Part One: Spring
By Rheow
It was a fine day, the kind that smelt like spring but was warm like summer--for it was a time just in betwixt the two seasons. In the Junkyard, kittens played under the watchful eyes of their elders while the young adults lazed about in their own little cliques.
One particular group of young toms basked atop the hood of an old car, surveying the yard with half-lidded eyes. They were strong and certainly fine to look at as quite a few queens would attest to, each filled with the pride and vitality that went with their age. And they were talking about a certain subject that had came up more and more frequently in their conversations.
The tom currently carrying the conversation was a handsome black and white specimen called Zerehmir. "Oh yes, she's all right to look at, but--"
"All right? All right? You must be blind!" protested his companion, a white and orange tom who went by the name Nickolas.
"Oh no, it's Nic who's blind!" teased Cateract the tabby-stripped grey. "Blinded by love!"
"Ah, yes . . . What say you, Macavity?" asked Zerehmir
The ginger tom with white chest fur looked up from his private thoughts and gave a swift smile. "Undoubtedly Nic has fallen for the fair Belinda--see how he hisses at us when we make our point. He is guilty, my friends, guilty!"
"Hah, speak for yourself, Mac!" Nic retorted. "You're gone over the lovely Amberene!"
"Amberene! Never was there such a fine flower to grace this haven known as the Junkyard," said Zerehmi, who could get lyrical if he chose.
"There is the object of your affections!" Cateract nodded towards the knot of young queens who were also enjoying the sun on some old crates.
The most beautiful of the young queens was currently laughing merrily to something her friends had said. Slim of limb and bright of eye, Amberene the tortoiseshell queen was a sight to amaze the most jaded of eyes. Her reddish-brown and yellow markings were bold without making her appear clownish and her tail was long and straight. Those light topaz eyes sparkled with life and many a tom had found himself smitten after just one look.
"You should make the first move--the queens have this idea that we're suppose to do such things," urged Zerehmir.
Amberene laughed her gentle, musical laugh. Belinda was the picture of feline embarrassment and Vesta was openly grinning.
"N-no, that isn't true," said the white queen as she saw her friend's knowing winks.
"Oh come on, 'Lind," cajoled Avaleen, her green-and-olive eyes sparkling with mischief. "You can tell us everything. We are your best friends after all . . ."
"And I am telling you for the hundredth time that there is nothing between Nickolas and me! We've never even been alone for a second!"
"We should arrange something then!" Vesta the sandy-coated queen teased with a wicked smile.
"I've had it up to here with your gossip!" Belinda was really angry now and she stood up, tail lashing from side to side and her eyes were like a pair of fierce coals. So agitated was she that her companions did not know what to do.
All but Amberene, that is. The tortoiseshell queen got up too and said, "We were only having a bit of fun. Don't take it to heart, Belinda dear." Her manner was so soft and the look she gave was so imploring that Belinda felt abashed and sat down again.
"Like we said, we're all friends here," said Amberene approvingly after she had given the white queen a quick nuzzle. "Let's talk about some one else's love-life then--it's only fair . . ."
"Then it's your turn, Amber!" crowed Vesta.
"Yes, it's only fair," added Ava slyly.
Amberene gave Zerehmir's littermate a tolerant look. "I have no love-life to speak of."
"But every tom fancies you!" cried the others.
"But I'm only one queen. If I have so many suitors, then I should be able to choose my mate easily!"
"Love is suppose to just happen," said Belinda, quoting one of the older queens. "I wonder when will it hit you? It would be something to watch!"
"I know that Macavity looks at you *really* intensely," Ava interjected.
"And he's smart, strong . . ."
"Good-looking in a wild way," Vesta added.
"I heard Old Deuteronomy's considering him for the post of the next Jellicle Leader!"
Amberene looked thoughtful as she considered this. "Well, I don't know . . ."
"Amberene!"
A lightly stripped queen had popped her head out of the old oven and was calling her name.
"Jellylorum? Oh no, I'm late--I have to go baby-sit today!" The young queen got up and said her hasty goodbyes to her friends before going off. "I'm coming, Jelly! I haven't forgotten!"
"We should set them up," Vesta said to the others when Amberene was out of hearing range.
"Oooh, that'll be fun . . ."
In the shelter of an old crate, a grey tabby queen lay nursing her kitten. Old Deuteronomy was inspecting her offspring carefully.
"Munkustrap, eh? A fine looking kitten, indeed."
"He's a strong one--like his father." The queen looked up quickly to see how her remark had affected the old tom. A flicker of something--regret?--passed over the Leader's face and he shrugged fatalistically.
"It wasn't to be, Julianna--he will be missed, but I have given up hope that we might ever see him again the day his humans took him with them overseas. He is exploring a new world now and I wish him all the best."
"I hope he finds another queen and settles down," the queen known as Julianna said wistfully.
"I know my son well enough and you will always be first in his heart," Old Deuteronomy assured her. "It is good of you to think so kindly of him."
"I only wish that Cateract would feel the same," she sighed.
"I was planning to speak him myself--after he has seen his brother, of course. My hearing might be going, but I think that's him coming now."
