Disclaimer: I don't own CATS - if I did it would NOT be closing in May!! Or if it was, it would re open sometime soon, like June! Anyway, CATS belongs to RUG and Andrew Lloyd Webber and TS Eliot and Trevor Nunn and whoever else it belongs to.
Notes: This is very silly, I know, but it was fun to write and I needed a break from both homework and seriousness in general :) Feedback is always very welcome!
~
"MACAVITY!" yelled Tumblebrutus.
"Where?" Demeter jumped up and spun round in a complete circle.
"Just joking- OUCH!"
"Sorry," said Demeter acidly. "My paw slipped. In my, er, fright, you know?" She stalked off.
"Sure," he grumbled, rubbing his head.
"You really shouldn't tease her like that, Tumble."
Tumble looked behind him to see Munkustrap. "Well, good morning to you too."
Munkustrap chose to ignore any possible connotations of sarcasm. "You know how much it annoys her," he sighed.
Tumble grinned. "Uh huh. That's why I do it."
"Tumble."
"What!? Just cos you happen to like her and you- OUCH!"
"Sorry." Munkustrap turned away as he left to hide the hint of a smile that might just have been emerging from his features.
"Yeah right" Tumble sat down and proceeded to rub his head with both front paws. "D'you think it's not my day today?" he inquired of a passing fly.
He heard a soft giggle from somewhere behind and above him. Sheesh! How many cats were planning on ambushing him today?? He turned and Jemima waved at him and slid down the pipe, landing with a gentle bump almost on top of him. "Um- hi!" she said merrily.
"Don't hit me!" Tumble jumped away from her nervously. "I've had two cats hit me on the head already and right now the phrase 'third time lucky' just doesn't seem all that encouraging!"
"Aw Well don't worry, I'm gonna cheer you up! Come on!"
He found himself being forcefully grabbed by the paw and pulled off his tyre. "Uuunnhhh" he moaned. "What's got into you today?" Then he hastily added, "Don't hit me!"
"Silly!" she giggled and shrugged. "I dunno. Overdosing on sunshine, I guess."
"Where- exactly - are - we going?" he asked as he ran to keep up with her.
"This way."
"No kidding?"
Jemima put on her sweetest smile. "Would I lie to you?"
"Whatever Just out of interest- what is so exciting that's this way?"
"Uh it's a surprise?"
He was forced to begin with the same syllable: "Uh why was that a question?"
"Because it's a surprise!"
"Yes"
"And, um, it'll probably be a surprise for me too since I have absolutely no idea where we're going!"
"Sheesh you weren't kidding about that sunshine, were you?"
She stopped and looked at him slyly. "Was that inferring any disrespect?" she asked slowly, "Cos if it was I'm gonna have to pounce on you!"
The next thing that happened, Tumble had a very brief view of the sky which suddenly filled his vision. A whiff of the clouds and a whole skyful of sunshine smiled on him for a second. Then, Jemima's head appeared suddenly up in front of him and his own hit the luckily soft ground very hard. Third time lucky
"OUCH!" he yelled.
She giggled.
Grinning, he took advantage of her second's lost concentration to toss her off him and scramble away. "Can't catch me!" he shouted, backflipping wildly down into a dry ditch.
Though maybe that was tempting fate
"Ya think?" She jumped after him.
"OUCH!" he yelled again.
Then she started giggling again. And so did he. Then they both laughed and laughed and rolled around in the ditch, dust in their coats, sun in their eyes. Tumble finally "won" and placed his paws firmly on Jemima's shoulders and held her down, panting.
Nothing happened for a few seconds, then Jemima sneezed. "Your fur's tickling my nose," she whispered.
"Oh um sorry 'bout that." He got awkwardly to his feet and tried to shake the dirt out of his coat.
The uneasy tension was probably fortunately broken by a loud giggle and an equally loud "shh!!"
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer walked casually out from a cardboard box. "'Ey there!" Teazer waved frantically at the two kittens standing all of three feet away.
"Were you spying on us??" accused Tumble.
