CHAPTER I
“Easy now.” Hemiliophate said soothingly to the young Queen laying at his feet, “It’s almost over now.” With steady paws, the strong, young tom removed one... two... and finally three tiny kittens. Turning, he placed them in makeshift cradle of rags and blankets.
The tiny kittens emitted small squeaks as they moved about their little bed. All of the Jellicles had come to see the birth of Emiyanni’s kittens, and were pleased to see that the kittens had all come out so healthy. Every cat expressed their congratulations to the mother and waited anxiously for what would come next--the naming of the kittens.
Hemiliophate, being the head of the tribe, scooped up the bundle and handed it to a smiling Old Deuteronomy. To the leader’s pleasure, the little female kitten crawled over to get a better look at his face, and promptly licked his nose with her little pink tongue. He laughed with joy and then grew quiet. Setting the bundle down, he picked up the two identical twin gray males.
“You are Zapatache,” he said to the first, who wiggled about in the old cat’s firm grip, “and you,” he said to the second, “..are Mundonela.” He then turned his attention to the little female kitten, who had been busily searching the folds of the blanket with her little wet nose for her brothers since Old Deuteronomy had taken them out. She had a brown and black coat with white and gray speckles.
“You, my dear are Grizabella,” he said with a kind smile. She squalked a little meow in response. Old Deuteronomy then turned his attention over to a young adolescent cat who looked anxious. On his nod, she rose to her full height atop the car hood and sang....
“Moonlight,
Turn your face to the moonlight.
Let your memory lead you,
Open up, enter in.
If you find there, the meaning of
What happiness is...
Then a new life will begin...”
CHAPTER 2
A young female Jellicle woke early. She emerged from the box which she had been sleeping
in and let the early morning light play across her coat like children in a field of greenery. The light
highlighted her brown and black coat with white and gray speckles as she climbed to the top of a nearby trash can. She turned her face to the horizon and sang:
“Daylight.
See the dew on the sunflower,
And a rose that is fading,
Roses wither away.
Like the sunflower,
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn...
I am waiting for the day.”
Three kittens were perched nearby and watched this beautiful feline perform her sweet tune.
“She’s so pretty,” said Bombalurina to her companions, Skimbleshanks and Munkustrap.
“It’s too bad that she’s so conceited,” Munkustrap replied, “Mom said not to talk to anyone who’s so high and mighty that she can’t even bother to show up to the Jellicle Ball.”
“Maybe she’s just shy,” piped up one of the newest additions to the tribe--Demeter. She too had come out to hear Grizabella sing.
“Yeah! Remember how shy *we* were at our first ball, Mungo?” a small voice squeaked from a nearby rag pile.
“Quiet, Teazer! They’re not supposed to know that we’re here!” another voice said in agitation to the other.
“It’s a little too late for that, now isn’t it?” the silky Siamese voice of Cassandra purred to the duo.
An argument insued, during which time no one managed to notice that Grizabella had slunk away. She was crying because this wasn’t the first time that she had heard the other cats discussing her as if she weren’t even in the junkyard. They were misunderstanding her shyness for being snobby and poor Griz couldn’t get them to think otherwise. After her mom had died--- no! She wasn’t going to let herself think about things like that. It would only make things worse.
The only place Griz knew to go was away.. far away from the world of the Jellicles. It tugged at her heart a little to know that she would never see the junkyard again.. but it was too late to look back. She bounded over the trash heap and never looked back.
CHAPTER 4
Munkustrap, who had been permitted to go out in search of Griz with the other adults, returned to his kitten friends. He looked over their anxious faces and gravely shook his head.
“She’s either dead or doesn’t want us to find her,” he stated plainly and simply. He realized that he didn’t want to believe that she would just abandon the tribe like that, and tried inspite of himself to push the thought from his mind. He instead turned his attention to comforting the others. Even though she was so full of herself, it was a tragedy to loose any Jellicle.
Old Deuteronomy had refused to declare a state of mourning for the queen though. He had a special bond with her since the moment she was born and felt it in his heart that she wasn’t dead.
