Cheshire Smile
Electra lied flat on her back and looked up from the dust and mud.
“You’re It!” Pouncival exclaimed in her face.
“I’ll get you, you little brat!” Electra cried as she ran after him after she hopped up from the mudhole Pouncival had pushed her in. Pouncival scrambled away…
Yes, those had been the days Electra remembered so well. They hadn’t been very long ago. In only a few montsh time everything had changed so quickly. It wasn’t all bad, but Pouncival had done soemthing horrible. He had grown up. He was still a trouble maker. But not with Electra. He no longer played games until Jennyanydots yelled for him to go to bed, but he ate and slept on time. He never talked to her about his problem, only afraid she would gossip with her other friends. He never even dared her to do stupid things anymore, but warned her to stay away from cats like that. But how Electra yearned for those days to return.
Jemima pinned Pouncival down. “You little Jerk! “ she laughed. They wrestled in the grass, far from Electra but in her view pint.
“That should be me,” she whispered to herself. She wans’t sure if she was mad at Pouncival or Jemima. Or was she mad at herself? Where had her kittenhood gone? The Jellicle moon had lightened the junkyard on the magical night that Mistoffelees had brought back their leader, who was now in the Heaviside layer, and Munksutrap and Alonzo had faught Macavity so fearlessly, and that, most of all, was the night Electra began her friendship with Pouncival—
Only to come to a horrible halt.
“Try to stick your chin up,” Matty suggested. But Matropolis only made things worse. It was not that Electra didn’t like Matty, but before all the new kittens like herself came in, her sister had not been pregnant, Munksutrap had not been leader, Tugger had loved the kittens and Jellylorum had still been around. And Pouncival had still loved her.
“Matty—what is wrong with me?” Electra asked.
“Nothing! Sure, you’re a little skinny, but I didn’t think you noticed!”
“No Matropolis, not that. It’s just—well, I don’t like the life I’m living. I feel like I’m living in the dark, do far away from me.”
“Ah yes, the sickness of time itself,” Matty said knowingly, though whe was only 10 ½ months old. “You fear the change that is overcoming the Jellicles. How things are so unsettled, how no one seems to remember Electra, the playful kitten whi made such a rumpus with Pouncival. Yes, I know Electra. I know.”
“But how?” Electra asked, a bit astonished.
“Why, I am the proud sister of THE Mr. Mistoffelees,” she said proudly.
“But justa month ago you couldn’t control your powers worht crap!”
“I still can’t,” Matty said accidently shooting Alonzo in the butt with a lightening bolt. “But I been there.”
“Matty, I want things right again. I want Tugger to like the girls again. I want Munkustrap to leave his new position and Old Deut to be leader again. I want my real life.”
“This is your real life, Electra. You have to face change. Be brave, ‘Lectra. You’re strong, I know you are. You’ll get through this. Why, when th enew kittens are old enough Tugger will come to his senses and become the hot shot he once was, and well—Munksutrap will come to be like Old Deuteronomy—that will take longer than Tugger returning to his old self again, I’m sure, but—“
“That’s not all. What about my sister? Why, she’s only a bit older than you, mated with a much older Tom (Plato), and has three kittens!”
“I admit that there is nothing you can do about that. Perhaps t is better in that way that Etcetra and Plato and there kittens are leaving the tribe.”
“What?” Electra gasped.
“They have already decided. The Jellciel tribe is,” Matty rolled her eyes, ‘not wide enough for kitten eyes to grow in.’ I don’t know. I’m in this enviroment an d look at me! But just the same, they should know that, from Grizabella’s exspirience, once they leave they can never return. I hope they understand that.”
Electra was speechless.
“What’ll we do? I mean, I miss out old life so much…” Electra said, referring to tehir previous encounters with getting lost in sald bars (see Cat Salad), interferring with dates(see The Messy Date, and many other things like that).
“Who says they’re old?” Matty asked. Electra brightened up.
“You mean, we could go out and play poker agianst a bunch of losers then trsh someone’s house and go hunting with Mungojerri and shopping with Rumeplteazer in the morning?”
