Argh! I am so mad at myself! See, I had forgotten all about Mistoffelees telling Munkustrap that he’d test me today. So I decided to spend the day with my new family! I’ll bet Munkustrap is really mad now. Mistoffelees is probably mad too. Mad at me. I’m going to have to apologize to him tomorrow. But for now, let’s talk about today.
I stayed at home with my family all day long. Did I tell you that they gave me a new name? So now I have… four names? But I probably shouldn’t count my former first name. So my new first name is now: Angel. I have a white marking on my head that reminded my new family of a halo, so they called me Angel. My family is a newly wed couple. They just got married three months ago, Mistoffelees told me. The woman’s name is Lisa and the man’s name is Timothy. Lisa spoils me rotten! She feeds me this delicious gourmet stuff that tastes better than anything I’ve ever eaten (but that’s not saying much, because when I lived in the alley I had to live off of… never mind). I love it here and that’s all I can say. Oh yes, I’m the happiest kitten alive!
Saphinora
6/17/1999
I’m being held captive in my own home! My new family will NOT let me out of their sight. I admit, it’s VERY nice having someone care for me, but this is absurd. And I miss my books. The only place where there are books in this place is in the library, and I’m not allowed in there. Uh oh, here comes Lisa. If she catches me writing something she’ll freak out. I mean, come on. An educated cat? She’d probably faint or something. Anyway, Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy told me to be careful. If humans found out that cats are smarter than they thought, that’d be the end of my species. So I really have to go now.
Saphinora
P.S. I’m scared. And I’m lonely. I don’t want to be trapped here forever!
6/18/1999
I don’t believe it! My family hasn’t let me outside today either. I’m starting to worry whether or not I’ll ever see the sun again. Or any of my friends like Victoria, and Mistoffelees, and Demeter, and Rumpleteazer. I’m scared. Okay, besides being held prisoner, I guess I am in paradise. I can eat when I want to eat, sleep when I want to sleep, and when my family is gone I can sneak into the library and read a little. They have so many books! Timothy is really into stuff like science and history, so I’m really learning a lot. It’s great! Okay, maybe I don’t mind being captive THAT much, but I miss my friends. Maybe I can escape tomorrow or something.
Saphinora
6/19/1999
I think this was the worst day of my whole life. I finally got a chance to get away from my family and go back to the junkyard. When I got there I couldn’t find Mistoffelees. “He went to go talk to Munkustrap yesterday to convince him not to take him off the assignment of testing you,” Victoria told me. “And he came back out looking disappointed and angry and very, very miserable all at the same time. He won’t talk to anyone, and I think he might have been taken off the assignment.” She looked at me sadly. “Maybe he’ll listen to you. He knows it’s not your fault that your family wouldn’t let you go, and he’s not mad at you at all.” I nodded. “I’ll talk to him,” I said. I walked over to his lair in the pipe. “Mistoffelees?” I said. “It’s me.” I could see him curled up inside. He didn’t even look up. I couldn’t tell if he was asleep, or just ignoring me. I tried again. “Can I come in?” I asked. No response. “I’m coming inside,” I told him. I walked in and stood next to him. “Are you okay?” I said. I could tell he was awake now, because his eyes were open. I felt myself losing patience, but I decided to try to stay calm. “Misto, it’s okay,” I said. “It’s not your fault at all that you were taken off the assignment. It’s mine.” Then he did something I didn’t expect. He laughed. And it wasn’t a nice laugh, it sounded a little mean to me. “I wasn’t taken off the assignment,” he said thickly. “You weren’t?” I was shocked. “Then what’s the matter?” Mistoffelees turned around and stared at me right in the eye. “I wasn’t taken off the assignment,” he repeated, “You were.” Now I was confused. “What do you mean?” I asked. “I mean,” he continued, “Your chances of becoming a Jellicle are nothing. You’re kicked out of the junkyard. Gotten rid of. Banished. You’re an outsider once again. All because of me.” He turned back around, facing the wall. “What are you talking about?” I hissed. But he wouldn’t answer. So I stomped on out of his little lair and almost ran right into Victoria. “Well?” she pressed. “What did he say?” I avoided looking her in the eye. “I’m kicked out of the junkyard. I can’t become a Jellicle anymore,” I whispered. Then I ran off to the sanctuary of my old home in the alley.
