Chapter 4 – The Curse of the Tabby

Bombalurina woke up bright and early one morning and decided to go for a walk around the junkyard. It was only a short time before she noticed Demeter sitting on top of a on old car, looking towards the rising sun. The warming rays were making her gold and black fur shimmer a golden orange. The red queen smiled sadly. It had been weeks since she allowed herself to think of her mother, but the way her sister looked right then, she could think of nothing else.

Climbing the junk pile, Bombalurina sat next to her sister, who acknowledged her presence with a gentle smile. "Good morning," said the red queen. Demeter looked down at her paws before deciding to groom her fur. Bombalurina found this to be odd. "What?"

"Nothing," she said as she moved her scented paw to her ear, and down over her cheek. That's when Bombalurina realized it.

"You have another cat's scent on you!"

"Shh!" Demeter covered her sister's mouth. Then she sighed. "I guess I should tell you…" She removed her paw from her sister's mouth and took in a deep breath. "I kind of…slept with Munku last night."

Now, Bombalurina was hardly a prude, but this was definitely shocking to her. Her sister rarely ever did anything with the toms she was trying to get interested in her. And considering she would do anything with a tabby was even more shocking. They had many bad experiences with tabbies, and Demeter was the first to point out that trend. She also labeled it the 'curse of the tabby.' So while things didn't quite add up in Bombalurina's head as to why the gold queen would make such a decision, she decided not to pry. "Oh," she said. "Well…was he good?"

"BOMBA!" Demeter yelled, blushing under her fur. "This isn't something I mean to talk about, and not with you, my sister!"

"Alright, alright," said the red queen. There was silence. Demeter shuffled where she sat, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden silence. So Bombalurina decided to ask instead, "What are you doing out this early?"

"I just needed time to think," she said. "After everything that's happened, I wasn't thinking about anything at all. I was just taking life in stride. And now this happens, and I just had to leave. I couldn't think…"

"Wait," Bombalurina looked at her sister curiously. "You left him there?"

"Yeah," Demeter said nonchalantly. Bombalurina's jaw dropped.

"You left him there! Dem, if Munkustrap wakes up you're not there, don't you think he'll take it personally? I know some toms could care less, but I assume Munk would be a bit of a romantic!" Demeter stared at her sister, confused. Then she shook her head, smiling a sad smile.

"You're right," she whispered. "I guess that's another mate to add to my list…" She got up and left to the den.

Bombalurina didn't realize it then, but thinking back, she kicked herself for being so insensitive. Her sister was trying to tell her something, and she sent her right back into her confusion without even a chance to try and clear things up. She didn't even give her time to digest what was happening to her. They may age slowly, but they lived their days so fast paced, always trying to guess the outcome, always trying to keep ahead of their discovery, that Bombalurina forgot to take time for emotions. If not hers, then at least her sister's.

Sometimes she felt she wasn't good at these kind of things. And it hurt to think she wasn't good at being a sister.

All the cats were gathering to see what the commotion was about. It was just like cats to peer safely around a corner to satisfy their curiosity and not get involved. Bombalurina was no exception. She took note of the cats who were watching whatever was going on. The one who stood out most was Mistoffelees, who was above everyone else. He was on a thin railing suspended between an old washing machine and a stove. Bombalurina shook her head. The lengths these cats would go to in order to satisfy their curiousity…

Then she peered around the corner, and gasped. Munkustrap was confronting Demeter about something he was going to tell him earlier, but failed to say. Bombalurina's heart leapt into her throat. She pushed past the other cats. While she stayed far enough away as not to cause suspicion, she couldn't hide her tense stance, or the fact that she was ready to jump in and save her sister at any moment.

"I'm pregnant," were the words that came from the gold queen's mouth. Bombalurina would have fallen over in shock if Mistoffelees hadn't crashed to the ground in front of her. Sure, he landed on his feet, but the momentum of his ungraceful descent to the ground caused him to end up splayed on the floor, with the wind knocked out of him.

"You okay, Misto?" Bombalurina asked as some of the tom kittens began to laugh at him. Bombalurina and Victoria helped him up.

"Yeah," he blushed under his fur, and tried to catch his breath. "I just didn't expect that…"

'Me neither,' thought Bombalurina. By the time she made sure the tuxedoed tom was alright, Demeter and Munkustrap were being congratulated, as all the cats rounded on them. Demeter looked like she would be sick. 'Well,' Bombalurina thought, as she sighed. 'This might complicate things a bit.'

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Demeter was trying to get Munkustrap to sit back and stay in his bed. But he was too excited to rest. "I don't want you walking by yourself if your expecting. Especially if Macavity is about. And you shouldn't be running around. Are you feeling okay? Eating okay? I can get you anything you want!"

"Munku, love?" The tom gave her his full attention. "What I would love for you to do right now is rest. Then you can be around to take care of our kittens."

