All the cats in the junkyard looked at the trash pile that was careening towards them. Munkustrap and Mungo rushed to the pile as it stopped in the yard. A little bit of movement showed but then stilled. The two of them started digging through the junk until they saw a bit of multicolored fur. When they had uncovered most of it, they both stared at what was underneath: a little calico queen.

Mungo stared at her. Her coloring was similar to his. She had more white than him, but they were so much alike that they could have been twins. She had a cute little pointed face with black freckles across her nose. He couldn’t tell what color her eyes were as they were closed. As his eyes roamed her feline body, he noticed something: a sparkle through the bit a trash that was still covering her lower half. As he moved the trash, he was stunned by what he saw: a long tail with a small ring of diamonds near the tip.

‘Who is that shape in the shadows? Whose is that face in the mask?’

The haunting tune from last week popped into his head again, unbidden. He felt as if he was stuck stock still; frozen in time. This calico tabby queen wasn’t… couldn’t… be that same as the ‘apparition’ he’d seen before. It just wasn’t possible. The first time, the cat was a violet-black cat and the fur looked fluffy. But at the same time… Mungojerrie felt as if it was the same cat. ‘But how could that be? All the magic cats are dead except for Macavity.’ He examined the queen before him again. She was extremely beautiful to him. Her fur seemed to gleam slightly under the coat of dust and grime.

By this time all of the cats who were in the junkyard had crept over to where the two toms were. They were staring at the unconscious queen curiously. Her whiskers started to twitch suddenly and slowly she woke up. Mungojerrie, staring at her, was a little startled to see that her eyes weren’t one of the usual colors for cat’s eyes. They were an unusual deep purple color. But to him, the color only accentuated her beautiful fur. He was dumb-struck by her presence. He looked around and saw all the other toms with the exception of Munkustrap start to drool over her. Munkustrap was so in love with Demeter that he didn’t have eyes for any other cat. Mungo, however, felt an odd connection to her in some way.

“Where am I?” she asked as she looked around. Her voice rang in his ears like a bell. Familiar and not; soft yet loud; good but evil. He couldn’t place it, but once again, he felt like he’d heard it before.

“You’re in the Jellicle Junkyard Miss.” Munkustrap said.

The calico smiled slightly and said, “The Jellicle Junkyard? As in the Jellicle Junkyard?”

Mungojerrie looked at her strangely and spoke up for the first time saying, “Yes. Why? Have you heard of us?”

The little queen smiled and Mungo thought he would melt.

She giggled and said “Of course! I grew up on the other side of town and I always heard tales of how wonderful the Jellicle Junkyard was. I told myself that one day I would get there.”

The Rum Tum Tugger sauntered out in view and said smoothly, “Hey darling. I’m Rum Tum Tugger, but you can call me Tugger. Would you like to go out tonight?”

The queen giggled and said, “Sure Sugar. You’re cute.” And licked him on the nose.

Tugger just stared at her in shock along with everybody else. Everybody else, except Bombalurina, that is. She just glared at the new queen.

Mungo’s jaw dropped. Nobody had ever made the junkyard’s playboy speechless before. Not even Bombalurina could and she was the female version of Tugger, only flaming red. Mungo could tell by the look on her face that she knew exactly what she was doing.