The young tom poked his head in a moment later, saw Old Deuteronomy and mumbled something about coming back another time.
"No, no--your mother wants you. I shall be going," said the venerable cat and departed, leaving the family together alone.
"Ma, how are you?" asked Cateract in concern.
"I'm fine now, son. Come see your brother, Munkustrap."
The elder sibling looked out of his depth as he sniffed this new addition to his family. "Errm, hello . . . Does he hear me?"
"Of course! Munku, that's your brother Cateract."
"'Ateract?" the kitten gurgled, looking up at his brother curiously.
"Isn't he the splitting image of--" Julianna stopped when her son's expression turned stormy. "Cateract, must you put on that face whenever I speak of your father?"
"He just left us!" the youngster replied hotly. "He shouldn't have--what with you pregnant at that time--"
"I told you time and time again that it wasn't his fault," she said sternly. "His humans had chosen to take him with them--there was nothing he could have done to run away . . ."
"He should have tried!" Her eldest son had been in that stage that might be called adolescence when her mate had been taken away. The Jellicles were a close-knit tribe and unlike other cats, the toms had responsibilities to their offspring. Somehow, he could not help but feel resentment against his father for the perceived abandonment. Having his siblings adopted by humans and not coming back to visit certainly didn't help. Julianna hoped that he would grow out of it soon.
"It was not as if he didn't!" Julianna remembered her mate's love and strength, how he had always told her that she would be first in his heart--just like Old Deuteronomy said--and felt the old sorrow rise up like a tidal wave. "Old Deuteronomy wants a word with you after this," she said stiffly, trying to hold back the grief. Cateract would surely misunderstand, thinking that she too was wounded by his father's absence. Oh, she *was*, but not in the way he thought. "I had hoped to get a more positive response out of you, but I seem to have failed."
Cateract scowled. She knew how he hated it when she got all formal like that--but the situation couldn't get any worse. Unless he quibbled with Old Deuteronomy later. Julianna hoped that he wouldn't dare to.
"Don't look like that before Old Deuteronomy, please." She tried to smile and leaned over to wash his face.
"Ma!" With adulthood also came the pride that forbade such displays of affection. She went on anyhow, until he wiggled away from her, much to the amusement of his younger brother.
"What's he laughing at?" Cateract asked grumpily, but not resentfully as before.
"At you! Fancy being scared of a wash!"
"Well, he'll grow up too, Ma."
"That's why I wash him--and you--whenever I can. Run along, mustn't keep Old Deuteronomy waiting, you know."
Watching her son go, Julianna smiled sadly. She would not have any more children unless she chose a new mate or had a fling while in heat. But her mate filled her heart and she had felt no compunction to pick any of the toms who were willing to take his place.
If her instincts were right, Munkstrap was likely be her last child. His sister had died of the wasting illness but he had been too young to understand--for which she was glad. It would be hard enough to grow up without a father, as Cateract was a living example of.
Amberene, by the wiles of her friends, found herself walking in the park with Macavity that Saturday. He was polite and good-natured, she admitted to herself shyly--and so witty too at times.
From there, they progressed to a great many dinner appointments and watching the pantomimes at the theatre where Gus lived. Amber slowly felt her affection growing after the walks through town and jaunts over the rooftops as spring matured into summer.
And her friends ragged her like anything about it.
"Amber, you lucky cat!"
"You two look so cute together!"
"Hey, there's my brother--Mir! Mir, tell Amber how many times a day Macavity thinks of her," Ava cried.
The black tom with white paws came up to the group of queens and executed an elegant leg before saying, "My friend is very much taken with you. In fact, he asked me to compose some verses in praise of you--"
"He most certainly did not!" Amberene protested but Zerehmir had gone on.
"Eyes like banked fires, fur like silk--a light in the darkness, such is fair Amberene to me--"
"Stop it!" If cats could blush, the tortoiseshell queen would've been going red under that knowing green gaze.
But her heart seemed be fluttering and she did not know if it was because of the outrageous verses or because she might have seen something more in Zerehmir's admiring eyes.
Later that evening, she did approach the tom hesitantly. "Zerehmir, did he really say all that to you?"
"Ha-ha, not in so many words!" The tom seemed to rather embarrassed. "It was my own initiative, helping a friend out and all that because he's rather shy . . . He really loves you."
"Yes, I can tell, but I'm so unsure . . ."
"What do you mean?" Zerehmir seemed genuinely surprised.
"Did you mean it then? When you made up those verses?" Amberene persisted.
Zerehmir was certainly quick-witted enough to see where this was leading. "Oh no! I will not stand in the way of a friend. I might be admiring you--as every tom does from time to time--but I would never presume to steal you away--"
"Zerehmir, you are a good friend indeed," Amberene said, outwardly calm but her thoughts were in turmoil as she left.
She knew Macavity's love--so evident every time she looked into his eyes--but she had sensed the passion in the poet too. Macavity and Zerehmir--both upright, handsome Jellicles that any queen would have been proud to claim as mates. Why had she been confronted by this choice? It had been so sudden--like lightning--when the black and white tom had put love into his words that fateful afternoon. And her path--so straight and clear before--branched into two diverging roads. She had been confused at first, but realised the second bloom of love soon enough to her dismay.
