Journal of Etcetera – Part 8

By Barbalurina



A couple of weeks later…



I’m practically living at Victoria Grove…at least
until the Kittens are born.  I’ll admit that it is 
nice to have somewhere warm to sleep.  Unfortunately,
I’ve had some close calls with the Human family that
lives there.  The last thing I want is collar on my
neck!  

Vicky still hasn’t left Mama’s house.  I’m worried
about her. 

I’m still not speaking to Mama.  Jenny keeps trying to
get us together to work things out.  She says Mama and
I are alike in our stubbornness.  Huh…what does she
know?

Jenny continues to watch my pregnancy, and gives me
endless advice.  Whenever Munkustrap is around she
pokes me in the shoulder and giggles.  I’m sure he
must think we’re insane, because we never let him in
on the joke.  Jenny keeps saying she’ll put in a good
word for me with him, and even set us up!  I think she
just tries to come up with ways to embarrass me.

Cassandra continues to torment me, but I ignore her
now, mostly.  After all…I have Mungo and she
doesn’t.

Ah, Mungo….He really is trying to be sweet to me, I
think, but he is now much more demanding as far as
where I go and what I do.  He never wants me to go
anywhere alone.  He doesn’t even want me to go out and
hunt!  He said he would bring anything I wanted to
eat….which is nice of him, but I enjoy the hunt.  Not
to mention I hate being dependent on anyone.  Even
staying at his home makes me feel bad.  He tells me
not to silly, that since he was the one who destroyed
my box, it was only fair I stay with him.

My box….sometimes I miss it.  I know that sounds
crazy.  I love Mungo, and I do like to be near him,
but I’m starting to feel like I have a collar of a
different kind on me.  We need to straighten that
out.  I mean, really, I’m no House Cat.

Anyway, I suppose that brings things up to date….

I decided not to wait for an escort to the Junkyard.
 I mean, I’d been there a lot of times by myself
without anything happening to me.  Mungo was just
being overprotective, sort of like Papa had been.  I
wasn’t doing anything dangerous, after all.

I slipped out of the house.  It was nice to be on my 
own for a change.  Not that my past escorts had been
bad, it was just irritating to have to wait until
someone was free to come out and get me.  Not to 
mention lonely.  Mungo often left early and came back 
late.

I made it to the Junkyard without incident.

Jenny, as usual, was the first to greet me.  “How are
you feeling today?”

“I’m a little tired, but I’m fine.”

“And how is Mungojerrie?”

“All right, I guess…why?”

“Driving you crazy, I bet.”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

“Oh yes, Toms think Queens are made of glass when
they’re pregnant.  Think we’re helpless.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s it….”

“Probably thinks you don’t want to Mate, either,
right?”

“Well…” Truthfully, the subject hadn’t come up.
Whenever he got home, he was always so tired, I didn’t
have the heart to demand that he satisfy my physical
needs before he slept.  And more often than not, he
left before I woke.  I was sleeping a lot these
days.

She went right on.  “Don’t let him tell you about your
body.  You can Mate as long as you are comfortable and
not too….vigorous.  Huh, Toms!  Think they can hurt
the Kittens….They can’t REACH the Kittens…”  She went
on in that vein for a while.  I let her.  If she
talked, I didn’t have to.

Eventually, more Queens joined us and it turned into a
group discussion on Mating for the pregnant Queen. I
was quiet through most of the discussion.  I enjoy
Mating a great deal, I just don’t care to chat about
it with everyone.

That was not the case with some.  Tantomile said her
problem had been the opposite; that her Mate wouldn’t
leave her alone all the way up until she gave
birth.

I hadn’t known she’d even had Kittens!  Where were
they now?  Why weren’t they part of the Jellicles?

Come to think of it, why were the Jellicles so few?
I’d heard it was common for a Tom to father Kittens
with several Queens.  Old Deuteronomy was rumored to
have fathered fifty Kittens.  So where were they?
Only a few were actually here.  Not to mention all the
Queens to have mothered them.

I would ask Mungo about it later, if he wasn’t too
tired.  Surely he would know.  If he didn’t know, I
would ask Papa, and if HE didn’t know, I would go
directly to Old Deuteronomy.

Cassandra slinked up to the group.  I groaned
inwardly.  Why did she have to show up now?

“What are we all talking about?” she asked Jenny.

“Oh, you know, Toms, pregnant Queens, and Mating.  The
usual.”

This was the usual?

“What about it?  Everyone knows that when a Queen is
pregnant is when a Tom is likely to stray…. right,
Bomba?”

Bombalurina stiffened.  “No Tom leaves me.  I leave
him.”  She walked away with her nose in the air.

Cassandra shrugged and began to wash her face.

“Why did you say that, Cassandra?  That was cruel…and
this was not the right time.” Jenny glanced quickly in
my direction.

