#i feel jellylorum as such would talk to tmot she's worried for him. also jellylorum knows he dropped the boot she recognizes his boots

[moldygreenblue]

An Account From The Man Over There: The Old Gumbie Cat

(In which I decided to write a second chapter for my previous Cats musical fanfic. I felt The Man Over There should get one friendly conversation with a Jellicle who is a familiar face.)

As the triumphant sounding horns from nowhere plays loudly, the cats are suddenly on the move. Almost all the cats go up the silver-grey cat, to touch or nuzzle up against him.

Eventually, a majority of the cats take a seat on the ground—one cat being That Cat™ who ratted Thomas out. Only six other cats aren’t seated.

One is a ginger tom with a brown tail and glass green eyes who Thomas thinks is familiar (where he can’t place his finger on) sits on the boot of the car. The Apricot Look-a-Like is sitting on a giant tire, with two other cats. The cat sitting beside the look-a-like has a lovely gold-yellow and black color. The other cat is a deep red and black color, and she’s actually sitting on ‘steps’ near the tire. Both of these cats have white on their chest, and resembles one another.

The two remaining cats are the silver-grey cat, and the tuxedo cat. The silver-grey cat stands with his legs spread apart wide, as if he’s waiting for someone for a person to crawl through them. The tuxedo cat stands with one hand on his hip, the other hand out in front of him.

Thomas quickly sits down on the ground, near the edge. Thomas picks his spot to stay at a distance. He’s an outsider after all. Still, Thomas can’t help but feel like an excited schoolboy, ready to watch a matinee.

“I have a Gumbie Cat in mind,” sings Silver-Grey.

(Look, Thomas has to call the cats something until he learns their names. If he learns them.)

Tuxedo Cat poses proudly. Why, Thomas isn’t sure. Surely, the song can’t be about him. Silver-Grey stares at Tuxedo Cat, unpleased.

Thomas looks around at the rest of the audience. He sees two similar looking cats with orange and black stripes sitting together. One of them points at Tuxedo Cat, in amusement by his mistake, and smiles. The other cat smiles and laughs in agreement.

“Her name is Jennyanydots,” continues Silver-Grey, clearly putting emphasis in his singing. Maybe Tuxedo Cat thought he was going to sing eventually? Or getting sung about?

Whatever the case, Tuxedo Cat scratches behind his right ear in embarrassment, and twirls as he sits down on the ground with the others. Three cats —all queens— teasingly swat at him.

“Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots. All day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat,” continues Silver-Grey.

Tuxedo Cat soon jumps back up into action (he certainly recovered quickly). He goes on top of the boot of the trunk, for Glass-Green Eyes moves onto the nearby wooden ledge.

“She sits and sits and sits and sits—”

Red Queen finally sits on the tire, between Gold Queen and Apricot’s Look-A-Like. Silver-Grey moves towards the boot of the trunk, and nods his head at Tuxedo Cat.

“And that's what makes a Gumbie Cat.”

Tuxedo Cat waves his hands around, and the boot slowly opens up. Inside, is a cat with a hat on her head, and a rather bulky coat with leopard spots but little-to-none tiger stripes. She yawns, as if she just woken up from a nap. Was she inside the boot of the car this whole time?

“That's what makes a Guumbie Cat!” Silver-Grey gestures to the trio on the tire.

The trio are sitting in a nice row, their right leg over their left.

“But…when the day's hustle and bustle is done, then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun,” sings the smiling trio, as Jennyanydots tumbles out of the booth with a little assistance from Silver-Grey and one of two dark colored cats with stripes and hatch marks.

“And when all the family's in bed and asleep, she tucks up her skirts to the basement to creep.”

The trio points at Jenny (Thomas is not going to refer to her with her full name it’s too much of a fuss), and soon moves their hands, mimicking the motions of a skirt that’s tucks up.

“She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice—” sings the trio, as Jenny motions four of the cats—three who swatted Tuxedo Cat, one being the White Queen— away.

