Paisley looked about frantically to find a place to hide. Perfect! Out of the corner of her eye she saw an empty alley. She darted over to it and slid inside. She sat down on the cold concrete and tried to catch her breath. She put he her head down to try and rest, but no sooner had she laid her head on her paws than she heard a faint barking noise. She figured it was just someone's dog and dozed off. When she woke up she found herself staring face-to-face with a gigantic pinscher! She stood as still as death, hardly breathing. The dog, not being very smart, figured she was dead and walked off. Paisley breathed a sigh of relief, but this feeling soon faded as she realized that she had nowhere to go. She got up and looked out of the alley. She had slept longer than she thought because it was now almost midnight. She slowly crept out of the alley and looked both ways again. Nowhere to go except a big, old junkyard down the street a little ways. Maybe she would be safe there. She looked around once more and darted as fast as she could to the junkyard.
When she got up to the gates she slowed down a bit so as not to wake the guard dog up, but there was no dog to be seen. Paisley walked through the gates and began to feel a strange sense of security about her. She found a flat area where she could lay down and soon fell fast asleep.
The next morning, Paisley woke up to find herself face-to-face with not the guard dog that she feared but an old, gray tom with large eyes. Paisley stood up abruptly and said much more bravely than she felt, “Who are you?” The old tom chuckled and said, “It’s alright. I don’t mean to hurt you. Actually, I was thinking that you needed somewhere to stay.” Paisley relaxed, as she knew that he was a friend. “Um, I kind of do need a place to stay,” she said calmly. Realizing that this may have sounded rude, she said hastily, “If it’s okay with you, of course.” The old tom laughed again. “It’s perfectly alright. You may stay with us if you like.”
The old tom led Paisley farther into the junkyard, into a large gap where many other cats were working and playing. The old tom bowed to her and said, “Welcome to the Jellicle Junkyard.” Paisley hadn’t the slightest clue about what a Jellicle was but she figured it had to be better than the life with her master.
The old tom introduced himself as Old Deuteronomy and also introduced his apprentice, Munkustrap. Munkustrap was a little wary to the newcomer at first, but when he saw the look on Old Deuteronomy’s face he knew that she didn’t mean any harm. He looked at Paisley and then back at Old Deuteronomy. “I’ll go take her to meet the rest of the Jellicles,” he said, motioning his head to the large group of cats. Then he took Paisley’s hand and said without a smile, “I’ll show you around. Then I’ll try to find a place where you can stay.” Paisley was a little scared of Munkustrap but said nothing. Then he smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I’m not really that mean.”
Munkustrap introduced Paisley to all of the Jellicles, having to stop for a moment to get Plato to stop flirting with her. Paisley immediately took a liking to the two young queens, Bombalurina and Demeter, and also the kittens. After Munkustrap had introduced the rest of the Jellicles he led her over to an enormous tire and said that she should get some rest; she had had a long day. As it grew dark, all of the cats padded silently to their little corners of the junkyard. Paisley curled up inside the large tire and almost immediately, she was fast asleep.
The next morning, Paisley awoke to the quiet of the sun beginning to rise. She opened her eyes and sat up. None of the other cats were awake, so Paisley decided to take this opportunity to look around the junkyard. She hopped down off the tire and looked around. Over the enormous mounds of junk she could see the barest hint of purple in the dusky sky. There wasn’t much to explore around the junkyard but Paisley didn’t feel like going to bed. She went back to her tire and watched the sky grow lighter. A few birds began to chirp quietly as the sun rose, and during that moment, Paisley smiled because she knew that she was truly free; free to live with some of the greatest friends she would make in her entire life.
