"All toms to the meeting yard!"
"All toms should come immediately to the meeting yard!'
Coricopat was ordered by Old Deuteronomy to gather all toms – no queens – to the meeting place. The cat was running her and there the fastest he could, yet he had to find four more toms – wherever they were!
It took about ten more minutes to find all of them.
"Old… Old… Deuteronomy… I… I… got all the toms…" Coricopat said with gasps every few words. Blood was rushing within him and his heart beating like a sprinting horse – all from the running around.
"Ah, thank you, Coricopat," said the wise cat, "Now please take a seat."
All the toms of the junkyard – including Mungojerrie – had gathered in the meeting area. The troublemaker-cat, due to what he had done together with Rumpleteazer a few days ago to Munkustrap, pretended as if there was something important in the dirt.
"Ahem," said Old Deuteronomy, gathering all the attention, "Munkustrap will be leading this very important meeting."
"Thank you, father," he whispered. Then projecting his voice, he said loudly, "We are here to discuss on the disuse that we are all aware about... the redevelopment of this junkyard. We as Jellicles cannot just watch our habitats – and ourselves and our families – be destroyed. Therefore, a group of four, including me, will be chosen as a stronger patrol for the junkyard."
As soon as he finished, he pointed to Plato, Alonzo, and Tumblebrutus, "Us four, starting right after this meeting, will go around the junkyard two times at day and one time at night, seeing if there are any humans who seem to have anything to do with the redevelopment. Count the number of times you see them – we will use it to determine how close we are to the time of redevelopment. Since I can understand the human language – English, at this city – I will try to gather as much information as I can about the redevelopment. We will usually travel together to be safe."
"Wait. How can the number of times we see humans help us estimate when the humans will take over this place?" asked Alonzo.
"And how come I wasn't chosen for the patrol?" complained Pouncival.
Mistoffelees gave him a shut up poke to his side, but it was too late: Old Deuteronomy gave them a look that immediately made Alonzo and Pouncival shut up.
The first two patrols, both at day, went quite smoothly. Munkustrap was relieved at this.
The night, however, came too rapidly… the Jellicle moon was shining above the four toms' heads. They quietly moved together in the darkness. Eight eyes shining in nothing but black; the keen eyes of the Jellicle patrol…
"Since this is our third patrol today, I am sure you all are used to the routines," said Munkustrap quietly.
"I'm so tired…" yawned Tumblebrutus.
"I'm not sure why we must patrol three times a day…" complained Plato.
"Do I have to…" warned Munkustrap.
"Oops. Sorry. I can go five times a day if needed," quickly said Plato.
Then came a crisp sound of someone – or something – walking behind the nearby mountain of dirt.
"Everyone behind me!" quietly shouted Munkustrap.
The four walked quietly around the dirt mountain, only to find… nothing.
The all gave a sigh of relief when…
"Owwwwwww!" cried Plato. A gigantic black figure was stepping on his tail… the black figure, Munkustrap realized instantly, was a human.
"Everyone run!" shouted Munkustrap. He himself remained and jumped to the human's lower leg; he clawed into it with his sharp front claws.
"Shit!" cried the human. He let go of Plato's tail, kicked off Munkustrap into the air, and ran away. Munkustrap got a few scrapes from not landing so great on the ground, but he quickly moved right next to Plato and observed his partially-crushed tail.
"It's not bleeding, but it hurts like…" cried Plato.
"You don't need to say it, "said Munkustrap, holding up the wounded tail.
"Owwwww! Easy!"
"Sorry,"
"I'm not sure if I can walk much with my tail hurt like that," said Plato.
"We'll have to get another tom in the patrol," said Munkustrap, "By the way, that human that hurt you seems like a teenager – his voice sounds like it."
"That monster breed famous for eating so much and doing stupid things?" asked Plato.
Slowly, Tumblebrutus and Alonzo came back and noticed Plato's tail.
They went through a full minute of asking "Are you okay?" and being answered "No!" – in the end, Tumblebrutus had to carry Plato on his back.
"If you are a little kitten, I would be carrying you by holding you with my mouth," remarked Tumblebrutus.
"Shute up," snapped Plato.
Munkustrap already knew how important tails were to cats. And he realized that day that making sure of the Jellicles safety from the redevelopment wasn't going to be easy…
The four slowly walked back to the main area.
Whew! First three chapters done! I really need a lot of people commenting on the story by writing reviews for me to get motivated even more! Please, take time to write a good comment! (gives a cute Etcetera smile.)