He smiled proudly. "Our kittens."

Demeter blushed under her fur. The thought of it all! And she still wasn't sure how to take the news. But Munkustrap was so happy, and that made her feel better about everything. She supposed she shouldn't look so worried. So she returned his smile. She got up to leave, but he held her paw and pulled her down on the pillow with him. He nuzzled her, kissing her sweetly on the cheek, and stroked the side of her face. Demeter purred softly.

'He loves me,' she thought to herself.

There was a knock at the door as Bombalurina poked her head in. "Munkie-darling," she said in a sing song voice, with every intention to annoy the silver tabby. And she did. "Do you mind if I take my sister out to celebrate the good news? With all the commotion, I haven't even had a chance to congratulate either of you!"

"Thank you," Munkustrap said. Demeter could hear the annoyance in his voice at having been interrupted. But she began to get up, and he mournfully let her go. "I'll see you later tonight, Dem," he smiled.

Demeter felt like she was going to an execution as she walked out the den. Bombalurina was silent as they made their way out of the junkyard and to the alleyway they conducted most of their 'Jellicle' business.

Once there, Bombalurina cuffed her sister. "PREGNANT! I mean, I know you didn't want to leave, but to pull a stunt like that? How could you be so stupid!"

"Bomba, wait…"

"I mean, there are a million different lies I could have come up with aside from that! What were you thinking?"

"Bomba!"

"Oh, and in front of the entire tribe, too! That should tide over well when you bear no kittens whatsoever! Hey, maybe we can get a bunch of tiny rats to pretend to be newborn kittens! Or better yet, baby Poms! That should work out fine!"

"Bomba! I really am pregnant!"

"Come off it, sis. You know a Jellicle can't breed with a non-Jellicle. We might as well be different species."

"Bomba…Jenny checked me. I'm not kidding." Bombalurina looked her sister over. "Don't you think I've been acting weird lately?"

"You're weird in general," Bombalurina reasoned, with a smart-aleck smile on her face.

"Throwing up a lot?"

"Bad meat. Or you've just decided you're literally sick of all the sweet talk Munkustrap spouts out to you night and day."

"It's not that much," Demeter defended. "He has dignity, you know…and how did you know he sweet talks me?"

"He just seems like he would," Bombalurina said, offhandedly.

"Anyway," continued Demeter. "What about my mood swings?"

"You're a queen!"

"But all at the same time?" Demeter said, her voice raising. "You're right, I am a queen. Let's not forget what the female of the species is supposed to be able to do! Face it, Bomba!"

Bombalurina's face slowly began expressing shock as the reality registered in her brain. She was silent for a while, as she put her paw over her mouth in thought. Finally, after she figured she had her thoughts clear, she said, "Is Munkustrap a Jellicle?"

"I don't know," Demeter sighed, running her paws through her head fur. "I don't think so. He's lived in this tribe since he was a kitten. They would have noticed if he wasn't growing up right. Or, I mean, growing up like a normal cat would." Demeter sighed. "No matter how I say that, I sound like I'm putting down being a Jellicle."

"Maybe…" Bombalurina began as her mind worked a mile a minute. "Well, his father is Old Deuteronomy, right? Well, you've heard the song! Old Deuteronomy's lived a long time, he's a cat who has lived many lives in succession." She looked at her sister, who was considering the possibility.

"But…shouldn't Munku be the same, then?" Bombalurina shrugged. They knew nothing about how the genes worked. All they cared about before was what they were, not how they got about being what they were. They never even knew their father. Their mother said he was a tryst in the night, and never cared any more about him. Either way, they were left with no answers. "What does this mean for us, Bomba?"

Bombalurina sighed. "It means I become a good sister, and a good aunt, and tell you to stop worrying about this so much and rest."

"But…"

"No," she said gently. "A pregnancy is a pregnancy, and I don't want you hurting yourself or making yourself sick because of what we are."

"But Macavity, and the tribe…and when we were kittens, we grew up so slowly…"

"I'll worry about that," Bombalurina said gently. "We've spent our lives running, and for good reason. But these kittens…everything else is not worth losing them."

Demeter tried to calm down. Slowly, a smile came across her face. "Does that mean we can finally slow down? I can spend time with Munkustrap like we were really mates? Not have to worry about running anymore?"

"Yes," Bombalurina said evenly. She didn't want to lie to her sister. But it was the only thing that would calm her down.

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Bombalurina watched her sister go safely back into her den. Munkustrap was already asleep, and she watched as Demeter took up a blanket and covered him with it, before sitting by his side. She knew her sister was excited to finally have a chance at a family. It was something she needed after everything that happened. Now all Bombalurina had to do was keep it from going to hell in a hand-basket before the kittens were born.

