"Humph," muttered Alonzo. "Why don't you go bother your kitten friends? They can endure it more than I can." The tiny kitten on his back shook her head, smiling her infamous, cheeky smile. "What about Pouncival? I just saw him running to the tier." He asked hopefully. She shook her head again. Alonzo sighed again. He would have to take her off by force and that usually hurt. He rolled to his side, feeling as the miniature claws start to dig into his back. Wincing, he shook her off gently, only to feel the claws dig deeper. Then, without any other choice he ran around in a circle until she finally let go taking some fur with her. Alonzo sped in the opposite direction looking back just to make sure the kitten was alright. Etcetera wandered off in the opposite direction, disappointed by her lack of strength.
Everyone was always busy. The adults were all either looking out for the smallest kittens, or patrolling, or planning the Jellicle Ball. That was coming soon so her friends were all practicing for it. Victoria was paranoid about the mating dance. She was coming to age this year and she was supposed to do the mating dance with Plato. Her fur was constantly frizzing over, every time she heard anything that would remind her of the coming event. Jemima, having the best voice from all the kittens, was practicing with Jenny or Jelly. Electra was not at the Junkyard. She was trying to spend as much time as possible with her human family before the Jellicle Ball, so as to say good-bye. She would be moving here after the ball. And Tumble was practicing his tumbling while Pounce followed him trying to prove he could do anything his older sibling could do.
So Etcetera was alone and bored, not wanting to practice for the ball. She decided to go investigate around the Junkyard; she had never explored beyond her den, and she had always been curious about what lay behind the tall wall of metal junk. She jumped up as high as she could to the ledge of junk that separated the everyday Junkyard from the unexplored lands, at least by any of the kittens. Overestimating her strength she barely got to the edge and clung there with her claws pushing herself up. The view from where she stood breathlessly was overwhelming. A sea of cold hard metal extended as far as her keen eyes could see. Any kind of metal could be found here, every color represented, anything made of metal could be found in the sharp mountains that Etcetera saw above her.
She walked along the ledge looking for a safe way down, until she found a large clearing. She hopped down into the dirt which stretched out into a slender path, big enough for an adult cat to pass through, leading away from the Junkyard. Etcetera had been warned not to leave the security of the Junkyard, but her curiosity was larger than her fear and anyway she was still inside the Junkyard. She ran cautiously along the path until her way was blocked by a fence with a hole under it. She could see a dark, lonely street through it, but decided to go back before anyone noticed she wasn't home.
"Etcetera, what have you been doing? You´ll have to let me wash you before you go to bed. How did you manage to get your coat so dirty in one day?" Jellylorum scolded with a hint of surprise in her eyes. Jelly had always taken care of Etcetera, ever since the day she found the tiny kitten curled up in a muddy ball, near the Junkyard one rainy afternoon.
"I´m really sorry, Jelly, but couldn't you wait till morning, please? I'm really tired." But Jellylorum only shook her head and motioned the kitten towards her.
Next morning everything was the same. Everyone was occupied with their own businesses, again, so Etcetera decided to go explore more. As she swiftly ran to the ledge she had climbed the day before, Alonzo, who had been taking a deserved rest in the abandoned oven, noticed the cream-colored fur ball jump up and disappear behind a mountain of junk. Without her noticing he followed quietly behind her and found, to his surprise, that she had discovered the path he himself had found a few years ago, when he was still new to the tribe.
He had been a stray cat with no home or friends, who wandered from street to street wondering where he would get his next meal. But then, one sunny afternoon he had bumped accidentally with a younger Munkustrap, who had felt sympathy for the younger tom whose coat wasn´t even visible under so much filth. He had taken him to the Junkyard, where the black and white tom had been taken care of. But Alonzo had still felt uncomfortable around the others cats for the first months so he had adventured into the junk and found the same path Etcetera was now walking through. As the years passed by he had come to like to be around the other cats so he had eventually stopped going there and had almost forgotten it, until he followed the light tabby kitten.
Etcetera trotted cheerfully along the path but stopped suddenly when she heard another cat land lightly behind her. She turned around to come face to face with Alonzo. She squealed in surprise to find how close he had gotten and jumped back immediately. Alonzo chuckled softly and went around the kitten and into the garbage tunnel, leading the way.
"Are you coming?" he said when the kitten didn't follow.
"Um, yeah. How did you find me?" she asked curiously.
"I used to know these tunnels as the back of my paw, and when I saw you walking this way I decided to give you a little tour," he said as he chuckled.
"Tunnels?" she asked. "I only found this one and it leads to the road, where I am not supposed to go." She giggled and grinned innocently when Alonzo turned to her.
He smiled and said, "Well, come on. We want to be back before they notice we´re gone." With that, he started walking without looking back to see if Etcetera was following, but he could hear as she stepped loudly behind him, making everything that she found on the floor crackle under her paws.
Alonzo led her through several hidden tunnels scattered along the main one. Some led to open spaces where the clear blue sky expanded above both cats´ heads. Some led to abandoned rat and mice colonies. One of them led the highest mountain of junk in all the Junkyard, from which the whole city could be seen. Last of all, Alonzo took her to his favorite place. It was nothing special, just like the other large openings with vast views of the sky. But evidence of one or more cats was seen throughout the place. A comfortable bed made with worn-out pillows and blankets lay in an old, rusty washing machine. Right beside it shiny, but useless, objects were piled in a neat heap.
When the tabby kitten say all this, she started sniffing and looking curiously around the open space making sure no more treasures were hidden from her. As she sniffed a nearly-empty knocked-down can of paint, a thousand questions exploded in her mind. "What is this place? Who made all this? How did you find it, anyway? And why is it here?
"Whenever I felt lonely or wanted to be alone, I came here, usually by night. The view of the moon and stars is extraordinary. No light from the street to interfere with your view. Many mornings I woke up feeling stiff and sore because I would doze off while staring at the sky, so I collected some pillows and blankets and stuffed them in there where I could still get a full view of the sky and be comfortable." Alonzo was sitting at the entrance of the tunnel leading back home, with dreamy eyes that seemed to stare into the past.
"What is this?" Etcetera sniffed the heap of shiny objects.
"They are just things I´ve found around that are pretty. I thought they might be useful someday. Of course, they never really did anything more than distract me." Alonzo finally got up a turned toward the tunnel. "We must return now, lest you want to be in trouble."
They walked back, Alonzo walking steadily and straight, while Etcetera tried to crawl beneath Alonzo´s legs without falling, which she seldom succeeded. When they finally reach the Junkyard, they found several frantic cats running around, presumably looking for someone or something. They sneaked up to one of the search groups. "Who are you looking for" asked Etcetera, with a tinge of excitement and curiosity in her voice. Rumpleteazer, who was the closest one to her answered without turning around, "Who do ya think? Etcetera and Alonzo ´ave been missin´ all afte´noon." Then she turned around realizing who´s voice she had heard. "Oh! ´ey, guys. Oi found ´em."