Coricopat and Tantomile, known as the Jellicle Twins, were always together. They ate at the same time, slept in the same room, hung out with the same friends. One could say that they were inseparable siblings, and they would be right. Because there wasn’t a thing that one twin did, ate, or thought that the other didn’t. They both enjoyed sleeping on top of the old Ford on a breezy summer day. Coricopat and Tantomile could dance in the exact same timing without flaw. They could each reach the exact same pitch on any note when singing, but there was something that no one was expecting. The changes that would go on between them, or their horrible past. Filled with the truth about each, and why they were twins.
Chapter 2: And the Day begins
Tantomile woke to the sound of a robin outside her bedroom window. With a yawn, she stretched out her muscles. At the same time Coricopat, who slept next to her did the same. Tantomile smiled. *This is going to be the start of a good day.* *So it is, sis. So it is.* came Coricopat’s response.
"Ease dropper!" she laughed and rolled out of bed. Yep, the start of a new day.
The twins walked out of the pipe door of their house stride for stride. The air smelled sweet, like freshly peeled oranges made into orange juice. They looked at each other and knew. Jennyanydots had already begun breakfast for the Jellicles that made their homes at the junkyard. Coricopat and Tantomile walked over to Jennyanydots’ home, which happened to be a stove with a washer connected to one side, and a cardboard box on the other. The smells of bacon, toast, and eggs hung in the air. A long table lay off to the left side, in the cardboard box. Some ten Jellicles were seated there, including Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer and most of the kittens. Coricopat and Tantomile sat side by side, across from Pouncival and Cassandra.
Pouncival was attempting to flirt with the Burmese, who slapped him lightly across the face and giggled. The twins chuckled, but became quiet as Jennyanydots brought out plates of food for the hungry Jellicles. The twins each took a slice of toast, an egg, and two strips of bacon. They ate the same thing at the same time- first the toast, then egg, and lastly the bacon. After each cat had finished breakfast, they all went outside to greet the cats that had come from their human homes. The kittens all rushed off to play, while the toms and queens separated into two different groups to gossip or chase mice. Only Coricopat and Tantomile stayed together, mingling with the elders such as Jellylorum, Jennyanydots, and Munkustrap. They would have talked with Skimbleshanks, but he was on the train.
Around noon, everyone got together to await Old Deuteronomy’s arrival. He came every Wednesday, so it was a much anticipated event. Once there, he would listen to what had been going on in his absents. Though, why the adults continue to talk, the kittens will lose interest and go back to there game.
"Old Deuteronomy," the twins asked in unison. "Did you know who our patents were?" Old Deuteronomy’s smile faded.
"No, sadly I didn’t. You were found in the street. You two couldn’t have been more then a week old at best. So, we adopted you into the tribe." He turned to Jennyanydots, who sat to his left. "That was about the time that Macavity left, wasn’t it?" Jenny nodded.
"You two ask that question all the time!" Jellylorum joked to the twins. The twins blushed.
"When are you two going to settle down with someone?" Rum Tum Tugger asked, quite annoyed that Coricopat never went after any of the queens and Tantomile never got to know a tom well enough to be asked out on a date.
"We don’t know, Tugger." They replied at the same time. The stud cat sighed and walked off with Bombalurina, his mate (who was four weeks pregnant with his kittens), and the Teeny Bopper’s bringing up the rear.
Tantomile watched eagerly. Mistoffelees had challenged Cori to an arm wrestling contest, and it seemed that Cori was winning. The small crowd that had gathered cheered for their favorite. Tant cheered for Cori, of course, with Cassandra, Exotica, Etcetera, and Plato. While Victoria rooted for Misto with Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer, Pouncival, and Tumblebrutus. With a final grunt, Cori pushed Misto’s hand down on the table and yelled: "I won!" his audience cheered, and Misto’s audience groaned. Cori reached over and shook Misto’s hand. Misto shook it.
"Good game. Some other time." Cori said, and Misto smiled. And Tantomile, couldn’t help but look at Cori in a different way. A way that she had never looked at him before. *What’s gotten into me? I look at him like I look at other toms. I guess I must have thought of another tom when I looked at him. Oh well, I mustn’t dwell on it for two long.*
Coricopat was sunning him self on the old Ford, next to Tant, when he first noticed her changing. He looked over at her, and saw her looking him over, in a way that made him uncomfortable…
Chapter 3: What’s with Tantomile?
