Well here's chapter 3. "Bond".
I'd like to thank
Immajelliclegrl and LicoriceMitskiandOperaGhost for your kind reviews. It really gives you a great feeling to know that someone is enjoying your work.
This chapter is a little longer than the last two and a little more happens. I wasn't going to put it up for a couple more days but I got inspired about half way through and had to finish it.
Enjoy.
….
Lying on a rather worn blanket beside a bowl of food and water was the puppy she'd found 2 nights before, and believed had died.
…
"But how did it get here?" asked Jemima, turning back to her uncle.
"Well. I put him, it's a male by the way, down to nurse what he could and came back inside. When I got back up the top of the watchpost I could see it stumbling around at the gates. They're blind just like us when they're born it seems" replied Alonzo. "I watched for a little bit and figured that I couldn't just leave him there, so when my shift ended I brought him down here."
"But, the food?" asked Jem and she crept over to the pup with her uncle in tow.
"There's an old pollicle that lives next door to my humans. I, um, borrowed some of her food" admitted the abashed tom.
"Uncle 'Lonz! That's stealing!" said Jemima looking up with a small grin.
"Jemima, honey. It's not going to be enough. A newborn needs milk. It can't really eat solid food yet" said Alonzo as he knelt down beside Jemima and looked over at the puppy.
It was such a cute looking little thing to be honest. Little being subjective as it was a little over half the size of the kitten beside him. He'd managed to clean it up and set the broken leg but hadn't really been able to get it to take anything except a little water off the corner of a blanket. It was dying and he was torn.
"Should I just let nature take its course?" he asked himself.
Jemima fussed with the blanket the sleeping puppy was on and slowly reached out a paw. "Oh, it's so soft" she said as she began to stroke the newborn along its side.
The puppy, feeling the contact, started and began to thrash its head around blindly.
"Jem, be careful!" warned Alonzo and reached out to pull the kitten away from the young pollicle.
Jemima shrugged off his paw, "It's alright. He's just scared" and began to giggle. "Look he's sucking my paw."
The newborn had found the thing that had been giving him such comfort and, as young ones are wont to do, immediately put it into his mouth and begun sucking away noisily.
"Jem!"
"Hey he doesn't have any teeth." Laughed Jemima, "it feels weird."
Alonzo sat back and watched the two young ones together. "I can't break them up. Look at her, she's positively glowing, but how are we going to keep it alive?"
Then a thought came to him.
"Jem. I'm going to have to go and get someone to help. We can't do this ourselves, neither of us know how to look after a newborn, but I know who does." Said Alonzo, getting up and going to the gate.
"But, Uncle Alonzo?" protested Jemima, reaching towards her uncle with her free paw "they'll make me give him away."
"Hey there honey. Trust me. OK?" and with that, he left, shutting the gate behind him.
Jemima looked back down at the puppy. "I hope he's right."
The warm sunshine and lack of food had begun to take its toll on the small pollicle and it had laid it's head back down to drift off to sleep. Jemima buried her face into the soft fur at the base of the puppies neck, "I really hope he's right."
…..
Alonzo returned about an hour later dragging a protesting Jellylorum behind him.
"Alonzo! I'm not putting up with this much longer. You tell me what we're doing and where we are going right now!" protested the black and gold striped white tabby.
"We're there. Now remember. I need you to have an open mind, OK?" said Alonzo, "just don't overreact."
"What do you mean over react? Over react over wha…" Jelly stumbled to a halt. She stood there shocked, trying to take in the image before her. A small pollicle puppy lying on a shabby blanket in the sun, with the youngest daughter of the Jellicles protector curled up against it, both sound asleep.
"What is this?" she hissed at the tomcat beside her.
"Um. Well it started a couple of nights ago when I found Jem out wandering the junkyard…" explained Alonzo.
…..
"…and she's happy." Finished the tom.
Jelly, slightly mollified, looked at the two young friends "Oh heavyside. How are we going to keep this quiet? Demeter will have puppies if she finds out, and Munk will probably throw you to the pollicles."
"Yes, I know, but you didn't see Jemima with the puppy. She loves it. I figured if we can at least nurse it back to health it'll give me some time to figure out what to do" said Alonzo.
"So what do you need me to do?" sighed the tabby queen.
