A lone tom cat leaped across the junkyard skyline and crouched hesitantly atop an old rocking chair perched high on one of the piles of junk. He came here every night just to hear Jemima sing. Pouncival, for that was the tom cat's name, held his breath as the small calico queen of his dreams gracefully rose from her sitting position on the old ford car. He heard her inhale quietly before she began to sing with her clear soprano voice,
Moonlight, turn your face to the moonlight,
Let your memory lead you,
Open up enter in,
If you find there
The meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life
Will begin
As she finished her serenade with a final, wavering note, Pouncival saw a movement in the shadows of the old car. He was about to jump to the queen's aid, when she turned around and her small, dimpled face broke into a happy smile.
"I wasn't expecting to see you here until tomorrow" she said to the figure in the shadows
"I got away early, just to see you, my sweet Jemima." The deep husky voice of the tom in the shadows rang out. Pouncival stiffened with fear. He had just smelt the scent of the hidden tomcat and his heart began to pound with terror. His mind became a jumble of thoughts: Why was Jemima talking to him? Why was she happy to see him? Why was she his "sweet?
As he looked down from his hiding perch, Pouncival saw a sight that made his tiny feline heart stop. The hidden cat stepped slowly out of the shadows, his ginger fur matted and dirty, grabbed Jemima roughly in an embrace and nuzzled her passionately, as only mates were allowed to do.
Pouncival wanted to cry in horror. Perfect, tender, sweet Jemima was mates with The Napoleon of Crime? The Hidden Paw? MACAVITY?
Jemima awoke the next day feeling tired and weak. A faint scent hung from her den, a mixture of blood, sweat and rotten fish. This was the smell of Macavity the Mystery Cat, but why was it lingering around her? She stiffened, her feline senses on red alert, waiting to detect any movement. A rustling sound from the other side of the tattered curtain that served as the entrance to her den, made her fur stand on end. As the curtain was pulled back, Jemima let out an angry hiss and dived forward, gasping in shock as she tackled Munkustrap, the Jellicle protector, to the ground.
"Ooof!" the two cats cried in unison as they hit the hard ground of the junkyard floor, Jemima sprawled painfully atop Munkustrap, with her small head jammed uncomfortably under his chin. As he gently edged the tiny calico queen of him, Munkustrap detected a faint whiff of Macavity's scent upon her.
"Well little Jemima, isn't it a bit early to be practising your warrior kitten action?" he chuckled, opting for a safer question so as not to worry the wide-eyed queen with such speculation as to why she smelt of Macavity.
"Sorry Munkustrap, sir." The little queen said, averting her brown eyed gaze away from the authority figure, and blushing such a shocking shade of maroon that she nearly matched her fur. "I won't bother you anymore"
And with that she quickly darted away to search for some of her other kitten friends.
As she searched through the junkyard, she heard a conversation from Alonzo's den. She had secretly fancied Alonzo for quite some time before the Jellicle Ball, but had admittedly lost her interest in him when he tried to seduce her with his (inaccurate) imitation of the Rum Tum Tugger. She was about to walk away when she heard the sound of her own name coming from a deep voice of a tom inside Alonzo's den.
"…….Yes seriously! I saw it 'Lonzo! Why don't you believe me?"
"Well.." the second voice (obviously Alonzo) spoke out, "Why would Jemima do something like that? This is the same sweet, innocent kitten that ran away and cried when you tied her tail to your chair"
Jemima flinched when she heard this, remembering only too well that day when Pouncival had played that trick on her. But what did he see her doing that could cause him such shock?
"But I saw it!" Pouncival's voice rang out, "I saw her. Must I repeat it? I actually saw her mat"
But just as he was about to reveal what he had seen, Jemima was startled by a sly voice whispering in her ear,
"Well, well, well little Jemima, what are you doing eavesdropping in on my Alonzo's private conversations"
Jemima wheeled around and came nose to nose with the Siamese cat Cassandra. Cassandra had never seemed to like Jemima, and always thought that she could act haughty in front of the young queen, for she was the youngest in the Jellicle tribe. Her eyes were narrowed and she had a glint in them that could only suggest that she was planning something.
