Chapter Four
I don't know when I awoke next.
When I did, I really wished that I hadn't. My entire body, from my head down to the ends of each of my paws, felt like stiff, unbendable lead. I tried flexing each major muscle group to wake myself up and only found pain and a renewed ache from that area. With a moan of discomfort, I opened my eyes slowly and stared straight up above me.
The ceiling was high and made of wood.
Not the kind of tossed together wood and string where the youngest of kittens were kept until they could be moved out of the nursery and into their parents' lodgings. Unless, of course, they were orphans, in which case, they would go to live with my Aunt Jenny or my Aunt Jelly. Aunt Jelly's only son, Asparagus Jr., was already grown and spent most of his time with his grandfather, Gus, who happened to be in the theater business. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Skimbleshanks had been trying for years to become pregnant, but nobody said much about that. They would only say how good Aunt Jenny was to take in stray, lost kittens and raise them as her very own.
Feeling a little bit more courageous, I sat up. I half expected Tugger to come barreling in with some new toy he'd discovered or to hear Jennyanydots scold me for oversleeping again, but of course, that didn't happen. I didn't know when that would ever happen again. For all I knew, I could be trapped here forever. I glanced around in worry, wondering who the humans were who saved me and if I could slip past them.
In front of me, a cozy fire was blazing. I felt the muscles in my body began to ease with steady crackling and popping of the flames. It was comforting and some of my worries slid away as I let my eyes drift lazily along each crest and fall of fire. I smiled contentedly and wrapped my arms around my legs, drawing them up to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and let my eyes slide halfway shut.
"So, you're up, are you?"
My ears were the first to perk up and they snapped the rest of my body to attention. I only moved my head towards the sound of the voice, but kept flexing my claws, just in case there was a threat. I wasn't surprised to find that there wasn't much threat, or, at least, that it was cleverly masked.
"Who are you?" I countered.
I watched carefully as the old tom walked forward. He didn't seem very worried at all that I looked tense and ready to attack. In fact, he gave me a faint smile and sat down in front of the fire, not even facing me. I continued to watch him, but continued to stare into the flames as though I wasn't even there.
"For a scraggly, fuzz ball of a kitten, you're awfully straightforward, aren't you?" he asked. I was so surprised that I could only shrug, even though I know he wasn't looking at me. "You're just lucky that the humans found you when they did. Otherwise, you would have been an icicle."
"Orion!" I cried suddenly, scrambling to my feet and ignoring the groaning protests of my body. "Where is he?"
The old tom glanced over his shoulder. "Who?"
"My friend! Where is he?"
"The little white scrap of a tom?" the old tom asked raising his eyebrow.
I glared at him. "His name is Orion."
The old tom shrugged and gazed back at the fire. "Upstairs. They're keeping a careful eye on that one."
"I want to see him," I said stubbornly, not even very sure that I did.
The tom stood. "Follow me. And don't go and get lost. I don't want to go hunting for a lost kitten. I'm not as young as I used to be and I have better things to be doing with my time."
Feeling my stomach twisting into knots, I followed closely after him. The old tom continued to lecture me, drifting off into new tangents every so often while I worried about Orion. Having been raised by one of the most competent Jellicle nurses in our Tribe, I knew a few things about being in cold water for too long that I was beginning to wish that I didn't know. My stomach began to twist itself into knots and I placed a paw over the top of it, struggling to stay calm.
The old tom stopped abruptly and I nearly slammed into him. I took a step back as he turned to face me. His face had hardened considerably and I felt my mouth go dry with sudden fear. I took a step back, away from him. He took hold of my arm and dragged me close to him, just inside the room where I knew Orion was.
"Now, don't you be loud or anything while you're in there. The kit's probably not even awake yet. And if he is, then I've seen everything and I can die now."
I entered the dimly lit room slowly. There were tables and chairs arranged around in the room in a very organized manner. Personally, I couldn't see what the point of placing them so far apart was- you couldn't easily hop from one to the other. There baskets filled with yarns and fabrics, too. If I weren't feeling so devastated, I would've been in kitten heaven. Then I noticed that one of the baskets looked as though it had been cleared out. Feeling my heart begin to thud heavier, I approached the basket.
I let out a muffled whimper as I approached the edge of the basket and covered my mouth with my paw to stifle any more. Orion was wrapped in towels that were nearly the same color of white as his coat. His eyes were closed, but at least he didn't look like he was in any pain. At least, I think didn't think he did, but I could've been wrong. I had learned a lot from Aunt Jenny, both through watching her work and through our occasional lessons, but I certainly wasn't a Healer or anything.
