By Rio: Macavitysgirl@hotmail.com

"Come on out." Holding out a steady paw, Gus smiled down at his son. "You don't need to be shy now, my lad."

Nervously twisting his paws together, Asparagus blinked up at his father, his tail flicking nervously this way and that, his eyes wandering around the vastness of the junkyard. "It's so big." He whispered fearfully. "What if I get lost, dad?"

Laughing fondly, Gus mussed his son's fur. "You're a Jellicle, son. You won't get lost. You can find your way blind when you're lost in the street, you know."

"Er...dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"What does that mean?"

Squatting down to face the kitten, he explained. "It means if you ever get lost, you'll be able to find your way back with your eyes closed."

"But dad..."

"Yes, Asparagus?" From his tone, it was clear he was getting frustrated with the questioning kitten.

"You just said I won't get lost, but then you said I'll have to get lost if I want to find my way blind when I'm lost in the street." His lower lip quivered. "I won't get lost, will I? And if I do get lost, do I have to close my eyes cos I'm not blind? I'm scared of the dark, dad."

"You'll only get lost if you wander off, son. And you don't need to close your eyes because you won't get lost if you do as your told. And you don't need to be scared of the dark because you can see in the dark anyway." Grasping Asparagus Junior's paw, Gus led him into the quiet junkyard. "Come on, we have some new kittens for you to play with here."

"Dad?"

"Yes, Asparagus?"

"What if they don't want to play with me?" Wide-eyed, he stared up at his actor-father. "What if they think I'm silly and don't want to play with me?"

"If you keep asking silly questions, they won't want to play with you."

Gus growled, fighting to keep his patience intact.

There was a moments silence, then a little voiced piped up. "Dad?"

"Yes?" Gus sighed.

"Are there girl kittens here too? I don't like girl kittens. They smell funny." He wrinkled his little nose for effect.

"Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks should be here. Bustopher too, perhaps."

"Are they girl or boy kittens?"

"It's queen or tom, son, remember?" The kitten nodded. "And Jennyanydots is a queen kitten. Skimble and Bustopher are toms."

"You mean I have to play with a gi...queen? Aww, dad! I can't play with a girl!I wanna go home! I wanna go home no..."

"None of that!" Gus interrupted sharply, wagging a finger at his son.

"Deuteronomy offered to kitten-sit you.You're staying here. I can't look after you during the evening. I have to work. You are staying here until I come home and that's final."

Sulkily hanging his head, Asparagus didn't notice a mud-covered ball of fur hurtling towards him, closely followed by another one.

"Uncle Gus!" The first mudball yelled, barreling into Asparagus and knocking him flat. "Is this your kitten? Can we play with him? Is he fun? What can we do with him? Does he like mud? Where are you going? Have you brought me anything?"

"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny." Scooping the little mudpile off his cowering son, Gus tossed her up in the air. "I'm working today and my little kitten here has never played with another kitten, so..."

"Never?" She turned a muddy face to the little brown tom kitten. "Why not? Doesn't he like us? Didn't he want to play?" Leaping down from Gus' arms, she bent close to Asparagus and looked him in the eyes, demanding. "Why didn't you want to play with us?"

"Daaaaaaaaaaad!" Cowering behing his father, he stared at the muddy creature. "Who is that?"

"Asparagus," Gus feigned a whine in response. "That's your new playmate, Jennyanydots and that..." He pointed to the quieter mudpile behind her. "Is Skimbleshanks in camouflage."

"Unca Gus!" Skimbleshanks wailed loudly. "You gave me away! I was gonna pounce him!" He was the elder of the two, almost in adulthood, while Jennyanydots was still more of a hyperactive kitten.

"Ah-ah!" Holding up a paw, Gus shook his head. "No pouncing until he knows you aren't going to eat him."

"Eat him?" Jennyanydots giggled and bounced around Gus to tackle Asparagus. "We don't eat other kittens!" She chirped happily, pausing thoughtfully before adding conspiratorially. "Unless we're REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY hungry!"

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

"She's joking, Asparagus." Skimbleshanks put in helpfully. "She's being silly again. She likes being silly."

"Silly?" Jennyanydots turned on the little tom. "Me? Silly? What do you mean I'm silly?"

As Gus edged away from his kitten slowly, Skimbleshanks leaned over and whispered to Asparagus. "See! She's so silly she doesn't even know what I mean!"

