The Aristocats Collection

Chapter 16

The word held in the air between us. A tear stroke down my cheek. But I went away from that. "They may go to private school." I said, sadly and softly. The kittens would never know.

Diamond's diary
November 22
Dear diary,
Today Aunt Marie made me start going to school! Not just any school, a private school. It's called Mistress Ernatte's School For Young Cats. Today, I met this cat named Franklin. He's pretty nice, and he loves playing. But there's also this cat named Hillary. Hillary is so mean, you'd think her owner made her take a bath three times. She called me a dumb, ungroomed, alley brat! Let's just say I don't like her. But the worst thing is Franklin and Hillary love each other! Oh, I just hate private school. It is terrible.

Hating Private school,
Diamond

Cannes' Diary
November 22
Dear Diary,
I am going to a place called private school. It is so fun! I play violin all day. Diamond hates it. I don't know about Junior. Uncle Berlioz says that private school will really help me with violin. I met a girl named Lynda. She plays the viola. Uncle Berlioz says that a viola is like a violin, but a little different. There's another girl named Hillary. Hillary has a crush on me, I think, and she plays something called a cello. She left me a note in my locker.
Keep a secret?
Cannes

Toulouse Junior's Journal
November 22
Dear Journal,
There is some babyish freak at my new school. Her name is Hillary. She cried in history class just because someone started making fun of her grandpa. His name was Hawthorne O'Malley, which is weird because my grandpa's name has the same last name. I guess it's just a coincidence.
Hating cry babies,
Junior

Toulouse Junior's Journal
November 22 (continued)
Dear Journal,
I made the worst discovery today! I asked Grandpa about Hawthorne. He said that Hawthorne was HIS brother! I think that makes Hillary my...my...cousin! Oh my gosh, that cry baby is RELATED to me! Even worse, Hillary asked my mom Desiree if she and her siblings could come over to have "bonding time" with her "cousins". And guess what? Mom says YES! However, Hillary said she has a sister named Heavenly, another sister named Henrietta, and one last sister named Helga. FOUR GIRLS? Wow, I could not survive in that! "Ooh, makeup! Ooh, dress! Ooh, boys."
CA-RAZY man, crazy!
Toulouse Junior