Orion moaned a little bit, then snuggled deeper down into the thick white towels. I waited for him to wake and take notice of me, but he didn't. His brow wrinkled as though he were having a nightmare then smoothed out again. His body, usually so strong and muscular, looked so frail and beaten down in that little basket. I chewed on my lower lip nervously until I could taste blood.
"Well, is this what you expected to see?"
"Is... is he going to die?" I asked softly, not looking at the old tom.
"I shouldn't think so. He's just got a bad case of hypothermia and is awfully exhausted, but he looks like he's out of the woods. I don't suspect that he'll be waking up for another couple of days, though."
"You don't?" I asked in dismay and stretched out of my arm to touch my paw gently against Orion's. I turned back around, ready to leave. The old tom was seated and watching me intently. I backed against the basket. "What?"
"Who are your parents, lad? You look very familiar to me. As if I've seen you before or at least someone that looks like you."
I blushed as much as a red-furred tom-kitten could blush and looked away. "I don't know exactly. No one has ever told me."
The old tom shook his head. "That's a shame. Toms and queens are running around and having so many kittens that no one can even keep straight which kitten belongs with which set of parents. If there even is a set of parents. I'm amazed that anyone even knows who their parents are these days. In my day, we had one mate and that was that. You had kittens with your queen and only if one of you died did you go and get a new mate. And by then, everyone was too old to want to go capering around and making more kittens. You'd be surprised how tiring making kittens can be when you're old."
I didn't say anything for a while. The tom slipped into thoughts concerning this matter which seemed to bother him greatly. After a while, I sat down and rested the back of my head against Orion's basket. My movement jerked him out of his thoughts and he looked over at me.
"What's your name?"
"Macavity." I tugged on the tip of my tail self-consciously. I caught his eye. "What's yours?"
The old tom slapped his forehead. "Of course! I knew that I forgot something. This old mind ain't what it was, that's for sure. Nothing is. Right, my name. My name's Ira. Let's see here... what else do you need to know? Oh, yes. You've been here for about two days and the female humans have been doting on the two of you like you were their own kittens. No, that's not right. I mean... uh... children. That's the right word. These humans make up the oddest words, I swear. If I were in charge of their language, I'd throw away almost all of their words."
I got back up, Ira's words still washing over me in a continuous shower, and looked down at Orion again. He had rolled over and looked peaceful. I still felt horrible. I knew that this was in some way my fault. I couldn't exactly pin down how, but I knew that it was. I yawned and leaned against the side of the basket. I felt a paw on my shoulder. Ira was standing over me.
"C'mon, lad. You should go back to sleep. You can tell me all of what happened when you wake back up again. We'll have a nice, long talk when you do. I'll tell you all about this house and the humans and you can tell me about yourself. Maybe I'll even tell you some stories about when I was a kit. I have some pretty incredible stories about the Pollicles around here. Did you know that most of the Pols around here fear me because I could kick that Doberman's tail when I was young. Don't know if I could do now, though."
I allowed myself to be led back to the bed that had been made up for me in front of the fire. I curled into a ball on it and was soon asleep again.
I awoke later, smelling something unpleasant. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and started to roll over to escape the horrible smell. A low growl froze me in my position. My eyes snapped open and I stared silently at the eyes watching me.
Then, letting out a blood curdling yowl which I hoped would scare it away, I leapt out of my bed. Hissing, I backed away and extended my claws. The creature growled viscously and I felt the fur along the back of my neck rise up.
"OK! That's enough of that!"
I felt a strong hand scoop me up off the ground and I was again high in the air in the arms of a human. This time, I didn't try to squirm or try to get away. The evil creature was down there after all and there was little chance I'd willingly go back down there.
"Go on, Smoky. Leave the kittens alone."
Smoky, my now named adversary, growled again, scowled, and trotted away. After a moment, I was set back down on the floor. I felt the hand run down my back then scratch behind my ears. Figuring it would make the human go away, I purred softly. It seemed to do the trick since the human left.
"I see you've met the Pollicle."
I turned to see Ira walk in, his dull coat even dustier and more tangled than before. He smiled crookedly then sat down heavily in front of the fire. I walked over and sat down next to him.
"That was a Pollicle?"
His mouth dropped open and he stared at me in disbelief. "You don't know what a Pollicle is? What is the world coming to when a tom cat doesn't even know what a Pollicle is!"
"I know," I replied quickly, hoping to cut off a long rant about the state of young toms nowadays or whatever it was that he was going to share with me.. "I've just never seen one before."