Cassandra looked at me.  “Oh, don’t you worry your 
little head about Mungojerrie straying.  I guess he
likes his Queen a bit on the young side.  Even Jemima
may be too old for him.”  She began washing her face
again.

The whole group got quiet.  Everyone looked at me.  Of
course they expected me to say something.  It was
entertainment to them.

“Even if he did ‘stray’ with someone, at least it
wouldn’t be with you, Cassandra.  At this rate, that
is all I would ask of him.”  I got up to leave, just
like Bombalurina did.  I wouldn’t physically attack
her again.

As I walked away from the group, Cassandra got in one
more shot. “One day, Kitten, you will be too old for
his liking.  Think about what you’ll do and who he
will be with when that time comes.”

There were several gasps from Queens in the
group.

I quickened my step.  I swear she knew how to make my
blood boil!

I tried to ignore all she said, but failed miserably.
I felt dangerously close to tears, a feeling I hate.
She will not make me cry, I swear it!

I jumped up on the empty car trunk.

I heard a delicate sniff.  I looked around.  Who was
it?  Where were they?

The sniff came again.  This time, I heard it come from
inside the car.

I stuck my head through the window.  It was
Bombalurina!  Was she crying?

“Go away!” she snarled, turning away.

I pulled my head back through the window, and let her
be.

Why did Cassandra go out of her way hurt us?  It was
obvious that Bomba was hurt.  I didn’t know why, and
knew better than to ask.

It could only be about a Tom.  If Cassandra couldn’t
have a Tom, she made the Queen who did have him 
miserable.  Or tried to.  Which Tom did Bomba have
that Cassandra couldn’t?

I shook my head.  Why should this matter to me?  I had
enough on my mind without mulling over Bombalurina’s
problems.  And wasn’t she the one who got Papa
to ‘stray’ anyway?  Maybe she made her own problems.
On the other paw, she did take Alonzo’s attention off
me a while back when he brought me that ‘gift’.  She
had no reason to help me.  Just what kind of Cat was
she?

I stretched out on the sunny car trunk to take a nap.
I didn’t want to think about all that other stuff
anymore.

I dozed off and on for most of the afternoon.  Cats
came and went.

I went back to Victoria Grove when the sun went down,
again without escort.  And I was just fine, thank
you!  I even managed to get a squirrel before going
into the house.

I was hiding out behind Mungojerrie’s basket cleaning
myself of my meal when I heard him get back.
Rumpleteazer was with him…in fact, Rumple was
supporting him.  That was odd.

“Mungo, you promised me you wouldn’t do that again!
You promised!”  Rumple sounded uncharacteristically
distressed.

He giggled….he giggled?  It didn’t sound like
him.  “I’m ‘aven’t kep’ any promises I’ve made
lately.”

What was he talking about?

I came out of hiding.  “What’s wrong with him,
Rumple?”

She let go of him and he fell in an ungraceful heap at
our feet.  “Nothin’ a good night’s sleep and a swift
kick in the arse won’t cure!”  She was livid.  I’d
never seen her angry before.
I still didn’t understand.  I looked down at him.  He
was rolling around on his back laughing at something I
obviously couldn’t see.

“It’s catnip, Et.  It does strange things to us.
Makes a Cat act idiotic.  ‘e’s ‘igher than the ‘ighest
tree.”  Rumple frowned.  “’e promised me that ‘e
wouldn’t take it again.”

I’d heard about catnip.  I’d never had any, though.
Mungo didn’t seem to be all THAT bad off, though.
Just a bit silly.

He finally saw me.  “’allo, Love.  ‘ow was your day?”
And he went off in almost hysterical laughter.

“Apparently not as eventful as yours.”  I couldn’t
help it…I felt the giggles coming on, too.   I don’t
remember ever seeing Mungo laugh, and his laugh was
infectious.

“Crikey, Et, don’t encourage ‘im.”

“Oh, Rumple, come on…what’s so awful about
laughing?”

“It’s not the laughing.  It’s not ‘ow ‘e can’t walk
straight after.  It’s not any o’ those things!
It’s ‘ow ‘e is when ‘e comes out of it.  You’ll
see.”

“Aye, Aleanna, you’ll see.”  Mungo singsonged.

My laughter died.  “Aleanna?”

“Aye…Aleanna…my love.”

I couldn’t breathe.  I didn’t know what to do or what
to think.

He was calling me by my dead aunt’s name.  She, who
had been his Mate before I was.
If he thought I was Aleanna…maybe it wasn’t me that he
loved.  Maybe he never loved me.  Maybe he loved a
ghost.

I blindly made my way to the basement steps.  I
couldn’t be there right then.  I had to get out.

Rumple called after me, “Et, ‘e doesn’t know what ‘e’s
sayin’.”

I ran in no particular direction.  I didn’t really
want to go to the junkyard, because I didn’t want tell
anyone what had happened, but then, I didn’t really
know where else to go.  

Part1.2.3.4.5.6.7.

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