Children of Bast (23 page)

“Where to?”

“Over by the lake where I lived all summer with a couple of friends, Fergus being one. The other one, Mutt, got killed by a car.”

“Sorry. It’s great to have Fergus here, though. Another tom is so welcome. A clowder of just mollies is icky.”

“He’s not staying. He’s strictly a street amait and won’t hear of anything else. He’s not fond of bašar, will eat only fresh killed food and hates kalb with a passion.”

“Uh, oh! We got kalb.”

“I thought I smelled them when I was here. Where?”

“Upstairs. They belong to Pauly and Trish. You mean you never saw them when you were here?”

“No. I only smelled their stink mixed with the perfume of amait. I may leave, too, because I love kalb as much as Fergus does.”

Neko looked at me and grinned. “They’re nice kalb. They come down here and play with us. Just play. Never hurt one of us. We crawl all over them like bugs, bite their ears and play with their tongues that soak us. Really, Gaylord, there are very nice kalb.”

“A nice kilaab is a dead kilaab.”

“I see you haven’t changed,” a soft voice said from behind me. I whirled around. It was Millicent. “Still the arrogant pile of khara you’ve always been.”

“You haven’t known me always. Hello, Millicent.”

She turned and walked out of the room. I glanced at Neko who had an I-told-you-so look on her face. I put on a wicked grin and followed Millicent.

I found her laying behind a rusty box with lots of pipes running out of it. It was very warm. She’d taken some rags and piled them up in back of it for a bed.

“Nice and warm,” I said.

“Get lost.” She hissed before she closed her eyes and dropped her head on her paws.

Neko’s right, I thought. She’s in a terrible mood.

“I came back to apologize if you’ll let me.” She didn’t move and she didn’t look at me. “Millicent, I . . . “

“What’s the point? It’s all in the past.”

“I know, but something happened while I was gone that helped me see things in a different way. Can I tell you about it?”

“Suit yourself. No one’s stopping you.”

I sat down and curled my tail around my paws. I gave my chest a couple of licks and I took time to gather my thoughts. “I almost died.”

I told her about getting poisoned, about my dreams, about seeing Adele and about how Adele told me I had to apologize.

“She knew all about what had happened to me after she was killed, even describing this place here. So, I came back when I was able, to say I’m very sorry for being such a kith brain before. You were right about me. I was an overbearing, kith-brained ninny, and I deserved everything you said. And that crack I made about kalb just now is a step backward, so I apologize for that, too.”

She was still laying with her head on her paws, not looking at me. I wondered if she’d listened. I didn’t understand her attitude and started to wonder why she was so angry; why she was so hostile toward all the amai. She’s angry with me for what I said, I considered, but why the others? It didn’t fit the gentle, understanding amait I’d met. I decided to ask because her silence boomed and I got more irritated.

“Millicent, why are you being so unpleasant? Neko says you’ve been impossible to be around since I left. Why? Being mad at me is okay, but why treat everyone like a pile of khara?” She ignored me. I stood up, stretched and turned to leave. “Go ahead and be a twit. I’m tried.” I headed to the door.

“Still flattering yourself, I see.” Her voice was flat. I looked back but she hadn’t moved. “Egotistical hair ball. You think I’m this way because of you?” She gave a snort of disgust. “I don’t waste my time on little things like you. I hardly remembered you after you left. You don’t belong here. You never did. This is our place and you’re not welcome because you don’t fit. You’re not like us, thank Bast.”

She’d pushed the right button. “How dare you, Millicent, judge me on your own terms?”

“Because that’s the way you judged me!”

I turned and walked over to her. “Trot a ways on these paws and see and feel what I have, then judge me if you still dare. You’re a housie, Millicent. You know nothing of street life, but I do know about your kind because I was one. I put it behind me when I escaped, but I still remember.” My nerves began to crawl. I sat down and began to lick myself like crazy. Finally, I calmed down. “I know I’m not better than any other amait. I’m one of many alley amai, so my experience is simply like all alleys. But you, Beautiful One, are pumping yourself up as better by judging me an arrogant . . . What did you call me? . . Hairball? An arrogant hairball? You’re the one who’s arrogant now. There’s nothing special about a housie, just as there’s nothing special about an alley.” She continued with her head on her paws, not looking at me. “What’s the use?” I turned and raced out the door.

Neko was outside. “Told you so,” she said, purring.

“Yeah, well, she can take a hike as far as I’m concerned. Fergus still asleep?”

“No. He’s having something to eat. How about you? Hungry?”

“I am, but I’m leaving . . . Fergus is doing what?”

“Eating.”

“Fergus is eating the food here?”

“Yeah. So what?” Neko frowned and shook her head.

I couldn’t believe it: Fergus chowing down on amait food. Oh, well!

“Never mind. I gotta get outta here. If I don’t, I think I might smack Millicent into the next Time of Owls if I stay around.” Neko and I went to the food bowls, and Fergus was eating like he’d never seen food before.

“Fergus, you said you wouldn’t eat bašar khara. Let’s get outta here. It’s time to go.”

“Hey, hold on there, Kith. This is some good chow and I’m not finished yet. And it’s warm in here. Snow’s tail high, wind’s blowing and I’m not going anywhere until it’s over.” He went back eating.

“Fergus, this is a bašar place. You’ve never lived with bašar, and you always said you never wanted to.”

He raised his head, looked at me and chewed slowly. “I know what I said, but I’m old, okay? I might change my mind. Let’s give it a try. We can always leave. Neko says we can.”

I sighed and stared at this weird amait I’d never seen before. “Where’d Fergus go?” I asked.

“Don’t get smart with me, Nebibi. Remember who taught you to fight.” He plunged his muzzle into the food again, and I heard crunching.