"Wot?" asked Mungo.
"Oo?" asked Teazer.
"US??" they asked together, staring about in wide-eyed innocence.
"'Ow could you accuse us o' such a croime?" Mungo flung a paw dramatically up, thus clouting himself in the face. "Me 'eart is jus' breakin'!" he cried. He shook his head. "Not te mention me poor 'ead! Oi'm-"
A glare from Tumblebrutus silenced him. Rumpelteazer shrugged and took up the dialogue amiably. "Well, wot we're 'ere te tell ya is tha' Jenny's been goin' crazy tryin' to find ya, Jem. Somethin' abou' elocution for 'em mice?"
Jem's paw flew to her mouth. "Whoops!" She giggled, partly guiltily, but mostly just from hearing Rumpelteazer talking about elocution "Well, um see ya, Tumble- unless you want to learn all about the correct formation of diphthongs?"
"Er nah. See ya then"
Jemima sprinted away. Tumble watched her until she disappeared from view.
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer collapsed into laughter.
"What's so funny?" asked Tumble, irritated.
"Coulda asked you the saime question a coupla minutes ago!" Teazer exclaimed when she'd got her breath back.
Mungo didn't recover quite as quickly. "Sorry 'sjust ya ha ha ha nah 's too HA HA HA - funny!!"
Tumble bonked him on the head.
"OUCH!" he yelled, giving Tumble the satisfied feeling that at least someone else knew how it felt.
"Aw!! Naughty Tumblebru'us!" Teazer licked Mungo "poor 'ead". "Ere, we'll kiss it better, K?"
"'Thanks Teaz."
In a few seconds, the two tabbies were laughing again and grooming each other unashamedly. Tumblebrutus watched them uncertainly.
"I don't get you two," he declared.
"Wot?"
"I don't understand you, then- whatever."
"Oh no!" Teazer threw her arms around Mungo's neck and proceeded to sob theatrically. "You 'ear tha'? No one understands us!"
"But tha's OK!" Mungo said, grinning. "We're the mysterious duo, ain't we?"
"Um are we?"
"Er, yeah sure."
"Wot don' you get 'bout us, Bru'us?" asked Rumpelteazer brightly, lifting her head and stopping "crying" immediately.
"Just the way you I dunno. You're in love, aren't you?"
They looked at each other. "Yup!"
"But ain't you?" asked Mungo slyly.
"What- in love??"
"Yeah. We know you are" he whispered mysteriously.
"How? Not that I am, or anything."
Both members of the notorious duo scrutinized his face carefully. "It's somethin' in yer eyes" Teazer said.
"Yeah- tha' an' the fact tha' we saw you moonin' abou' with Jemima jus' naow."
"Oh honestly!" he tried to defend himself, "We were just playing! And you were spying on us!"
They just smiled.
"What - you think - me and Jem??"
"Maiybe, maiybe" And they both turned and skipped off happily, taking their knowing smirks with them.
* * * * *
"La-ay-dies and gen-tle-me-en! Your attention please!" The Rum Tum Tugger strutted across the makeshift platform, twirling his tail and swinging his hips. Drawing in the crowds something he was very good at.
Most of the Jellicles were variously standing, sitting, lying on or in miscellaneous bits of junk. Tumblebrutus had secured a spot next to Jemima and was painstakingly avoiding Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer's eyes.
"Preeeesenting"
Tumble started up a cheesy drumroll noise, soon to be joined by Pouncival and Jemima.
It hardly seemed to irritate Tugger, if it did at all. He just grinned still more broadly and lapped up the attention. "Presenting" he repeated, "The magical" (drum roll) "The marvelous" (drum roll) "the miraculous" (drum roll starting to dissolve into giggles) "Mister Mistoffeles!!!!"
Quaxo's shy little black head popped out from the tyre.
The rest of him shortly followed. He looked around with his usual obvious nervousness as Tugger stepped down (reluctantly) from the platform. Then he grinned, and his fur shone with blue sparkles. He never actually said much during his performances, just the occasional "presto!" for traditional value.