"Tabbies," Bombalurina said to herself as she turned to walk away from the den. "Always causing trouble for us…why does it always have to be tabbies?" Now that Bombalurina took it upon herself to worry about everything her sister was supposed to worry about, she had a lot of thinking to do. That meant trying to figure out how to keep them from being sitting ducks for Macavity now that they had to stay in the tribe longer, figuring how kittens could be produced when through all technicality, no fertilization should have ever occured between the two, and having a plan for if –or she should say when- the other members find out about them being different!

Bombalurina was beginning to understand her sister's constant nervousness…

The fur on the back of her neck rose. Someone was watching her, she could feel it. She spun around to see the end of an orange tail disappear into a pipe. Something snapped in the red queen. "Oh, no you don't!" she said before giving chase.

She jumped into the pipe, followed it it's length out, and saw the tail out of the side of her eye as it rounded a corner. She raced over to the corner and saw in the distance two cats jumping over a pile of old shoes. Bombalurina raced over to the old shoes, and saw the two cats exiting the junkyard. The red queen ran after the two at speeds she didn't know were possible, but with the help of needing to defend her sister, were easily attained.

Just outside the junkyard, Bombalurina flew through the air and pounced on an orange and black striped tabby, causing him to yelp in surprise. She had him pinned, his stomach to the ground. "Mungojerrie," she growled. "Why are you spying on me?"

"I wasn' spyin' on ya!" he yelped. "Ge' off me!" He must have been very surprised as Bombalurina's speed and strength. And the queen didn't dare let him up."

"Liar!" she hissed. "What were you doing outside my sister's den?" But her questioning was cut short when someone starting beating her on the back.

"Ge' off 'im!" she yelled. Bombalurina swatted at the queen behind her, but missed. Mungojerrie suddenly rolled over, causing Bombalurina to fall to the side. The orange tom then sat on the queen's stomach and pinned her arms.

"Hah!" he yelled, Rumpleteazer applauding him from behind. "Didn' expect THA', did ya?"

"Uh, Mungo?" Bombalurina said. He gave her a questioning look, that then turned into a pained expression when Bombalurina yanked her arm free and hit the tom in the stomach. "Keep a good grip on whoever you're pinning!" Rumpleteazer hurried over to help her partner, but Bombalurina, who was surprisingly strong for a queen, threw him off of her, and into the orange queen, knocking Rumpleteazer to the ground.

The orange queen groaned in frustration before rising to her feet, and turning to the other, lunging at her and trying to fight her. The two queens got into a scuffle, hissing, swatting, and scratching each other while Mungojerrie got his senses back and rose to his feet. He considered getting into the fight and helping Rumpleteazer, but the cat fight seemed more intriguing than the need to help…

Lightening struck, and the three cats jumped away from each other, looking at the spot they had just been in. Simultaneously, all three eyes turned up to the source of the lightening: a black and white tom. "What are you guys fighting for?" Mistoffelees was on the junkyard fence, looking down on them as though he were the Everlasting Cat himself, about to pass judgment on his fighting children.

"Those two!' Bombalurina hissed, pointing at the partners in crime. "They're spies for Macavity!"

"We are no'!" Rumpleteazer cried, looking between Mungojerrie and Mistoffelees. "We don' work fo' 'im anymore! Much…"

Bombalurina looked ready to lunge at them again. But while she would otherwise believe lightening never struck the same place twice, she trusted Mistoffelees aim. "If you do anything to hurt my sister…"

"Who said we 'ad a problem with Demeta'?" Mungojerrie asked, offended.

"We were jus' doin' Misto a fav-ah!" Rumpleteazer said. Mistoffelees tail twitched.

"Fav-ah?" Bombalurina asked. "A Favor?"

"Yeah! Tell 'er, Misto!" The three cats turned their attention to the tuxedoed tom. He looked nervous. But he showed his resignation with a sigh.

"I asked them to spy on you for me, Bomba," he said. The queen stared dumbly. "Only since the news this afternoon, though. I didn't think they would get caught so easily." He gave the two cats a look that rivaled any Munkustrap could ever give them.

"What?" Bombalurina felt her prior energy had been completely drained. "Why?"

"I thought I knew who you two were," he explained. "But now with this happening…I…" His eyes shifted to the cat burglars, who were blissfully ignorant of what the tom was talking about. "We should talk about this in private."

Bombalurina looked over to the two, who looked at her as though they were seeing her in a new light. "And you two haven't told Macavity anything?"

"Not a thin'!" Mungojerrie said, crossing his heart. Rumpleteazer, who stood behind him, imitated his gesture. "We don' even know what you're talkin' about. Though, we're well up for it!" He smiled to Mistoffelees, but the tom shook his head, making the orange tom frown and mutter something not kind to the tuxedoed tom under his breath.

Mistoffelees jumped off the fence and began to lead Bombalurina to a secluded area. Bombalurina shook her head as she walked past the cat burglars. "Tabbies," she muttered as she went to "talk" Mistoffelees.