Munkustrap bounded into the infirmary, a little out of breath. "Sorry I'm late…!" He panted. "Something...came up…"
He soon realised that the Seal point Snowshoe wasn't paying him the slightest bit of attention because she was too busy talking on the black bakelite telephone. So he leaned against the wall and waited patiently for her to finish (Well, I say patiently!)
"Oui maman," Jazzie was saying to someone speaking animatedly on the other end. "Oui, je vais vraiment avoir un bébé!" *1
She waited for the excited chatter to die down before replying, "Ah merci, je ne sais pas encore. Je t'aime aussi! Oui." She gasped, "Mère!" and shot a guilty glance at Munkustrap, hoping he hadn't understood what her mother had just said about him. *2
A raised eyebrow and a confused expression told her that it was possible that he had though it was hard to tell. Then a smirk and a nod told her he had probably just done the maths. She sighed, "Oui Maman. Non Maman. Oui. Au revoir. Oui, je t'aime aussi. Au revoir! Non, vous raccrochez…" *3
Munkustrap started to rub his forehead with his fingertips. "...Oui, d'accord Maman! Oui! Au revoir! Je t'aime aussi…!" Jazzie went on.
Munkustrap rolled his eyes to the ceiling and silently prayed to the Everlasting Cat, "Give me strength!"
After what seemed like a lifetime of toing and froing, Jazzie finally hung up the phone and not a moment too soon, because if she had uttered another, "Non, vous raccrochez!" he thought he just might end up strangling her with the telephone cord.
"What were you telling her, your life story?" he grumbled.
"You're late!" she shot back.
"Even later now!" he muttered.
She folded her arms and pursed her lips at that. "What are we late for anyway?" She asked.
"No time now! I'll explain when we get there," He said hurriedly and grabbed her arm. "Come on, we might make it if we run!"
"Where are we going?" She demanded.
"Nowhere if we don't hurry up!" He griped. "Now stop dithering woman and come along, or we really will be late!"
"Late for what!?"
"Come on!"
Sometime later, Munkustrap knocked on a black front door belonging to a partly white washed Victorian five story building which was part of a terraced complex, complete with large panel windows and pointless wrought iron decorations, spiked wrought iron railings and a staircase leading to a basement below the street level. The door opened just a fraction and a face peeped out at them. On seeing who it was, the door was immediately flung open to reveal a post middle aged blue charcoal Bengal wearing a blue leopard print cropped denim jacket with the sleeves cut off. His smokey fur was so dark that his rosette spots could only just be made out. "Nephew!" He greeted Munkustrap. "Welcome! I take it you're here for the studio?"
Munkustrap nodded and replied, "Good afternoon Uncle. Not too late am I?"
The blue bengal shook his head dismissively. "No no! You're on time. And who is this?"
Having just noticed Jazzie, he immediately took her paw and bowed. "Either Rum Tum Tugger has had a sex change, or this isn't Rum Tum Tugger?" He chuckled, raising a suggestive eyebrow at Munkustrap.
"What impeccable manners you have," Jazzie replied. "My name is Doctor Jazzminora. But my friends call me Jazzie! And you are?"
"Keralon, at your service," he replied. "I am the sound engineer here. Are you here to record as well?"
"Um…I'm not sure…" she said.
She looked at Munkustrap, who winked and smiled. "Surprise, my dear!"
"Won't you come on through?" Offered Keralon, leading them through a hallway with walls decorated with ornate gold records.
In a small soundproof room, Jazzie sat alone at a pedal harp. On the other side of the glass, in the control room, Keralon instructed her by speaking into a microphone, his voice filtering through the specially designed headphones she wore over her ears. "Right Jazz, whenever you're ready."
She looked at her sheet music and adjusted them. Then, hearing the click track tick in her ears, she counted herself in and began to pluck the opening bars of the song, 'bom bom bom, bom, bom bom bom, bom…'
When she'd finished the song, she heard the sound engineer's voice in her ear again, "Ok Jazz, that was great! Now if you could take a seat at the piano and Munkustrap will join you."
Munkustrap and Jazzie sat down together at the small piano and repeated the song, only this time Munkustrap sang acapella into the microphone with only the click track to guide him,
"When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we see
No I won't be afraid
No I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me."
He started on the piano,
"And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me."
Then it was Jazzie's turn to sing,
"If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry
No I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me."