It was a rainy day. Every cat was inside keeping dry. Munkustrap had taken Demeter home with him; most of the Teeny Bopper’s followed Tugger to his place; and other cats had gone with various others. Coricopat and Tantomile sat in their home, keeping company as best they could. Cori was reading a book titled ‘Futility’ and Tant was making a quilt for their bed with a stitch Jenny had thought her. Tant looked up at Cori, sitting in his chair, and smiled. "He is quite handsome…" she thought not realizing that she was staring at Cori and that he had heard.
"Who is?" he asked. Tant came out of her stupor and panicked. *Who was I thinking about? Who was it? I have to think.*
"Um, no one special, Tugger." Cori looked over his book.
"Tant, I don’t have a problem with you looking at guys, but make sure that it’s someone that not only is available, but would be stable if you got together." He adjusted his glasses and went back to reading. "Tugger! Of all cats!" he added under his breath.
*But I wasn’t thinking about Tugger!* Tant wanted to shout out. *I was thinking about you…*
"… and I almost said that out loud!" Tantomile wailed. Jenny leaned over and squeezed her shoulder.
"That is strange." She said. "I don’t know what to make of it. Here’s what you should do," Tant pounded her forehead on the table. "after you stop that. Go see Old Deuteronomy. I’m sure he could help."
"What if he doesn’t?" Tant asked.
"Then come back to me and we’ll think of something else. Okay?"
"Yeah." Tant said, getting up and leaving Jenny’s consultation room. Outside, she met up with Cori.
"Where have you been?! I have been looking for you everywhere!"
"I-I was talking to Jenny." Tant fidgeted.
"About what? Girl stuff? Stuff that guys shouldn’t be hearing? I’ve probably heard it all before."
"That’s not what it was!" Tant screamed, catching the attention of several Jellicles. "We were talking about something that happened and I didn’t want to share it with anyone else." She stormed off in the other direction.
Old Deuteronomy lounged in the sun. He had a smile on his face as he thought of his days as a young tom. He didn’t even hear Tantomile walk up to him until she cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Oh, Tantomile! This is a nice surprise! I am delighted to see you." with a grunt, he sat up. "What brings you to my place of residence?"
"Old Deuteronomy, I have this problem," she paused and he nodded. "Well, oh how do I explain it…"
When she had finished her story, Tantomile sighed and looked at Old Deuteronomy. He seemed quite shocked by her story and was pondering over it for a long time.
"Well," he said finally. "I don’t know what do say. That is a problem."
"Yeah, that’s what Jenny said. So, what am I going to do?"
Old Deuteronomy sighed. "I don’t know. Let me think about it for a bit, and I will think it over. Okay?"
"Okay." Tant said and left, leaving Old Deuteronomy to ponder about her troubles.
Chapter 4: A Horrible Past
"Cori?" Tantomile asked, sitting next to him just outside the junkyard.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I’m pretty?" she asked. Her twin looked at her.
"You are, will that answer suit you?"
"No, that answer will not suit me!" Tantomile turned and faced him. "Why don’t you ever give me your honest answer when I ask you the same question over and over again?" she grabbed his arm. "Do you think I’m pretty?" he stared into her eyes.
"No," he slipped an arm around her and dew her close. "I think your beautiful." Coricopat said and leaned forward, kissing her. She returned his kiss, leaning on him, pushing him down.
"Um, Tant?" he said, pulling her close.
"Yeah luv?"
"Maybe we should do this in a more private place. We don’t want anyone from the tribe seeing us." Tantomile got up.
"Your right. That would make for bad gossip." Tant stood up and helped her brother to stand. Then, they walked to their home, stride for stride.
