#2 Macavity

Sirens wail, the lights dim, the wind blows.... Someone shrieks, "MACAVITY!" and suddenly, the junkyard is cleared of cats.

"Haha," he chuckled to himself. They're afraid of me! ME! Who ever would've guessed? All of these sweet and spicy characters that I'm related to are scaredy-cats!

I've never done anything to deserve this kind of treatment. Sure, I spent some time (all right, a LOT of time) with Demeter. But she's pretty, kind, and it was a good way to get back at good ol' Munk.

Munkustrap. That stupid cat thinks he knows absolutely everything about everyone. He thinks that just because he's the oldest and he was Father's favorite that he is better than me! He thinks he's better than the Tugger! So what if he's the next Jellicle patriarch? He's unimportant. And, if I can get rid of him, then I can get rid of that stupid Tugger, and I'll be next in line! Ha!

Another cold gust of wind blew through the alley, and Macavity grinned to himself, too excited and angry to shiver. Tonight would be the night that they would pay. He would take his kittens away, far away... Or better yet, he would take his rightful mate and make more kittens! We don't need more little Munkustraps running around loose. He already has that stupid little Alonzo... no nephew of mine should be that devoted to his parents! Parents aren't worth anything...

Well, mothers are. Mother. Poor, sweet Mother. I wonder where she is... I wonder IF she still is... or if she's long dead by now. I wonder how many other siblings I've gained over the years. I wonder...

The lightning spot on his chest was suddenly illuminated by the moonlight, and he slunk back into the shadows even farther. "Hey, boss!"

"Not now, you idiot!" he hissed to his henchcat, "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Uh, no boss, umm... everything ready for tonight, boss?"

"I don't know, Mistletoe! That's your job! And if it's not ready..." Macavity bared his claws at the young tom cat. The black cat shrank away, and Macavity could hear his soft calls to the others as he escaped.

His mind was already on another subject. I'll frighten them all night.... terrorize them! And then, when the time is perfect.... I'll spring it on them. I'll take their precious leader... and my Demeter. And then... THEN! I'll kill that stuck-up Munkustrap... I'll bring him down lower than he's ever been before.

As he lay there in his pipe, Macavity's bitter heart throb with jealousy towards his family. He let himself go back, way back... to his very beginning of his completely miserable life.

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"Well, Grizabella, you've done it!" she cried as she gazed her three newborn kittens. The trio were as different as could be, the oldest one a tiny silver kitten with black tiger stripes, the middle kitten a fluffy Maine coon like his father, and the third... well, the third one was different. The third one was all black, with tufts of mustard yellow and red fur poking out all over the place. A white lightning bolt streaked down his chest, and he was loud.

"Ahh, Grizzy," her mate came to her, licking her fur in salutation. He was gentle as her looked at her carefully and lovingly, then at their tiny kittens. Their eyes were still closed, and would be for hours, but Old Deuteronomy could already see who they would become. He had a vision for each of them.

"The little tabby will be my heir, dear Grizzy. He will protect the Jellicles when I am gone, and he will make the family line continue. He is Munkustrap, after my dear, deceased uncle. The second one will make everyone proud. He will study and become a very learned cat. He will always be serious and loving, kind to all. He will always be there when Munkustrap needs him to be. He is... well.... Grizzy, do you have any ideas for a name for this kitten? I rather like Tugger."

She chuckled. "Well, I think we should call him Rum Tummer."

"Hmmm," Deuteronomy frowned. "That's too much fun. We'll call him the Rum Tum Tugger, and see if the length of his name makes him ponder it, thus keeping him silent." They both grinned and licked each other. "And the youngest one..."

He picked up the tiniest kitten in his great paws. "Oh, my." He looked at it closer, and the kitten quaked in fear. He was tiny, much smaller than either of his brothers, and he looked very afraid. But he seemed the muster the tiny amount of courage he had in time to nip the paw that was holding him. "This one will have to go to Jennyanydots. He's too small to survive on his own. We shall call him Joshua, but she will probably rename him. Meanwhile, we will raise Tugger and Munk."

Grizabella looked up at him and tears pooled in her eyes. "Must we send him away? He will live; he's a Jellicle cat!"

Deuteronomy shook his head sadly, and, with the tiny kitten mewing like he was lost, walked away from his wife and kittens, to the home of the gumbie cat.

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Months passed and turned into years, and Joshua prospered under Jennyanydots care. When he was two, she set him loose on society, making sure he washed between his toes, dried behind his ears and always had a healthy diet. The years of favoritism spent on Munkustrap and the Tugger (who, despite his father's hopes, refused to even open a book, much less study it), had begun to wear on the young Joshua. He hated that his father never spoke of him or to him. He hated that Munkustrap and Tugger got to learn to read and write, as Jellicles often do. He hated that Jennyanydots seemed more occupied with her own kittens when they were born and he was a year old. Those stupid twins were always pulling on his tail, scratching him and biting him, and Jenny would just laugh and say, "Now, Joshua, be nice to your cousins."

So he ran. He ran far away. He ran away from his father, his brothers, and Jennyanydots' loving home. He ran away with a gang of old, ugly mousers, and he quickly rose to the top of the outfit. He stayed away for several months, but one night (after he had been into the catnip, I might add), he was feeling a little frisky. So he returned.

It, too, was the night of a jellicle ball. The cats had gathered, and Old Deuteronomy was there with Grizabella and his sons. Jennyanydots was there, but her kittens were nowhere to be found (like usual). But this ball was different from the ones that Joshua had attended before. He tried to go in, he tried desperately to join his family, but Munkustrap barred the way.

"Munk, what is this?" he growled. "Let me in. I'm a Jellicle, just as you are."

The tall silver cat stared at him. "Who are you?" he asked forcefully. Joshua scoffed at him, shaking his head angrily.

"I'm your brother, you old bat!"

"My brother is already here, with the ladies as usual. I do not know you."

Joshua had had enough. He shoved his way through, and his eyes fell on a small, young queen in the center of a group of toms. She was black and gold, with red stripes cascading through her fur. She was gorgeous.

Munkustrap saw where his gaze went, and he was suddenly even more alert. Demeter was his mate, she was the mother of his three kittens, and there was no way that this stranger was going anywhere near her.

Claws flashed. Teeth tore through flesh. And in the end, Joshua won. Munkustrap lay in a pool of blood, and Joshua grabbed his prize and ran, crying the whole time, "I am evil, I know bad things about every one of you, and I hate you all! I am Macavity, and you will never get rid of me!!!" The name had come out of thin air, but it stuck. Joshua, his mother's favorite son, had become the terror of the tribe: Macavity, the mysterious Napoleon of crime.