Saphinora
6/20/1999
Yesterday seems like it happened so long ago. I woke up today in my home in the alley. I just sat there for a long time, reliving what happened yesterday. I can’t believe it. All my hopes of joining that tribe, all the hopes of having friends, gone. Then I decided that I would just have to put up with it. There was nothing I could do about it, and what was the point in moping about it? So I went home. Home as in my family home. With Lisa and Timothy who actually care for me. They feed me and love me like no one else could. They’re the only family I have now.
Saphinora
6/21/1999
I tried and tried and tried. But I couldn’t put what happened on the 19th behind me. It wasn’t my fault! My family kept me hostage! Okay, maybe I shouldn’t blame Lisa or Timothy. How were they supposed to know that my life depended on that day? But I can’t believe that Munkustrap would blame me. He seemed so nice when I first met him. Didn’t Mistoffelees tell him it wasn’t my fault?
I miss everyone. I miss the Jellicles more than ever. I miss everyone, especially Mistoffelees, Victoria, Demeter, and Rumpleteazer. And even Jemima a little, because she did apologize for giving me the cold-shoulder those first couple of days. What I don’t understand is why she was best friends with that new cat the very first day she met her, and hated me the very first day she met me. But nevertheless, I miss everyone. Even her. So I’ve made up my mind. I don’t care what kind of trouble I get in with Munkustrap or anything, I’ve gotta see my friends again. I sneak into the junkyard tomorrow night.
Saphinora
6/22/1999
Boring day. I have accepted the fact that I’m never going to see my friends again, even if Mistoffelees does live next door to me. I entertained myself by playing with a ball of yarn. Lisa and Timothy thought that it was simply adorable, and they dragged out their video camera and taped me playing with the yarn for an hour and a half.
I soon grew bored with the yarn too, and walked over to my dishes. My food dish had some leftover gourmet cat stuff and my water dish had some stale yesterday water in it. I wrinkled my nose at it and dashed off. I slept in a sunbeam all afternoon. Then I woke up and found some fresh water in my water bowl, lapped it up, and fell back asleep. When I woke back up Lisa and Timothy were both asleep. I decided that it was a good time to write in this journal, and now I have to go to sleep myself. I think I’m starting to get used to this house cat stuff.
Saphinora
6/23/1999
Oh, my friends are so wonderful! Around 3:00 in the morning I woke up to hear someone tapping on the window I was sleeping next to. It was still dark, and I was suddenly very scared. “Who… who is it?” I cried out. “It’s Mistoffelees,” said a small voice. “And Demeter and Victoria and—“ “Rrrrrrrrrumpleteazer!” “Will you stop that?” “Well excuse me for wanting to say my own name!” “Be quiet! Just be quiet!” My eyes widened so much I thought they were going to pop out. “Is it really you guys?” I asked. “Yeah!” said a familiar voice. “This is Victoria. Can we come inside?” “Absolutely!” I said excitedly. I jumped up and nudged open the pet door that Timothy had installed the other day. Victoria poked her head in through the opening. She smiled warmly and slipped in. I ran up to her. “I missed you so much!” I cried. She was the closest cat to a best friend as I ever had. Then I saw Demeter and Rumpleteazer walk in grinning. I laughed and ran over to them too. “Oh, you guys have no idea how happy I am to see you!” I said happily. Then I stopped. “Where’s Mistoffelees?” I asked. Victoria sighed and looked over at the pet door. “He’s afraid you’re mad at him,” she whispered to me. “He’s still blaming himself for you being banished.” I smiled. “Mistoffelees,” I said. “I’m not mad at you. But I probably will be if you don’t show your face!” At that Mistoffelees stuck his head in, grinning sheepishly. “Are you sure you’re not mad at me?” he asked. I shook my head. “Of course I’m not mad at you. It wasn’t your fault that I was kicked out of the junkyard. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.” I sniffed. I could feel the tears coming. “I don’t even know why I was banished. I didn’t do anything! It wasn’t anyone’s fault!” Tears started pouring down my face. Rumpleteazer put her paw on my shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “No it’s not!” I sobbed. “I’ve lost all chances of becoming a Jellicle!” I noticed that Mistoffelees looked away guiltily. “It wasn’t your fault, Misto,” I assured him. He relaxed a little. Demeter sighed. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this. But no matter what, I’m going to get you back into the Jellicles.”
They couldn’t stay long, so I had to say good bye to my friends. But they promised they’d be back tomorrow night. So we’ll see what happens.
