unseen.
Demeter was still vaguely angry at Bombarulina for being so ... crazy over the rum Tum Tugger.
She and Jemima were helping Jellylorum out by giving her a break from taking care of the youngest kittens.
They were only nine days old.
Demeter and Jemima were proud that Jellylorum trusted them enough to stay with the kittens.
"What's this one's name?" asked Jemima, indicating a brownish-striped cat.
"Um ... Etcetera I think."
"Oh, and this one who looks just like her?"
"That's Electra."
"That's a pretty name. not as stupid as Jemima..." Jemima smiled.
"DEMETER!!!" Bombie's LOUD voice was heard all over the junkyard.
"Sssh!" growled Demeter softly "The kittens are ASLEEP."
"Sorry!" whispered Bombarulina "But listen to this ..."
Jerrie, Munkustrap, Misto, Plato and Tumblebrutus stared numbly at the spot where Pouncival had been.
"You stoopid idiot!!!" mewed Jerrie.
"I know! But i'm not very GOOD yet and I'm sure he'll come right back ..."whispered Misto hoarsley, trying to convince himself as well as the others.
Pouncival clambered around the bits of junk, sniffing carefully.
He couldn't smell anything.
Suddenly, as he was letting his imagination lead him into believing that Teazer was dead, or hurt or -
The rusted pram he tried to stand on moved under his weight, and he tumbled noisily down the side of the junkheap.
As his small, chubby body battered against the ground, Pouncival smelled the scent of another cat nearby.
"Ooooh ..." he groaned as he pulled himself together and stood up slowly. If only it didn't have to be so painful...
He followed his trail to a nearby pipe.
That can't be right ... no kitten big enough to walk could fit into the pipe.
He checked anyway, and sure enough, a very small, still calico kitten lay in there.
"Hey ...?" he whispered "Hey c'mon it's freezing out here!"
The kitten must have been asleep.
"Teazer?" he reached his paw into the pipe, and prodded the kitten.
She moved, but only under the pressure from his paw.
He carefully extended his claws, and hooked them into her collar, dragging her gently out.
When he got her out of the pipe, Teazer's eyelids fluttered ever so slightly.
"Are you sick?" asked Pouncival, hoping for an answer.
"I've .... just ... gotta ... stay alseep ...." she whispered in a scratchy voice which was almost inaudible.
"Why?"
"Stay ... asleep ... for Jerrie ..." the kitten closed her eyes tightly and lay in the same position pouncival had left her in.
"Oh no!!!" Pouncival's mind was racing. He decided he better find help. "Stay here!" he instructed Teazer.
Pouncival ran as fast as he could to the car.
"JELLYLORUM!!!!! JELLYLORUM!!!!" he screeched as he galloped full tilt "JELLYLORUM!!!"
"What is it, Pouncival? what's wrong?" asked Jellylorum, immediately thinking that something had happened to the kittens.
"I found this kitten in a pipe waaay over there! and she's like ... freezing cold, and not moving very much! I think it's Jerrie's sister!!!"
Jellylorum leapt into action.
"Pouncival! Take me to her! Alonzo! Exotica! Cassandra! Find Mungojerrie! tell him his sister is in the car in the junkyard and she is unwell!" Jellylorum and Pouncival ran back to Rumpelteazer.
Teazer hadn't moved a muscle since Pouncival had left her.
"Rumpelteazer?" murmured Jellylorum as she scooped up the tiny kitten. Pouncival was right, she was very cold, but still alive.
Jellylorum carried her back to the car.
All the cats gathered around the car, waiting as Jellylorum and Jennyanydots tried to warm up Rumpelteazer.
Bombarulina was in tears.
She sat next to the Tugger, but not close enough so that it wasn't cool.
"I saw her HOURS ago!!! I could have gotten her out! or told someone that she was sleeping in a damp pipe!! If she dies it'll be all my fault!!!"
The Rum tum Tugger awkwardly put his arm around her, she buried her head in his fur, still sobbing.
All by himself, away from the crowd, lay Mungojerrie.
He knew it was his fault Teazer had gone off on her own. He should have taken her with him, or made sure she had someone else to play with or...or took her home or ... anything!
He pricked up his ears as Jellylorum resurfaced from inside the car.
"She's going to be alright, but she's very tired. And lonely. Never before have I seen such a lonely child, and I'm ashamed of each and every one of you for not noticing! Mungojerrie?"
Jerrie lifted his head dejectedly.
"Come in here, please, I want you to stay with your sister."
Mungojerrie stood, and went to the car.
As he watched his baby sister sleep he swore he would never leave her again.
And he never did.
THE END
Disclaimer: I gain no money or any other form of profit from this fanfiction. The characters do not belong to me.