Jemima's ears fell flat against her head in fear and she made the hasty decision to escape, but just as she leaped to the side, Cassandra struck out, her claws bared, and scratched Jemima across the face. She yelped in pain and fell to the dusty ground, her left check bleeding profusely.
"No, no, naughty little kitty," Cassandra chided Jemima, staring down her nose at the small queen, "I can't let you go, can I? My dear Alonzo and his friend Pouncival have a right to know that a little, dirty, sneaky kitten was eavesdropping on their private conversations." And with that, Cassandra sank down elegantly to sit on Jemima's back, squashing her flat against the ground and ensuring that she couldn't move.
A split second later, the dusty curtain to Alonzo's den was opened, and he and Pouncival stepped out, both looking annoyed as well as slightly confused. They stopped still at the sight of Cassandra arrogantly buffing her claws, while sitting across a breathless and bleeding Jemima.
"Cassandra! What are you doing?" Alonzo (a black and white tom) asked, gasping at the strange sight.
"Alonzo, darling," Cassandra purred huskily, getting off Jemima's back, giving her a glare that clearly said "don't you dare move" and chasseing over to Alonzo, flicking her tail coyly behind her, "I was only coming to visit you when I found her" (she jerked a claw at the spread-eagled form of Jemima), "eavesdropping on your conversation. I thought you ought to know, my darling." She purred, tracing round Alonzo's face with her tail and purring flirtatiously in his ear.
"Pounce," Alonzo said, not seeming to want to reply to Cassandra just yet, "help Jemima up and take her to play with the rest of the kittens."
"But…" Pouncival tried to interject but Alonzo cut across him.
Do it." He said, a warning glint in his eye that made sure Pouncival didn't disobey him.
Hastily, Pouncival walked over to when Jemima lay, and held out a hand to help her up. She put her tiny paw in his large, muscular one, and he helped her off the ground. As she stood, her legs began to shake uncontrollably, and a single, unwanted tear rolled down her cheek and mingled with the blood on her fur. Trying to steady herself, she collapsed into Pouncival's arms, and his heart momentarily did a drumroll, excitement coursing through his veins.
"It's O.K" he said, "Do you want me to carry you?"
Jemima averted her brown eyes to the dusty ground and nodded, ashamed of her weakness.
Pouncival scooped her tiny, slender body into his strong, muscular arms and began to walk towards the kittens play den, surprised at how light Jemima was in his arms. She let out a sniff and buried her head into his chest, making him gasp in shock.
Jemima was horrified at what had happened. How embarrassing for her, and now she had to be carried by Pouncival! Of all the toms in the world, why did it have to be the chief prankster? But there was something, almost gentle and caring about him now, that made Jemima realise that maybe his days of playing the fool were dwindling. She raised her head slightly and sudden tingling feeling washed over her, as she saw how dark Pouncival's green eyes were, how his brown streak of fur across his left eye made it stand out, how strong he was, carrying her almost as if she was as light as a feather, and more importantly, how muscular he was, as he held her gently in his arms.
They reached the kitten's playden, a section of the junkyard full of old furniature and junk that the youngest Jellicles could play around on, and Pouncival set Jemima gently on her paws, between her best friend Victoria (a beautiful pure white queen) and her cousin Jellicle Tumblebrutus (an energetic young tabby tom).
As Pouncival scampered over to talk to his friend Plato, who was in charge of supervising the kittens, he heard the high-pitched voice of the most hyperactive kitten, Etcetera, gasp:
"Oh my everlasting cat! Jemi what happened?"
And as Jemima began to explain, in great detail, what had happened outside Alonzo's den, Pouncival looked up from his conversation and locked eyes momentarily with the small, brown-eyed calico, before she hastily averted her gaze, but not before he noticed a shy smile playing across her lips as she continued to tell her story.