The Aristocats Collection

Chapter 28

Rebel sighed, pacing about the room furiously. Her paws stamped against the ground, almost leaving a mark. I decided to leave her alone. Rebel is that kind of cat where if you ask what's wrong, she'll get an attitude. I gently pawed out of the room, remembering that she had become the mother of May, Bev, and Jan. But surely that couldn't get her in such a mood?
Bristol and Toulouse Junior were bawling around in the room, clawing at each other. "Stop, you guys." I scolded, throwing a paw at them. "Mama." Bristol pouted, sitting down. "Aunt Marie, why can't we wrestle? It's good exercise!" Toulouse Jr. said, clawing the air. "Look! Shadow cats!"
Toulouse Junior moved his paws to make a cat shape on the wall. "See look!" He laughed. "A shadow cat!" He opened and closed his fingers to make it look like the cat was eating. "Om nom nom!" he giggled. Bristol held up her hand and made a slightly smaller shadow cat. "Look, Toulouse Junior!" she laughed, waving her hand up and down. "It's jumping!"
Toulouse Junior's shadow cat moved over to Bristol's. Toulouse opened and closed his fingers. "Om nom nom! It's eating you!" he chuckled. Bristol opened and closed her fingers. "It's a shadow cat battle!" she exclaimed, laughing so hard she fell on the floor.
I skipped out of the room, happy to have powered a new hobby in Bristol and TJ. I brushed my hair to the side. I heard Rebel still pacing, her claws clicking on the floor. Click. Click. Click. Why was she walking so quickly, just to get around the darn room? Her claws clicked faster. Clic-clic-clic-clic-clic. About two clicks per second. She was walking quite fast! Very fast, in fact. Not just walking--running. She was running around the room.
"What do I choose? What should I decide?" she gulped, taking in a huge breath of air. "I don't know!" she cried out. Her brown eyes flashed like deep, dark pools of chocolate--sweet yet troubled. Always in fear of doom (but not to be eaten). The only thing was, Rebel was never in fear of doom. What was she fearing right now?
Her claws continued to click on the floor. I came and hugged her. "Girl, I'm here for ya." I smiled. "Okay." she gulped.
"Ok, so I am friends with this Forest cat named Kai." She explained. I cocked my head. "What is a Forest cat?" I asked. "Like an Alley cat or Aristocat, but a Forest cat." she whispered. Then she continued.
"She hails from Germany. And guess what? She has a crush on Toulouse. She told me to tell him. And guess what else? Toulouse has a crush on her. Now normally, I wouldn't be involved in this sort of thing. I'd just let it go along. But she said that she would want Toulouse to live with her. Now, I'm fine with that, but the thing is she lives on Edgar's new property."
I gasped. Yes, I had told her the story about how Edgar captured us not so long ago and Toulouse got lost while Berlioz and I huddled in a tree. Edgar must not have gotten her because he didn't know she was our sister. I gulped. How could Kai and Toulouse ever live together?
A knock sounded. "Come in!" I shouted. A reddish brown cat stumbled in, grass stained fur and twigs brambled in it. "Where's Toulouse?" she exclaimed, jumping up and down. "I'm gonna propose to him!"
Silence. Dead silence.
    "Oh, cool." Rebel smiled innocently. I laughed nervously. "Uh...he, yeah. Um, he's in the..." I quickly tried to come up with an excuse. Rebel covered for me. "He's out today. Um, Clemence, uh--took him to the vet."
    This was a pretty good excuse, as Toulouse was adventuring and Clemence was buying groceries. Kai wouldn't find him--or so we thought.
    Kai sighed. "Aww. I really hope he can come back soon." I gulped. "There's something we need to tell you, Kai." I said, giddy with nervousness.
    "The man that lives on that property is--well--has...he has done many bad things to us. Toulouse can't move in with you." I whispered. Kai's mouth widened. She breathed in. "Oh." she said, blinking. "Well, can I--maybe move in here?"
    Rebel nodded. "Clemence might not notice. And, even if she does, she probably won't care." I smiled. And that's the story of Kai moving in. Well, that's not all.
