By the time Macavity had finished the poem, Flame had grasped the principles of cat names, the one that 'the family use daily', the one that never belonged 'to more than one cat' and the one that 'the cat himself knows and will never confess'. Indeed she now knew that 'Flame' was the name Stacie's family had given her and she also knew about her third name, as even at her young age she had spent many hours in the 'rapt contemplation' of it. But she had to admit that she really had no second name!
"So how does a cat know their name?" she asked Macavity, "I mean, I don't know how I know my third name but I think that's the same with all cats. But surely someone must have called you Macavity, originally I mean."
"Yeah," he admitted, "the leader of the tribe I mentioned gave me mine, he chooses the names of all kittens there, but I don't need them any more. I would have changed my name but it's really not so bad when you consider the alternative is going through life being called Marmalade!"
"Why did you leave?" asked Flame, her curiosity getting the better of her again.
"If you really want to know, they threw me out, but I never liked it there anyway. I was planning on leaving soon. I get on just fine alone."
"Why did they throw you out?"
"What's it to you?" He snapped,
"Nothing." Flame realised she had overstepped the mark.
"Anyway, I've got things to do," He said airily, Flame didn't dare ask what "see you around!" he began to saunter off,
"Wait!" Flame cried
"What now?"
"You don't know anywhere I could stay tonight do you?"
"I thought you were going back to your precious humans," he said, "believe me, they're not worth the trouble either."
"You mean you don't live with any?"
No, like I said, I get along fine alone, I don't need anyone, human or cat, the street's the place for me." He began to walk off again, but Flame persisted anyway,
"So you're an alley cat?" he nodded, unable to resist the chance to impress her,
"In the fur and flesh."
"Wow, I've never met a real alley cat before, can you teach me to be one?" Flame was eager. Macavity considered it for a minute, normally he would have said no instantly without thought, but he was enjoying this new-found admiration, "I though you had humans to go to?"
"No, I haven't seen them for two weeks, that was my old home," she pointed with a paw, "but now they're gone and there's that dog there. They took me to this place with big cages, but I escaped…"
"Yeah, yeah," he cut her off, "don't bore me with the details. I'm not telling you my life history, so don't bother with yours. I'll teach you, how long have you been on the street?"
"Just today."
"Oh brother, he groaned "this could take some time. Let's start by getting you a proper cat name."
"How do we do that?"
"Follow me!" he said, leading her off down the street.
They walked in silence for a while, soon Flame stopped recognising where they were, "Where are we going anyway?" she asked,
"To meet a friend of mine." He said shortly,
"Who?"
"Oh just a tom I happen to know from my old tribe."
"I thought you said you hated them?"
"I do, but Tug's not so bad, and he owes me a favour anyway."
"So what's he got to do with getting me a name?"
"Well I thought I'd ask him if he could get you named by the tribe leader, as much as I despise the idea it's the only thing I can think of. But I can't exactly saunter in there and ask him myself, I was outcast from that tribe for life. And that's another thing, only you and Tug will know you're with me, if you mention me at all then Tug will get outcast too. He'd be better off without them anyway but he likes it there for some unfathomable reason."
"So what do I say?"
"Not a lot, just let Tug do the talking. He'll spin them some story about you being abandoned by your humans and wanting to join the tribe, all you have to do is agree. When they ask your name, play it dumb and pretend you don't understand about the three names of a cat, but when they explain it say you'd like a proper name. And, if all goes according to plan, the leader will name you. Then you wait until dark and Tug will find you and bring you back to meet me. Then we'll slip away into the night and nobody will miss you until the morning."
"What happens then?"
"Who cares, we'll be long gone from there."
They carried on, talking about each other. Flame soon discovered that Macavity was only ten months older than her, One year and three months to be precise. She was surprised, she knew he wasn't an adult cat by his size and his attitude, but she'd though he was probably a teenage kitten at least, as he was tall for his age although not yet fully grown. Also, the way he talked was quite adult, using longer, more complicated words than most kittens. In fact, he was very well spoken, she would have expected an alley cat to talk much more roughly, and perhaps with an accent.
Macavity, despite saying he didn't want to know her life story couldn't help being intrigued by Flame. However he was too proud to go back on his word and ask about her past. Besides that would then bring up the question of his own and he would end up having to tell her why he had been outcast from the tribe and how he had been abandoned by his mother at birth. No. All that was behind him now, he got along well on the street and what he did not have he could get for himself. Independence, he loved that word, and as long as he was here then it was exactly what he had, he wanted for no one.
So why had he decided to let Flame stay then? Perhaps it was that although he could look after himself, life did sometimes get a little lonely, or maybe he liked her admiration, whatever it was she was with him now and here he was, heading back to his old tribe just for the sake of getting her a name.
