Fanfic: Rum Tum Tugger Story
I don't own CATS (although I wish I did)
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In a week I snuck out of the house at night to meet Munkustrap. We were going to the Jellicle Ball.
"Where is it?" I asked him when I got there.
"Father says it's in a junkyard in the city, not far from where Pouncival lives"
"Well, lets go"
It took us about five minutes to get to the junkyard. Many other Jellicles were already there. Jennyanydots and Jellylorum both ran up me.
"Oh, isn't he just adorable!" Jellylorum cried.
They were like my aunts. Constantly swarming with "oh, how cute!" and "you're going to grow up to be so handsome!" Munkustrap laughed at me, because I was the one getting the attention.
"Tugger," he said. "I figured you'd get with the girls, but at least take ones your own age"
"Oh, shut up Munkustrap"
The two old crows left me after a few minutes. They had gone to talk to Animayus who'd had just come, looking really depressed. Before I had the chance to see him myself someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"Excuse me"
I turned around to see the black dame Munkustrap had called Jestenta, the one who was Macavity's friend.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Have you seen Macavity"
"No, sorry"
She looked worried. "He should be here by now. After all, he's the Jellicle Protector. He really should be here already"
Jestenta decided to hang out with me until her boyfriend arrived. She kept running her hand through my newly discovered mane. It was barely anything, but she loved it.
At one point, I left her for a moment to go chat with Animayus. I was away from her for barely two minutes, when I heard her scream of terror.
"Ahh"
Spinning around, I saw a red tabby with his hands around Jestenta's neck, choking her. She gasped for air and tried to scream again.
"Trusian!" Animayus cried and started to dash off but Trusian made him stay put. The other Jellicles started to flee the junkyard. I started to run over to Jestenta to help her, but Jennyanydots grabbed my arm and dragged me the other way.
"Run Tugger!" she cried. "This is no place for kittens"
"Who is that?" I demanded.
"Trusian! Macavity's father! He's come to kill! It's too late to save her. We must flee"
Jellylorum grabbed my other arm, and the two crows started to pull me away.
"No!!" I cried. "I can help her! Please! Let me go"
"No, Tugger." I heard from Munkustrap. "It's too late to save her. Let the grown Toms fight Trusian. We are not yet grown. We must flee with the rest of the kittens and the dames"
I stopped struggling and let them lead me away. It took me a minute to realise that I was crying.
A little way away, they let me go. I sat down on the kerb of the road and cried. Munkustrap walked and sat down beside me.
"What's wrong Tugger?" he asked quietly.
"It's my fault." I told him. "He wouldn't have attacked her if I had stayed by her side the whole time. I left her alone. But the moment I left her alone, he attacked her"
"Tugger, it's not your fault. Trusian would have found a way to kill her even if you had stayed with her. It's better this way. If you had stayed with her, you might be dead too"
I didn't want to listen to him. Poor Jestenta was dead. Just then, I remembered something.
"Wasn't Macavity the protector?" I asked Munkustrap.
"Yes. I don't know why he never showed up"
"Isn't his father Trusian?"
"Yes"
"Maybe they planned the whole thing. But why would he kill his best friend"
"I don't know. His whole family is pretty messed up"
Just then, a few cats rushed past me, running into a dark corner. I could hear faint gasping and panting from the corner.
"What's going on?" I asked Skimbleshanks he rushed by.
"Macy's kittens are coming!" he exclaimed. I jumped up and ran after him. Macy lay in the shadows, panting and sweating.
"Munkustrap!" I said, taking order of the situation. "You take her legs. I'll take her chest. We can carry her together back to the cave"
"Are you sure you're strong enough?" he asked.
"Yes! Now hurry"
He wrapped his arms around her legs, and I got my arms around her chest, and we picked her up. She wrapped her arms around mine, making sure that I didn't drop her. Then, we started towards the cave as fast as we could.
We made it there in five minutes, all three of us sweating and panting. We laid her on the floor of her room, then I left. After a moment Munkustrap also left.
"Good job, Tugger." He praised.
"For what?"
"Taking charge like that. You knew exactly what to do"
"Well, instinct"
Jellylorum and her brother Asparagus Jnr. came a few minutes later helping Deuteronomy and their father along. We had started calling Asparagus Senior just Gus, so we wouldn't confuse him with his son. They were both old and needed help walking far distances.
"Where's Macy?" Deuteronomy asked, worried.
"She's in her room." I told him. Jellylorum went into the room to help with the birth, because she understood that female stuff.
The next few minutes seemed like hours, as we heard nothing from the room, except the occasional gasp of pain from Macy. Half an hour later, Jellylorum walked out, crying.