"Well you look after all the orphans we take in. I was hoping that you might have some ideas as to how we can feed him" was the reply.
"I've got some left over kitten formula back in my den, but I don't know if that is going to do the job. We really need something for pollicles. I can get it and we'll try it out I suppose." And with that Jelly dashed off.
She returned a short time later with a basket in her arms containing the biggest kitten bottle and teat she had together filled with formula.
Alonzo got up from where he was watching the two sleep and they approached Jemima together.
Jelly shook Jemima by the shoulder gently. "Jemima. Jemima. Wake up honey."
"Urhghyl. Just a few more minutes mummy" grunted the kitten, causing an amused glance between the two adults.
"Jemmy. Its Jelly darling. I've got something for your friend."
Jemima suddenly shot up awake. "Jelly? But, but…"
"It's ok. Alonzo explained it all to me and I've decided to help" reassured the older queen. "I've got some formula that we're going to try."
Jelly had Jemima shift herself so that the puppies head was lying in her lap.
"Now give me your paw, dear" and Jelly sprinkled some of the milk over her paw, liberally wetting the fur down. "I need you to rub your paw over the puppies lips. I need to know if he's going to be able to suckle."
"Oh he does that. He was sucking my paw before, it felt strange because he doesn't have any teeth." Said Jemima putting her paw down to the puppies mouth. It immediately began to draw the paw in, slurping noisily.
"Well that's a good sign" said Jelly quite pleased, "now I need you to take this bottle and see if he'll take the teat. That's it. Just put it at the tip of his mouth and let him find it. There you go. You're doing really well."
Once she made sure that the puppy was taking the milk, Jelly got up and took Alonzo aside.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I'm not sure yet to be honest." said the bi-colour tom. "I haven't really thought that far ahead yet."
"Well you'd bloody well better before this all blows up in your face and it hurts that poor innocent child" Hissed Jelly.
Alonzo was taken aback. He'd never heard of Jellylorum ever swearing before. "I'll work something out. Even if I have to go tell my father."
"That might be for the best" agreed Jelly.
The two adults attention was drawn back to the scene in front of them but a gurgling sound. The puppy had sucked the bottle dry. Jemima pulled it out of the young pollicles mouth and handed it back to Jelly to pack away.
Jemima looked down at the head on her lap entranced. Stroking the puppy's head gently, she looked up at the older queen. "His name is Toby."
Toby, seeming to agree with his young mistresses decision let loose a tired burp and drifted back to sleep.
….
A month later, the Jellicles were all getting ready for the autumn ball.
Demeter and Munkunstrap were lounging around on the edge of the clearing, watching the kittens and adolescents at play.
"Jemima seems to have forgiven you, Munk" said Demeter to her mate as the kitten in question ran past them playing 'peke's and pollicles' waving madly as she dashed out of sight.
"Yes, though it's as much due to Alonzo and Jelly as anything. They've been keeping her company nearly every day. I'm nearly starting to get a bit jealous" replied the silver and black tabby.
"At least she's over it. I was really worried about her. She's still not playing much with Victoria and young Misto though" said the golden queen. "Have they had a fight or something?"
"Not that I've heard of? Ask Jelly. She's spending a lot of time with Jemmy; though let's face it she's never been the most playful kitten we've seen. Etcetera makes up for the both of them" said Munk, "and every other kitten in the yard" he added under his breath.
Demeter had to laugh at that. Their firstborn definitely wasn't lacking in the energy department, she was always getting into something but was such a happy child that no one could stay mad at her for long. She reached over and nuzzled into her mate.
"And there they go again. Always at this time of the afternoon, and always the three of them." Munk watched Jellylorum, Alonzo and Jemima head out of the clearing together. "Where are they going?"
"Oh leave it my love. They're probably going to surprise us all with something at the ball tonight. It's the sort of thing that Jem would want to do. Besides, with all the kittens out here playing and Jem off with her uncle, we have an empty nest."
And with that Demeter playfully nipped her mate on the chest and dashed off to the old pipe. She briefly paused at the entrance and gave the surprised tomcat a smoky over the shoulder look before disappearing from view. Munkunstrap wasted no time following.
…..
Jem, Jelly and Alonzo all walked through the gate at the bottom corner of the yard to be greeted by a much livelier and energetic pollicle puppy than they started to care for a month earlier.