He twirled across the "stage", gathering momentum and confidence, picked a bouquet out of thin air and tossed it out to the audience. There was a brief, violent scuffle to decide who the ultimate recipient of this gift would be. Electra soon won- after she'd nearly concussed Rumpelteazer with the flowers, the other queens unamimously decided they'd just let her keep them.
Tumble watched with only detached interest as the conjuring cat sent silver and gold showers streaming from his paws. Much as Quaxo was his friend, he couldn't help feeling a little- well, jealous and annoyed - sometimes. Besides he looked again at Jem; her starry eyes were fixed forward, watching Quaxo in awe and he didn't like that for some reason
It hit him. Oh no I'm- I'm not am I?
Oh help.
* * * * *
"Tumble?" She was calling him, sweet voice sounding more than a little concerned. "Tumb- Oh there you are! Are you OK?"
He couldn't tell her to go. He had meant perhaps to say "I'd like to be left alone right now" or something of the sort, but you can't really say that. He certainly couldn't, not with her eyes so big and brown and looking so puzzled at him like that. "You- you're missing Quax's show," he said stiffly.
She sat down. "So're you," she pointed out. He had been the one who had just run off right in the middle of it for no apparent reason, after all.
"Yeah," he said, just as blandly. And she had come to find him...
"What is it, Tumble?"
"You - like him, don't you?" This was another thing you just didn't say, but he'd said it anyway. Now he was looking intently down at the ground, pretending he hadn't.
"What?"
"Quaxo. Do you like him?"
"Well, sure I like him, but I don't, y'know like him." She stopped and smiled confusedly. "And that made no sense, did it?"
"Well, actually, yeah... but is it true?"
Jem cleared her throat loudly. "Tumblebrutus, would I lie to you?"
"I hope not," he muttered.
"What?" She leaned closer, trying to hear what he'd said.
"Nothing."
"OK... Did I look like I - liked Quax?"
"Yeah, you were sort of staring at him the whole time." He felt his face heat up still more at how silly he sounded and admitting that he'd been staring at her the whole time.
"Well, he was the one standing up, performing, zapping lightening all over the place... It kinda gets your attention, y'know?"
Tumble attempted a cross between a sigh and a chuckle, with interesting snort-like results.
"But- seriously?" said Jem quietly, "I think I was almost maybe a little - jealous."
"What?"
She shifted uncomfortably, embarrassed. "I'm only feline!"
"Yeah but- you're Jemima!"
"Er, yeah?"
He couldn't think of a reasonable comeback to that. "Er, well, that is- I'm not thinking things out very carefully am I?"
Might as well get the truth out... he thought.
"To be honest- me too, a bit jealous of Quax, I mean," he said, "It must be pretty fun to be able to just send blue lightening around whenever you get bored..." His wistful smile turned to a mischievous grin as he pictured the potential... "It's the sort of thing that- I just think: if I could do that, I'd never be unhappy again... which isn't true of course, but- d'you know what I mean?"
"Yeah. Like Victoria's dancing, you mean? Yeah, 'course I do." Then she murmured dreamily, "Must be fun to be able to do backflips..."
"What? Backflips?"
She nodded. "You've always done them and I've always kinda wished I could too..."
"I could teach you, if you want? And, well, I've always wished I could sing like you."
There was a short pause in which they both imagined Tumblebrutus singing Jemima's soprano solos. Then they both burst out laughing.
"OK," Tumble gasped, "maybe not quite like you! But- you do sing beautifully..."
Might as well get the WHOLE truth out...
"And, Jem, I- think, erm, that is-" He sighed.
Nope. Not happening.
"That is- d'you wanna go for a walk?"
"Er, yeah, sure.... Where are we going?" She grinned and jumped up eagerly.
He grinned back, deciding that he could still enjoy her company without telling her - anything... anything that might spoil it.... "It's a surprise."
* * * * *
After a couple bouts of energetic mock fights, the two collapsed side by side on the ground, exhausted.