How could she fall for two toms at once? They had been her childhood friends, but recently, they had changed somehow into something more.
Torn, the young queen retired to her human's house and spent a fitful night trying to reconcile her feelings--but to no avail.
For Macavity, he could have been the world's happiest cat--love had planted its golden-headed arrow in his heart and he was willingly in thrall.
It was a cheerful--at least to him--morning when he visited the Junkyard, having stopped by at Old Deuteronomy's earlier to pay his respects to his grandfather.
"Macavity, you certainly look well!" exclaimed Jellylorum from where she was herding her young charges for their morning exercise.
"Morning, marm, you're in a fine fettle yourself. Need a paw with the young 'uns?"
"It's decent of you to offer," Jelly remarked as the kittens cheered at the prospect of a new victim.
"Piggy-back!" a black and white kitten--an adopted stray--cried out and he was echoed by his fellows.
So piggy-back it was and that was how Cateract found his friend--one kitten riding on his back and some others nipping at his tail.
"Mac--don't you look a sight!" crowed the tabby grey.
"More piggy-back!" demanded a patchy tom, obviously reasoning that two backs were better than one.
"Why don't you join in, Cateract?" Jelly asked craftily. "Oh, and you brought your brother out, I see."
"Munku, go on--make friends," Cateract urged.
"Play piggy-back?" asked his younger sibling, rather indistinctly because he was holding his brother's tail in his jaws.
Cateract finally gave in to the pleas of single-minded kittens. "All right, I'll give you a ride!"
For Munkustrap, that morning was only the beginning of the best times of his life. After a shy start, he got to know Alonzo the black and white kit, Tumblebrutus--the one who had demanded that Cateract play with them--and Tugger, rather arrogant but always willing to play.
After wearing out the novelty of piggy-back, the kittens played madcap rounds of Tag amidst the piles of junk, squealing and laughing all at once.
To one side, Macavity and Cateract watched, perhaps remembering their own kittenhood--not very long ago, all things considered.
"Mornin', Macavity, Cateract--and regards to your dam, hope she's feeling better," said a sleekly muscled cat who had came up behind them silently.
"Rumpus Cat! My mother's getting better now," replied Cateract. "How goes your patrol?"
"Any Pollicles lurking hereabouts?"
"None--but if there are, I know just the toms ta help me chase their scrawny tails," said the older cat good-naturedly. "Now how are my fine young bravos these days? I heard someone's chasing a pretty queen!"
"He is!" Cateract told the Rumpus Cat as Macavity looked down modestly. "So much so that he's walking two paws off the ground these days!"
Muttering something about needing to see to something else, Macavity hurried away.
"He doesn't like to show his feelings much," Cateract explained. "Say, did you see my younger brother yet?" And then he was showing off Munkustrap with no small amount of brotherly pride.
Off in a quieter corner of the Junkyard, Macavity came across Avaleen sunning herself--without her normal clique today.
"Hullo, Ava. Is your brother here today?"
"Mir? Oh, he'll be around," Ava said languidly.
"Amberene?"
"No, I haven't seen her. I don't think she came into the junkyard today . . ."
As the ginger tom headed out of the junkyard, Avaleen watched him. She was troubled--there had been that dream just last night . . .
A dream of danger and death. A dream where Macavity had loomed up like a shadow, filling her with unnameable dread.
Macavity went back to his humans' home for he knew their schedules well and it had became a custom of his to be there to greet them when they came back from whatever it was that they were doing.
He was punctual enough to catch the younger humans coming back in, noisy and rowdy as usual but always willing to return his greetings.
"Isn't Colin great? He's always knows when we come back," the male young human said as he scratched between the ginger tom's ears.
Macavity, enjoying his due, did not mind the name the humans gave him. After all, he had given them his own names.
The older female human kit laughed--a familiar, cheery sound. Later, when they had their pieces of paper and books spread out all over the kitchen table, he would go and sprawl right on top of them until they shooed him off or finally surrendered and gave him their attention. It rained that afternoon, so they hadn't the heart to shoo him away and he made himself comfortable in their laps.
After his humans' parents came back home, Macavity got his dinner and went out into the damp garden at dusk for exercise. There might be small rodents in the tangled undergrowth at the edge of the property.
Macavity thought it he smelt rat and his hunt instincts came into play as he stalked towards the storm drain that marked the end of what he thought as *his* property.
There were rats and he flushed them out of hiding. They scattered willy-nilly all over the place and ran for it. They did not enter the storm drain--it was flooded from the afternoon's rain--but Macavity managed to corner one of them. He pounced. It leapt.
He missed it--but as it turned out, the rat had not been lucky.
It was squeaking as it frantically clawed for a foothold above the storm drain. It seemed determined to survive.
In a moment of unusual empathy, Macavity reached out a paw and flipped the struggling rodent up onto the concrete top of the drain. It squeaked in surprise--and fled.
Of course it would be silly of him to expect any gratitude. Macavity continued on his usual prowl of his territory.
And he did not think much over the matter after that.