"Really? Then, you're not a stray, huh?"
I shook my head. "Not technically. I live in the junkyard, but not with any humans." I paused. "Does that me a stray?"
"I don't think so," he said. He smiled again. "Besides, I think that maybe you'll become a housecat. The humans really seem to enjoy you."
"What? No. Not me. Besides, what about my family?"
"Who's your family?"
"At the junkyard. My aunts and my grandfather. And my little brothers."
Ira thought a moment. "Which junkyard are you from?"
"The one near the humans' really big road."
"Their Main Street, you mean?"
"Yeah."
He itched his head thoughtfully. "What's your grandfather's name?"
"Deuteronomy. Do you know him?"
Ira nodded. "Old D? 'course I know him. Fine tom. Very regal. I remember when we were young toms, we'd terrorize the neighborhood Pols, him and me. None of the humans knew what to do with us. But, then he found that pretty little queen, fell in love- like a fairy tale, it was- and made a litter of kittens. After that, he got serious and now he hardly ever comes around. Too much responsibility, I guess. But, then again, he is the leader of the Jellicles and that does mean a lot of work. Don't know if I'd want to be in his place. What with the strays and the cursed Pollicles always going after the kittens and all." He pointed at me. "Which child of his is your mother?"
I hesitated. "I don't know. And I thought I already told you that."
He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe. Well... Who are your aunts? If he only had the three that I can remember, then I figure I'll be able to tell you who your mother is. I've always been good at things like this."
I hesitated again. I didn't want him to tell me so matter-of-factly. Seeing that he was so determined, I agreed to do it. I figured that he's end up badgering me until he got what he wanted and I could stand listening to him chatter on and on, but I would go crazy listening to him pressing me constantly for my aunts' names.
"Jennyanydots and Jellylorum."
He tapped his chin thoughfully, looking off into the distance a little bit. "Huh."
"What do you mean, 'huh'?" I asked. "What does that mean?"
"I didn't realize that she had had any kittens," Ira snapped, giving me a dirty look, perhaps for being so impatient. You'd think, of everyone I knew, that he would be the best able to understand impatience. "I always thought that she would've been too busy to even want kittens."
"Who? What's her name?" I was having trouble not jumping on Ira and throttling him right then and there.
"Grizabella," he said slowly, still distracted by his thoughts. "Deuteronomy's eldest child. A pretty little kitten, she was."
I swallowed. "Grizabella? The Glamour Cat? The queen that left the junkyard to go performing at nightclubs? Her?"
"Yeah, her. You wanted to know, right?"
"What? Oh. Yes, I did. Could you excuse me?"
"Certainly."
I stood and dragged myself out of the room. Once I was out, I found a window and perched myself on it. Watching the outside world bustle by, I sighed heavily and leaned my forehead against the cool glass.
You did want to know, I reminded myself. And it wasn't so bad, was it?
It wasn't like I was the son of a criminal or a murderer or something. Just an actress. And that wasn't bad at all. I wondered exactly what she was doing right then. Thinking about me? Not likely. I could hope, though. Now that I knew she was my mother, I imagined that she thought about me constantly, even if I knew that it wasn't true.
I must've fallen asleep because when I awoke later, I found myself back in my basket.
I wandered through the parlor, the human's entertaining room Ira had explained. They apparently poured flower juice- or perfume, as Ira called it- all over themselves and then would sit around laughing at stupid things. That crazy Pollicle wasn't allowed in here, which only sweetened it when I ran in here to hide. Most of the time ole Smoky would growl and bark in the doorway for a few minutes then become disgusted and storm away. It was literally sweet, too, since there was always candy in the little glass bowls on the top of the tables.
I flopped down underneath one of the armchairs and began to groom my coat. Not that I had too much work to do. It wasn't dusty at all in here and I hadn't had the opportunity to really dirty myself since I had yet to discover a way outside. It wasn't so bad, though. They kept my food bowl full, the water was crystal clear, and it was always warm in here. Still, I was not becoming a housecat.
Ira marched into the room, a determined expression those old cat features. I allowed myself a tiny smile when he scanned the room and looked positively triumphant to find me in it.
"Hello, Macavity!"
"Hi, Ira," I replied, giving him a playfully suspicious look. "Why are you so happy? The humans get rid of the Pollicle?"