Saphinora
6/24/1999
Today was the best day of my life! Guess what? I’M A JELLICLE! Isn’t that terrific?
Okay, let me back up and explain. Victoria, Mistoffelees, Rumpleteazer, and Demeter showed up again. They took me to the junkyard early in the morning and woke up Munkustrap. “If Saphinora can’t be a Jellicle, then we won’t either!” they screamed at him. I was touched. I never imagined in all my life that I’d have such wonderful friends. Anyway, Munkustrap smiled and said, “Congratulations.” Everyone’s jaw dropped, including mine. “What?” shrieked Demeter. Then Munkustrap went on explaining how this whole mess was my initiation test! And I passed! And it was a test for my friends also, to test the strength of our friendship. And we all passed! Munkustrap told me that they would celebrate me being a Jellicle on the 4th of July. A perfect day to celebrate! My favorite holiday!
By the way, Mistoffelees looked INCREDIBLY relieved that he hadn’t really caused me to be kicked out of the junkyard.
Saphinora
6/25/1999
I hung out with Victoria, Etcetera, and Electra all day long. Victoria is my best friend and I know her really well, but I didn’t know Electra and Etcetera. Boy, Etcetera sure fixed that! She talks more than any other cat I’ve seen! She apologized about fifteen times for not introducing herself before. She managed to tell me all the names of every single Jellicle and a little something about them that I never knew before. “Didja know that Cassandra has this thing for Alonzo?” she blabbered. “Didja know that Jemima likes you as a friend more than ya thought? Didja know that Victoria LOVES Mistoffelees?” “Wait a minute,” I said. I looked at Victoria. “You like Mistoffelees?” Even though a cat has fur, I swear she blushed. “Kinda,” she said, smiling sheepishly. I laughed. “This is the greatest thing ever!” I cried. “Maybe I could set you two up!” “NO!” shouted Victoria. “I mean… no. That’s okay, Saph.” I shrugged, and Etcetera kept up her blabbering.
Even though Victoria told me not to, I’m going to see if I can set her up with Mistoffelees. They are, after all, my two very best friends. And isn’t someone supposed to want her best friends to have the best? Well?
Saphinora
6/26/1999
I confronted Mistoffelees today. He was in the middle of writing in his own journal. “Mistoffelees?” I said. “I consider you one of my best friends. And as your best friend, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you the traditional best friend question.” He closed his computer diary and shoved it away. “Oh? And what’s that?” he asked. I smiled and leaned in closer. “Who do you have a crush on? Or if you had to go out on a date or something with any of the queens here, who would you choose?” I said. Mistoffelees sighed. “Is it that important?” he questioned. “Yes,” I said. He laughed. “Okay, okay. But you can NOT tell her this, under any circumstances. You hear?” “Yeah!” I said. “So tell me all ready!” He looked around to make sure nobody was listening. “Um… Victoria,” he said quickly, then looked away. “Wow! REALLY?” I shrieked. “Ssh! Yes, I like her,” he said. I grinned. He smiled too. “Now it’s your turn,” he said. “Huh? For what?” I demanded. “To tell me who you like,” he said simply. “Oh,” I said. “Okay… but you can’t tell him this.” Mistoffelees nodded. I cleared my throat. “Nobody,” I said. “Nobody?” Mistoffelees echoed. “You don’t like anybody?” I shook my head. “Nope. I don’t like anybody. Let’s just say I owe you a secret, but not that particular brand of secrets. It’ll have to be a good one. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
I have lots of secrets. But some of them shouldn’t be revealed, not even to my journal or my best friends. So what do I tell him tomorrow?
Saphinora
6/27/1999
I’ve been hearing rumors about another new cat. Her name is… Jequenia I think. According to the gossip, she was kicked out of the junkyard a couple days after I was “banished”. And now they’re letting her back in. I’ve also heard rumors about where she lives in the alley. She lives right next to where I used to! Maybe I’ll go and say hi to her tomorrow.
(I still haven’t gotten up the nerve to tell Mistoffelees the secret I chose to. I avoided him all day long.)
Saphinora
6/28/1999
Today I went to go say hello to Jequenia. She seemed incredibly nice. I told her that I was the new kitten not too long ago, and that I knew how she was feeling. I stayed there with her all day long and talked about… everything. Everything right from me living as an alley cat to her working for Macavity earlier on (I’ve heard this name come up many times in Jellicle conversations, but I still don’t know who he is.) I think she might become one of my very good friends.
