Old Deuteronomy sighed deeply as he settled himself down on the front step of the vicarage, enjoying the rays of sunshine that were just beginning to warm the area as the sun mounted farther into the sky. Munkustrap had just seen him home, being determined that nothing further would happen to the older cat. While he appreciated the sentiment and the care that the young cat lavished on him, his father wished that he would pay a bit more attention to some of the others of their tribe, such as the female contingent.
But, after what had happened when the gray tabby was a small kitten, it was to be expected that he would be slow to trust many females with his heart. Being abandoned by his mother had marked his heart cruelly, despite the fact that another queen had taken him in and raised him as her own. Out of all of his children, he was the closest to the son he and Grizzabella had produced and while it had hurt him enormously when she had forsaken him, it had cut even deeper when he had found out that she had also rejected their one kitten.
But that was all forgiven now: she had been re-accepted into the clan and was in the Heavyside layer waiting for rebirth. It hadn't been easy to see her again, in that condition. Not when he remembered how beautiful she had been in her younger days. Their son received much of his looks from her; he certainly showed the same grace of form she had once had and while his coat was as tabby as his sire's, the texture of his fur was much more like his mother's.
It was doubtful that he would ever match his father's mass, but he was certainly not as petite as his dam. Munkustrap was a good mix of the two of them, his mother's grace and looks and his father's charm and decency of character. In fact, he was almost too decent; as if trying to make up for the one parent's short comings to the remaining partner.
When Old D. had found out that she had left to explore the outside world and left their little one behind, not even weaned yet, he had stepped in and found a female with young of her own and willing to take in one not of her own litter. He'd found the small kitten oddly appealing, innocent and wise at the same time. All of that combined to keep him vitally active in his son's life, teaching him almost everything that he had learned himself; from mousing to balancing on the thinnest of rails to pouncing a butterfly so delicately that not a scale on it's wings were damaged.
The only thing that he hadn't had to teach the maturing tom was how to protect those that he cared about. The young one had an empathy and watchfulness about him that set him apart from those he played with. It didn't matter how young he had been when his mother had discarded him, he remembered and it enabled him to sympathize with others to an extent that often got him into scrapes with other, bigger cats.
As his son grew up, Deuteronomy carefully taught him to be devoted to his family and to always think before acting. One thing he saw in the young tom's character worried him greatly and that was the impulsiveness that he got from his mother. Many was the time he had to haul the young one out of a scrap with an older, far bigger cat who was about to make mince meat of the smaller one.
He reinforced the protective instinct Munkustrap had in abundance and did his best to squash the unthinking, impetuous side of his nature until it was almost trained out of him. Deuteronomy knew that it wasn't eradicated, as proven by the fact that Munkustrap had challenged and then fought Macavity after his own abduction. But that side had come to be influenced by positive motives for the most part and so he had stopped worrying about it.
Kindness was a huge component of his mental make-up and his father was glad to see it, considering the extreme cruelty shown him by his own mother. There was only one grudge that he carried and it had saddened him when he had seen the way Munkustrap had treated his mother when she had come back to them.
He'd not welcomed her, but had kept the others from hurting her. He had guarded her from them and them from her. When Old D. himself had intervened when it looked as if his son was ready to lash out at her, Munkustrap had almost seemed ready to forgive her and greet her, but at the last moment he'd been unable to overcome the hurt and had walked away from her. It was the only time he'd been disappointed in his son. But it had come right, in the end.
Old Deuteronomy shifted a bit and subsided into sleep, dreaming of his days in the sun with the glamorous Grizzabella when they had played and loved each other so deeply, before the urge to explore the darker layers of the world had claimed her and she'd left. In his memory she would always be the lithe, lovely female who had charmed him so deeply.
Munkustrap made his way back home slowly, feeling the bruises from every blow he had received from that rat-lover, Macavity. He'd left his father on the porch to sleep off the effects of the night before and had set a guard around the area to keep the clan patriarch safe from any more attempts on his person. That ought to impede that criminal cat from any more attempts at catnapping for awhile.