“Sure, why not?” Matty declared. “Maybe things aren’t as bad as they look,” Matty said. “I’ll go get Trav, Sillabub, Tumbelbrutus, Jonathan and James.”
“Um ,Matropolis?” Electra looked up down to Matty meekly.
“Yeah?” matty’s voice turned back to her humble, Matropolis self.
“Could you get Pouncival to come too?”
“Why don’t you?” Matty snipped.
“Cos I’d be embarrassed!”
“I know! That’s the fun of it!” Matty said gleefully. Electra looked towards Pouncival and Jemima who were now looking at the glistening stars.
“But Matty…” But Matty had disappeared. “You learned how to disappear didn’t you?” Electra exclaimed. Only Matropolis’ sly smile appeared in the darkness like a cheshire cat.
Electra slipped over behind Pouncival by about 10 feet.
‘You’re gonna need to get closer than that,” Matty’s smile whispered, who Electra had found had followed her. Electra inched a little closer. “Closer!” Electra got a little closer. “Closer. Closer. I SAID CLOSER!” Electra jumped.
“AAAHHHH!” she landed on Pouncival’s head.
“Electra?!” Pouncival announced in surprise.
“Don’t let it eat me!” Electra screamed, still connected to Pouncival’s face.
“Get off!” Pouncival laughed. Jemima tried to pull her off, but she refused to detach. “What in heaviside is wrong? Having a bad dream or something?”
“It’s gonna eat me! The smile is gonna eat me!”
“Too many horror movies, I guess,” Jemima said, trying harder to pry Electra from Pouncival face.
“AAAAAAAAHHHH!” Electra screamed in Pouncival’s ear again.
“Stop that!” Then Matty crept up behind Jemima. She tapped her on the shoulder. Jemima whirled around tensely and only saw Matty’s smile, more radiant than ever.
“AAAAAHHHHH!” she jumped on top of Pouncival’s head.
‘What are you doing?!” Pouncival screeched. Matty’s smile got right in Pouncival’s face (or best she could, considering Electra was attached to it).
“Boo,” Matty said lightly.
“YIPE!” Pouncival jumped and everyone fell on the smile—which really was Matty.
“Get off you oafs!” Matty cried, pushing the heavy cats (compared to her light weight body) off of her.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
“AAAAHHHHHHH!”
Everyone was screaming like a maniac. And when Tumble, Jon, James, Travie and Sillabub ran across the field, they were very surprised to see three cats and a smile so, they said:
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” They ran to huddle with the other three cats but tripped over Matty’s smile.
“STOP SCREAMING!” Matty finally declared. “It’s just me, Matty!”
“You scared us!” Electra said, our of breath.
“You’re kidding!” Matty said sarcastically, still just her smile showed. Just then, Munksutrap and Jennyanyots and Mistoffelees rushed there to see what allt eh racket was. “Hide me!” Matty hid behind Travie.
“What’s going on here?” Munkustrap asked. “I demand to know.”
“we were just playing. Like we always do,” Pouncival sort of lied. “It was just Electra and I being goofy when everyone joined in. Boy was Electra happy hear Pouncival say that. Now she knew that everything would be great.
“Where’s Matropolis?” Mistoffelees asked. No one said anything.
Matty, just her smile anyway, crept over in front of Jennyanydots’ real mouth. And then something hysterical happened. Jenny turned to Munkustrap to say something, and Matty mouthed a horrible word. Munkustrap gasped, and the kittens all burst into laughter, including Mistoffelees, who was trying to be grown-up.
“What?” Jenny asked. Munksutrap couldn’t udder even a word. “What?”
“What just happened?” Munkustrap looked to Misto.
“I do not know, sir.” Munksutrap dragged Jennyanydots away and the kittens followed, Pouncival and Electra just talking and talking. When there was just Misto and Matty’s smile left behind. “Good job,” Misto whispered, and slapped Matty a high five. Now come out of there.
“Okay.” Misto started to walk away as she reversed the spell. “Uh, Misto?
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m stuck.”
