Victoria and Jemina watched on as Munkustrap led Marolene away.
"Gee," said Jemina, wide-eyed. "I hope she's not in trouble."
"Yeah," said Victoria in a worried tone. There was finally a cat almost just her age and now she was being dragged in for the third degree.
"Hello," said the brown and white cat.
"This is Tantomile," said Munkustrap. "Psycic and nurse cat."
"What happened to him?" Marolene pointed to a sorry looking Mistoffelees lying on the ground.
"Fainted from exaustion," said Tantomile smiling. "I expect him to wake up pretty soon, but Coricopat wants to keep him in a room so he can sleep," she said to Munkustrap. "And you are...?"
"Marolene."
"Pleased to meet you. Excuse me, I have an unconcious magician to tend to." And she dragged Mistoffelees out of sight. Munkustrap turned to Marolene.
"Now the reason I need to talk to you is about Macavity, who I beleive you are aquainted with." Here it comes, thought Marolene. Good bye Jellicles. "He's dead, I suspect you know." Munkustrap looked at her. "We just need to know if you were connected to him in any ways, we try to avoid letting in his workers."
"Ahem..." said the orange and brown cat behind Munkustrap, still eating fish.
"Which reminds me," said Munkustrap. "This is Mungojerrie. Mungo, Marolene."
"Hello," said Marolene.
"Charmed," said Mungojerrie, with a fish tail hanging out of his mouth. He spat it in a near trash can and walked off. "See ya, Munku," he called.
"Mungojerrie did work for Macavity, but quit. We just need to know if you did." Marolene shook her head. "Well, Mistoffelees mentioned you had a connection to him."
"I was kidnapped when I was little." Munkustrap's expression changed form one of suspicion to one of sympathy.
"Oh...uh..well, you didn't work for him, right?"
"I did not work for him."
"Good. Welcome to the Jellicles, Maro."
"Relax," said Jemina. "She went with Munkustrap. She's fine."
"Oh..." said Patchabie, sheepishly. "Sorry for yelling." Just then, Marolene strolled around a corner. "Oh! Maro! There you are!! Come with me!! You haven't met Bom, and Demie, and Skimble, and Coricopat and all the others!" Jemina and Victoria grinned as Patchabie walked Maro over to a big box.
"Looks like she's fitting in so far..." said Victoria smiling.
Jellylorum approached Patchabie from the back. "He's not here right now, girls," she said smiling at Marolene. "And for the love of Pete, Patch, don't yell so loud!"
"Sorry," said Patchabie. "I was just trying to introduce Maro here to everyone."
"Well the Tugger is right over there." Jellylorum pointed to the car where a tall leopard spotted cat was lounging in the sun.
"She doesn't want to meet him," scoffed Patchabie. "He's a jerk."
"Oh, come now, he's not that bad." Jellylorum frowned. "Besides, it's better for a young pretty lady cat to meet the Tugger chaperoned. Catch my drift, Maro?" Maro nodded. Patchabie sighed and led Marolene over to the car.
"Hey Tugger! New cat." The tall tom looked over.
"Hmm?" he said. Then he looked at Patchabie. "Oh, it's you."
"Yeah," she said. "This is Marolene." He directed his attention the slim grey feline in front of him.
"Hel-lo," he said grinning. Then he glanced back at Patchabie who was holding up a claw bearing paw. "Uh...I gotta go," he said quickly and slid off the car and ran off.
"That was the Rum Tum Tugger. We don't get along too well," said Patchabie grinning.
"I see," mused Marolene. "The ladies cat, I presume?"
"Unfortunatley. But he'll settle down witth Bom one day, I bet. Which is who you are going to meet next!"
"Hey," she whispered. "New cat." Demeter looked up.
"She's cute! Look at her tail, looks like it's been dipped in black ink."
"Hey guys!" Patchabie sat down in front of them. "This is Marolene. She's new."
"Hey, I'm Bombalurina and this is Demeter." Demeter smiled. Bombalurina continued. "I hope you like it here. Everyones sooooo nice!! Have you met everyone yet?"
"Nope." Marolene sat down. "We've been busy meeting alot of cats though." Patchabie sat up.
"Short visit, Iknow, but we hafta get movin'." Bombalurina nodded.