I almost went and told Mistoffelees my secret that I owe him, but Victoria, Electra, Jemima, and Etcetera mobbed me as soon as I walked into the junkyard. They dragged me off to Jennyanydots and Victoria and Jemima’s lair to go help Jenny with the cooking. “She’s new and she hasn’t had her turn yet!” they all cried. But it was all pretty funny. Jenny kept saying, “But she doesn’t know a thing about cooking!” and I would agree and then the Foursome would shriek, “So teach her!” Pretty soon we were all laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. Victoria convinced Jennyanydots to let me spend the night there. I noticed that Jemima still seemed pretty tense around me and she hardly ever talked to me. I really wish she would just lighten up.
Saphinora
6/29/1999
You’ll never believe it! You know that kitten I visited yesterday? Jequenia? She’s a Jellicle too now! Munkustrap made a point to announce to the WHOLE TRIBE that they had accepted two kittens in less than a week… and I’m one of them! He also announced that since Jequenia was accepted five days after I was and they’re celebrating my membership or whatever on the 4th of July, they’re going to celebrate for Jequenia on the 9th. I really, truly hope she’s happy. I saw Jemima organizing a welcoming party out of a lot of the Jellicles. I felt a pang of jealousy, because nobody organized a party for me when I became a Jellicle. I’m beginning to think I’m not really wanted here.
I told that to Victoria. She looked at me like I was crazy. “Of course you’re wanted here!” she insisted. Then she lowered her voice. “Just between us, I don’t think many other cats like that Jequenia character besides Jemima and Pouncival. They just have a way of persuading everyone into being on their side. I honestly think that more cats like you than her.” And she went on and on and on about “Did you ever see anyone else besides Jem and Pounce invite Jequenia to go mouse hunting?” and other stuff like that. Victoria made me feel a lot better, but also made me feel worse at the same time. How would I feel if Jemima were saying the same things about me to Jequenia? I don’t know who to believe.
Saphinora
6/30/1999
I actually went and tried to tell Mistoffelees the secret I owed him. “Misto?” I said. “You still want to hear that secret I had in mind?” He nodded. “You didn’t tell… um, you-know-who anything, did you?” I shook my head. “I never break a promise unless my life depends on it, and even sometimes then I’m not too sure.” Mistoffelees smiled. He seemed satisfied. “So what’s your big secret?” he wanted to know. I thought for a moment. I was nervous. What would he say? What would he think? I swallowed. “Um… “ I turned away. “I can’t say it!” I blurted out. Then I turned and ran.
I can just imagine how confused poor Mistoffelees is right now. If I was really one of his best friends, why couldn’t I trust him with a simple secret?
Saphinora
7/1/1999
Mistoffelees seems to understand why I didn’t tell him my secret. “It’s okay,” he assured me. “You don’t have to tell me your secret if you don’t want to. You can tell me when you’re ready.” I nodded, and he left me alone to think. I went back to my family’s today. Mostly I just thought about when or even if I actually should tell Mistoffelees my secret. I mean, don’t I trust him?
Saphinora
7/2/1999
I was going to see if Victoria wanted to do something with me, but she was stuck inside cleaning her lair for the 4th of July. So I went to go see what Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were up to. I heard them talking loudly about some incident with a Ming vase, and decided not to bother them. Demeter was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn’t find Mistoffelees. So I went back to my family’s place again. Basically nothing was done today, just more thinking.
Saphinora
7/3/1999
I had a blast today! Victoria and I were running around the junkyard with red, white and blue crepe paper that we were stringing up. Demeter saw us laughing and giggling and decided it looked like fun. She grabbed the red crepe paper, I had the blue, and Victoria had the white. Then we realized that the paper was blowing away without any tape. Rumpleteazer realized what the problem was, and came to the rescue. The three of us with the crepe paper were making what was starting to look like a web and Rumple was running around frantically, trying to tape everything down. Then we all paused for a moment, and burst out laughing at the big mess we had made. Then Mistoffelees unfortunately happened to enter the junkyard just then. “What the—“ he said. We didn’t let him finish. We ran up to him and wrapped the crepe paper around him like he was a mummy! A very patriotic mummy at that. Us queens were howling with laughter, and poor Misto was struggling to untangle himself. Then he soon found himself laughing too. I don’t know how, but soon we managed to take down the mess and put up some more neat looking crepe paper (not neat as in cool, but neat as in organized). Then we took red white and blue Christmas lights and strung them up around the junkyard. The Jellicles are ready to celebrate the 4th tomorrow! I can’t wait!