They met up with with Keralon in the control room. The Blue Bengal was busy working his magic, fiddling dials and twiddling knobs until he seemed satisfied. He finished tweaking, rewound the tapes and played them back for analysis.
The sound of Munkustrap and Jazzie's voices filtered through the speakers, their singing brought together by warming harp and piano, the final chorus preceded by a stunning piano and harp duo with the harp taking the lead and then, when their vocals came in over the top of that, it brought the whole song to a goosebump inducing finale.
"And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me
Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Oh, stand by me, stand by me, stand by me
Darling, darling stand by me
Stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me."
(Stand By Me by John Lennon)
A few hours later, Munkustrap and Jazzie meandered back to the yard via Exotica's cafe. The storm had lifted, leaving only a few scattered showers in its wake. These continued to drench unsuspecting passers by in between bouts of warm sunshine and the air smelled clean and fresh, unusual and fleeting for the heavily polluted city. "So, will zat song be on an album?" asked Jazzie.
"Hopefully, once Keralon has cleaned it up and mucked about with it. I think it sounded pretty good though," Munkustrap replied, a piece of calamari halfway to his mouth. "It's a new solo project I'm working on called Reece Silver Sings. I've recorded five songs so far, all duos. So I've got one with Skimbleshanks playing the trumpet. I think we sang A Kiss To Build A Dream On for that. With Tugger I did Man Who Sold The World, and then a rendition of Santana's Smooth with Bombi and her double bass, Let There Be Love with Bustopher Jones and his clarinet, and you of course."
Jazzie chewed thoughtfully on a cube of monkfish. "Why do you use a different name?" She asked.
"The record company made me use it but I don't really mind. I wouldn't want a load of over curious humans tramping all over the yard."
"You know, zat may not be such a bad idea," she surmised.
"How do you mean?"
"Ze infirmary needs money," she confessed. "We are barely breaking even. We're in desperate need of blood donations and we're running low on medical supplies. If sings don't improve, it may not be safe to treat cats zere…"
"...Which would be disastrous!" He finished. "The album won't be released until sometime next year and I can't exactly count on the sales."
"Oui. Which is why I have written to Full moon Magazine…"
"Full moon what?"
"It is something zat humans read," she explained. "Anyway, zey wrote back and said zey'd like to do an interview."
"Who with?" Asked Munkustrap as he reached for another piece of calamari.
"Ze Everlasting Cat."
He looked up. "Really? I wish them luck with that."
She rolled her eyes in a light hearted display of exasperation. "No silly, it's you zey want to question."
Then her voice switched to pleading, "Please say you'll do it. Ze publicity could be just what we need."
"Alright, I'll do it. But it'll cost you." He grinned.
"Oh sank you! I will write back to zem later to confirm ze appointment."
"Anything for you," he smiled and then admitted, "To be honest, I may have to go and find some work for next year anyway as my own finances are running a little low."
"What will you do?" She asked.
"I don't know yet. I'll go and see Lawrence at some point."
"Whose Lawrence?"
"My agent."
"Oh."
They quietly finished off their seafood platter and then Jazzie changed the subject. "So?" She queried, narrowing her eyes a little. "Care to tell me why you were late, hmmm?"
"Well, it's not what you're clearly thinking!" He retorted.
He then told her about finding Rumpleteazer in his den after having ransacked it. "I honestly don't know what's gotten into her lately," he concluded, shaking his head. "She's been acting very strangely!"
"Stranger zan usual?" Jazzie giggled.
"Yeah. I mean, you saw her in the club. I swear, I was just as disturbed as you were!"
"I guess," figured Jazzie, "If she keeps on being a pain-"
"Oh there's no curing that-!"
"...you'll just have to talk to her. Ask her what's going on. Maybe she's just trying to tell you somesing," she suggested.
"What would she be trying to tell me?" He asked incredulously.
She smiled sadly. "I am afraid you will have to ask her zat yourself," she replied.
Making their way back to the yard, she slipped an arm into his. "How about we make ze most of our last day togezzer?" She said with a suggestive smile.
He couldn't quite keep the smirk from his handsome features as he replied, "Oh alright then. Seeing as you owe me, how could I decline?"
Unfortunately, she failed to notice the smile fade just a little too quickly.
*1 Yes mum. Yes, I will really have a baby!
*2 Oh thank you, I do not know yet. I love you too. Yes. Mother!
*3 Yes mum. No mum. Yes. Goodbye. Yes, I love you too. Goodbye! No, you hang up...