Something had to be done about that animal, something permanent, Munkustrap concluded. He just knew that the other had survived the electrical discharge he'd triggered, nothing so simple would kill him. No body, no proof of death. He'd never hated anyone so deeply before, not even his mother.
Not that he really had hated her; he'd just always wondered what he had done to make her leave him the way she had. Well, that was past and done with. She had been forgiven and was gone now. He could go on with his life.
When she had shown up at the Jellicle Ball last night, at first he was angry and then seeing what kind of shape she was in, he was sorry for her and a bit ashamed of the way she had lived her life. But really, none of that reflected back onto him, his life had probably been better without her in it. even if he had missed her so much at first. His eyes had barely been open when she had left him so it was no wonder he'd not known her on sight but her scent.
Oh, how he remembered her scent! She smelled of fresh-mown grass and violets, mixed in with another smell, a powdery fragrance like what the older lady who cared for him wore. No matter how rough she had looked last night, she had smelled just as he had remembered.
He'd been so happy before she had left him for the wild parts; they'd never been apart and she had cared for him so well. He'd never gone hungry and she groomed him so well that his ears never itched. The warmth of her side and the sound of her purr in his ears as he slept; those memories stayed with him the whole time as he was growing up. Sometimes, as he was waking up, he could hear her husky purr right in his ear and he'd look around expecting to find her.
He never failed to be disappointed and had quickly learned how to cover it after his adoption by another nursing female. She had quickly earned his trust and his love, but he never felt for her the way he had his birth mother. He was a bit older than his foster siblings and had from the beginning assumed a protective attitude to each and every one of them.
Luck had been on his side when his father had taken him to that female and had continued to stay with him when Old Deuteronomy had stayed an active part of his life. They'd grown close and Munkustrap keenly felt the bond between them. He loved his father with a reverence bordering on worship. But then again, the older cat had done much to heal the hurt the kitten had gone through by just being there for him, loving him, and teaching him. At times, he felt that he owed him his very life and was determined that he would look after the elder as he became more frail.
As the two of them got older, the father leaned more on his son for support and comfort, imparting wise words and lessons as needed. There wasn't anything Munkustrap wouldn't do for Old Deuteronomy, until last night. Forgiving Grizzabella had been the one thing he couldn't do, it had just hurt too much. He knew the elder was disappointed in him, but he also had understood.
More than what she had done to him by leaving him as a kitten, it was what she had done to his father. He knew without being told just how much the older tom had loved her and how much it had hurt when she was gone, without even so much as a good-bye flick of her elegant tail. As much as he could, he had tried to make it up to his father that he was the only reminder she had left behind. He tried to be the perfect son and do what was expected of him.
Aside from making an attachment to a female and having kittens, he'd done his duty to his father and more. It was just hard to bring himself to settle. Deep inside, he feared that he was too much like her to ever start a family. He had times when he, too, wanted to explore beyond the boundaries, but those urges he crushed ruthlessly. There were intervals when he just wanted to kick aside all of the many responsibilities he'd gladly assumed and roam about freely. But there was too much to be done for him to do that so he stayed put.
He well knew that his father was grooming him for the time when he would take over the leadership of the clan and so he did his best to bury that side of his nature and go on. Of course, there wouldn't be time for sowing his wild catnip, but compared to some of the other alternatives, there were worse fates.
Arriving at the home he shared with the older human female, he carefully made his way up the shallow steps, trying not to jar himself as he went to the little flap in the door. Barely had he gotten to the entry when the wooden door flew open and he found himself being swooped up in the arms of a small child and squeezed.
Wonderful, her grandchildren were here, he thought and resigned himself to a day of being hugged until breathless and having his tail pinched mercilessly by her grandson. A sudden crushing hug caught him unaware and he couldn't help the feline cry of pain that escaped him.
"Margaret, you put poor Munkustrap down and let him alone!" came the voice of the lady who he lived with.
"But, Granny, he's got some sticky red stuff on his ear and he sounds funny when he breathes," the little terror said innocently.