"Well, see ya round, Maro." Demeter smiled.
"Hmmm?" he asked groggily. His head was pounding. "Where am I...oh...here ... explain?"
"You fainted," stated Tantomile.
"After running," continued Coricopat.
"For a loooong time." The twins both finished together. "You were dehydrated." Tantomile pointed to a water dish on the floor. "You might want to consider submerging your head completely...even you can't conjour up all the water you need right now." Mistoffelees shrugged and walked slowly and wobbily over to the water dish.
"Whew!" she said. "There sure are alot of them..."
"I know," said Patchabie. "Hey, where's Misto? Wasn't he supposed to give you a magic show?"
"He's unconcious."
"Oh." Just then Alonzo walked up.
"Hey girls," he said gloomily. Marolene looked at Patchabie.
"He's sad," she explained.
"I see." Maro looked back at Alonzo. "Hi."
"What brings you here?" said Patchabie.
"I'm bored." He flopped down. "I can't find Mistoffelees. Do you know where he is?"
"He's unconcious," Marolene said as she licked her paws.
"Oh." Alonzo yawned. Marolene gave him a weird look.
"You aren't fazed by much, are you?"
"Nope. We leave that to Patchabie." Patchabie grinned.
"Oh well." Alonzo yawned. "I guess I'll find Tugger then."
"So long," said Patchabie.
"Bye," called Marolene as he walked away. "Hmmm. He's odd, isn't he?"
"Not usually. His "girlfriend" moved away awhile aga and he's still mopin' around. Be good for him to get some company." Patchabie looked at Marolene as she said this.
"Ooooh no. I'm not the one for the job." Patchabie sat up. "I thought so. I'm gonna go find Quaxo. You can stay around here and explore, if ya want...."
"Sure, I guess."
"Bye." Patchabie walked over to a dryer and Marolene sat up and looked around. She decided to find Jennyannydots, since she was never properly introduced. Her path was intercepted by a small black kitten.
"Halt." The kitten demanded. "I don't know you. Who are you?"
"Marolene."
"Oh, Okay." The kitten smiled. "I'm Sootaput. A new Jellicle. Well, gotta run!" Sootaput ran off. Marolene shook her head. Cats around here could be real weird...
Mistoffelees sheilded his eyes from the light coming in through the entrance of the pipe.
"What??" He hissed.
"I just wanted to thank you for getting Marolene in the tribe for us. We don't know of any other Morgans and Deuteronomy was very close to them." Munkustrap smiled.
Mistoffelees groaned. "Why did you wake me up???!!! I am having a VERY bad day." Just then Tantomile came in.
"What are you doing!!" She pointed to Munkustrap and then to the door. "He is very very tired. Out. Now." Munkustrap shrugged and walked out the door.
"Y'know what, Tantomile?" Mistoffelees asked.
"What?"
"I could get used to staying here."
Tantomile laughed. Then Mistoffelees rolled over and fell asleep.
"Hello," the cat said. "I don't beleive we've been introduced."
"I can't beleive we haven't been introduced. I thought I met everyone!" Marolene shook her head in disbeleif as she said this.
The cat laughed. "There are alot of us. I am Exotica. I just came from my house, so thats why you didn't meet me. Are you Marolene?" Marolene nodded.
"There's quite a buzz about you, Marolene."
"Really?"
"Yes. Everyone wants to meet the pretty new grey cat who is realated to Cat Morgan." Marolene blushed. "I didn't know my dad was so important."
"Well, the person to ask about that is Munkustrap. Or maybe even Alonzo." Exotica streched out in the sun.
"Why Alonzo?" asked Marolene.
"I heard that when Alonzo was really little, Cat Morgan was like another dad to him. Or at least he liked him."
Just then, Rum Tum Tugger came up behind the two cats. "Hello ladies," he said grinning and laid down between them. He turned to face Marolene.
"Oh no," he remarked upon seeing her. "It's the devil's advocate."
"Are you refering to Patchabie?" asked Marolene smiling.
"The one and only." Tugger pointed to his nose. "Look what she did to me!!" Exotica punched him on the back.
"It's only a tiny scratch, you dingo," she scolded. Tugger frowned.
"I better go find Bom." He stood up. "See ya, gals." He strode off.
