Altaica's Story
Part three-The Junkyard
Author's note: Look, I'm sorry if any r's are missing in some of the words but my r key is completely buggered and doesn't work half the time, so there's bound to be a typo or two. Altaica, Ocenir, Sarge and Trista belong to me, but Munkustrap, Mistoffelees, Demeter, Victoria, Macavity, Coricopat, Tantomile and...all the rest of them belong to RUG, so...don't sue me, please! PLEASE r/r!!! -Amber
Alta stretched luxuriously in the sun. She had only been in the Junkyard for a week, and already she knew most of its secrets. She grinned naughtily and flicked into Tugger's mind unnoticed. Wonder if Bomba knows that he's thinking about Cassandra?
She giggled to herself. Engle had of course meant more than his own little games to be placed under her list of uses. She had the talent to be able to read minds, and to track people from their auras. She carefully avoided the likes of Coricopat and Tantomile, and of course Mistoffelees. She enjoyed keeping her secret to herself, and the secrets she learned to herself also.
One of her ears flicked to the right as she heard someone climbing to the top of the old Ford, where she was enjoying the sun's rays. She lazily opened one eye and saw Munkustrap, second in command of the Junkyard, standing over her. She hastily straightened up, dropping the invasion upon Tugger's mind with haste. Pasting on a smile, she purred, "Izzere ah prolem, Munkus?"
He raised an eyebrow, accompanied by the amused smile that dotted the face of anyone who heard Altaica speak. "That depends on your idea of a problem, Altaica. Coricopat and Tantomile have seemed rather uneasy about you, as I'm certain you've notice." Alta bowed her head slightly at the mention of the Twins, and her blue eyes flicked over to the dark box where she knew that they were watching the scene. Her attention turned back to Munkustrap as he continued, "And they would like to examine you, mostly to discover if you really are telling the truth about, well, everything..." he watched Alta carefully, you never know when she's going to totally spaz.
She matched his amused expression perfectly. "Ahnd why do dey think ah'm a fayke?" She wished, somehow, that Munkustrap could hear her unspoken questions louder than the one she said aloud, the way Ocenir always could. Ocenir....who knew if he was still alive? Sure, it had only been a week, but a week could be a death sentence in a city.
She sighed and plopped down on the car trunk. "Heaviside knows, but possibly it's just that you're a foreigner and have come from a place remarkably like Macavity's lair...." Alta's eyes went wide when she heard the name. "What's wrong?" Munkus asked, slightly worried.
"Ah....dis..Maycayvitay charactah....he don' hayve ah nicknayme, does he?"
Munkus nodded, not even wondering why she'd want to know. "Many cats call him Mac, particularly the ones closest to him..." at this, it was all Alta could do to keep from flying off of the car trunk.
In a slightly choked voice, she said, "Whasso bahd abowt him?" surely, Ocenir didn't leave Engle for another like him...oh, the irony....
Munkustrap smiled grimly. "He isn't a bad as Engle, or at least, I don't think he is. We haven't had a cat escape his lair in awhile, so there's no way to know. He IS rather like the cat you just escaped, except that instead of being black, he's a shockingly red ginger cat. Avoid him if you can!" Munkus thought for a moment. "Um...what got us talking about Macavity?"
"Corcopaht an Tantamile," Alta said in a faint voice. "Ah think I needs ta tuawk tah dem, anyhoo. Nevah got aquainted, ya know..." she hopped down from the car trunk swiftly and all but ran over to the cardboard box.
She poked her head inside the box cautiously. She could feel the Twin's presence, and it made her uncomfortable. But she still crept quietly into the box, saying, "Well? Whaddya wahnt?" in her slangy abbreviated speech.
Tantomile's face took on the amused expression typical to all of the cats in the yard (or the yahd) whenever they heard Altaica speak. It seemed that nobody was immune. "Merely to question you. It was a wonderful tale, what your cousin told us...since nobody could understand you. But there's more to it, of course....there's always more to it."
Alta's eyes began to narrow into slits. "Ahnd ah always mayke ah pointa leavin stuff out, cuz it helps ya undahstahnd what kinda cats cehtin ones ah, to see if dey really pay attention. You twos ah de fihst ons tah notice, which dun suhprise me. But I ain't tellin yous oh no one else de rest of de story...though I suppose yous could find it out foh yourselves, couldn't ya?" she turned and stalked out. If they wanted the whole story, they'd have to dig a little deeper than that! As if she walked around spilling her secrets to strangers! Her eyes narrowed in her fury, she didn't notice the various cats scurrying out of her way.
Still in the box, Tantomile let out a sigh. Coricopat was at her side in an instant, rubbing against her shoulder affectionately. "Don't let her bother you, sister. She'll come around eventually, and if she doesn't...well, there are other ways of finding out."
She turned and glared at him. "You aren't honestly suggesting we PRY? That's dishonest!"
He raised both of his eyebrows. "And what has she been doing? I know you can feel it also. She is not yet truly a Jellicle, it would be betraying nobody...."
"Except her," Tantomile hissed. "I won't do it, I won't! Let her get settled here first, Bast knows she's only been here a week. Be patient."
Outside, Alta was almost to the junkheap that contained her cousin's pipe when a cry cut through the air, a cry of "Macavity!" that caused Altaica to spin around.