'Yeah, you'd breathe funny too you little monster, if someone tried to make the sides of your ribs meet when they aren't supposed to,' the gray tabby thought in irritation. He laid his ears back against his head when her brother tried to snatch him out of his sister's arm and had to fight the urge to scratch the pudding out of the both of them.
"John, leave that cat alone, can't you see he's getting angry with you?" the brat's mother asked him when she observed how slitted his eyes were. "Mother, I think you should take a look at Munkustrap, he doesn't look like he's feeling too well."
'No kidding,' the tom thought sarcastically and just wished that he had the gift of human speech for even a moment so he could tell her what he thought of the lot of the visitors.
The lady with the white hair reached out her arms and gave her defiant granddaughter a look that couldn't be ignored. Reluctantly, she turned her feline captive over to his human and gratefully, he curled against the soft side of his human caretaker. No matter how much he hurt, it always felt good to nestle up to her and smell her comforting scent. That fragrance always made him purr.
Gently, she felt his body and examined his ears, exclaiming softly over his hurts and tending him with delicate affection, talking to him in a soothing voice that almost put him to sleep, but the words of her family brought him jarringly awake.
"Mother Carmichael, why do you insist on letting that cat roam like you do? Aren't you worried that he'll get hit by a car or something?" an impatient man asked. Munkustrap opened his eyes and glared at the man, he didn't like the mate of his human's daughter, he was a pushy sort, just like those children.
"He only stays out all night once a year, so I don't worry much. The only other place he goes is over to the vicarage to visit with Old Deuteronomy and then he stays by his side. Visiting his father, you might say. This is the first time he's come home hurt, and I wouldn't dream of cramping him in this house, he needs to get out and stretch. No, children, you may not play with the kitty, the kitty needs rest," she said firmly to the children reaching out for him as she put him into his basket.
The boy reached out despite her warnings and Munkustrap did something he'd never done before; he bared his teeth just a bit and let out a small growl, just to let the child know that his attentions were not going to be tolerated.
"John, I mean it, you let Munkustrap alone. He's usually a patient cat with you but he's hurt and I'm not going to let you bother him," and after saying that, she picked up the basket and carried him to her room, putting it in the middle of her bed and saying to him, "Now, if you want to sleep on the pillows, go right ahead, you poor brave thing. Sleep well."
She went out of the room and shut the door firmly behind her, turning the key in the latch so the children couldn't get in to bother him. He wasn't worried, the door had a car flap in it so he could get to his relief box and now he was safe from those horrid miniature humans. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Time passed and he healed, but something inside of him changed. He was no longer satisfied to prowl his regular routes and pay his normal visits; there was more that he wanted to do. Many times he had gone searching for that criminal cat, only to come up with no leads. Slowly, he came to the realization that if something was going to be done to get rid of that abomination in cat's form, he would have to be the one to do it.
He still did the duties expected of him, took care of the matters that needed his attention, but often his mind wandered off into the unknown territory out there. Munkustrap came to the slow recognition that he felt the need for revenge, the desire to punish the other cat for what he had done to the gray tom's father. That was what was calling him to wander off into the unexplored territory; the hunger for retribution.
Old Deuteronomy sensed that something was bothering his son, but thought he would tell him when it got to be too much to conceal any longer. The two of them had never had any secret from each other; the younger had always been as clear as glass to his sire. He knew just how often Munkustrap felt like revolting and breaking free of his obligations and had carefully guided the young one through it.
Nothing was ever said, but Old D carefully bound his son with the silken ties of love and affection, bringing him ever closer to his family. Quietly, the harness of duty was tightened and barely noticed, except when the rare dark moods of anger struck the younger cat and he prowled about the silent streets after the sun went down.
There were periods recently that he'd gone into a silent funk and wished he could be as much of a wayward feline as his foster brother, but the Rum Tum Tugger was something that happened only rarely in a lifetime. He just had a way about him that made it hard to be angry with him, even when you wanted to nothing more than ounce on his back and pummel him within an inch of his meow.
No one knew of these spells, Munkustrap kept them very much to himself. But there were indeed times when all he wanted to do was research those very same areas his mother had gone into. Something in his nature just called to him and he fought it even while wishing secretly that he could run off and explore.