A ginger tabby watched from the shadows. *No Tantomile,* he thought evilly. *that would make for good gossip.*
For the next several days, the twins went about as usual, occasionally catching the glance of the other. No one noticed— Till the end of the second week, when Victoria found a slip of paper on her door step. Thinking it was a love letter from Misto, she opened it and began to read. But it wasn’t from Misto, and it wasn’t a love letter, it was horrible, and Victoria had to look away. It read:
Dear Victoria,
I have recently had the opportunity to watch over the junkyard in my spare time. And what I saw two weeks ago just made me sick. I saw Tantomile and Coricopat mating. Don’t think that I’m fooling around. Just watch how those two look at each other. Then you’ll see what I’m talking about. Glad to help the truth get out once and for all in the Jellicles.
Sincerely,
Someone who Watches
Victoria was speechless. She didn’t want to believe it, but the writer couldn’t be wrong if he can tell me that just by seeing them together says it all. She folded the letter up and walked into her house. She wouldn’t tell anyone, not just yet.
"Here read it!" Victoria handed the letter to Bombalurina, who read it.
"Oh my God! That is disgusting!" she said, placing a hand over her mouth and passing the letter back. "What are we going to do?"
"I don’t know." The white queen said, taping the letter on the ground. "Maybe we should tell Jennyanydots. She’ll know what to do!"
It took exactly two seconds for the two queens to get to Jenny and tell her what was up. Jenny couldn’t believe it either.
"It’s impossible!" she said, finding a place to sit. "Why, of all cats, would Coricopat and Tantomile…"
"Because they aren’t twins!" a loud voice boomed through the house Jenny stood up and ran over to Victoria and Bomb, as if trying to protect them.
"Macavity!" Victoria hissed.
Yes, it is I." The master criminal said, taking a step forward. He looked to Victoria and Bombalurina with anger in his face, but when he looked at Jenny, his face softened.
"My dear Jenny. I have missed you these years." He took a step forward, but the tall red queen stepped in his way.
"Get away from her. You may love her, but she doesn’t love you. The two of you have nothing that is the same, so get out!" Bomby hissed protectively. She had a good two inches over the other two queens.
"No, wait." Jenny stepped past Bomby and looked right up at Macavity. "I’ve missed you too." she whispered. The two cats embraced, and the onlookers could do nothing but stare.
"What’s going on here!?" all four turned and saw Quaxo. He was standing in the doorway, staring at his mother.
"Quaxo, go get the tribe gathered at the tire. Tell them only that there is going to be a very important announcement." Macavity said. Quaxo didn’t move.
"Honey, do as your father says!" Jenny yelled. Quaxo stared for another moment, then ran out of the house. "Oh Macavity, why did you make me come back? I wanted to say with you forever." Jenny sobbed, burying her face in his fur.
"Because you belong with the Jellicles, and I wanted to see you have a good life. You would never have had a good life with the strays."
"Come," Victoria said, reaching a hand to Jenny. "The rest of the Jellicles have gathered."
Old Deuteronomy sat on the tire, wondering what was going on. Quaxo had said nothing except for ‘Get to the tire! Something important is going to happen.’ As he looked out over the tribe, he saw many common faces, and some that are there as often, like Skimbleshanks.
"I wonder where Jenny could be?" he said to Munkustrap, who sat next to him.
"I couldn’t tell you father. I haven’t seen her for a while."
Just then, Victoria and Bombalurina walked out of Jenny’s house, on the other side of the junkyard. Behind them, Jennyanydots walked out, hand in hand with Macavity. Many screamed at the site of the criminal and didn’t even think to see that he was being led in. Skimbleshanks, petrified that Macavity was kidnapping her again, ran towards them. Macavity raised his claws, but Jenny grabbed his other hand and lowered it.
"Let go of her Macavity!" Skimbleshanks hissed. "Or I’ll kill you!"
"Skimble, don’t!" Jenny pleaded, staying beside her former lover. Skimble was shocked.
"Jenny, what’s gotten into you? This is the Master criminal! He’s the one that kidnapped you all those years ago."
"I know! But that doesn’t matter to me, it doesn’t." all eyes were on her. "When he kidnapped me, I hated him. I really did. But while I was there. I fell in love with him, a-and we mated." Several Jellicles gasped, including Skimbleshanks. "I got pregnant and had Quaxo, Cerrita, and Celestial.
"Macavity wouldn’t let me stay with him, as much as I begged, so I came home with Quaxo, claimed that it was Skimbleshanks’ to save Macavity, and continued with life.