The cry had come from Demeter, as usual. Alta raced across the yard to where Demeter stood, near the tire, sniffing the air as she ran. Reaching the small black-and-gold queen, she helped her onto a chair and gave her a hug to ease her trembling. "Shh, deah, s'all right, he ain't 'eah. Everythin's gonna be juuuuust fine," she purred (puhhed?) She held the other queen till the trembling stopped, and then she helped her stand. Slowly, with every Jellicle in the 'yard watching, Alta helped Demeter over to the box where she knew Coricopat and Tantomile still were. Rapping lightly on the flap, she poked her head back in. "Ey yous two, ah got a lil favah tah ask yas.....Demetah 'eah's been smellin stuff on da aiah again, an she needs some quiet an rest, an I think dat yous two ah da ones tah give it to 'er. Whaddya say?"
Corcio and Tanto looked to each other swiftly and held an unspoken conversation before nodding their agreement. Alta helped Demeter into the box, but before the slightly paranoid queen could voice her thanks, the white-and-black tabby had disappeared as swiftly as the Hidden Paw himself. Demeter shuddered and curled up in a corner, with Tantomile fussing over her.
Alta had hardly gotten three feet from the box when she ran straight into Munkustrap. "Sorry, Munkus...ah wasn't watchin wheah ah was goin s'all..." she trailed off as he held up a paw to stop her.
"I just wanted to thank you for helping Demeter out like you did. She's had a hard time, and none of us really know what to do when she goes into on of her fits. I don't know how you managed to calm her so quickly, it usually takes hours to get her calmed when she's on one of her kicks. So, as far as I'm concerned...you're a Jellicle now, Altaica." Munkustrap looked down at her with a solemn look totally befitting his silver-and-black tabby face. A face colored with markings exceptionally like Alta's.
She grinned and gently punched him in the arm. "Chalk it up to experience," she said before walking off.
Shaking his head slightly, he began to walk towards the cardboard box. However, he turned around when her heard Alta call out, "Hey, Munkus?" she smiled then, a warm, sincere smile, completely unlike the cheeky grin she gave to nearly everyone she met. "Thanks."
It was raining that evening, water pouring from the sky like somebody had taken a knife and sliced open every cloud from London to the English Channel. And of course, Alta had been caught in the rain as she was patrolling the fence that surrounded the Yard, and by the time she got to the main section she was soaking wet and had no desire to scale the trash-heap to get to Jemima's pipe.
She was standing near the Old Ford, attempting in vain to find a dry pipe or box to hole up in for the night when the sound of a claw tapping on the glass of the windsheild. She looked up, pushing sodden fu out of her eyes, to see Munkustrap and Mistoffelees holed up in the Ford thanks to the sudden storm. She jumped in through a holed in the side window, landing on the seat with a sneeze. Victoria poked her head in from the back seat. "Alta, you've caught a cold!"
"Well, whaddya expect whed I'b havig a stupid bobent add I have do ideah wheah to go?" she whined slightly, her nose plugged. "WHY ID EV'RYONE LOOKIN SO DANGED AMUSED?" she cried, her nose unplugging for a moment. "Id isnt like ah tuawk fuddy!!!!"
Sure enough, Victoria, Munkustrap, and Mistoffelees had identical looks of amusement on their faces, but Victoria swiftly wiped hers away. "Oh no, Taica dear, you d-don't t-t-t-talk funny at alll...." She collapsed into gales of laughter on the back seat, and Misto leapt lightly over the backs of the front seats to join her, leaving Munkustrap and Altaica in the front.
Alta sneezed again, which caused Munkus to forget his amusement and grab a ratty towel from the seat. "Here," he said, "Let me help." He began rubbing her dry with the towel, ignoring the several holes and rips in the ratty fabric. Alta put up with the rubbing until her fur was almost dry, and she shooed the towel away. The towel-dry job had left her looking quite like a striped hedgehog, and so she set to work licking her fur back into place. Halfway through, she glanced up and noticed Munkustrap staring at her. "What?" she asked innocently, continuing her job.
He started when she spoke, and she wouldn't have been surprised if he hit is head on the roof. "Huh?" he managed to stutter.
"You were staring at me," she replied calmly (as the author gets sick of trying to duplicate a Boston accent...), alternating words with the cleaning job of her small pink tongue.
"Was I? Forgive me," Munksutrap said, venturing a peek over the seat again. Misto and Victoria were curled up together in a purring heap of black-and-white fur. Munkus chuckled softly, causing Alta to ask again, "What?" he pointed wordlessly over the seat.
Altaica, looking fluffy and clean again, peeked over at them and groaned. "Well, time to be the third and fourth wheels on their little love bandwagon," she said with a grimace.
Munkus laughed softly and sank back onto the seat, closely followed by Altaica, who was stifling a yawn. "Tired?" he asked as she curled up on the seat.
"You try running through trash in a rainstorm."
"Been there, done that, don't want to try it again," he said, attempting to get Altaica to laugh and was rewarded by her soft, almost musical laughter.
"Can't blame you," she said softly, punctuating the statement with another yawn. "Hate to be a rude guest, Munkus, but I think I'm falling asleep...."
He smiled softly and curled around her. "It's alright, I think I am also....good night, Altaica," he said.
"Night, Munkus," she said, drifting off into sleep, purring softly. He smiled and added his own purr to the noise, and they fell asleep in a ball of tiger-striped fur.