"I don't think I can be bothered to get up," moaned Tumble, "It's too hot to be jumping around... So what do we now?"
"Um... we could... contemplate the meaning of life, use our physic powers to turn down the heat a couple degrees, look at the clouds, or, um, talk?" she suggested.
"Oh yeah... those last two sound OK... So what do we talk about?"
"You're useless, you know that?" She batted in the generel direction of his ears with her paw, but missed by a good few inches. Then, struck by inspiration, she said, "Going back to this whole Quaxo thing, don't you see something happening between him and Electra?"
"Well... I did see her trying to do some serious brain damage with those flowers... I guess you can't just attribute that to kittenish high spirits..."
"No, I don't really think you can..." She grinned at the lasting memory, "Speaking of flowers, look at that cloud."
He looked. It was generally cloud-shaped. Still, what were imaginations for? "Oh yeah," he said, "looks like a rose or something..."
So it was in this mode that Pouncival found them a few minutes later.
"Hey, Jem, Tumble!" he hailed them as he approached. He looked down at the two a little suspiciously. "Watcha doing?"
"Just talking, looking at the clouds," said Jemima.
"Oh," He scratched his ear, "You haven't seen Etcetera anywhere?"
"No... sorry."
"Well" he sighed, "never mind" He stared from the earth to the sky a couple times. "Clouds?" He shrugged. "Cool. Me too."
He flopped down beside them. After about ten more seconds, Etcetera bounced up too. "Hi!" she squealed.
"Hi," came a general yawn of response.
"Hi!" she squealed again, bouncing over Tumble. He flinched as the boinging came a little too close to his paws for comfort.
"Wanna join us?" Jem asked Etcetera, noting Tumble's anxiety.
"Um well, I was looking for Tugger"
"Why?" asked Pouncival, sharply looking up.
Etcetera shrugged. "Dunno I'm bored."
"Well, you won't find Tugger. He's gone off somewhere with Bomba I think."
"Oh, OK. I'll stay here then!" She circled bouncily around them. "Watcha doing?"
Tumble smiled wryly. "Oh, nothing much. Just- watching the clouds"
"relaxing" put in Jemima,
"chilling out"
"kicking back"
They exchanged glances. "staying still, y'know?" they said together.
Pouncival glared at Tumblebrutus, Tumble just shrugged and mouthed "what?".
"Here, Cet," called Pouncival, patting a spot on the ground beside him. "Budge up, Brute."
"Brute" did so, his face straining from barely contained incredulous laughter.
"So" piped up Etcetera after a few seconds of peaceful silence. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"Pictures shapes in the sky" responded Jemima sleepily. "Look, there's one that looks a bit like a car."
Tumble tipped his head to one side. "Er, maybe Hey, Cet, I got one! Look at that one there! It looks just like Tugger!"
"Where??"
"Right there." He pointed.
"What?? That looks more like- Bustopher Jones!"
Tumble and Jemima burst out laughing again. "Oops" he managed between chuckles, "Well, it's not like there's much difference anyway"
"Hey!!"
"What are you all laughing about?" asked Victoria. She and Plato stared down at the four other kittens.
Tumble considered. "I suppose if I said we'd seen a Tugger/Bustopher Jones hybrid in the sky it wouldn't really help?" he offered.
"Erm no, not really," said Victoria, raising a skeptical white eyebrow.
"Well then. Be content to know we were simply sky gazing."
"Sky gazing?" asked Plato.
"Is that like some sort of magic thing?" asked Quaxo eagerly and a bit breathlessly, appearing at speed behind Plato and Victoria.
"Can I do it too?" asked Electra, appearing suddenly behind Quaxo.
Jemima shaded her eyes to take a better look at the four new arrivals. "Yes- sky gazing, no- not as far as I know, and yeah sure," she said, then paused to give them time to work out what she'd just said.
"Come join the fun!" invited Tumble, his grin widening as the absurdity of the whole situation started to dawn on him. "See if we can't get the whole tribe sky gazing!"