Jenny soon stares at Thomas’ direction, and sings. “Their behavior's not good and their manners not nice.”

“So when she has got them lined up on the matting,” begins the trio, “she teaches them—"

“—music, crocheting and tatting,” finishes Jenny.

In front of Jenny are the four cats from before. They are all wearing piping back tips with eye cuts out and mouse ears attach to them. Jenny and the ‘mice’ make the pantomime of tatting. It’s quite adorable of a scene.

“I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots,” sings Silver-Grey, briefly rubbing the back of his hand against Jenny’s coat with warmth.

“The curtain-cord she likes to wind—” Silver-Grey spins his hands over in rolling matter, clearly representing Jenny’s habit of winding up curtain cords.

As Silver Cat does that, Jenny plucks something from Silver-Grey’s shoulder, and shakes her head with disapproval. Jenny lets whatever she plucks free…

“—and tie it into sailor-knots.”

And follows it, nearly falling onto the ground. Luckily, Silver-Grey catches Jenny in time.

“She sits upon the window-sill, or anything that's smooth and flat—”

The four ‘mice’ soon take off their costume, and scurry away to the nearest exit. Jenny briefly sits —or maybe it’s crouching; Thomas can’t tell due to her coat size— on the ground, and touches it. Rubbing her fingers together, Jenny shakes her head in disgust, and stands back up.

Jenny briefly walks towards the trio, and waves at them. The trio in returns waves back.

And it’s at this point does Thomas realizes two things.

Thing One: Glass-Green Eyes have not left his spot of the wooden ledge. He is still stuck there, because the boot of the car isn’t close.

Thing Two: Where did Tuxedo Cat go?

“She sits and sits and sits and sits—”

Jenny soon slides between the wide spread-out legs of Silver-Grey. She looks rather please with herself. Thomas is rather taken back that Silver-Grey didn’t fall over due to Jenny.

“And that's what makes a Gumbie Cat,” sings Silver-Grey, carefully stepping over Jenny to be on her left side. Behind him, the trio leave their spot on the tire.

“That’s what makes a Guumbie Cat!”

Silver-Grey is now stroking Jenny’s tail, and Jenny is…making biscuits on the floor. Meanwhile, the trio stands right behind them, still in the same row as they were in when sitting on the tire.

When Silver-Grey finishes singing his line, Jenny falls face first onto the ground. She almost smacks her face onto the ground itself.

“But…when the day's hustle and bustle is done, then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun,” sings the trio, now dancing together in synch, all doing the same moves.

One the younger cats —this cat has a circular patch over his left eye— soon comes out from somewhere. Thomas has no idea when most of the cats left; they must have left when he wasn’t paying attention. The only cats left is Silver-Grey, the Trio, Glass-Green Eyes, and That Cat™.

And Patches is in costume, looking like a cockroach.

“She thinks that the cockroaches—”

The ‘cockroach’ moves his hips around.

“Just need employment!” Jenny sings her lines with exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air. Clearly, the ‘cockroach’ isn’t meant to be on stage yet.

“To prevent them from—"

“Idle and wanton destroyment!” Jenny’s expression is one Thomas recalls seeing when growing up. It’s the expression of an annoyed mother, not happy her child disobeyed her orders. Thomas couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of it.

Patches must have heard him, for he briefly stares at Thomas, and shrugs his shoulders.

Jenny affectionately smacks Patches like any mother does to get her child moving. And Patches does move to the sidelines.

“So she's formed from that lot of disorderly louts,” continues the dancing trio, “a troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts!”

“With a purpose in life and a good deed to do—” sings Jenny proudly.

“And she's even—”

Silver-Grey soon without hesitation starts to unbutton Jenny’s bulky coat.

“Created—”

Silver-Grey unbuttons the bulky coat all the way down.

“A Beetles’—”

The bulky coat that is legitimately a regular coat. Not a fur coat.

“Tattooo!”

