Children of Bast

  I yelled at him: “Fergus I might just leave you here if you’re going to be that way. I need suggestions.”

  “With the kalb it’s going to be next to impossible,” said Millicent. “They’d smell us right away.”

  “Not if you fool them.” It was Neko followed by the whole clowder including Abyad, who smiled at me.

  “Fool them?” I asked. “What do you mean, Neko?”

  Abyad hopped over to Millicent and began licking her ears.

  “Do something to get Pauly and Trish to come down here with the kalb like we did when we pretended to fight. If you’re hiding at the top of the stairs, you could slip in while we fool them into thinking whatever we’re doing is real.”

  “That’s a long shot and it sounds complicated,” Fergus said. “What if they close the door when they come down?”

  “Good point,” Neko said. “It’s got to be something that will bring them down but will not make them suspicious.

  We stopped talking and tried to think. Fergus dozed off and was a lot of help. Millicent, Neko, and Katia, who had strolled away from the crowd, put their heads together and started whispering while I paced and thought of what I wanted done with my body. Bury it? Drag it to a quiet meadow, maybe near Adele? I glanced at the rest of the clowder all scrunched down with their tails wrapped around them, blinking their eyes and watching me as I paced. I smiled, and they all smiled back. I felt sorry for them, Chubby. They’d been trapped all their lives and didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

  “Wait! I got it,” Neko said. “They really do love us.”

  “How can you say that after what they did to all of us?” Millicent said, her eyes darkening.

  “They have their reasons. I don’t understand it, but Millicent, you’re still alive and fed. You’re warm and safe. They could have killed us all or left us to the catchers outside in that huge cage. Yeah, I think they love us, but their kind of love is not our kind, so we don’t understand. Put that aside for now, okay. We got to get you and these toms outta here.”

  Millicent was still upset, but she sat down and listened while Abyad in her deaf little world nuzzled her and purred.

  “What’s your plan,” I asked.

  “If one of us is sick, they’ll do everything they can to help. It’s happened before.”

  “They take us away,” Millicent said. “You were gone for long time, right Katia?”

  “Yup. Thought I’d never get home. But they were kind to me, held me and cuddled me. I was never afraid.”

  Her voice quivering, Millicent said, “Where do they take us, Neko? After what happened to me, I do not trust them.”

  “They take us to a vet,” Katia said, “and get us special treatment. We’re not always fixed, I don’t think.”

  “My point exactly,” Millicent said. “We don’t know until it’s too late.”

  “Let’s stay on the topic,” Neko said. “Whoever plays sick can recover quickly; maybe they won’t take her away.”

  All eyes fixed on Neko as she looked around the clowder with eyes hidden in her black mask. “Who’s gonna play sick?” Eyes shifted around from one to another, but no one said anything. “Come on, mollies, we got to help our friends get outta here.”

  “Why?” Katia said, facing Neko. “Why do we have to put our lives on the line for them? I don’t know Gaylord, really, and Fergus is a complete stranger. Millicent’s been so mean and nasty lately that I don’t care what happens to her. Why should any of us care if Gaylord and Fergus are fixed? We’ve been fixed. There’s nothing to it. Why are they so special?” Several others agreed.

  Neko sat and licked her paws and said nothing for a while. I was shocked because I thought Katia was in charge and seemed interested in helping us at first.

  Neko looked at Katia. “Nothing can be done about us, Katia. You don’t get unfixed. But amai have to have kiths if amai are to survive. Gaylord and Fergus can’t help us now, but I want them to get away so some mollies somewhere can have the pleasure of being queens. Our time was stolen from us, but we have no right to deny others, and keeping Gaylord and Fergus here and endangering them is not fair.”

  “I don’t know. Never been a queen, but I’m not sure I want to be from what I hear. Raise them, love them, and bašar take them away. I’m not sure I could deal with that.”

  “That’s hard, believe me.” Millicent said. “I had kiths before I came here, and all of them were given away.”

  “Not the point,” Neko said. “Whether bašar give kiths away or not, we gotta have kiths to go on as amai. We can’t be selfish.”

  “Count me out,” Katia said. She turned and ran away.