Within the next couple minutes, there had congregated: Munkustrap, Demeter, Cassandra, Alonzo, Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer, even Jenny, Skimbleshanks, Jellylorum and Asparagus had been tempted away from their duties not to mention a strange ginger cat no one paid much attention to.
"D'you reckon we've started a trend?" Jemima whispered in Tumble's ear.
"I suppose it's quite like star gazing" mused Munkustrap, "and apparently people do that all the time."
"It's not as romantic somehow though," said Cassandra.
"Romantic??" exclaimed Tumble, "It's not meant to be, is it?"
Who cared? A warm summer afternoon, traditional fluffy white clouds hanging about in the sky, and everyone was completely at their ease, with nothing more pressing or distressing to worry about than naming the celestial shapes they saw, or discussing the philosophical values of it all
"It is like star gazing though," persisted Munkustrap.
"Guess so Sort of a cross between that and sun bathing," said Macavity.
"MACAVITY!?" yelled a very shocked Munkustrap, suddenly sitting bolt upright, "What are you doing here?"
"Just chillin'"
"Oh OK" He lay down again, somewhat unnerved, but basically alright. "Anyway" he continued to his captive audience, all too comfortable or sleepy to be bothered to move, "It's the same sort of thing, we're just staring into the sky, something we'll never understand, and trying to simplify and connect and make something pretty and romantic out of it, you know what I'm saying?"
"Um, no not really."
"Shut up Macavity. I wasn't talking to you."
"Well, thanks. It's sure nice to be liked."
"Oh just shut up."
The kittens, bored of both Munkustrap's musings and a rather unusual sibling rivalry, returned to the game of spotting pictures.
"There's a bowl of ice cream over there," said Jemima, pointing.
"Oice cream?" asked Mungojerrie excitedly, "Where?"
"In the sky, Mungo."
"Oh, roight so tha's what yer all doin' 'Ey look, Teaz- there's some o' yer pearls in tha' cloud!"
"Ey, yer roight" she murmured vaguely and happily, "Le's go nick 'em shall we?"
"Ya know Oi'd steal the sky for ya, Teaz"
Tumble was forced at this point to stuff his paw in his mouth to stop himself laughing
Quaxo spoke up quietly. "Look- there's one that looks like Electra."
Pouncival squinted at it. "Nah, it doesn't."
"Yes it does!"
"Does not."
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does now!" Quaxo, (or was he the Magical Mister Mistoffeles?) smirked and pointed upwards. The cloud in question sparkled blue for a moment. It shifted, shaped, smiled at them for a moment and then wafted away.
There was a general appreciative sigh, an embarrassed giggle from Electra, and something that sounded suspiciously like "Ah, young love" from Macavity's direction.
"Shut up Macavity!" came the voices of at least two embarrassed kittens.
No one said anything for a few seconds, then Electra whispered to the black cat beside her, "That was really cool, Quax. Thanks."
He glowed. In a more literal sense than most cats can.
And so the afternoon passed dreamily, with such conversation as:
"That's a weird cloud."
"Yeah, it's a sort of swirly-ice-cream-cloud...."
And once or twice, someone said,
"You know, that one looks a lot like a rain cloud."
But of course no one paid any attention or worried about the gathering grey clouds, until they literally burst. All at once, rain poured down. Summer storm... The dust on the ground almost instantaneously yielded and puddles sprang up everywhere. Everyone screamed, and laughed. Horrified and delighted, the kittens started to run for shelter- indirectly, of course. First of all, they had to get as wet as possible.
"Cety!" Pouncival called, "Cet, come here, here's a box!"
Tumble grabbed his paw and stopped him. "Was Tugger off somewhere with Bomba?" he asked, suspicious somehow...
Pouncival grinned broadly. "I have absolutely no idea," he announced with pride.
Tumble returned the grin, "Good luck to you!"
"Come on Cet!"
Everyone was screaming and laughing...
"Alonzo! Lonzo where have you got to? I'm getting soaking wet here!!"
