Bustopher Jones walked into the Junkyard swinging his ladle walking stick with a steady stump, stump, stump. Alonzo greeted him and directed the well groomed cat to the tyre where the others were making preparations for the Ball.
As he neared the area he could hear Gus giving commands to someone in his strong, carrying voice. He smiled as he thought that the old cat certainly had a good set of lungs on him still.
Once at the clearing the smile quickly disappeared, for up on a thin wire - high above the dance area - was little Mister Mistoffelees, a line of festive lights hanging from his jaws.
"Get down from there at once!" he boomed, face paling even more when the kitten did as he asked by scampering down the wire at a run. He grabbed Mistoffelees in a hug as soon as his paws hit the ground and looked at Gus with indignation and some genuine anger. "How could you make him do that, Gus?" he demanded in a horrified voice "You know how his mother nearly died!"
Gus blinked, he had totally forgotten that Magestica had fallen from a height and broken her back. "Er, the kit is very stable on his paws Bustopher," he tried to defend himself, but Jones was herding the smaller cat away, smothering him against his great bulk so that Mistoffelees couldn't defend the older cat or claim the idea as his own.
"Munkustrap!" Bustopher called, nearing the tyre and catching sight of the Jellicle Protector. "Keep an eye on Gus, would you? The cat is reckless when it comes to others lives, and I've a good mind to pull his nose if he does anything like this again!"
Having witnessed the incident, and knowing how Jones fretted when Mistoffelees climbed anything higher than a milk crate, Munkustrap agreed to keep a closer eye on Gus. He hoped his agreement would cause Bustopher to relax and let go his hold on the poor kit being squashed in his arms. Misto was turning blue.
Bustopher did let Mistoffelees go and the kit looked up at the larger tuxedo cat with a mixture of mortification for being called down from the wire like a tiny kit and regret for having scared the older cat so.
Bustopher gave Misto's ears a lick, then keeping a paw around his shoulders turned back to Munkustrap.
"I am here to let you know that while I can make it briefly to the Jellicle Ball, I won't be able to stay for long. Things are happening with my human and his associates, and I must be on hand to advise them. Do tell Old Deuteronomy I am sorry and give him my best wishes for the event, won't you?"
"Certainly, sir." Munkustrap told him, knowing how important Bustopher's work with his human was. "You will be able to stay long enough for your song?"
"Certainly, wouldn't miss that! Now I must get on. Come walk me to the exit, young scamp, I have a word or two to say to you about the dangers of walking at heights," and he steered Mistoffelees away, gently scolding him as they went.
"There goes one crazy cat," the Rum Tum Tugger swaggered into view, giving the departing Bustopher a disapproving look.
"He's just worried. And don't tell me you liked seeing Mistoffelees walking up there, I could see you watching him, you looked like you had constipation," Munkustrap laughed at his brother.
"Yeah, well," Tugger fluffed out his ruff in a show of unconcern. "You don't need that string of lights up there anyway, you only need the spotlight up on that wire, to shine on the nights Star – me!" and he wiggled his hips and poked out his tongue.
Munkustrap rolled his eyes and climbed off the tyre to go and check on preparations for the Ball. His younger brother had no respect, and probably never would. But there was no doing anything about it.
….
The night was perfect, the moon hung huge in the sky, just a few scuttling clouds to ripple across its surface like the marks left behind by a set of giant claws.
On the breeze a faint song could be heard, as the Jellicle cats from everywhere were softly singing -
"Jellicle Cats come out to-night
Jellicle Cats come one come all:
The Jellicle Moon is shining bright -
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball."
"Are you ready little magical cat?" the Rum Tum Tugger asked, heading towards the gate of their small garden. The flowers there looked ghostly, flooded as they were in the light of the Jellicle Moon.
"Yes," said Mister Mistoffelees, trotting from the moon shadow of their shared humans' house and into the light. "I am."
Together they followed the moonbeams through the streets, over the fields and to where the music and the magic of the Jellicle Ball lay waiting for them.
The End.