Exotica then turned to Marolene. "So, you want all the gossip?" She grinned devilishly. Marolene nodded and giggled. Then she frowned.
"Oh...I have to go find Jennyannydots. Sorry, Exotica."
Exotica smiled. "No problem," she said. "You'll find out soon enough." Marolene smiled and hopped off the car.
Jenny was sitting in the middle of the yard repairing doilies. Marolene walked up to her. "Hello," she said. "I'm new and I don't beleive we've been properly introduced. I am Marolene." Jenny looked up and shreiked with delight.
"Morgan's daughter!!" she exclaimed. "Oh, do sit down!!! I've been longing to see you! Jelly told me about you!!" Marolene sat down. "Well, Maro, funny you came here, I was looking for you. Munkustrap tells me you live with a composer." Marolene nodded.
"Yes." she said. "I do. What about him?"
"Do you know anything about music? I teach the mice music on tuesdays, and I am in need of a helper."
"Sure, Jenny. I'd be glad to help out."
"Good. Tuesday at noon."
"I'll be there." Marolene stood up and walked back over to Exotica, still on the car, who was talking to Alonzo and Pouncival.
"Oh, hi!!" Exotica walked over to Marolene. "I didn't know you'd be back so soon. Come and talk with us. I think Alonzo knows your dad better than we thought." Marolene followed Exotica back to the car.
"Hi," said Marolene.
"Hi Maro," said Alonzo and Pouncival.
"We were just talkin' 'bout your dad," said Pouncival. "Alonzo knew him."
"I know," said Marolene. She squinted at Alonzo. "and I knew Alonzo, I think."
"Wha?" Pouncival's and Exotica's jaws dropped. Marolene continued.
"You," she said pointing at Alonzo, "were my brother's best friend. Of course, this was when you were little, and I was really little." Alonzo nodded.
"Yeah..." he said, his voice trailing off.
Marolene shook her head. "Too confusing to discuss. I'm going to go find Patchabie." Exotica noticed her voice was a little wobbly as she said this. Marolene scampered off towards the dryer.
"What's wrong with her?" Pouncival said to Alonzo. Alonzo hissed.
"Her brother's dead. Along with the rest of her family. Excuse me, I'm going to find Mistoffelees." And Alonzo went off in search of his best friend. "I'm gonna go too," said Pouncival, but Exotica leapt over his shoulder and put her face up to his.
"I will rip your eyes out if you follow either of them," she growled.
"They are not looking for their friends, but they are going to be by themselves."
"Oh," said Pouncival in a small voice. "Ok."
"She was having a great time. But she went home a couple of minutes ago. Seemed kinda upset 'bout something. She told me to thank for being so nice and that she'll be back tomorrow."
"Hmmm..." Munkustrap thought for a minute. Why would Maro be upset? Oh well. "Thank you Patchabie, that will be all." Patchabie nodded and ran off.
"Yooo hooo!!" Maro's ears perked up. Mistoffelees was sitting on the far side of the roof.
"How did you get up here?" Marolene demanded. Mistofflees shrugged.
"I'm a magician. Whadya expect?"
"I thought you were unconcious."
"Not anymore. Though it was quite a workout." Mistoffelees flexed his arm. "Do I look buff?" he said in a low voice. "But seriously, Munkustrap wants to know if you're ok." Marolene nodded. "'Cause, y'know, you just kinda ran off, so he thought you were emotionally....messed up, or something. So he decided to send the exausted dead sleeping kitty cat magician to make sure you wer-"
"You're rambling, Misto." He shrugged. "And what about that magic show I was promised?"
"Fine, fine. I'll shoot some fancy lightning off the roof and the next time Old Deuteronomy dissapears, you can help bring him back." With that he raised a paw and shot lightning into the sky. Marolene grinned, but her mind was elseware. "Look, I'm not going to do this if you're not paying attention."
"Yeah..." said Marolene. "You better do it some other time..."
Mistoffelees sighed impatiantly and lowered his paw. "Suit yourself. Ta ta, Ink Tail."
"Don't call me that."
"That's what you look like. So long." And with a clap of his hands, he was gone. Marolene blinked. Well, she said to herself, this day has been good. And she walked into her house and went to bed.