"Down, Toby. Get down" laughed Jem as she fended the puppy off.
"You know pollicles don't understand words, Jem" said Jelly as she watched Toby licking Jemima's face with a long pink tounge.
"Actually, I think he kinda does, Jelly" replied the kitten. "Watch."
Jemima got Toby calmed down enough to listen.
"Toby. Stay" commanded Jem to the puppy holding up her paw, palm out.
Jemima started to back away until she was a good 15 feet from the pollicle who obviously wanted nothing more than to jump all over his mistress and play, who was letting out a small whine.
"Now, Toby. Sit" and to Jelly and Alonzo's surprise, the puppy sat on his haunches.
"Toby. Down" and the puppy dropped to the ground.
"Toby. Come" and Jemima patted the front of her legs.
The pollicle puppy had obviously been waiting for just that command and took off like a shot from a gun, bowling over Jemima and the two rolled around on the ground.
"That's very good, Jemima" praised the two adults.
"I know. He's good isn't he?"
"Yes well. Give him his food. We need to hurry back and get ready for the ball" said Alonzo to the playing pair.
Jemima got a metal can of dog food from a closed off corner of the clearing and poured it into a bowl on the ground. Toby immediately stuck his nose in and started wolfing down his food.
"He's going to be a huge pollicle when he gets older" Jellly said to Alonzo "have you got any idea of his breed yet?"
"Yeah I know. Look at the size of his paws, and it's not going to be long either. He's already a little bigger than Jem and he's only a month old. I really have no idea what type of pollicle he is. I mean the long fur and pointy ears make him look like a wolf, but that curled tail and friendly face, I just don't know."
"We're going to have to start to talk to her about moving him outside the yard soon. Have you given any thought to it yet?" asked Jelly of the tom.
"I considered taking him home to see if he'd make friends with the pollicle next door, but I'm not sure." replied Alonzo. "I'll think of something. Come on Jem. It's time to go."
Jemima looked up and gave Toby a last pat before joining her uncle and adopted auntie.
"Make sure the gate is shut tight" warned the tom, "there's going to be a lot of music and dancing tonight and we don't want Toby to get out.
"Ok" Jem said and made sure it was closed up, "let's go get ready."
….
There was an air of excitement in the air as the sun went down. The Autumn ball, while not as big an event as the Annual Jellicle Ball, was still a lot of fun and a lot more relaxed than that major event.
Everything was going along great. Kittens were playing and the plays organised by the adults were entertaining everyone. Then Old Deuteronomy turned up, late as usual, and the adults began to sing and dance whilst the tiring kittens sat with the tribe patriarch and watched.
Towards the end of the evening, Munkunstrap and Demeter proudly watched their youngest daughter sing her first solo to the tribe.
The striking notes rang out across the junkyard as she turned her face to the full moon, the moon to which all Jellicles had a special bond, and sang.
Suddenly an eerie sound was heard, a long piercing howl coming nearly in counterpoint with the notes of the kittens song. It echoed across the junkyard again and again.
Parents quickly gathered up their kittens and ushered them into the nearby dens.
Munkunstrap gave rapid fire orders out to the Queens and Toms and they scattered through the yard to find the source of the melancholy howl.
Unseen by the busy protector was one small kitten, racing away to a remote corner of the yard. It wasn't however missed by a certain gold and black queen.
"Munkunstrap! Look!" cried Demeter pointing at the tip of Jemima's tail as it disappeared down a pathway.
Munkunstrap took off after his daughter closely followed by his mate and half the cats in the clearing.
They chased the kitten down the paths towards where the mournful calls were still coming from and came to a halt in front of a gate of metal and wood that was just swinging back to a close.
The sound that they'd been hearing suddenly cut off.
Cats looked around themselves in alarm, disturbed by the sudden silence.
Munkunstrap pushed the gate open and entered the clearing, a number of cats, not the least being his mate, treading on his heels and then stopped in shock.
There in the middle of the clearing was his little baby daughter with her arms wrapped around the neck of a pollicle puppy.
A puppy that looked at the cats filing into the clearing in confusion, then simply threw back its head and let that eerie howl echo across the yard once more, as he cried to the moon above…
…..
Well what do you think guys and girls. Please Read and Review.
Where do you think I should go from here?