Asparagus couldn't help but laugh as Jennyanydots jumped on Skimbleshanks and grabbed his tail, howling. "I...am...NOT....silly!"

"Oh yeah?" Flipping her, he pinned her down. "How come?"

Tossing him, she pinned him flat on his face against the muddy ground. "I don't let myself get pinned by a little queen kitten, dumbie!"

"Asp!" Skimbleshanks yelled muffledly. "Help! In the name of all that purrs, help!"

Awkwardly, Asparagus leapt to Skimbleshanks rescue, cracking up as the little gingery tom feigned a swoon into his arms and simpered. "Oh! My hero!"

"You idiot!" Jennyanydots leapt at them both, rubbing smears of mud off her fur onto their coats. "I'll get you for that! You see if I don't!"

"Now, now, Jenny." A deep rumbling voice interrupted calmly. "You behave. We don't want you getting in trouble for fighting again. It's not..."

"Ladylike. I know." Dropping to her haunches, she huffily muttered. "It's not fair. Toms get to fight all the time. Why can't I, uncle Deuteronomy?"

"Because your mother would beat me up." The massive grey tom replied jovially. He was leading another little tom by the paw and smiled down at Asparagus.

"I'm Bustopher Jones." The kitten said around a mouthful of beef steak, the remainder of which was clutched firmly in one paw. "Who are you?"

"I...I'm Asparagus." Asparagus couldn't help staring at Bustopher. He was the biggest kitten that Asparagus had ever seen. "Gus...you know, the theatre cat...he's my dad."

"I'll leave you to play for a while." Deuteronomy murmured, gently propelling Bustopher forward.

"Will you be back for lunch?" The little black and white tom piped up, as the older, grey tom moved away.

With a deep laugh, Deuteronomy nodded. "Of course I will, Bustopher. I love lunch as much as you...well...almost."

Once Deuteronomy was out of hearing-range, the four kittens exchanged glances. "So...who is uncle Deuteronomy?"

Staring at Asparagus in astonishment, Jennyanydots shook her head. "It's your first proper time in the junkyard, isn't it, Aspa?" He nodded shyly.

"First time since you opened your eyes?" He nodded again, twisting his paws together shyly.

"What she will eventually say," Bustopher interrupted, pointing at Jennyanydots with the remains of a lamb joint. "Is that Old Deuteronomy - as the older ones call him - is the leader of the Jellicle tribe."

"Like a King?" Asparagus asked, his interest piqued.

"Er..." looking to his friend's for back-up, Skimbleshanks nodded. "I guess you could say that. He's a King of the Junkyard and that tyre over there's his throne when it's time for the Jellicle Ball."

"Jellicle Ball?" Asparagus had heard his father talking about it, but since it didn't involve catching mice, being given cream or sleeping, he had deemed it as unimportant. "What's the Jellicle Ball?"

"What's the Jellicle Ball?" Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks echoed in horror. "That's just like saying 'What's a Jellicle Cat?', Aspa!"

"Um..." Raising a questioning paw, he looked from one to the other.

"What's a Jellicle cat?"

"What's a Jellicle Cat?" They stared at one another, disbelief on their faces, slowly turning to the newcomer. "What's a Jellicle cat?"

Sitting down, Skimbleshanks patted Asparagus on the paw gently. "I know this'll be hard for you." He said with mock-sorrow, his tone tragic. "But you're a Jellicle cat, my friend."

"Didn't your father ever tell you?" Jennyanydots demanded.

Shrugging, Asparagus felt himself flushing under his fur, feeling incredibley stupid. "He probably did. I didn't listen to it much."

"You have to remember," Bustopher put in kindly. "He is much younger than us and he did only have a dad. Our mother's told us all, remember? He wasn't that lucky."

"Ok..." Grabbing the tom's paws, Jennyanydots pulled him up to the massive tyre at the centre of the Junkyard and sat him down there, rubbing her paws together. "When we're older, we'll attend the Ball. It's an annual celebration of the tribe and one person is chosen to go to the Heaviside Layer."

Sitting down next Asparagus, Bustopher mumbled around his latest snack. "We all sing and dance at the Ball and basically have a good time."

"So, the Jellicle Ball is a massive party..." The others nodded, grinning at one another. They had explained it pretty well. "So, we all have fun and the cat that's picked by Old Deuteronomy kicks the bucket?"

"Um..." A pensive silence fell, as the kittens absorbed this new translation of the journey to the Heaviside.