  Ignoring Katia, Neko asked, “Who’s gonna play sick?”

  “I will,” Gato said and raised her paw. “Maybe it’ll be fun.”

  “Thanks, Gato. Now here’s what we’ll do. Gato, you’ve got to be really sick. Panting hard, shaking, tongue hanging out, eyes staring, even a little puking if possible.”

  “I’ll work on a hairball.” She giggled.

  “Good, but make it small. They may think a large one is the trouble and when you spit it up, they’ll quit.”

  “Wait,” I said. “That’s it. Get a really huge hairball going, and you’ll really be sick. No faking it. Then, when it comes up, it will relieve your symptoms and they won’t take you away. Just hold it as long as necessary.”

  “Great idea,” Neko said.

  Millicent licked my ear, and Fergus narrowed his eyes and grinned at me.

  “Okay, now the rest of us need to yowl like crazy. Screams that cause their ears to split. We’ll gather around Gato and lick her like the world’s ended. Scream loud and long so it’ll bring them down here fast. It’s got to be like we’re clawing on their door.”

  “What about the kalb?” I asked. “Will they interfere?”

  “No. They’ll start to lick Gato to death. Gaylord, I keep telling you, they’re sweet kalb. You saw how Newfie treated Millicent after she scratched his nose. He could have swallowed her, but he didn’t. Soften up a little. Not all kalb kill amai.”

  “Yeah, well, it’ll take a long time for me to believe that.”

  Coach Neko ignored me and continued: “Now, before we get going, Gaylord, you, Fergus and Millicent hunker down on the step just below the door. You’ll probably have to use both sides so you won’t trip them when they come down. As soon as the door opens and they’ve cleared it, jump inside and get under something outta sight. Okay?” Neko smiled at me and licked my nose.

  “Okay, but how will we get outside, Neko?” Fergus asked.

  “Just before Pauly and Trish go to bed, they let Newfie and Galin out. They call them back after a while, so make your moves either when they let the kalb out or as they let them in. You have to be like lightning to make it, but amai are like lightning, right.” Neko smiled at Fergus.

  “Even faster,” I said.

  “Good. Now let’s wait ‘til End of Light so you won’t have to hide for long. Millicent, take these ragged alley amai into your den, and all three of you nap until time. I’ll come for you.” She licked my ear, touched noses with Fergus and rubbed heads with Millicent.

  “Forgive me for acting like an idiot all week, Neko. I’m usually more trusting, but I guess I was so hurt I didn’t stop to think.”

  “It’s in the past. Go nap.”

  “Ragged alley amai?” Fergus said to me as we followed Millicent.

  “Yeah? That’s what we are. So, what’s your point?”

  Chapter 25

  Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer. Bruce Graham

  It seemed like Neko never left us. I fell asleep instantly, and then she was there. Except for Katia, we crowded up at the bottom of the stairs while Neko quickly went over our plan and we took our places. I looked at Gato and she looked sick enough to die.

  “Gato? Are you okay?” I said.

  “I’m fine except for a hairball
about the size of an egg. There will be no faking this one.”

  Without warning she let out a yowl that caused our claws to clutch the floor. I felt sparks dance from the tip of my tail to my nose. Right on cue the others started screaming and yowling for all they were worth. Even Abyad wailed, but I’ll never know how she knew. We three bolted up the steps, took our places and stared at the door.

  Almost as soon as Gato yowled, we heard the kalb barking. We just made it to the steps when the door opened and Newfie and Galin galloped down and started licking Gato. Pauly and Trish came right behind. Fergus, who was alone on the step opposite Millicent and me, dashed in first with us behind. Inside, I looked for Fergus, but he’d disappeared. Millicent darted under a something like a huge box, and I made for a chair that had loose cloth touching the floor. I listened to the noise downstairs, along with barks and howls from the kalb.

  At last I heard Gato puke up the hairball. It splattered like a slap. Right away, I heard Pauly and Trish laugh, and the kalb whined that high pitch whine they use when frustrated.

  Pauly and Trish laughed all the way back upstairs with Newfie and Galin trailing, and closed the door. Now all we had to do was wait.