CHAPTER 5
Grizabella wandered about the seedy, grimy road of Tottenham Court. Typically, no one would have noticed a small cat amongst the crowds, but Grizabella wasn’t your typical street stray and she drew quite a lot of attention. Passers by assumed that she was there with someone and would only stop long enough to pet her sleek coat and comment about the pretty kitty.
One woman who noticed her though, realized that she didn’t have an identification collar and decided to take her home and put out word that she’d found a lost cat. Weeks passed, and when no one claimed the cat, the woman took the cat as her own. She named her Moonstruck and soon the cat became a regular fixture at the woman’s self-run inn, “The Rising Sun”. Griz loved to entertain the guests by pouncing up on the table and weaving between wine glasses and flower arrangements.
“Now *this* is living,” Griz would think happily to herself, “I don’t know why I didn’t leave that old junkyard sooner!” Life would have been perfect, except for a nagging feeling she got every once in a while. She would sometimes hear the words that Old Deuteronomy had spoken to her in her youth, but would shove them aside in a rush.
One night, something terrible happened. The woman, (who was pretty old) collapsed from a heart attack and despite the medics best attempts, could not be revived. Griz cried silent tears that night and ran away the next morning......
CHAPTER 6
Years had passed since Grizabella had been killed, and Skimbleshanks was surprised to find that he was thinking about her on this day. He had just returned from a trip on the Southeast Express Railway and would be in town for a while, so he decided to stop by the Junkyard to say hi. Skimble didn’t know what caused him to do so, but he had taken the long way to the junkyard this time. On the way a piece of paper caught his eye and he stooped down to pick it up. It was an ad for a cat that someone had found and the photo was almost totally blackened out, but the description drew his attention--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOUND: Female cat- brown and black fur with white and gray speckles.
For more information, dial: 578-2222.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skimble thought for a moment and said aloud, “Nah. It couldn’t be.... Or could it?” He shuttered at the thought that Griz could have abandoned them all those years ago and banished the thought from his mind. No cat had ever left the tribe simply because they wanted to and Grizabella was many things, but NOT a deserter.
CHAPTER 7
After fleeing the “Rising Sun”, Grizabella flitted from one low-class establishment to another. She became known as the ‘Glamour Cat of Tottenham Court’ by the various folk who wandered the street. It was rumored that she had even made her mark at the lowest of all low resorts- “The Friend at Hand”.
She wound up finally at a bar known only as “No Man’s Land”. She at first had no intention of staying, but found that after her last encounter, she needed a place to rest and recuperate.
The owner kept her as a mouser and tool with which to distract customers while he robbed them blind. Grizabella was not happy with the role she had been forced to assume and finally one night, flat out refused to help him.
He kicked her in the side--hard. She attempted to raise herself, but only succeeded in getting about halfway up before he struck her across the face. She reeled in agony and fell into an unconscious state.
“Stupid animal,” he growled and walked away. An elegant feline mounted the windowsill nearby and whispered to the tabby who had been looking on.
“Who’s that?”
“Ehh, that there’s Gizarbella...” he drawled in a slow drunken voice.
“Gizarbella?” she asked, more to herself than to her companion, (who had passed out on the floor anyway--so it wouldn’t have made a big difference ).
“Could he mean Grizabella?” the black and gold feline remarked in wonderment. She decided to find out more and slunk in for a better look. She was pulled aside by an old bar cat with a patch over one eye and a grizzly voice.
“Wotcher doin’ ‘ere, lil miss?” he asked her in a thick cockney accent.
The queen tried to put on as rough an accent as possible. “I.. uhh.. I’m jest checkin’ out ‘ere and thar fur a lil action,” she motioned over to the unconscious form of Grizabella and nonchalantly asked, “Say, what’s her story?”
“Dunno much. She’s been ‘ere fur a bit. Afor that ruma ‘as it she popped in an’ outa that ol’ seedy resort, ‘The Friend at Hand’ but no one seems ta know exactly where she was ‘for that.” he replied with a tone that was all too cozy and buddy-buddy for the queen. “By tha way sweet’art... Wotcher name?”