"Unfortunately, no. They're keeping it around. Everlasting Cat knows why. The creature serves absolutely no purpose. Not like us. We're worth something, cats are. All it really does is eat, sleep, and poop. And bark, too. And really loud at that. How could you live a life like that? I couldn't. I'd honestly die of boredom. Pollicles must-"
"IRA! I thought that you had something to tell me! Spit it out already!"
He scowled and ran his claws through his whiskers. I knew that he had been hoping to smooth them down, but instead they shot out in all directions anyways. I grinned at him and Ira rolled his eyes indulgently. "Honestly, you kittens these days are impatient. You know, you ought to take life slow and enjoy it. You'll be old someday, old like me, and you'll regret rushing through everything when you were young." He looked at me as if he expected me to debate with him about this. I didn't bother. Every debate I tried to hold with him, I lost. Maybe my debating skills were getting better, but Ira sure knew how to talk the wind out of someone.
I was also picking up some of his expressions.
"Well, since I wasn't allowed to lead up to it properly, what with you snapping at me, I'll just come right out and say it. Your friend is finally awake."
I jumped to my feet, almost tripping over my tail in the process. "Orion's awake? Is he OK? What-"
"Why don't you just go on up and see for yourself? I don't imagine that you'll get the answers you want out of me."
With a considerable lack of grace, I trampled out of the parlor and went flying into the sewing room- which was what Ira said that the humans called it- and skidded to a halt. Orion, who was sitting up weakly in his bed, looked at me sharply and jerked back a little bit.
"Ry! You're awake! How are you feeling?"
He regarded me cautiously. "Better, I guess. Don't run in here like that. You scared the kitty litter out of me."
I bounded to the bed and leaped in. His eyes widened in surprise. "Sorry. I'm just so glad that you're awake again.
"How long was I out of it for?"
"About a week and a half. Almost two."
"Wow," he breathed. He looked around again. "Where are we?"
"Human house. But now that you're up again, we can go back home." I leaned back and nestled comfortably into the blankets in his basket. "I guess Jennyanydots is going to explode when she finds out what happened to us, but she'll be happy enough that we're safe that she might even let us live afterwards."
"Jennyanydots?"
I looked at him sharply. "Yeah. My aunt. Jenny."
"I..." He shook his head apologetically. "I don't have any idea who you're talking about."
"You... you don't? Do you know who I am?"
"Of course. You're Macavity. And I'm Orion, but I haven't got clue who this Jennyanydots is." I must've been staring hard at him because he shifted uncomfortably. "Honesly, Macavity. I feel like someone painted white over some things."
"Everlasting Cat," I whispered, drawing back. He didn't remember Jenny. Did he even remember anyone else? "What about Old Deuteronomy? Jellylorum? Skimbleshanks? Munkustrap, even?"
His eyes welled with tear and he put his paws on either side of his head. "No. I don't." He shook his head. "What is this? Why can't I remember?"
I hugged him quickly, fearing he'd panic. "I don't know. Maybe you'll remember in a little while. You've been asleep a while. Maybe it has to wear off or something."
Orion pulled away and wiped under his eyes. "Yeah. I'll be fine in a couple of hours."
"Of course you will."
I still couldn't fight that anxious feeling deep in the pit of my stomach.
"I'm going to be leaving tomorrow."
Ira looked up, startled. We were watching the fire crackle in the fireplace again. I knew that I was going to miss the warmth the most once I left this house. "Leaving? Where to? What about Orion? Are you taking him with you?"
I shook my head. "No. He's staying here. I just need to get things straightened out. I have a lot of things that I need to deal with right now. And I can't do that here."
"Does it have anything to do with what I told you about your mother?"
I glanced at him quickly. "How did you know?"
"Lucky guess. But maybe you shouldn't go rooting around through things like this. Leave well enough alone."
I looked away again, back into the fire. "Things aren't well enough, Ira. I need... I need to find her and find out about me. I don't even know who I am. Is that so much to want?"
Ira shook his head and smiled gently. "Of course not. I couldn't really stop you anyway. You're not exactly a kitten anymore, you know. And besides, you'd be a living hell here if I did somehow manage to stop you. You're just like your grandfather was when he was young. Always headstrong and not caring what anyone thought. No one could talk him out of something that he wanted to do. And I think you're the same way. So, I'm not even going to try doing that. I'm just going to give you my blessings and hope that you find what you are looking for."
"Thank you." I looked towards the sewing room. "Will you watch him for me? He's just not the same since... he's not the same. Tell him that I'll be back as soon as I can. And he'll be better by the time I return. Maybe he'll remember."
"Maybe," Ira replied, sounding doubtful.
I can't say that I didn't echo his thoughts.