"After a while, I forgot about Cerrita, Celestial, and Charisma, who had taken such good care of me during my pregnancy." Everyone turned and looked at Charisma, who was sitting with her mate, Bustopher Jones. Charisma was pregnant with his kittens.
"After Cerrita and her siblings came to the junkyard, I took Charisma aside and told her the story, and she went with it.
"Now," she finished up. "Macavity is going to stay in the Junkyard to hear what you all are hear for, and no one is going to say anything against it. Are there any questions?" no one spoke. Most were to shell shocked by her story to say anything anyway.
"Well," Old Deuteronomy began. "why are we all here?"
Bombalurina stood up and cleared her throat. "It has come to Victoria’s and my attention by a letter left on her door step two weeks ago that Coricopat and Tantomile have been sleeping together." All the Jellicles gasped, and Tantomile wrapped her arms around Coricopat’s waist and cried on his shoulder.
Old Deuteronomy turned to the twins. "Is this true?" he asked. Coricopat nodded at he held his sister gently.
"What are you going to do about it?" Munkustrap asked.
"Absolutely nothing."
"But their twins!" someone yelled.
Old Deuteronomy sighed. "No, their not." Now the tribe was really confused. "When Coricopat was a week old, we found him laying next to his dead mother. His other four siblings were dead and he was bearly handing on. Jellylorum, who was about two months old at the time, sort of ‘adopted’ him. Several weeks later, a lone mother came into the junkyard, she was severally beaten and close to death. She told us to take her daughter and raise her well, because she could no longer do that. Then she quietly left the junkyard and we never say her again.
"The both of you were identical, we even couldn’t believe it ourselves, so we raised you as twins. Thinking that the Tantomile’s mother had just kidnapped her from her real mother. But we soon found that was impossible. Mistoffelees checked your genetic links with his magic while you were asleep. And we found out that that you two were not related in the least bit." He looked at the other Jellicles. "That’s why they can be mates." Everyone was quiet for a long time, until Macavity spoke up.
"Tantomile’s mother, what did she look like?"
"She was so dirty that we could tell you for sure, but we think she was gray with red and yellow streaks on her back and tail." Old Deuteronomy explained.
"And were her eyes… purple?"
"I believe so."
"Oh my God." He said shaking a little.
"What’s wrong?" Jenny asked, helping him sit down.
"That’s my sister." He looked at Tantomile. "And she is my niece."
Everyone was quiet for a long time, even the kittens. Finally, Tantomile got up and walked up to her Uncle.
"Uncle?" she asked. He looked up at her, a tear in his eye. "Could you stay at the junkyard, with us?"
"Most Certainly not!" Skimbleshanks said, standing up.
"And why not?" Tantomile asked. "Because he is a criminal? I have not heard of him doing a thing more then be a general nuisance. Nothing more then Pouncival is." The kitten smiled at the mention of his name. "So shy shouldn’t Macavity stay?"
"She’s got a point." Old Deuteronomy said. He thought for a moment. "All right, I will allow Macavity to become a Jellicle again. But, since you have caused so much trouble, the rules are going to be more strict. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir."
"And Jennyanydots," he continued. "You are going to have to choose between Skimbleshanks or Macavity as your mate. And you must do it now." Jenny looked back from Skimble to Macavity and back. Then she chose.
"I will stay with Macavity. I will keep my promise."
"And what promise would that be?" Skimble asked, advancing on the couple.
"I told Macavity that I would be with him for the rest of time. I, sadly, didn’t promise that to you. You were always gone to much."
EPILOGUE:
Since then, Macavity and Jennyanydots have had two wonderful daughters, Mcavea, and Mcavia, both with their fathers’ markings.
Tantomile and Coricopat have had a litter of two girls and a boy— Midnight, Xayida, and Jestina. Midnight is a completely black tom; Xayida is red with tan head, face and shoulders; and Jestina is just like her parents.
Skimbleshanks and Bombalurina got together and have been living on train ever since. (don’t ask, we don’t know either. Maybe it was that Bombalurina had a crush on Macavity and both of them were mad that Macavity and Jenny were together, got married. We do know that Bombalurina has had at least one of Skimbleshanks’ litter’s but we don’t know what they look like, or what their names are.)
