Children of Bast

by Frederick Fuller

  “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

  When 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 als
o 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.”

  “I know I love you.” She touched her nose hard against mine.

  Chapter 24

  Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. Jeff Valdez

  I froze when I heard Pauly’s footsteps coming down the stairs.

  “Fergus! Fergus!”

  I ran to the food bowls and came very close to dropping dead. Following Pauly were two kalb. One was so big it made Schatzi look like a puppy. It was almost as tall as Pauly and was black and white, and it had a huge head with a mouth that could swallow an amait whole without chewing.

  But, its eyes were bright and playful, and its tail wagged all the time. That, of course, means nothing, if you know kalb, and I know you know kalb, Chubby. It went to the amai that were eating and nudged them with its nose and began licking them all over. I thought I’d puke.

  The other kilaab was a lot smaller. Black on its legs, belly and back, up its neck and almost to its ears. The faraawi was curly. It had a long snout and extra curly fluffs of faraawi above its eyes and down its square muzzle. Its eyes were full of delight and mischief like the monster teasing the amai at the food bowls. In the meantime, Pauly disappeared into a small room under the stairs.

  I ran to Fergus, who was laying by a bowl and dosing. “Fergus, wake up. We gotta get outta here.” I pushed him hard with my nose. “Get up! We’re gonna get fixed if we stay here!”

  He looked at me and frowned. “What?”

  “Fixed, you idiot. Fixed. Not have kiths.” I tugged on his neck faraawi.

  “Hey, I can’t ever have kiths, Kith. I’m a tom. Do I have to explain that, too?”

  “Stop calling me Kith! Get up. We gotta go.”

  He grabbed me by my neck with his paw and slammed me to the floor. “Simmer down, Nebibi. I think you’re going a little crazy.”

  “Look, Fergus, just trust me and go outside. I’ll explain everything. Millicent’s going with us.”

  “Maybe I’m going crazy.” He got up, releasing his hold on me. “Millicent is going? Where? I thought she wanted to rip your throat out.”

  “It’s a long story. Let’s go.”

  I ran to the door with Fergus plodding behind, and found Millicent leaning against the swinging door. How could she lean against the swinging door? I wondered.

  “It’s locked”

  “No! Locked? Now what?” Terrified, I began to tremble.

  Fergus walked up. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re locked in. We’re gonna to get fixed.”

  “Tell me what this fixing is about.” He was cranky because I disturbed his nap, poor thing.

  “Okay, Fergus, it goes like this. It seems Pauly doesn’t want kiths around, so he’s taking mollies to a vet somewhere, and when they return, their bellies are sore and they can’t ever have kiths again. Right, Millicent?”

  “That’s pretty much it.” She still leaned against the door.

  “You had this happen, Millicent?”

  “Yes. And I’m afraid you two may be next.”

  “But I can’t have kiths. Why would they fix me?”

  If I hadn’t been so scared, I’da laughed at Fergus. How could an amait as old as he was not know how kiths got here?

  “Fergus, you ever settle a mollie?”

  “Lots of times. About every month if you need to know. What’s that got to do with . . . ?” He stopped and stared at me and then at Millicent, who smirked and shook her head. “Oh. Oh, you mean . . . Get outta the way, Millicent, I’m smashing that door out.”

  She moved just as he slammed into the door and bounced back.

  “I think it’s a losing fight, Old Friend. We’re probably going to have to fight.”

  “I’ll shred any bašar that touches me.”

  About that time the monster kilaab strolled over and licked Millicent from her tail to her ears.

  “Stop that, Newfie!” She turned to it, ge
tting licked all over her face.

  “Ahhh! Yuk! Kilaab spit all over me.” She growled, swelled up and hissed. “I’ll rip your nose off if you do that again.”

  He did it again and got a slash on his nose that caused him to yelp. But then he laughed. I almost swallowed my tongue; Kalb don’t laugh, right?

  “Hey, Millicent, take it easy. That’s my nose.”

  My mind left me. I stared at the monster. Kalb don’t talk. Kalb can’t talk because they’re too stupid to talk, their brains are the size of pebbles—all this went through my head as I watched and listened.

  “Then stop licking me. Your tongue is like a wet mop.” She licked off Newfie’s spit. “It makes me gag, Newfie. Your spit’s like the oil my bašar tried to give me and got some deep scratches for it, too.”

  “Millicent. Sweet thing.” Newfie whined and rubbed his nose.

  “Go away. Go hang out with Galin. Lick him.”

  I turned to the clowder that gathered around to watch and laugh.

  “Who’s Galin?” I asked nobody in particular.

  “He’s the other kilaab.” Millicent finished cleaning herself.

  “Does he lick, too?”

  “No. He tries to sniff our rear ends, though,” said someone from the clowder behind me.

  “Let him try me,” Fergus said.

  I was scared. The kalb appeared harmless, but kalb can do that just before they tear your head off or slam you against a wall. We had to get out of there. Millicent was already cut up by Pauly, and I wasn’t waiting to see me and Fergus suffer the same. But how? Outside door was locked.

  “Any other way out of this place,” I asked the nearest mollie, which happened to be Katia, the yellow tabby who was considered the leader.

  “None except through Pauly’s place and that door up there. Leads to his and Trish’s place.”

  “We’ll have to go that way, then. Fergus, let’s figure this out. Come on. Millicent, is it all right if we use your place?”

  “Sure.” She trotted off in that direction.

  I looked back and all the mollies were watching us with blank faces. They knew what was going on, but I don’t think they thought we could get away. I also caught a glimpse of Pauly coming out of the little room and going upstairs with Newfie and Galin following.

  “How are we going to get into Pauly’s place?” I asked when we got behind the rusty hot box.

  “Beats me, kid,” Fergus said and flopped down on Millicent’s bed.