I felt that the kittens were enjoying school well. They had probably made tons of friends! I just did not like to remember the reason why.
I went to see Mama. She smiled. "I'm not letting..." she paused to look and see if there were any kittens around. "That horrid sickness slow me down. I'm going to live it up."
That day, something awesome happened! Madame returned early, and with Sycamore and Oak. Berlioz was ecstatic! He thought he would never see his kittens again. Though their mother had gone, it was still nice to have a living relative to her. Sycamore and Oak were very big now, but they were showing more relevance to their domestic side. They had small, lightly furred ears. They had a small bobbed tail, and short fur. Seemingly, being at the sanctuary had actually made them less wild.
Sycamore was the most excited to see Berlioz. She said that the sanctuary was scary, and she said there were bears! Bears, I tell you! Real live bears, not the little stuffed teddy bears I like to snuggle with.
Oak said the sanctuary was cool. He said that he almost joined a pack and everything. But Sycamore walked away from it all, and Oak had to return with his sister. The police negotiated with Madame, and she offered to pay bail to get out of jail. Turns out, although Winter had not been Madame's, her kittens had been born in her house, on her property, and the father was her cat. So Madame paid three thousand dollars, on top of her bail, to get a permit to keep a Eurasian lynx. Crazy what the woman will do/pay for her cats.
So, there I sat, happily conversing to the lynx kittens (not much of kittens anymore). Christmas was almost here, and Madame went to buy us our presents. We each made one present for everyone else in the family, and that totaled to a ton of presents. I could imagine Diamond or Paris with millions of bows at their feet, smiling throughout the gift unwrapping. I could also imagine Junior and Bristol standing over a pile of sports items, like soccer balls, and footballs, mini basketballs, you get the gist. Similarly, Cannes, Sara and Abe Gio looking at the pile of musical scripts and instruments they had received. This Christmas would be awesome.
I heard Paris blab on about how good she'd been this year (I giggled because, you know, she hasn't even been alive this whole year). The legend of Mr. Kitty Paws had been a tradition for quite a while. The young cats have to be good all year, and then they get a present from him. Anything they want, I've heard. I hear humans have a similar tradition called Santa Claus.
Not to be rude or anything, but I didn't believe in Mr. Kitty Paws.
Well, until that night when I was little...
The footsteps downstairs, the shuffling of presents sliding under the trees, the shout of, "Kitty Paws!" And most of all, the meows of the four kittens that guide his sleigh. Back in those days, everyone wanted to be a cat (literally), and they were too busy acting grown up to notice those childish things. But the kittens that wanted to be kittens, well, they all wanted to be one of the sleigh guiding kittens. Every Christmas they would wander outside, hoping to see Mr. Kitty Paws, but he and his lightning speed kitties would already be long gone. However, they would always leave one present for the kittens who believed. It was always so funny to see the non believer cats the next day pretend they were not jealous they had not got a present. "Mama, I want a piccolo." Lancaster smiled, jumping up and down. Bev and Jan were too busy dancing to tell me what they wanted wanted. "Marie, I want to be like you..." May said. Oh. My. Goodness. Me? May? I didn't know how to explain to her that she could not be like me, that she had to be her own self and not worry about me. I needed to tell her that she had to be herself and not copy.
But May's eyes, those eyes--she was practically begging. Saying, Marie, I want to be you. She was almost in tears. I looked at her, my mind tugging at reality. I breathed out. "I'm sorry, Mable, I can't do that."
She looked at me confused. "But Mr. Kitty Paws can! He can get me anything I want. Marie, Mr. Kitty Paws can!"
A tear slid down my cheek. I had to find out how to grant May's wish. It was impossible. But then I noticed the similarities.
White fur, blue eyes, small dainty paws...she basically was me.
All of a sudden, Mable burst into tears. "Marie, I want to be like you!" she pleaded, innocence filling her voice. The air surrounding us became salty from her tears. I lift my paw to her face and wiped away the tears. I smiled. "It's okay, May. I love you." I tried to forget her wish, her wish to be me. I tried to forget the reason the kittens were going to private school. I tried to forget that Winter had died, I tried to forget that Rebel was blind and would never see. I tried to forget the world.
And I began to cry.
May cried with me, and we embraced, sobbing. The other's tears filled our fur. I cried and we cried hard. And then I heard a scream.
Mama!
As I ran to her, horrible thoughts filled my mind. Had her...illness, hurt her? Did she fall? Suddenly I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Cancer!" I cried out. "Bone cancer!"
Thankfully, everyone was too involved in running to Mama to hear me. But then I saw her.
She was sprawled on the ground, only her head lifted up. She was yelling, her front legs flitting around. Her left hind left flitted also, but the right did not. Mama looked at me, and exhaled. "Marie." she forced out. "Tell them to go, leaving only you, Rebel, Toulouse, and Berlioz." she said.
"But-" I started, then did what Mama said. Only Toulouse, Berlioz, Rebel and I remained. Mama breathed out again. "I love you. My first litter ever." she smiled, looking up at the ceiling. Her legs batted against the floor. "I had two more, but your litter was the best. Toulouse, Rebel, Marie, and Berlioz. My first ever." she leaned in closer to us, using most of the little strength she had left. "What will happen to Bev, May, and Jan?" I whispered. Duchess looked at me. "You, my first litter--you will all guide them in life, as if they were your own." Tears were brought to my eyes. Any second now, my life would be destroyed.
Mama inhaled deeply. The next exhale would be her last, most likely. I knew it. "I love you, Rebel, Toulouse, Berlioz, and Marie. I will never let you go." she held out her paw and each of us grabbed it, tears streaking down our cheeks. Then she exhaled, and her eyelids closed.
The minute they did, I hollered terribly. "No!" I choked, falling beside Mama. Toulouse howled, and I could tell he was emotionally broken. Berlioz hugged Mama, his cries muffled in her luxurious fur. Rebel sighed. I remembered something.
I always hear Daddy talking about how beautiful you are, and how you have sparkly sapphire eyes, and how your coat is shiny like a star and things like that. Am I beautiful, Mama? Do my eyes sparkle? Do I make someone's day just by smiling and saying hello?
You get more beautiful each second. Your face gets sweeter. Your luxurious Aristocatic fur gets longer and more shiny. I love you, Marie.
I smiled. But in an instant, the memory brought tears, another round of tears. I inhaled sharply and stood up. "Mama..." But then, the most miraculous thing happened.
Mama's eyes opened, and they looked at me, Rebel, Toulouse and Berlioz. She stroked the paw were had been holding over our faces. "I'm sorry." she said, her tears falling. "I just...I panicked." Mama weeped quietly. "Please f-f-forgive me. I just panicked, I am-" I put my paw to my mouth to silence her. "It's ok." I whispered. "We understand."
Mama got up and hugged Rebel, Toulouse, Berlioz, and I. The whole time, she was whispering, "I am sorry". Mama tapped my nose. My five kittens came downstairs first--Sara, Lanc, Bristol, Paris and Abe Gio. They all ran, screaming, "Grammy! You're okay!" Next were Toulouse's kittens, Diamond, Cannes, and T. Junior (it's always so hard to decide what to call Toulouse Junior!). Next were Berlioz' kittens Sycamore and Oak. Then Mama's newest litter, Bev, May and Jan. Next Mariette (who was packing to go live with her boyfriend), Toula, and Berlay. Then Bella too! Everyone else in the house came and hugged Mama, Toulouse, Berlioz and I. Duke and O'Malley thanked me again and again.
Me? I was happy Mama was okay. She may have still had cancer, she may have still not been able to care for the kittens at home--but did she forget life all because of it? No. She did not. And that is why, to the very end, life matters.