Saphinora
7/4/1999
The 4th of July was EXCELLENT! When I woke up I found the junkyard more decorated than ever! Not only our decorations were up, but Mistoffelees told me that he rounded up a bunch of the toms to set up that junkyard for the celebration banquet. At first I thought he meant so they could celebrate the 4th, but then he told me that they were celebrating my becoming a Jellicle! I had forgotten all about it! There were banquet tables all set out with red, white, and blue tablecloths and red, white, and blue candles! And there was a huge patriotic banner that said “Congratulations Saphinora and Happy 4th of July!” I couldn’t wait for the evening!
The evening eventually came. I walked back into the junkyard with Victoria and Rumpleteazer. It was starting to get dark, and all the candles were lit. Mistoffelees was the waiter and led us to our seats. I looked around. Pouncival looked really funny, all dressed up like a cook! He announced to all the Jellicles that dinner would be ready shortly. So, shortly after that Mistoffelees, Tumblebrutus, Plato, and Pouncival all came out and served dinner. It was Meow Mix with a little special sauce mixed into it. It tasted better than any Meow Mix I’ve ever had! There was also other stuff like caviar, salmon paste, and some gross-looking field mice (I think they looked gross because Pouncival caught them himself) but I liked the Meow Mix the best.
After dinner it was really dark and all the humans were starting to set off fireworks. All the Jellicles leaped up onto the fence to stare and the brightly lit up sky. I watched, transfixed as the colors danced in my eyes. I was sitting in between Mistoffelees and Victoria. Suddenly I had an idea. “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m going to go talk to Demeter. I’ll be right back.” I winked at Victoria and left. She flashed me an annoyed look. Then she turned to stare at the beautiful fireworks. Of course, I didn’t really go talk to Demeter. I watched the two. Mistoffelees slowly inched closer to Victoria to fill in the empty space I had left. Then I saw him nervously look at Victoria, then nuzzle her softly. I grinned and left. I went and sat with Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. They gladly moved over to give me some room. Ten minutes later when I glanced at Victoria and Mistoffelees, I saw that Victoria had her head on Mistoffelees’ shoulder. I smiled, and went back to watching the glorious fireworks.
When it was all over, everyone regretfully left. Except for Mistoffelees and Pouncival and Plato. They all stayed to clean up. I decided to stay and help. Nobody said a word, but I did have time to whisper into Misto’s ear, “Way to go!” He grinned, and went back to picking up garbage and other stuff. As far as I’m concerned, this was the best 4th of July ever!
Saphinora
7/5/1999
Everyone at the junkyard today looked really tired. I guess everyone had stayed up pretty late watching fireworks or partying or something. I was a little tired myself. I only went to the junkyard in the morning to go see if Victoria was there. She wasn’t, so I checked her mansion that is down the street from mine. She was curled up fast asleep on the porch. I snickered to myself and snuck over to her. “HEY VICKI!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. She jumped up about ten feet! “What the—oh, hey Saphinora,” she said when she saw me. She laughed. “What are you trying to do, scare me to death?” I blinked and smiled. “I was just making sure you were asleep,” I said innocently. “What do you want to do today?” I asked. Victoria thought for a moment. “I know! My family has this great big screen TV in the living room. And they’re gone for the whole day, so we could go inside and watch a movie,” she suggested. I agreed, and we stayed inside for the rest of the day watching these funny Pink Panther movies (not Pink Panther as in the cartoon Pink Panther, the funny movies with Inspector Cluseau or however you spell it. The first one is called, well, The Pink Panther. The second one is called I think the Return of the Pink Panther. If you’ve never seen them, you should. They’re hilarious). Anyway, Victoria and I were soon laughing so hard we were crying. I had the best time!
Saphinora
7/6/1999
Oh boy. Pouncival is going to get it real good. You should’ve seen the trick he played on poor Demeter! She woke up this morning with multi-color fur! Pouncival snuck up on her while she was sleeping and painted her rainbow! It was pretty funny, but I felt sorry for Demeter. She is one of my best friends, and I wouldn’t like it very much if I woke up with green fur or something. I just hope that stuff washes out.