They walked on in silence for a while; each lost in their own thoughts. Macavity led the way without really thinking about it; he had travelled this way enough before he had been outcast. He led the way through a side street and across a busy road. Upon turning a corner they came upon another kitten, who looked about the same age as Macavity, coming in their direction. He didn't see them and Macavity took the chance to whisk Flame back around the corner.
"Stay here." He whispered,
"What is it?" Flame had sensed the urgency in his voice,
"We're nearing the Jellicle Junkyard."
"The what?"
"The Jellicle Junkyard, the Jellicles are my old tribe, they live in an big Junkyard just a street away from here. Did you see that tom round the corner?"
"Yeah, who is he?"
"That's Alonzo, he's a few weeks older than I am. Let's just say that we never really saw eye to eye. If he sees you with me he's bound to smell a rat when you turn up at the junkyard later with Tug."
"So what are we gonna do?"
"One of us will have to avoid him and I suggest that it should be you, the less cats from the tribe you meet, the better. So if you cross the road and wait for me at the corner on the other side, then I can walk past Alonzo and assure him I'm just passing through the area."
"Ok, so I wait for you on that corner over there?"
"That's right, now GO!" Flame hurried across the road and reached the other side just as Alonzo rounded the corner.
As soon as he saw Macavity, Alonzo bristled his fur and laid back his ears, "What are you doing back here?" he hissed, Macavity stopped and smirked at the black and white tom,
"Manners, Alonzo that's no way to greet an old, acquaintance shall we say."
"Just get outta here Macavity."
"What's the hurry, I'm just passing through."
"Stay away from the Junkyard, you're not welcome here."
"We'll I judged that by your greeting, and don't worry I have absolutely no intention of coming anywhere near your despicable little hell hole." Macavity's fur began to bristle, he flexed his claws.
"You heard me, just stay away."
"It's a free city, I have as much right to be here as you do."
"Is that a challenge?" Alonzo unsheathed his own claws,
"Temper Alonzo, what would Deuteronomy say if he found a tribe kitten fighting in the street with an outcast like me?" Alonzo's claws disappeared,
"Just stay away." He hissed
"Like I said, passing through isn't a crime, and you can tell Cassandra from me that I didn't take her diamond collar." With that he turned on his heel and headed across the road. Alonzo stood there for a minute looking worried, should he tell Deuteronomy that Macavity was back in town? No, he decided that he would keep this confrontation to himself unless anything actually happened. Besides, volunteering the information would mean having to tell the tribe leader that he had sneaked out of the Junkyard without permission to practice his hunting.
Macavity joined Flame at the corner, "Phew," he said, "things could have got ugly there, he challenged me to a fight. Luckily I managed to avoid the confrontation. Now come with me, we need to find Tug." He led the way up a drainpipe and on to a roof, where they could look down on the Jellicle Junkyard.
Flame looked down, she could see many cats scattered around the large place, which was surrounded by high fences with a large gate, permanently rusted open. It was full of scrap, she could see an old car in one corner and a massive tractor tyre. The centre however was devoid of anything, leaving a clear space where she could see a group of kittens playing tag. "There's Tug." Said Macavity, pointing to a black kitten with leopard type markings.
"So how do we get in?" she asked "You're not exactly gonna saunter in there and talk to him are you?"
"We've got a secret signal." Macavity explained, he took a piece of mirrored glass from inside a blocked up chimney pot and carefully positioned it so it was reflecting the sun's rays straight down into the Junkyard. Then with a quick flick of his paw he turned the beam on to Tug, taking it away almost instantaneously. They saw the tom put a paw to his eye in surprise and look up at the rooftops, Macavity made the sun flash on the glass three times before putting it away. "Come on! " he said to Flame and pulled her away back to the ground.
Down in the Junkyard, Rum Tum Tugger had seen the light flash in his eye, in fact how could he fail to miss it? He was now seeing a purple splodge where the light had been. He has seen the mirror flash three times too; it was the signal from Macavity to meet him at their secret entrance to the Junkyard, a gap in the fence. He excused himself from the game with his friends by saying he had something in his eye and hurried to meet Macavity.
Tug arrived at the meeting place to find not only Macavity but also a queen kitten, who he did not know. "Hey Mac!" he said,
"Tug!" Macavity butted heads with Tug in greeting and the two of them rolled around in a play fight. This was the first time Flame had ever seen Macavity act more his age. After a minute, Macavity remembered his manners and introduced her. Introductions over and he got straight down to the point of why he was here. Tug agreed with his friend that it was the only way to get Flame a proper cat name, and after a bit of thought he agreed to help them out.
Second chapter, hope you like. Excuse for my bad writing: I was four years younger when I wrote it! I do enjoy writing about charcters as kittens though! Enjoy!
Oh, and if you're wondering as yet why the T rating, there's quite a lot of violence, death and some swearing in some of the later chapters, just so you're forwarned.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Cats or it's characters. All rights to Cats belong to Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Really Useful Group. This story created for fun by a fan.