As a steady drumming fill the air, Jenny takes off what Thomas now realizes are gloves on her hands, and raises one of her legs in the air. Gold Queen easily pulls of the boot off Jenny’s foot, while Red Queen takes the gloves away, and something off Jenny’s hat. The Apricot Look-a-Like struggles with the other boot, but she manages it in time, just when the ‘cockroach troop’ comes crawling out from the sidelines. One ‘cockroach’ even crawls out from the still-open boot.

Silver-Grey soon removes Jenny’s leopard spotted coat, and runs to put it elsewhere. Jenny’s coat now has both leopard spots and the tiger stripes. But the way the patterned stripes are layer over and fringed, Thomas suspects it’s another costume. A very flapper-lite costume.

Thomas thinks everything about Jenny now is flapper-lite, even to the current dancing playing. All of the ‘cockroaches’ and Jenny are tap-dancing. Their dancing matches the jazzy music playing from somewhere. All of them are enjoying themselves.

Thomas admits he’s enjoying himself as well. He’s even bouncing to the beat of the music.

“I see you’re looking better from before,” says a mature, concern female voice from besides him. It’s a tone that Thomas knows an older sister uses when worry. “But are you feeling better?”

Thomas takes his attention away from the tap-dancing, and turns to whoever is talking to him. It’s the white and golden tabby, the Apricot Look-a-Like, looking rather concern. Maybe it is Apricot. Thomas decides to take the risk of making a complete embarrassment of himself.

“I am feeling better,” answers Thomas. “I think what helps is seeing a familiar face���Apricot.”

“So, you do recognize me, Tommy.” Apricot smiles at him —it’s a perfect mixture of being human and feline— and Thomas is glad that he guessed correctly. “I thought I would have to properly introduce myself! My current appearance is well, not the one you’re familiar with.”

Thomas thinks it’s interesting how Apricot calls him Tommy. Only family is permitted to call him that, or Tom. Then again, Apricot is family through Anne.

“If you don’t mind,” continues Apricot, speaking more seriously in tone, “I would prefer it if you call me by the name of Jellylorum tonight.”

Thomas is puzzle by the request, before recalling something. “Is Jellylorum your second name?”

“Yes. But you can go and call me Apricot when the night is over. I don’t think Anne would like it if her brother suddenly refers to her pet cat a different name all of a sudden.”

“All right then, Jellylorum. If you don’t mind, could help me with something? Before my arrival, have you seen a—”

Silver-Grey, Red Queen, and Gold Queen soon rush back from somewhere—likely the sidelines of the junkyard. Silver-Grey gives a brief glance at them, before he joins the other two in their spots in the front center with Jenny, while the rest of the ‘cockroaches’ dances behind.

“I have to join the others, Tommy,” says Jellylorum, gently patting his cheek. She then stands up, still smiling at him. “Do sit back, and enjoy yourself.”

Now almost all of the cats are tap-dancing in the junkyard. They’re dancing to the music, their tapping being almost in sync. There are only three cats who aren’t; Glass-Green Eyes, That Cat™, and a completely dark color sleek-looking cat. Glass-Green Eyes and That Cat™ are sitting together, while the Sleek Cat is lying inside a pipe.

Thomas couldn’t help but stare at the Sleek Cat. Thomas is certain that she was absent before the ‘cockroaches’ made their appearance. That’s quite an enigmatic cat.

The Sleek Cat is carefully watching the dancing. Then, she makes swift, direct eye-contact with Thomas. Thomas finds himself unable to break his gaze away.

Thomas also couldn’t help but smile, as well as a small wave. And the Sleek Cat tilts her head, smiling back in return. It’s a very warm smile.

Thomas soon feels an eyelash in his eye. He rubs it, and looks back at the pipe; no one is there.

“For she's a jolly good fell-el-low!”

Thomas confusingly turns his attention back the cats. All of them are proudly saluting to Jenny.

“Thank you, my dears!” Jenny smiles brightly and poses just in time as her song ends.