Grizabella the Glamour Cat
It had been nearly eight years since Grizabella had left the Junkyard. She had blossomed from a shy, gangly girl of two into a glamourous queen any tom would be proud to have at his side.
She was fairly well off, and had little if anything to complain about. She had found a strong alley tom who protected her from the other males, and he was a fairly good provider as well. In fact, things ran pretty smoothly until one day...
"It can't be!" Grizabella wailed. "I thought he loved me!" She shivered, and started to look for shelter from the rain. Augustus had thrown her out, leaving her to fend for herself. He had not offered any explanation, but Grizabella had not needed one; she had seen the beautiful young queen that he had chosen to replace her with. I became too old to please him any more, she thought in disgust.
Finally, she stumbled across an old cardboard box. It was soaked from the rain, but it was better shelter than none. She started to crawl in, but jerked back suddenly. There was another cat in there!
"'Allo," the cat said cheerfully. "I'm Bill Bailey. And what by chance is your name, missy?"
"I'm Grizabella," she said. "The Glamour Cat."
Bill fell over on his side, hooting with laughter. "'Glamour Cat,' eh? You don't look it much, missy, if I may say so!"
"And who are you to say so?" Grizabella demanded haughtily, stung by his words. They were true, though; her lovely silver and white patched coat was matted down with rain and mud.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, missy. But you look as if you could use a bit of a roof over your 'ead. Come on in," he invited, moving over to one side so that there would be room for her inside the box.
Grizabella stepped gingerly inside the cardboard box, and sat down. Once she had gotten a good look at the tomcat who called himself Bill Bailey, she saw that despite his rough appearance, he was actually pretty handsome. His fur was mostly white, but there were brown and cream colored patches here and there, and one brown patch over his right eye that gave him almost the appearance of a Pollicle. He was strong and solidly built, but perhaps the most handsome quality about him were his eyes, which shone with a defiant spirit that could not be repressed or denied by anything.
Grizabella realized that she had been staring and looked away, breaking the spell.
"Well, we might as well catch forty winks while waiting for the storm to pass," Bill Bailey said, curling up and closing his eyes.
Grizabella sighed, and followed his example, but could not sleep. How could Augustus have done that to me? she wondered, staring blankly out into the pouring rain. I was always faithful to him, and he just abandoned me for the first pretty kitten that came along. I loved him. Grizabella closed her eyes and tried to sleep, as her eyes made their own little rainstorm of tears.