Prologue: Curiosity Got This Cat
It had been two months since I had came to London when that famous curiosity got the better of me. I was visiting with one of my recent acquaintances in this town, namely one Peter Grey--Petey or Sweetimunchkins to his human--who lived a well-appointed terrace house in what was normally considered a good neighbourhood. All right, I was there for the free lunch--so sue me 'kay? Now Peter was an anxious, well-meaning type of homebody who didn't get around much--rather like his human--and loved nothing more than a natter with his friends. He had few friends and I had taken advantage of this to integrate myself into the feline society. That fact that I visited regularly and wasn't hard on the eye helped. We had our normal lunchtime conversation over a good brand of cat food and had settled down for a wash when I broached the subject that had been on my mind for the past week. "Peter," I said casually after licking my tail, "do you know all of the tribes of cats in this town?"
He looked up from washing his hind leg and looked at me with that half-anxious, wanting-to-be-a-good-host way. "Why, yes, I might not wonder far, but Lindy Brownspot and Velvet from Grange Road keep me updated."
"Well then, I heard of this clan of cats at a junkyard across town--"
"Oh, them."
Peter looked uncomfortable, though I didn't think it was from being uncharacteristically rude. The way he said "them" put me in mind of an old lady picking at some unfamiliar food. "Yes?" I said encouragingly, licking a paw and slicking it down one ear.
I noticed Peter following my movements again as he always did when he thought I didn't know. I knew he thought my tawny coat exotic and almond eyes mysterious. I also knew that couldn't do anything about because he'd been un-tomed when he was young. Shame on me, I use every feminine wile at my disposal whenever I can--my role was to collect information in any way possible but I draw the line at casual relationships and unwanted kittens. "They call themselves Jellicle Cats," he said quietly. "You're right about the junkyard--they don't all live there but have meetings and such. Most suspicious, but I've never heard anything bad about them . . ."
I nodded along--I hadn't either and I was already seeing why that bunch of cats had been considered strange by the other felines of this town. City cats were by nature solitary, and not inclined towards large tribes most of the time. Occasional friendships and neighborly courtesy, yes, group bonding, no. "And how does one become a Jellicle Cat?" I asked out of pure inquisitiveness.
"I don't know, really, Katrinn . . . Velvet tells me they're perfectly polite when approached and detest dogs."
Approving nod here because any cat who didn't follow these two rules might as well give up all nine lives and throw himself in front of a train. "But, she also said that any cat who wants to join, can join. I didn't understand what she meant by the criteria was simply to have the right kind of thinking--"
Peter, I forgot to mention, was a cat in the middle-age years. I appeared to him as a mature queen a few years younger than him and so he would often go into diatribes of how things were so much better in the old days. He was doing it right then and there--I'm afraid I just started him off somehow. "--and I'm certain she has a strange fascination for this rowdy creature called the Rum-Tum Tugger, which undoubtedly affected her judgement. Now I think--"
I nod, resisting the impulse to yawn. (If you think he's old-maidish, I won't challenge you on that, but he's really a nice fellow.) I processed the info as he rambled on. Apparently the Jellicle Cats had a leader, one Old Deuteronomy--a very respectable cat even by normal standards--and they looked out for each other--an admirable but uncatly trait. They had a yearly gathering where they spent the whole night singing under the full moon until dawn--it had last occurred a week before I came to town. Hmm . . . "--so as I was saying--"
I looked up at the sky beyond the shade of the porch and sighed. "Oh dear, look at the sun! I must be going. Velvet and I have a tea appointment."
Peter's face fell, as much as a cat's face can. "Well, I shan't delay you any longer, Katrinn . . ."
"Goodbye, Peter. It was a wonderful lunch. "
I gave him an affectionate lick for I had came to think of him as an old uncle even after all short time. And he knew it too--I could see it in his eyes as he watched me jump the fence and head down the row of backyards.
Velvet was a chocolate (milk chocolate) coloured cat just into adulthood and yes, she did have a thing for the cat known as the Rum Tum Tugger--along with most of the female cat population from the way she tells it. In between her prattling and a few sardines, I got the gist of the Jellicle society and left before six to find some more serious-minded contacts. Curiouser and curiouser . . .