    Berlioz met a stripe patterned cat, but she was not wild. She belonged to a young man, a year older than Clemence. Berlioz fell in love with the striped cat, named Amy Rose. Amy Rose and Berlioz married in May--it was very happy. Soon after, Toulouse and Kai welcomed three new kittens--two boys and a girl. They were named Dune, Mount, and Bess. Dune was black with orange stripes, and Mount was gray with black stripes. Finally, Bess was all black, just like Berlioz.
    Some other awesome news--Clemence married George, Amy Rose' owner. And he had another younger Siamese cat named Claud, and Toula broke up with her boyfriend and married him. The world was starting to make sense.
    It was now the end of June. When you look out on the pond, the buzzing of dragonflies and the blinks of lightning bugs fill the air. Little frogs are jumping in and out of the pond. And then I heard a shout.
"Oh my gosh! Marie, Toulouse, Berlioz, Rebel, quick! Come!"
    I careened around the corner, fast as a jackrabbit. It was Toula's voice. Claud stood over her in awe. Three mice squirmed around. I looked closer. No, they were not mice. Not mice at all. They were kittens.
    A Siamese one, an orange one, and a white one lay, all adorable as a baby in a blanket. Two boys and a girl. "So I'll name one, Claud can name one, and then we'll work together on the last one." Toula smiled.
    "Ok, I'll name the Siamese girl Ione. Claud?" Toula passed on. Claud thought for a moment. "The white boy will be Red. It just sounds cool." he shrugged, chuckling. "And the last..." they both said. One of the cats snapped their fingers. At the same time, Claud and Toula shouted, "Snap!" They nodded both. It was such a wonderful night. The air around buzzed with pure excitement. I started to get warm. Mama was showing her approval. Mama was here, praising us. And the new additions. My life had been a puzzle. A mixed up puzzle, pieces not put together, pieces missing. And then new pieces were made. New pieces were bought. New pieces were added to the puzzle. My life puzzle was complete.
A few days later Berlay came home with a beautiful all white cat named Kit. They seemed to like each other and soon they started dating. Kit and I instantly became friends. She was a forest cat, kind of like Kai, but also had a sense of style, like me! And after what seemed like years, but actually in one month, Berlay proposed to Kit and she said yes! I was so excited and I think Mama was too. I could tell because that night was a warm, starry night. There was a warm breeze and fireflies in the air. Their crackles sounded, lights flashing, warm air encasing me.
And then I stopped to look around. I thought about my entire life, from the start to now. I had come so far. When I was little, I had never expected to be standing where I was, both literally and metaphorically. The stars flickered and danced while the moon looked down upon me. The balcony was quite wonderful. A silver bird whisked through the air. Its wings cut through the crisp night, producing a sound too swift and comforting to be written. Everyone was laughing and singing inside. I slowly blinked, the shadow of the moon crossing my eyelid. I heard a voice.
"Aunt Marie?"
It was Bess. Her sleek midnight-embraced pelt glistened in the moonlight. "Yes?" I said, smiling, the shadows grazing my eyelashes.
"I feel like I don't belong here." She whispered. She was so little, yet so mature. I could have sworn she had a past soul.
    "I feel shadowy at heart. Secretive, dark, mysterious." She shook her fur, with it sticking up on her back.
And here is where I stop using such graceful language--the story gets weird.
    The next day, Bess found a cardboard box. She instantly became obsessed with it. Box, box, box. She stay curled up in the box. She ate only once a day, and she only ate fish. No delicious cinnamon milk here, folks--just fish.
    The box, within a week, became virtually the only place she stayed. Even though it was only big enough to hold 3 cats her size, she thought it was quite roomy. The kitten also became moody. She'd scowl at me to bring her fish. And she started to eat more fish. It soon became that young, young Bess was devouring up to 3 salmon a day. And, just like you probably thought--she grew. And not with age.
    She turned into one fat kitten. She was no longer the cat I had seen on that moonlit night...she was a fat furball. The whole family and I got together to discuss what we should do.
    The immediate suggestion was to put her on a diet. A cat diet. Down to a quarter of a fish a day. It was a slim diet, but it sure started working...