“Okay, Fergus, if that’s what you want. But keep me away from Millicent. I’ve never been so mad at an amait in my life.”

“Gotta be love,” I heard him say between bites.

I started to nip his shoulder, but it would caused a fight and I didn’t want to start that. Instead, I sniffed another bowl, thinking I might as well eat even though I was not very hungry. It smelled like stuff I’d eaten at the seminary, and I almost puked. I wanted a rat.

Chapter 23

When a cat speaks, it’s because it has something to say, unlike humans who are the great refuse containers of speech.
V.L. Allineare

W
hen I turned around, Millicent was staring at me.

“We need to talk.”

“Why? Your mind is set. I’m an arrogant hairball. End of discussion.”

“Please. You need to know something that may explain why I’ve been so nasty.”

I studied her eyes for a long time and saw some of the warmth I’d seen before I left. I decided to give her a chance. “Okay. But if we start to fight, I’m gone.”

“I agree.”

She turned and led me back to her place behind the rusty, hot box. “Make yourself comfortable.” She flopped down on her bed. I laid on the edge of it, facing her. “By the way, what is your name? I heard your friend call you something else.”

I told her how my bašar named me Gaylord and how it got changed to Nebibi when I met Fergus and Mutt. “Nebibi is what my maama called me.”

She licked her paw and looked at me. “I like Gaylord”

“Fine. I answer to both.”

“You told me you almost died and that it had changed you and how you look at life.”

“Yeah. I ate a poisoned mouse and almost died. Had some weird dreams.”

“I’m sorry you were so sick, but I’m so glad you’re all right.”

She looked at me and I saw she meant it. I knew right then, Chubby, I was wrong about her.

“You had nothing to do with my sour attitude, Gaylord. I forgot our spat the next day. I tried to find you to apologize for my temper tantrum, but you were gone. So I put you out of my mind. I know that deflates your tender ego.” She grinned.

“Okay, okay. Toms are touchy. Guilty. But what happened?”

“It was the next Tuyuur Song after you left. Pauly came in with food as usual, but while I was eating he picked me up and stuffed me into a cage that he covered with a dark cloth. After a short car ride, I found myself in a large, bright place that reeked of amai with only a tinge of bašar.

“When Pauly removed the cloth, a mollie bašar put me in another cage stacked against a wall with others, all filled with terrified amai that were yowling and screaming constantly. I also smelled other things that stank horribly and burned my nose.

“The mollie bašar came back, opened my cage, grabbed me by the back of my neck and dragged me out. I wasn’t able to move when she held me like that, and she stuck me with something very sharp. I screamed, and that’s all I remember until I woke up here.” She dropped her head on her paws, closed her eyes and was silent.

My anger went away, Chubby. She’d been through some terrible experience that made her mean. I was embarrassed by how I’d acted and by what I’d said. I started to say I was sorry, but she raised her head and cut me off with a flip of her tail.

“Just listen. There’s more.” Sitting up, she bathed her face while she looked at me and smiled. “Okay. As I said, I woke up and was back here, but I had such pain in my belly I could hardly move. It was many Tuyuur Songs before the pain went away.

“Pauly and Trish were very kind to me. They fed me and checked my belly every day. They rubbed stuff on it that made it feel better.”

“So, what’d happened?”

“Gato told me.”

“Gato?”

“The Gray Ghost.”

“I guess I remember her, but it doesn’t matter. What did she tell you?”

“That I’d been fixed, just as she’d been fixed a long time ago. Do you know what fixed means?”

My blood ran cold because I did know what fixed meant. Ned and Harriet fixed my maama after my sister was born, and when my sister was very young, they fixed her, too. I might have been next if I had stayed. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, Millicent. I’m really sorry.”

“I’ve been a queen twice, and I know the wonderful joy of having kiths even though they were taken away after they were so big. But that was okay because kiths shouldn’t hang around their maamas forever. It’s not healthy.”

“I hung around my maama for a long time.”

“My point exactly, it’s not healthy. Probably why you’re so messed up.”

“Thanks, Millicent. I thought we weren’t going to fight.”

“I’m kidding, Gaylord. Get a grip.”

“I’m kidding, too. But, I think you might be right.”

“Anyway, when I found out what they did to me, I was furious. I wanted more kiths, and I was sure I could find a mate. That’s why I was so interested in you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Don’t get conceited on me again.” We laughed.

She continued: “I was so stupid. I never wondered why there were no kiths here, and why none of the other mollies came in. It never crossed my mind, but now I know every mollie here is fixed. Pauly and Trish don’t want kiths, so they fix us.” She began to cry. “I’ll never be a maama again, Gaylord. I’ll never feel little ones climbing all over me and sucking on me. I wanted to die, and I was so angry at the others for not warning me. I would have run away, even though I might have died because I wasn’t a real amait like the great Gaylord.”

“Okay, okay. Point taken.”

“That’s why I’ve gone around hissing and being so rude and unfriendly.”

I didn’t know what to say, Chubby. All I could do was pull myself close to her and hug her. I licked her ears and her face, tasting the tears as they flowed.

“I’m so sorry, Millicent. I’m so very sorry.”

She rubbed her head against mine and touched my nose with hers. I held her while she cried, and when she was through I licked her face dry.

“Thanks, Gaylord. I’m still a mess and probably will be for a while.” She rolled over on her side and look at me. “What you need to do is get out of here, you and Fergus, because Pauly may have you fixed, too. And if you’ll have me, I’ll take off with you.”

My heart did a flip-flop when she said that. “Really, Millicent? Run with us? Wow. Nothing would make me happier.”

“You could teach me all you know, and since I can’t have kiths, nothing would tie us down.” She took my face between her paws and said, “You can make all the kiths you want, so long as you come back to me.”

“I think I love you, Millicent.”