I didn’t see Demeter for the whole rest of the day. She was probably scrubbing her fur furiously and muttering about the terrible things that she wants to do to Pouncival. Maybe I’ll help her think of something. I can already feel a good idea coming on…
Saphinora
7/7/1999
Ha ha! Pouncival is going to wish he had never been born! I helped Demeter come up with a plan to get him back with. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the paint did wash out of Demeter’s fur. Anyway, together we both came up with a wonderful plan. We’d get Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer to swipe us a hundred balloons. We’d fill them up with water. We’d get the usual crowd together: Victoria, Rumpleteazer, Mistoffelees and me. Then we’d try to convince some of the others (Bombalurina, Electra, Skimble, etc) to help us. Then the next day, we’d all douse Pouncival with the hundred water balloons! I think it’s brilliant!
We already got Rumpleteazer to get us the balloons, and everyone listed above agreed to participate. Even some of the others like Alonzo, Cassandra, Etcetera, and even Jennyanydots offered to help! Just wait Pouncival, we’re gonna get you really good tomorrow!
Saphinora
7/8/1999
I can’t believe it! Our big plan has gone to waste! Pouncival decided to play it safe and built a huge fence up around his lair. Oh well, maybe we’ll find some way to catapult the water balloons from above. But the fence is pretty high…
Nothing much happened today. After that big disappointment with the disaster prank, I just went home to my family. I was scheming all day, trying to think of something to do to Pouncival. But I can’t think of anything! I wonder if Demeter’s having any luck.
Saphinora
7/9/1999
Still trying to think of an idea to get back at Pouncival. We’re all trying really, really hard to think of something to do to him (Victoria, Rumpleteazer, Demeter, Mistoffelees, and me) but we haven’t had any luck yet. I gotta think of something!
Saphinora
7/10/1999
Mistoffelees had the most brilliant idea to get back at Pouncival! While the rest of us were thinking until our heads exploded, Mistoffelees was spying on Pouncival yesterday. He had trapped himself inside his fence! So he sawed a doorway through it, and stuck a lock and hinges on the door. What Mistoffelees realized and Pouncival didn’t, was that he put the lock on the wrong side of the door! So ANYONE who wanted to, could open it. So tomorrow morning we’re all going to sneak inside and bomb him with our water balloons! It’s gonna be GREAT!
Saphinora
7/11/1999
Our plan was a success! We all got up in the middle of the night, armed with over a hundred water balloons. We each carried a HUGE bucket with a lot of balloons in them. Anyway, we dragged them all the way over to Pouncival’s fort, led by Demeter. I noticed that Pouncival had fixed his lock. I was about to tell Demeter, but she pushed it open and walked calmly inside. So I guess he forgot to lock it.
We all walked in as quietly as we could. Demeter signaled everybody to get ready. Then she said softly, “One… two… three.” On three we all screamed, “PAYBACK TIME!” as loud as we could. Pouncival woke up, startled, and had just enough time to mutter, “Uh-oh.” Then we all pelted him with the water balloons. All ONE HUNDRED of them.
The end result was us running away shrieking once we ran out of balloons, and a very wet and very angry Pouncival trudging out of his fort. “I’m gonna get you!” he yelled. “I’m gonna get you all!” For the rest of the day I stayed with my family. I was afraid that Pouncival was going to “get me” that very day. I don’t know about the others, but I think I’ll stay here with my family for a while.
Saphinora
7/12/1999
I was really tense all day long. My family (Lisa and Timothy) could probably tell too. They kept commenting to each other how jittery I was and offered to take me outside for a while. But I was so sure that I had just seen Pouncival run into our backyard and I was positive that he was planning revenge (I learned later that the cat I had seen was only a stray using our backyard as a sanctuary from an angry Pollicle). So I refused to go outside all day long. I think I’ll stay here tomorrow too.
Saphinora
7/13/1999
Eek! The thirteenth! I was convinced that today was the day that Pouncival was going to get revenge on us. I mean, come on. There isn’t any other more perfect day than the thirteenth of anything. So I stayed inside again all day long.
Saphinora
7/14/1999
Well, Pouncival didn’t play his prank yet. I’m beginning to wonder when he will. I got up the nerve to go outside today. I saw Mistoffelees sitting on his front porch, so I decided to go say hi. And that’s exactly what I did. “Hi,” I said when I walked up onto the porch. He smiled and said hi back. I sat down next to him and said, “What are you looking at?” He had been staring at something that was SO interesting that he’d been staring for at least twenty minutes. “The sunset,” he said. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” I turned and stared where he was staring. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “But I think you’re staring at something else!” What I meant was, Victoria happened to be lying out on her front porch too. And her house happened to be right under the sunset. Mistoffelees laughed, embarrassed. “Okay, you caught me. Now go away and leave me to my staring!” So I laughed too, and went to go sit outside on MY front porch. Mistoffelees was right. The sunset was gorgeous. So I stared at it until it was fully set.