"Well," Skimbleshanks said awkwardly. "Not exactly. The Ball's really a celebration of life and it's not really...kicking the bucket...is it Jenny?"

"No!" Indignantly, Jenny rose to the challange of explaining it. "Whoever it is comes back in a different Jellicle life."

"So," Scratching his head, Asparagus frowned, slightly bemused. "We come to the tribe, get old, pop our clogs and come back as another cat, get old again, go through the tribe and snuff it repeatedly? How many times does this usually happen?"

"Going by tradition," Bustopher replied. "I'd say that nine times was the average number of different Jellicle lives that each cat has."

"So I could be my own grandad?"

"Skimble," Jennyanydots wailed, tugging her friend's arm. "He's confusing me! Tell him not to confuse me! Tell him, Skimble!"

Winking at Asparagus, Skimbleshanks grinned. "I think I like you, mate." He chuckled. "You confused her! That's a first."

"Thanks...I have another question." Holding up his paws, as if to ward off a blow, Asparagus blurted out hastily. " Don't yell at me and think I'm stupid but is it always Old Deuteronomy who picks the cat who goes to the Heaviside Layer and would he have top pick himself if he ever got too old to do it and if he was too old to do it, who would pick him?"

"I dunno." The other three replied in unison.

"I might be the next one to pick who goes!" Bustopher chortled. "I could do that!"

Shaking her head indignantly, Jennyanydots glared at him. "Don't be stupid. I could do a better job than you!"

"But you're just a girl." Skimbleshanks laughed, but hurriedly stopped, backing behind Asparagus as the little Gumbie cat turned to him, her paws balled into fists on her hips.

"What did you say?" Narrowing her gold eyes, she glared at him.

"Nothing, Pumpkin!" He squeaked, as Asparagus wisely leapt out of the way.

"Don't hurt meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" His depairing wail rose to a crescendo as Jennyanydots tackled him and pinned him down.

"Actually," Asparagus stood up on the tyre and raised his paws. Lowering his voice using a special trick his father had taught him, he put on an approximation of Old Deuteronomy's deep rumbling voice. " I think I could do the job better than any of you."

Giggling madly, Jennyanydots grinned up at him. "You sounded just like him! Do it again! Do it again!"

"You want me to sound like the King?" Although it strained his vocal chords, he lowered his voice more and rumbled. "All I have to do now is look at the King and tell him I'll sit on his throne."

"You wouldn't dare!" Skimbleshanks breathed, staring at the newcomer in astonishment. "He'd squish you!"

"Bustopher could do that too." Jennyanydots put in cheerfully. "He's gonna be a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE cat!"

"And what if Deuteronomy has a son?" Bustopher ignored the young Gumbie cat, subtly shifting one paw as he spoke. "Then the son would be the next in line to be King here."

Shrieking as Bustopher's paw came down heavily on her long tail, Jennyanydots punched him in the gut and turned sweetly to Asparagus."I dare you," She said, grinning wickedly, "To tell him that you're gonna sit on..."

"Sit on what?" The rumbling voice carried across the Junkyard and the three kittens hastily dropped down onto the ground, leaving the tiny Asparagus crouched on the tyre, a nervous, helpless grin on his face. "Er...hello...Deuteronomy, sir."

Looking down at the kitten, Old Deuteronomy as hard pressed to stifle a smile, as he narrowed his eyes at Asparagus. "Well, well." He growled deeply. "Who is sitting on my throne?"

Asparagus saw Jennyanydots smirk at Skimbleshanks and mouth the words "Chicken!"

Swallowing his fear, he straightened his back and looked Deuteronomy in the eyes, his paws on his hips. "I am." he squeaked. "I'm sitting on your throne."

All three of the kittens behind the large grey tom gasped in horror. He did it! What would Deuteronomy do? Squash him? Send him away? Attack him with his claws?

Instead, the older tom burst out laughing and swung little Asparagus up in his fuzzy arms, tossing him into the air and catching him easily. "Now, here we have one brave little kitten." He chuckled, sitting down on the tyre, Asparagus on his knee. "You're definitely a Jellicle, my lad. Definitely."

"Me too!" Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks caterwauled in unison, throwing themselves onto his knee as well, as Bustopher lumbered up and sat beside him, still licking thick gravy off his paws.

"Yes, indeed." The Jellicle leader smiled at the quartet of new Jellicles. "We are all Jellicle Cats."

Fanfiction