"Quax, can you magic us a roof or something here?"
"Um...maybe...?"
"It's OK, Demi, don't worry, I'll find you some shelter, don't worry..."
"Munk, you silly! Come over here, there's a whole load of boxes!"
"Aaah!! I'm getting all wet!!!"
"It's raining!" Jemima was yelling, laughing hysterically. She careered straight into Tumblebrutus, running madly in the opposite direction. They both fell splat into a muddy puddle. "Ech!" Jem spat mud out and started to giggle again, "I don't know what's so funny..." she admitted after a while.
"It's raining, that's what!" laughed Tumble, feeling mud soaking through his coat and not caring.
"OK, it's official. Either the world has gone mad or we have."
"Or both," he suggested brightly.
"Yeah, or both."
They smiled at each other. Then they realised they were still lying in a rapidly deepening muddy pool.
"Er, how about we go find a box or something now?" Jemima tried to shake her fur out, only suceeding in splattering them both with more mud.
"You might have a point..." He bounced through several more puddles - he was already absolutely saturated, why worry? and over to a selection of cardboard boxes. "How about this one-"
"TUMBLE!!" came two very embarrassed squeals from within.
"- or maybe not..." He jumped hastily backwards from the box and back towards Jem, shaking with suppressed laughter. "Etcetera and Pounce!" he explained in a whisper. "I don't think they wanted to be disturbed!"
They climbed into another (unoccupied) box.
"Don't they make the cutest couple?" exclaimed Jem.
"Is that like some sort of girly thing to talk about?" he asked, "Cute couples and such?"
"What? Well, um, yeah, I guess... Mr Tomly Tumble! Or what was it Pounce called you, "Brute"?"
He laughed involuntarily. "Yeah, that was it..."
"Heaviside, where on earth did that come from??"
"I don't know!" He shook his head in puzzled giggles, "I suppose I could always call him "Civil" or something..."
She sobered a little, "But you know what I mean?"
"About those cute couples? Yeah... Like Pounce and Etcetera..."
"And Electra and Quaxo?"
He nodded. "And Vicki and Plato."
"And-"
It wasn't silent. They could hear very clearly the rain still battering down on the cardboard roof which was probably going to give in and start dripping very soon. They could hear it splashing in the miniture lakes outside and bouncing off the metal of various abandoned cars. But neither of them said anything for several seconds.
Then Tumble muttered, "Cat, Jem, this is no time to go all drama queen on me! We're getting as bad as Mungo and Teazer!"
"I don't think so! They'd be sharing a passionate kiss by this time!"
Another pause.
"But we seem to have mastered dramatic pauses, don't we?" she sighed.
"Yeah...."
It was still raining.
And suddenly, he got the weirdest feeling that it was going to keep on raining until he managed to say something. They were going to be stuck in this flimsy cardboard box, which was likely as not in on the plot too and would absolutely refuse to collapse like it was meant to, until-
He shut his eyes, took a deep breath and mumbled, very fast: "andjemandtumble?"
"What- did you say..." she shut her eyes too, scared to look, "did you say -andjemandtumble?"
They both had their eyes shut when they reached out to embrace each other.
"Yeah," he whispered.
"Oh good!!"
A large drop of water plopped onto his head. On cue, the cardboard collapsed. They were going to get soaking wet again. And that thought was amazingly intoxicating....
"It's raining!!" Jem giggled, "Still!"
They were kittens. They were going to get soaking wet. They laughed. The storm would clear up, and the sun would come back, and the fluffy white clouds would be there to entertain like the rest of life. And the rain while it lasted was just as much fun, because they were already soaking wet and had nothing to lose.
Jemima in Tumble's arms felt warm and wonderful like the summer. They had the summer and the sky and a smiling world at least for now and everything was fun. The could always laugh in the rain, and smile at the clouds and dance in the sunshine. They had each other and that was just undeniably good.
They held each other.
She felt like summer...
He felt like smiling.
And just then, they wouldn't have minded if it rained forever.
THE END