Chapter 3
Grizabella rolled over and squinted at the sun streaming through her window. She stretched out in her soft bed and looked over at the homemade calendar that Jenny had posted on her wall. Today was circled in red as the day in which she would be wed to Mainard. She laid her head back on her pillow and let her mind wander over the past few months. She had learned to love the black and gray tabby cat in a way that she could never have loved Deuteronomy, although Deuteronomy had remained one of her closest friends. Mainard was so romantic and handsome and it was very obvious that he loved Grizabella with all his heart. She just wished he wouldn’t go out of the Junkyard all the time. She worried about him when he was on these "excursions," as he called them. But everytime when he returned he would bring her flowers, sacred white violets, lovely pink sweet peas, and once he brought her a single golden rose, the color of which she had never seen before. She always wondered where he found such beautiful flowers, but she never questioned him. He always seemed so sure of himself so Griz just assumed that he knew what was going on and she didn’t need to be reassured.
"Grizabella? Are you up?" Griz’s mother came into her room and smiled at her. "Oh my baby girl. Today’s the big day huh?"
Griz nodded. "Yeah…today’s the day."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mainard snuck into the Junkyard, his way lighted by the slowly rising sun. He crept past the homeboxes that were before his and slid silently though his front door. He just had enough time to slip into his room and dive under the covers of his bed before he heard a soft humming accompanied by a slightly limping paw-step approaching his door. His mother poked her head around the doorframe.
"Mainard, dear, time to get up. You don’t want to be late for your wedding," she said as she opened the curtains on his window to let in the early morning sunlight. Mainard groaned and pulled the covers over his aching head. Last night was definitely the last night he would ever stay out all night with Macavity.
"All right Mom," he said crankily. "I’m getting up." His mother smiled and nodded and headed out of his room towards the kitchen to fix her son his last bachelor meal.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The morning hours passed quickly and soon it was approaching high noon. Grizabella paced nervously around her room, her soft veil fluttering across her green eyes. JennyAnyDots and Jellylorum looked at each other and sighed.
"Come on honey," Jelly said soothingly. "You need to calm down." She held out her paw to her friend and Griz grasped it gratefully. "Sit down and try to breathe normally," Jelly instructed, guiding Griz to the edge of the bed.
Griz sat down, but no sooner had she sat than her mother poked her head in the window.
"Girls," she said breathlessly, "it’s time!"
The girls gathered at the door to the homebox and Jenny presented Griz with her bouquet of white violets. Each of her bridesmaids kissed Grizabella’s cheeks and then they proceeded down towards the tire at the center of the Junkyard. Grizabella took her father’s arm and let him lead her towards the front, where Mainard and Old Exodus were waiting.
The ceremony passed by in a blur for all involved. The other Jellicles said later that it had been simply lovely, but neither Grizabella nor Mainard could remember much except that they were man and wife. Neither one of the felines had ever been so happy before, but Mainard’s eyes betrayed him slightly. He had a hint of disappointment that shadowed the joy in his golden eyes: disappointment that his best friend, Macavity, could not be his best man.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
After the two week long honeymoon, Grizabella and Mainard settled down in a small homebox halfway between their parents’ homes. Griz did everything she could to make it a happy and beautiful home and she had so hoped that after they were married, Mainard would begin to spend more time in the Junkyard rather than away from it. But it seemed pointless. So she spent a lot of her time with Jenny and Jelly; well, whatever time they weren’t spending with Bustopher and Gus. And then one day, disaster struck.
"Strays! Heading this way!" The call rang out over the Junkyard, sending the Jellicles into panic and disorder. Grizabella looked around frantically, but Mainard was nowhere to be found. She did so want him there to protect her, but he wasn’t there. Suddenly, a ruddy ginger face appeared before her eyes.
"Macavity…" she whispered, her throat beginning to close up with fear.
"Tell your husband thank you," he hissed and was gone.
After the strays left the Junkyard, Grizabella heard cries and groans coming from all corners of the Junkyard, but all she could think of was Macavity’s ominous message. What did he want to thank Mainard for?
"Griz, come quick," Jenny gasped as she grabbed Griz’s paw and ran towards Griz’s parents’ house. They stopped in the doorway and Griz screamed in shock and horror.
"Nooooooooooo!!" she cried, falling to her knees. The bloody sight seared itself into her memory as she gazed at the mangled and bloody bodies of her beloved parents. "No," she moaned in disbelief. "No…"
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Well done Mainard," Macavity said with a sardonic grin. "Thanks for letting us know the whereabouts of the new Jellicle tribe location."
Mainard gulped and looked down at the ground. "You’re welcome," he muttered as he shuffled away from his friend and headed back to the Junkyard with a heavy heart.