Saphinora
7/15/1999
We decided that it was probably safe to go back to the junkyard today. Victoria, Mistoffelees and I walked back to the junkyard together, since we all live on the same block. We talked pointlessly for a while, then we tried to come up with tricks that we might play on Pouncival. We came up with some pretty good ones. For instance: arrange for everyone in the junkyard to hide out of sight in the morning except for Pounce. He’d wake up and find nobody there. He might be worried. Then he’ll start to get scared. Then he’ll get frantic. And THEN once the sun is set and the whole day has passed, we’ll all jump out wearing dark cloaks so he can’t see us. We’ll somehow sneak into his fort and surround him silently. Then, with Demeter’s signal of course, we’ll all turn on sets of glowing eyes that will blink menacingly for a couple minutes. Then when he surrenders, we’ll laugh our heads off and skidaddle on out of there. It’d be pretty funny. But I don’t know how we’d pull it off.
When we got back to the junkyard, I returned to my lair and spent the day reading. Victoria joined me, and we read comic books and magazines together. It was pretty fun. But I still fear for my life.
Saphinora
7/16/1999
I’m getting really anxious. I’m starting to wonder when Pouncival is going to try to get revenge. I decided that the prank we came up with yesterday is stupid, and probably wouldn’t work. I told this to Victoria and we spent the rest of the day trying to come up with other stuff we could do to him after he pulled his joke. Here are some of the ideas we came up with:
1.) Toilet paper his fort so that it’s all twisted around to make it impossible for him to get out.
2.) While he’s sleeping wrap him up in a blanket, take him to the nearest stream/river/pond, put him on an inflatable raft, and set him on a little journey. (I came up with that one!)
3.) Victoria told me that he has a phobia of monkeys (don’t ask). So we could tape record some monkey calls (don’t know how we’d manage that) and play it in his sleep.
Personally, I like joke #2 the best. I can’t wait until it’s our turn!
Saphinora
7/17/1999
Demeter had the most wonderful idea! We can play a prank on Pouncival before he pulls a joke on us! “We” being the usual crowd: Rumpleteazer Demeter Victoria Mistoffelees, a new member, Skimble, and me. The others (Jennyanydots, Alonzo, etc.) decided that they’d quit the joke war after the water balloon prank on Pounce. But Skimble decided to join us! Anyway, we decided to play the monkey joke on Pouncival. Tomorrow, Victoria and I are going to take a field trip to the zoo and get some monkey sounds. Rumpleteazer stole a tape recorder from her family for us, but we made her promise to give it back when we’re done. I gotta go plot and scheme with Victoria now. Bye!
Saphinora
7/18/1999
Victoria and I went for a trip to the zoo today. Demeter woke us up at the crack of dawn. Victoria and I sleepily hiked all the way across London to get to the city zoo. When we got there we stepped up to the ticket booth. I leaped up and handed the person some money. She laughed and said to her supervisor, “It looks like these kittens want to go see the animals.” Man, if I wanted to do that I could’ve stayed at the junkyard and stared at Pouncival. Anyway, the woman took my money and handed me two tickets. “Thank you,” I said politely. What she heard was, “Mew meow” but it’s the thought that counts. She smiled and waved at us, and we headed to the entrance. This time Victoria did the work. She jumped up onto the counter and gave the worker our two tickets. He grinned, then laughed. But he did raise the gates so we could get in. People are so nice. We went directly to the monkey exhibit. They weren’t being very active. Probably because it was a hot day. But I fixed that. I started jumping up and down, pretending to mock the monkeys. Victoria started doing it too, and pretty soon the monkeys were making loud noises. I whipped out the pocket recorder and recorded a straight half-hour of monkey calls. Then Victoria pulled out a disposable camera and snapped dozens of pictures of the monkeys. She grinned and handed me a camera too. I filled it up with pictures of a grinning ape whose nose was pushed right up to the glass. Our work was done so fast that we decided to see the rest of the zoo. What we actually did was buy popcorn and ice-cream and eat until we thought we would explode. We headed back to the junkyard and presented the tape to Demeter. I can’t wait until tomorrow!
Saphinora