  I could barely make out Millicent under the box thing, and I didn’t see Fergus at all. Moving even the tip of my tail was out of the question, of course, and I hardly breathed. We waited and waited. No one came into the room, but we could hear voices coming from someplace. The kalb were quiet.

  Suddenly, this gigantic, wet black nose popped under the chair and a booming voice jolted me from a short snooze.

  “Hey, come outta there.”

  My heart stopped, I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t move. My eyes focused on that nose.

  “Come on,” bellowed the voice, “we know you’re here. We smelled you when we went up the stairs.”

  I still couldn’t believe a kilaab could talk, Chubby, even though the one called Newfie spoke to Millicent downstairs. It blew me away that he spoke amait. I stuck my head out and gawked at this face and eyes laughing at me.

  “Get your friends out here, too. One’s under the sideboard over there, and the other is scrunched up on the top shelf of the bookcase.”

  Galin, his tail fluttering like a dry leaf in the wind, sat in front of the bookcase and watched Fergus who was trying to crawl inside a book.

  “Come on out, guys,” I said in a loud whisper.

  “You can talk normal. They went to bed. Besides, they don’t understand your words.”

  Millicent crept out and stuck to my side like a wet feather. Fergus jumped down in attack mode, bristling and hissing at Galin, who just grinned and stared at him.

  “He won’t hurt you,” Newfie called to Fergus. “Just don’t turn around or he’ll give you a sniff.”

  Fergus broke and ran to me and Millicent, but glared at Galin and hissed if the kilaab so much licked his lips.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” Newfie asked. He crumpled in front of us like a mountain with faraawi.

  I tried to talk but nothing came out. Finally, I managed, “We’re trying to escape. The swinging door downstairs is locked, so we’re trying to escape through here. Your bašar were supposed to let you two out. And we were going to bolt then.”

  “They use another door.” Newfie continued to look amused. “Why would you want to leave here? This is a great place.”

  “It is. But your bašar do things to amai that we don’t like.”

  “Oh. Okay.” He opened his mouth and began to pant softly. “’Scuse me, I’m a little warm.”

  I was amazed at how sweet his breath was, Chubby. Kilaab breath smells the same as sewers. “I know what Pauly does to amai, and kalb for that matter.”

  I gawked at him. “Kalb?”

  Millicent almost fell over, but Fergus just continued to hiss at Galin, who had moved over next to Newfie.

  “Yeah. Me and Galin got the fix, too, when we came here. He rescued us like he rescued you. See, Pauly and Trish just love animals. They’d rescue an elephant if it needed rescuing and they had a place to keep it.”

  “You don’t mind what they did to you?” Millicent said.

  “No. Takes pressure off. Bitches are just friends now. Don’t have to go through all that mess. Galin thinks so, too. Don’t you, Galin?” Galin said nothing but his tail beat the floor like a hammer. “Look, it’s your life and I don’t see locking you up just to please bašar like Pauly and Trish. You say the swinging door is locked?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, they got something planned, then. Wait here. We’ll get them up and make them to open the door. Then you run like you’ve never run before, even if it means bumping into them or us. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  “Get over by the door and hide behind those drapes. We’ll be right down.”

  “Oh, Newfie, does Galin talk?”

  “Yeah, but he don’t talk amait. He’s Welch and talks funny. Don’t ask me what Welch is because I don’t know; Pauly and Trish say it. I have trouble understanding him. We just buddy around, sleep and eat. We think it’s a great life.”

  “One more question out of curiosity: how is it you speak amait?”

  “I was brought up in a clowder. Amai have been best friends all my life.”

  I glanced at Millicent who was grinning a know-it-all grin. “Don’t say it. I’m not changing my feelings about kalb, no offense to you and Galin. But, maybe some kalb are okay. Some, mind you. Not all. Maybe.”

  She giggled and went behind the drapes where Fergus hid.

  Newfie looked at me a grinned. “Had some bad times with kalb?”