Part the First: Enter the Wanderer
I planned my entrance carefully for I really wanted to know these cats better and what better way than to come as a wandering stranger—absolutely ignorant of their ways? I had watched their routines covertly and made my move on Monday afternoon. I ambled down this alley and turned--only to bump into another cat. (Damn, but my timing's good! Ahem, sorry.) It was a brown and red queen, not fully matured but in that stage betwixt kittenhood and adulthood. She gasped and apologised most profusely--a sign that she had some training in manners. "Oh sorry! I never saw you coming! I'm so sorry!"
"Don't you fret, youngling, I was not the one knocked onto my rump. I trust you suffered no injury?"
"No, ma'am. I get worse from playing and pouncing."
"Ah youth, I remember those days . . . Tell me, do you have a name?"
"It's Jemina," she replied and we exchanged breathes.
"I'm Katrinn Bast'Korat," I said, then looked around me. "Are you alone, Jemina? It's not safe for kits in this neighbourhood I'm told."
"Oh no, ma'am, I've got a home and a family. I was just going there."
"Well then, let me escort you back."
She agreed and I warmed to her quickly. Her sunny nature and innocence had opened the way for me. Sometimes, I really hate myself. Jemina brought me down two more streets and turned left. "Here we are, home!"
Home was a junkyard, as I was told, full of human debris and rubbish—the perfect playground for a kitten. There were several other cats there and they rose to meet us as we came in. I held still and projected my harmless intentions as well as I could. "What have we here?" asked one large tabby who appeared to the leader.
"It's a nice cat I walked into cos I wasn't looking where I was going," Jemina explained cheerfully. "She's not from around here, and she's got a strange name--"
Her elders shushed her for being too forward. "Thank for seeing Jemina safely to us," said the leader who was, by the way, damn good-looking in addition to being self-assured and polite. "You are welcome to stay if you can prove that you mean no harm."
"Certainly. I am Katrinn Bast'Korat, lately of France, and before that of China, India and many other places. I am a wanderer, having spent most of my life travelling from one country to another. I arrived on these shores two months ago and I have been wandering around the feline community since then."
I suppose not many of these cats would believe the China and India bit--ironically it was true. I spoke the truth--only not the whole truth. "Do you know of any cat named Macavity?"
I had, and I also pieced together their enmity, but I wasn't going to reveal just how much I knew. "No, I cannot say I have. My acquaintances Peter Grey and Velvet from Beech Road did not tell me of this cat."
I heard the others murmur amongst themselves and knew I had been right in dropping their names. "Oh them--" This from one very shapely and attractive queen.
"That old-maid Peter and that snob--" Another queen who looked close enough to the first to be littermates snorted.
"They wouldn't even say his name--" said a cat in a black and white coat.
(Of course I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't.) On the other paw, I might be classified in the same group as my contacts and was quick to add, "I was going down to the train station to take the train to the next town and perhaps the countryside. If I'm an encumbrance, I shall go with your leave."
There was a flurry of debate and the leader turned to me again. "Ah, sorry for seeming brusque. We had to be sure of strangers. You are most welcome. The railway cat might come by today and if you stay, you might be able to ask him about the train schedules."
"I would be delighted,"
I answered even as heard some of them muttering, "Cor, she's got posh manners."
Introductions and the sniffing came next. The leader was Munkustrap, the queens Bombalurina and Demeter and the other tom Quaxo. I got to know a pair of almost identical cats Tantomile and Coricopat. They stared at me in puzzlement for some time afterwards. I knew then that they were real witches' cats--the ones with the moon-blessed powers and not merely the right coloration and a good hiss. They had been trying to feel me out, but hit the proverbial brick wall. I was not worried; some cats had very strong opinions about privacy and others had really tight defenses in their minds. I was brought to meet the other young not quite adult cats. Pretty Victoria, flirty Etcetra and Electra, Jemima's good pals. There were the sultry Exotica and Cassandra--who came close to being the most foreign-looking after me. A shy black cat called Mistofflees and the playful Alonzo were keeping company with Tumblebrutus and George—young cats of Jemina's generation it seems. I started on the queens first, because I saw that they would be more wary of another female and if they accepted me the others would follow suit. "I wasn't all that stiff, was I?" I began.