"Deuteronomy." She said quietly. "Two females and a male. The male and one of females are identical twins"
"That's great!" Deuteronomy exclaimed, she shook her head.
"It was too much for Macy to handle." She told him. "She didn't survive it"
Deuteronomy's eyes widened, as he looked at the doorway to the room where his newest kittens slept. Where his wife lay, dead. His eyes closed, and he just sighed and shook his head.
"They will need a nursing mother." Jellylorum told him quietly. "Or they won't survive"
He nodded. "I know." He said. "But none of the females in the tribe are nursing"
"I might be able to help." I spoke up. They looked at me.
"Do you know a nursing female?" Jellylorum asked.
"No." I walked up to my father. "My owner, the little boy Jimmy, he sometimes drinks milk still. It's from a plastic container humans call a bottle. I might be able to steal some of it for the kittens. It won't be a lot, but it should be enough to keep them alive"
Father thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded. "Yes. You must go now and see if you can get some. The kittens will awaken soon with hunger"
I nodded and left, running. I ran all the way back to my house. Went into Jimmy's bedroom, where he lay sleeping. Beside him was a half empty bottle of milk.
Quietly, I took the bottle and ran back to the cave with it. Father motioned to the room, where I could hear the kittens crying for milk.
I walked into the room, and saw Jellylorum licking their fur clean. Two of them were black tabbies, and were absolutely identical in every way, except one was male and the other was female. The last kitten was a red female with a white chest and black paws.
I handed the bottle to Jellylorum. It was too big for the kittens to drink from, so she got some on her fingers and let the kittens suckle on it. It didn't look like they had drunk any of it once they were finished, but apparently they had.
"What will their names be?" I asked softly.
"Deuteronomy has named them." She pointed to the male twin. "He is Coricopat." She motioned to the female twin. "She is Tantomile." Then she pointed to the red one. "And she is Bombalurina"
I nodded, unsure of what to say. Macy's body wasn't in the room any more, Asparagus must have gone to give her a proper burial. I remembered what Munkustrap had said about Jellylorum probably being father's new wife if Macy died. I wondered if she knew about his liking to her.
I left the room, leaving Jellylorum with the kittens. I couldn't look Munkustrap or even Animayus on the eye. I just walked right out of the cave, and went home. *****************************************************
The next day, the Jellicle Tribe went to Deuteronomy's cave. It was the trial of Macavity. The ginger stood, head down, in front of everyone. Deuteronomy sat above him in his chair. Animayus was sitting at Deuteronomy's side. He was badly scratched and was crying quietly.
"Macavity." Deuteronomy started. "Do you know what you have done"
"It wasn't my fault." He said quietly.
"You are the protector of this tribe, am I correct"
"Yes"
"As the protector, you must be at every celebration and guard the other cats from harm. Last night was the Jellicle Ball. You broke two rules. One, you never showed up. Two, because you didn't show up, the kittens weren't protected. Trusian, your father, came and killed Jestenta"
At the sound of Trusian's name, Animayus trembled and placed his head into his hands to drown his was, himself, trying not to cry.
"I know." He said. "He cut off her tail and brought it to me"
"Now, I'm not saying you had any part in this terrible deed. I can't see any reason why any cat would kill his best friend anyway. But, I must ask, why didn't you show up"
"I wasn't able to"
"What happened last night"
"I had sent Animayus ahead of me. When I was about to leave for the ball, my father locked me in one of his cages. My mother let me out, but then father came with Animayus in tow. He gave me Jestenta's tail. Then, father and mother fought. He killed her, then started to attack Animayus, so then..." He looked down at his hands. "I killed him"
I realised then why Animayus was cut and also why he seemed so scared of his father.
Deuteronomy's eyes widened. "Macavity, you are expelled from this tribe. I suggest you go back to the cave where you live with the Forest Cats, and never come around here again"
"But"
"No objections. You are no longer a Jellicle. You are a Forest Cat"
Macavity said nothing. His body shuddered, then he glared up at Animayus and then to my father with an evil in his eyes I'd never seen before.
"You will regret whet you have just done." He hissed. "I will make you regret it. You will not have peace"
Then, Macavity and Animayus disappeared in a cloud of smoke! My fellow Jellicles, including me, gasped in surprise, as he just disappeared in a cloud of smoke and took his son with him.
"A conjurer." Deuteronomy whispered. "A conjurer, I can't believe it"
I knew then that we had just seen the birth of hadn't been anything like his father, he'd been a shy cat. But my father's words had hurt him. And now, he wasn't that shy cat any more. He would haunt us he died for expelling him from the tribe.