  “Yeah, some really bad times. Very, very bad times. Wish I had time to tell you. You and Galin here seem to be all right, but I gotta tell you, you’re the first kalb I’ve ever seen that are.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. Okay, get ready. Galin, let’s go and wake ‘em up.” He spoke to Galin in lingua caninus, their harsh-sounding talk that’s mostly growls and whines. I joined Millicent and Fergus behind the drapes. It wasn’t long until Newfie and Galin started barking and howling. Something slammed the ceiling overhead, and Pauly and Trish bounded down the stairs.

  “What the hell is going on?” I heard Pauly say.

  Newfie and Galin continued to bark and howl as they raced to the door, then back to them, then back to the door, each time spinning around like they were crazy. Pauly threw the door open. Galin started scratching at the storm door while Newfie pushed his nose into the glass and barked, his breath and nose smearing it with goo. Pauly pushed the storm door open, and the kalb rushed out with us behind.

  I never ran so hard in my life as I did that night. Snow was still deep, but we leaped through like toads, running over and through drifts. Millicent ran past me like I was standing still, leaving a trail in the snow that looked like a car track. I glanced back at Fergus who was loping along in his usual carefree manner.

  I heard a voice calling to us. I stopped and looked back and saw Pauly standing in the doorway. As Fergus passed me, I said, “Hear that?”

  “Nope.” He never broke stride.

  I heard, “Good luck, you rascals. Take care.”

  At first I thought it might be Newfie, but it was too high for his voice and it wasn’t amait. It had to be Pauly since Galin spoke with an accent, or so Newfie said. It surprised me that Pauly would wish us well, like maybe he was happy for us. Then I considered the fact that he had always made it so we could escape through the swinging door. Pauly and Trish didn’t imprison us. They gave us a safe place to live, food and free choice. We had always been free.

  My attitude toward bašar changed. There are good bašar although I hate what they did to Millicent and the others, who probably stayed with Pauly and Trish because they had nothing else to look forward to. I smiled as I turned and started running again.

  “Millicent is with me. Hope I’m worth looking forward to.”

  Chapter 26

  With the qu
alities of cleanliness, affection, patience, dignity, and courage that cats have, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats? Fernand Mery

  When we got to the campus, we stopped and breathed. We needed a place to spend the night out of the cold and to find something to eat.

  “Food’s gonna to be hard to find now that it’s cold,” Fergus said. Then, he looked at me and smiled. “Wait a minute. I got an idea. Hang around, I’ll be right back.” He fast-trotted across the snow.

  “What’s he up to?” Millicent asked.

  I saw she was shivering, so I hugged her with my front leg and we snuggled by a bush packed with snow.

  “Haven’t a clue, but he’s an old pro. Born and bred on the streets. He’ll find something.” It wasn’t long until he came back with a tuyuur dangling from his mouth. “How in the world did you find a tuyuur?”

  He dropped it in front of us. “They stay here in winter, and they crowd around places where lots of bašar are found. Remember at the lake, the tuyuurs they were feeding all the time?”

  “Oh yeah, those big fat ones that waddled around scarfing up seeds and stuff from bašar. Wow, Fergus, this is great. Millicent, you’ll really love this tuyuur. They’re better’n rats even.”

  “Anything has got to be better than a rat.” Disgust distorted her face.

  “Dig in. I’m gonna to get another one.” He took off running and before long was back. “This is mine,” he said, “mine, mine, mine!”

  We ate and I could tell Millicent was enjoying the tuyuur. She’ll do fine after a while, I thought. If I can, she can.

  As I ate, I glanced over to the apartment where Adele was killed, and felt sad. But, I remembered what she said in the dream: she would always be with me, and I needed to get on with my life and hook up with Millicent, who needed me as I needed her. I perked up because I was doing what her spirit told me to do. “Make a special room for me in your memory,” she said. “Visit me from time to time, but go on with your life. I’ll always be in that room, as near as a thought.” I looked at Millicent while she finished her part of the tuyuur, and I knew I loved her. It wasn’t the same kind of love Adele and I had, but it was warm and sweet and tender. I was a lucky amait.

  Fergus washed his face. “I know a place we can stay at all winter.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  “A long way from here, farther than our old territory, but we can make it in a day.”