"Oh no, you were hanging around Lindy Brownspots too long," said the younger female. "She won't even talk to people like Bomb and me. Right, Bomb?"
"Yup. The weather's fine today--fancy a sunning?"
Sunning's the cat equivalent of lying about doing nothing while looking bored out of your mind. It's genetically imprinted into every cat--I'm almost sure of it. Anyhow, we climbed up on the trunk of an old car and basked, keeping a watchful eye the kits at play. Another mature queen called Jellylorum joined us and we managed to get along. The conversation meandered past the delicate areas of origin while the queen kits staged an attack on their male counterparts. The pitched battle was over by the time we got to the touchy area of mates. I assured them I was going to Scotland in a month's time and they needn't worry, though the males around here certainly were fine. "You haven't seen nothing yet," Bombalurina--call me "Bomb"--said with chuckle.
(Yep--the conversation had invariably turned to the subject of males. This will happen whenever a group of females of any species gather together. Males be advised--run for it unless you want to hear what the women really think of you.)
"Just wait till Tugger shows!" said Jellylorum. "Then they'd be all macho-like and tryin' to show each other up! He actually likes that sort of thing--especially winding up Munkustrap!"
"The noble leader? He looks unflappable--and I must confess I envy the girl who gets him."
Demeter did the cat's version of blushing and Bomb and Jelly laughed merrily. "She's sweet on him!" they chorused. "But he's busy being noble leader all the time so he hasn't come around to smelling the catnip!"
"Ha ha, yes, you got Munkus right there--cut him down the middle and you'd see "responsible leader" all the way through!"
Bomb sobered up and looked towards the battle-zone where a counterattack was currently being waged. "Hard to believe he was once a kit like them lot of young ruffians."
"Give 'em time, Bomb--soon they'll be doing more than pouncing on each other," I said. "Hey, I swore that cat was there a moment ago!"
"That's Misto doing his conjuring turns," Demeter informed me. "If you stay till nightfall, you can see him do his new trick."
"Aye, he's been counting on it for weeks," said Jelly. "Look! He's popped up again behind the tire!"
To cats, magic wasn't so astonishing--we got a solid background in all things dark and mysterious a long time back when we were gods. It was rare for cats to show such aptitude though and I set this aside for further investigation. A chorus of squeals from below informed us that the girls had broken off their mock war with the boys to greet a newcomer with a lot of enthusiasm. "Excuse them," Bomb said languidly. "It's only Tugger come to bestow his blessing on the faithful."
A lanky cat with a lion-like mane or ruff was strutting his stuff amongst the others. The young queens were all over him and the adolescent toms did their best to imitate his swagger. He greeted Munkustrap and the other adult males casually to the point of impudence, then jumped up on the trunk. "Helloooo ladies--what have we here? A beautiful and mysterious stranger?"
Yes, I could tell from up close why the girls got the hots for him. He was virile and sensual while keeping a rakish air about him. He was the bad boy your dad and mum didn't approve of, the one the guys hated or wanted so much to be. Introductions were made once more and Tugger made a show of paw-kissing all around. Jelly and Bomb acted coy, Demeter blushed and I nodded coolly. He looked a bit hurt at that and went off to join the toms. "Don't fret," Bomb murmured as she saw me looking puzzled. "He's got an ego the size of the Junkyard and thinks every gal'll fall at his feet as soon as 'e sets eyes on them."
"Mark me, he'll be back. Tugger loves a challenge," Jelly warned.
Oh dear, what have I done now? "I'm sure he has loads of queens just waiting to fall into his paws."
"Ah, yes, that is so."
Jelly lapsed into silence and I caught Demeter glancing at Bombalurina. "A girl's a fool to fall for him--more as likely they hit the ground damn hard while aiming for his paws," said Bomb with the far-off air of someone remembering something not all that nice. "He loves 'imself and no other can get in the way."
I didn't believe her one bit. She had "holding-a-torch-for-him-even-in-the-rain" screaming from her eyes and her voice. I think Jellylorum and Demeter shared this option and we three exchanged knowing looks. A commotion from the entrance of the yard put a halt to the girl-talk and we all jumped up to stare.
To be continued