The queen was in the process of making her way for the door, and turned around just long enough to reply, “The name’s Demeter.” With that, she was gone.
CHAPTER 8
Grizabella regained consciousness a few hours later and managed to pull herself up onto her front paws. Her whole body was throbbing with the pain of a dozen or so open wounds, seeping blood. Her head still wasn’t very clear, but she remembered enough that it was vital for her to run away.. far, far away. She didn’t care where to, just that she get there fast.
She emerged from the tattered curtain of a backdoor and scrambled as fast as she could. Stones and other debris scratched her paw pads until they bled and she still kept going. Her aimless journey across London came to a halt when she reached the edge of a junkheap. It took a moment to register in her mind where she was and when it finally hit her that this was the junkyard of the Jellicles, she hesitated. What would they say? Would they be happy to see her? Turn her away? And what would Old Deuteronomy say? All of these thoughts were spinning around in her head like a cat who was chasing it’s tail, when she suddenly felt the world begin to spin around her. She collapsed
in a sweaty, blood-stained heap and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
When she finally roused herself, she gathered up her courage and boldly stepped into the Junkyard. She heard the screams of celebrating cats and exciting dance music.....
The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat!
The Rum Tum Tugger doesn’t care for a cuddle!
That was right! Tonight was the night of the Jellicle Ball! She almost turned around to walk away again, but somehow found the courage to step forward. The celebration came to a halt as she stared into the gray and black features of.....
CHAPTER 9
It was a grand night for the Jellicle Ball. Munkustrap always loved this time of year. Since he had become the leader of the tribe, he felt a certain responsibility to the new kittens that each ball be better than the last. He could still remember *his* first ball and how excited he was. That excitement was clearly visible on the faces of the new kittens, Victoria, Electra, Jemima and Etcetera.
Things got off to a grand start in traditional fashion with the singing of the Jellicles, and this being his first time as the leader, he was given the great honor of starting off....
“Are you blind when you’re born?” he crooned the welcome to the Jellicles. They all soon followed with their lines to the song and before long it was time for the festivities to get into full swing. Jennyanydots started off with a great tap dance she had prepared for the cats, a song in which Munkustrap was obliged to participate.
Next was supposed to be the time for the kittens to meet Bustopher Jones, but a sly meow was heard loud and clear across the Junkyard and out pounced The Rum Tum Tugger.
Munkustrap groaned--this wasn’t how things were supposed to work! He was powerless to stop it
though, because almost instantly the kittens went absolutely nuts for their Tugger Idol. Sighing, he
watched bemused as the kittens practically turned themselves inside out for the leopard spotted tom.
The Tugger-thon was kicking into high gear when suddenly an old ragged cat entered the Junkyard and stared Munkustrap in the face.......
CHAPTER 10
“Grizabella!” he gasped.
“Munkustrap!” she breathed in recognition.
Munkustrap was appalled at what he had somehow known all along--she *had* abandoned them! The other kittens had grown interested in the newcomer, and as they drew near, Munkustrap pushed them away from the cat. Munkustrap noted her haggled and bloodied body. She had grown so ugly with age and Munku was frightened by her appearance, but he knew it was her. To his shock, Demeter told Grizabella’s story to the tribe....
“She flitted about the ‘No Man’s Land’
From the ‘Rising Sun’
To ‘The Friend at Hand’
And the postman sighed as he scratched his head,
‘You’d really have thought she’d ought to be dead.’
And who would ever suppose that that was Grizabella the Glamour Cat?”
Griz rose and walked away in disbelief. So much time had passed and they still couldn’t get over their hatred for her. She looked back and felt despair wash over her. But she felt a determination deep inside her and promised herself that she would try again and maybe they would have time to think about what had happened to her.
Munkustrap watched her leave and felt a protective instinct well up inside. He drew the kittens close and stared hard at the old haggared form of Grizabella....
take me home!
