The sun’s rays beat down warmly on the junk yard, which pleased the Jellicles. It had been raining for three days and they couldn’t wait to be out in the sun again. They were thankful for the warm morning.
Victoria woke up late that day and had just reached the junkyard, but she wasn’t last. And, for that matter, Rum Tum Tugger didn’t show up last in his usual supercilious manner. Someone was missing that morning.
“Where’s Jemima?” Victoria asked after she had searched the whole place.
“I don’t know. I’ve been looking for her all morning! This isn’t like her to be so late!” Mistoffelees said with a distressed look on his cute, little, white face. “Why are you looking for her?”
“Well, hello? She’s only like my BEST friend.! Duh!” Victoria answered with an almost harsh tone. “I want to play with her.” He looked at her and rolled his eyes.
“Kittens, ay!” he said. “I was just wondering. Gee!” She took it offensively. Can you blame her?
“Well, Mr. Magical Adult Cat Mistoffelees, why do you care where Jemima is?” she snapped at him. Her eyes were scanning him suspiciously. They had never had a conversation like that before. Then, she started to feel the guilt. “I’m sorry, Misto. I guess I got kind of carried away. I’m not mad at you.”
“I’m sorry, too.” He said and rubbed his head against hers in apology.
“So, why are you looking for her, anyway?” Victoria asked again.
“Well, she said something to me last night before she left.” He said the words but he seemed to be lost somewhere, not even knowing where he was. He looked off into space past the beautiful white cat and she was forced to call him back.
“Mistoffelees, hello? Misto!” she yelled in his face and asked when he came to, “What did she say? What are you talking about?”
“She said,” and then he paused. “She said… Oh my gosh! Now I know what she meant! Oh no!” he exclaimed and ran out of the junkyard without another word.
“Not even a goodbye.” She said angrily. “It had to be something serious, though.” Victoria stated to herself. As she said this, a giggle sounded from a pile of garbage to her left. This was followed by the infamous “Shhhhhh,” only to come from Mungojerrie. “What are you two up to?” Victoria said walking to where the noise came from.
“Teazer! You ‘ave got to stop blowin’ our cover!” Mungojerrie scorned his partner.
“O, Jerrie. We’re always found sooner or later. Whether I giggle a li’le or you make a bunch of racket, ‘cause you run so fast you bump into ev’rything!” Jerrie shot a look of irritation at Rumpleteazer and then grinned. He couldn’t be mad at her for more than a minute.
“Excuse me, I have to call upon Munku. I need some insight on a situation that just took place.” Victoria said nonchalantly passing right between the couple.
“What’s up? Is somethin’ wrong?” Mungo asked as he scrunched up his face in confusion.
“It’s a long story and I’d rather not explain it twice. So, if you want to hear it, then you are welcome to accompany me to see Munkustrap. Otherwise, I can’t say anything.” She answered turning to see what their response was. They looked at each other and shrugged. Without a word, they filed into a line behind Victoria and followed her.
Before they could find Munku, they came upon Demeter and Bombalurina grooming themselves on a pillow.
“Hey you guys! Where you headed?” Bom asked as she licked her front paws. The three stopped in their tracks and turned to the two sisters.
“We’re going to see Munkustrap. Have you seen him?” Victoria told them.
“Oh, well he’s visiting Old Dueteronomy at the vicarage wall. Why, dear? Is there something wrong?” Demeter answered beginning to worry about what might’ve happened.
“Oh, not again. If you want to hear the story, then come with me please. I don’t want to explain it twice! I don’t want to sound like I am complaining, but…”
“Too late!” Rumpleteazer interrupted, giggling again, and received a mean look.
“It’s okay, dear. We’ll come with you. It’s about time I got up off my rear and walked about.” Bombalurina answered with a sweet smile.
Again, they all filed into a line, but this time following Bombalurina and Demeter and reached the wall in no time. They stopped and let Victoria jump up first and they all sat down in front of the two cats.
“Well, Victoria, you brought the whole tribe!” Old Dueteronomy joked as he looked at the faces of each of the cats. “Did you come to see me or Munkustrap here?” he asked looking at the pretty white kitten.
“I came to see Munkustrap and, since I didn’t want to explain the story a bunch of times, they came with me to hear of the incident.” She answered waiting for Munku’s response. He nodded her to continue. Victoria opened her mouth to start, but stopped to think. She decided not to go through all of her and Mr. Mistoffelees’ conversation, since half of it was an argument. She skipped that part. “When I got to the junkyard this morning, I looked around for Jemima and I couldn’t find her. So, I asked Misto and he didn’t know either. He stated that he had been looking for her all morning. I asked why he was looking for her and he replied with the weirdest statement. He said that she said something to him last night before she left for home. I asked what she said and he paused for a moment. Then he said, ‘She said…Oh my gosh! Now I know what she meant!’ He got all scared and worried and ran out of the Junkyard without saying another word. What does it mean?” All of the cats had been listening intently and were a bit confused with all the ‘he said’s and ‘she said’s. But they pretty much got the gist of it and became very serious.
“Something has to be wrong with Jemima and only Misto knows what. We have to find them, if they’re even together at the moment.” Munkustrap said gravely. “What do you think, sir?” He turned to Old Dueteronomy.
“Well, Jemima is in trouble and since Mistoffelees went to find her then he is in danger too. Call together a search party, Munkustrap, and split into teams. Each team will explore different areas. Victoria, how long ago did you speak to Mistoffelees?”
“About 15 or 20 minutes.”
“Well he can’t have gone far although he is a speedy one. He probably already found Jemima, wherever she is. But finding them is our main problem, then we will find out what is the matter.” He said to everyone. They took their instructions and headed back for the yard to call for a search party.
Meanwhile…..
“I’m not sure I want to ask this, but what happened?” he said softly as not to ruin the moment.
“I guessed you were going to figure out where I was when I said, ‘What happens when someone betrays your trust?’ But I didn’t intend on this happening. I came here to be in the quiet, so I could read your thoughts like you were teaching me.”
“Why did you want to read my mind?” he interrupted.
“Will you let me finish? Anyway, I was totally on the wrong track and I was getting discouraged. And somehow, Macavity knew where I was crept in while I was trying to read your thoughts. By the way, how did he know where I was?” she asked Mistoffelees.
“Well, Macavity has the powers too. If he can levitate then he can do all the other magical tricks. He must have sensed you trying to learn them and came to you.” He answered still cleaning her up from what he assumed was an awful battle.
“Well, look what he and his ugly rats did to me! I fought three of the rats off after they beat me up and the rest left because they were afraid. Then, Macavity tried to talk me into being one of his agents, but I kept refusing. The third time I refused he became enraged and yelled out until I was almost deaf! He left, stating that killing me would be a waste of a future agent. Then you came.” She explained letting out a sigh that was filled with pain. He stopped cleaning her cuts and looked up at her with an inquisitive face.
“Aww, poor thing, but why were you trying to read my mind?” he said looking her straight in the eyes.
She quickly changed the subject, “O, well, we’d better get back to the junkyard before everyone starts to panic.”
“Jemima… answer me!” he said sternly.
“I was reading your thoughts to see if you felt the same way about me as I do about you. I love you, Mistoffelees.” She said slowly with her down. Then, she looked up to him to see his face. He was totally stunned. He had the most confused look on his face. Just then, a red cat’s figure flew through the open window and landed in front of the two cats.
“Macavity!” they screeched in unison.