Tonight, the night of the Jellicle Ball, would be a dangerous time for Old Deuteronomy because news had come to his ears that another attempt on him was going to be made by that villain Macavity. Munkustrap knew he had to do something, anything, to foil the plans that reprobate had for the clan leader.
The sudden urge to bolt and disappear for a time seized him as he walked slowly towards the junk yard. For once, he didn't stop to think, didn't resist or demur but went with it and changed direction without even a blink of his eyes. His conscience, normally so active, slept. This time, Munkustrap was breaking out and he wasn't even aware of it. This time, he was going to be the one to win the battle and the other cat would not survive it.
Munkustrap wondered what had awoken him so suddenly from his sound sleep and he looked about his surroundings with deep suspicion. This wasn't his regular territory and he already felt uneasy about things. He'd come looking for Macavity to settle the old score between the two of them and had somehow lost his bearings. Wandering for hours, he had gotten lost in a thick fog while chasing the leads he had gotten on that feline fiend and wondered if he would ever get back to his family. Instead, he had worn himself out and fallen asleep under some boxes.
Now a tingle in the air caused his fur to stand on end but he couldn't see what was going on to make him so uneasy. A large muscular gray tabby, Munkustrap wasn't accustomed to being nervous and the very thought of it made him indignant. He was a Jellicle cat and that gave him a certain security, but looking about the neighborhood gave him a deep twinge of unease. A loud crash to the left of him caused him to whirl about and there stood a black cat about two thirds his size.
She flinched back from his commanding stare and turned to run in fright, but stopped at the sound of his voice. "Wait! I won't hurt you," he said softly. "My name is Munkustrap and I'm afraid I've gotten myself rather misplaced. Do you know where I am?"
The strange female looked at him fearfully, her wide green eyes almost mesmerizing him as she shook her head no. She still hadn't found voice to answer him and her body seemed to shrink down even further when she sensed his disappointment. Ducking her head low, she turned to leave him when he took a closer look at her and noticed that she was battered about and walked with a limp, as if hurting when she moved.
Slowly he approached her and held out his paw in greeting, saying, "It's alright, little one, I won't harm you. What happened to you? Who hurt you?"
The female stood stone still as he approached then hesitantly held out her own small paw in greeting. He stared in disbelief at it and she swiftly looked down to see what had captured his interest and hurriedly snatched it back, trying to cover the wound that still dripped a little blood. He circled her, examining her from all sides and then he drew closer so that they were almost touching.
His pulse quickened and his own eyes grew rounder in astonishment when he saw the half shredded collar dangling from her neck. It was of black velvet, studded with tiny gemstones, many of which were missing. There was something familiar about her, something he thought that he should recognize and then the answer came to him. Like himself, she was a Jellicle cat.
But to be in such condition! Hurt and frightened like this! The thought of her obvious terror struck him to the heart and without thinking, he rubbed his head against hers, trying to soothe her as she stood there. She relaxed fractionally, seeing that he meant no harm and that he wasn't going to hurt her. Encouraged by her diminishing fright, he then stroked the length of his body down hers but stopped when she let out a small sound of anguish when he touched her ribcage.
She hadn't moved, but her eyes were filled with pain and glistened with moisture in the moonlight. Slowly, she sank to the pavement, curling into herself and burrowing her head under her small paws. He crouched down beside her, nuzzling her ears and trying to get her to come out of her silence.
"Please, small one, tell me what happened. Maybe I can help you," he coaxed, forgetting about his desire for revenge in his longing to find out what had happened to this female. She was past being a kitten, he saw, but the hurt she silently conveyed spoke volumes to those who would take the time to notice. Where did this strange Jellicle come from and who had hurt her like this?
Slowly, she raised her head and looked him full in the face, meeting his beseeching stare with a pleading one of her own. When she spoke, her voice was low and husky yet pleasing to the ear, despite the foreign accent. "Please, leave me alone. If you're found here with me, they'll hurt you, too. I know where you need to be and I think I can tell you how to get there. But you have to promise to go once I tell you."
