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Summary: The return of Jafar... I mean, Sam! Except Sam's not a bad guy. This will make more sense if you read Beyond the Junkyard first.
Like humans, every Jellicle has his fifteen minutes of fame. Some have had more. Some more than they want. Yet every once and a while, a non-Jellicle will cat will come along and change the Jellicle way of life forever. Sometimes, they come back for more.
A large gray Tom with a white bib came sneaking silently into the junkyard. He was an unknown, yet no stranger. He picked his way over the piles of rubber with the ease and grace of a cat who had done so many times before. He stood still for a moment, casting his gaze over the sleeping cats that dotted the area, half hidden in the darkness.
The Rum Tum Tugger, surrounded by fifty percent of the female population, was slumbering peacefully on the car trunk. Underneath them, Tumblebrutus and a dark brown kitten the cat didn't remember were curled up comfortably. All the cats were happily dreaming, and yet the cat couldn't find the Jellicle he wanted.
He spied a large black and white cat curled up in the drain pipe. The cat frowned. He didn't recognize this other cat. He wasn't Alonzo. Still, he looked like the friendly type, so he decided to ask the cat for help.
He creeped forward, careful not to wake anyone, and was just about to tap the cat on the shoulder when the black half of the cat yawned, stretched, and rolled over. Ah. So it was Mistoffelees and Victoria. Well, well.
"Misto," the cat whispered. "Hello, Earth to Misto, come in Misto. Do you read me?"
Misto stirred and opened his eyes in slits. "Houston, the crew is sound asleep. Is that you, Munkustrap?"
"Close, but not quite. I'm a wild rabbit, remember?"
"No you're not, your smell quite plainly says you're a c... Sam?" Misto's eyes opened wide.
"That would be me," Sam chuckled.
"What're you doing here?" Misto asked, surprised.
"What a way to greet an old friend. If you must know, I came for a visit. That is, of course, Plato doesn't decide to kill me." He nodded toward the still form of Victoria. "But I think I'd better not fight him. He's already lost at least one battle."
Misto blushed and sat down hard. "You're cruel, you know that?"
"Certainly," Sam said, still laughing. "I've been told so many times. So, what's new?"
"You mean, who's with who? If you want that sort of info, I'd suggest you get up from your seat and march right over to Jellylorum. She'll tell you everything you want to know, not to mention everything you'd be better off not knowing."
"That's quite all right," Sam said. "I mean, any new Jellicles, are they still bent on killing me, that sort of thing."
"Come to think of it," Misto said, "I think they've forgotten about you. It's been a while. As for new Jellicles, none I know of. Unless Kashmir counts, but she was here when you came. I just don't think you met her. She's the dark brown queen who looks like a kitten."
"Like you," Sam commented.
"Like me," Misto said agreeably. "Have a home yet?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Nope," Sam responded. "I don't mind. I'm not tied d-"
"You're not tied down, I know. You've told me that several times. And I've told you I am, and I once again ask you, what brought you to the junkyard? Learned to write already? Need to borrow a cup of sugar?"
"Now I'll tell you something. I snuck into a house once, and there was a bowl of sugar sitting on table. Let me warn you, never eat an entire mouthful sugar, because for one thing, it's unbearably sweet, and for another it makes you so darned hyper-"
"You're avoiding my question," Misto interrupted. "You're not here to bake a cake."
"Misto, do you have any idea how annoying you are?" Sam complained.
Misto grinned. "I've gotten hints. Now, answer my question."
"All right, fine. Pound's after me."
"Is that all?" Misto teased, pretending to be hurt. "You mean you didn't miss us?"
Sam grinned. "I also came back to see if you'd swing another Peke in the air by the tail for me. That was a sight well worth seeing."
Misto smiled. "I must admit I rather enjoyed it myself. Anyway, are you going to stay here?"
"Just until the guy from the pound stops hanging out in my alley. He caught sight of me once, and he's been standing there every day ever since. I was only able to sneak away tonight."
"Think he'll ever leave?" Misto questioned.
"I don't know. But until he does it'll be pretty unsafe for me."
There was a stirring behind them. "Misto? What's going on? Who are you talking to?" Victoria was awake.
"It's okay," Misto whispered, coming over. "Just Sam."
"Sam?"
"Yes?" The big gray cat walked forward a few steps.
"What're you doing here?" Vicki asked groggily. "Lay back down, Misto. I'm cold." Misto obliged happily.
"I'm here because the pound's after me."
"Ah." Vicki nodded. "Well, you lie down, too. I'm tired. We'll continue this conversation in the morning, when I'm awake."
Sam shrugged at Misto and curled up into a ball.
"Psst. Sam. Sam, wake up." Misto poked Sam in the side.
Sam scrunched up his eyes. "Arg, it's light. Is it morning already?"
"Yes," Misto said impatiently. "Now get up. I'm going to go outside and tell Munk that you're here and why. Then we'll find you someplace to stay, let everyone else know you're here, and inform Old Deuteronomy. Then we'll discuss what to do about the pound, and then you'll be left to your own device."
"Thank you for laying out my schedule so nicely," Sam said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And where will you be going when I'm left to my own devices?"
"Why, with Vicki, of course. Where else?"
"Do you ever let her out of your sight?"
"Why, sure. She'll be alone while I'm taking you around, won't she? In fact, she's already gone to see her friends. If you will notice, that means she's not here, and therefore I cannot possibly see her without using magic, which I refuse to do. So there. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go see Munkustrap on your behalf." He leaped energetically out of the drainpipe.
"How can he be so... awake?" Sam grumbled. "At least he didn't disappear."
Misto was quick, and soon returned. "Munk says hi," he informed Sam. "He would like me to tell you that you are welcome to stay here as long as is necessary, and he will discuss the pound with you a little later. He also said you'd better see Old Deuteronomy at once, so he'll let everyone know you're here. And all this info has been repeated by me word for word. Do I get a tip?"
"No," Sam said. "Let's go see Old Deuteronomy, then."
"He's over at Vicarage, about five minutes from here. Come on."
Old Deuteronomy had nothing against Sam, and was perfectly happy to see him. He, too, said that Sam was welcome to stay as long as was needed. "I wonder if Plato and Alonzo will be happy to see me, too," Sam muttered as they started back home.
"Don't worry about them. Now's your free time. Have fun." Misto darted away before Sam could comment.
"Now what?" Sam grumbled. Up at the crack of seven o'clock and left alone in a potentially hostile environment - it was not a good morning. Fortunantly, he happened upon friends before enemies.
"Hi Sam!" called Jemima, followed by Kashmir and Victoria. "Vicki told me about you coming," she explained when he looked surprised.
I was going to say," Sam joked, "I knew Munkustrap was fast, but not that fast. We've only been gone for tenminutes."
"Misto took you to Old Deuteronomy?" Vicki said knowingly. Sam nodded.
"Excuse me," said a small voice. "I don't think I know you."
"Oh!" exclaimed Victoria. "You haven't met Kashmir. This is Kashmir, who looks very shy and quiet when you meet her but is really a comedian when you get to know her." Kashmir sent a well aimed swat in Vicki's direction. But the white cat dodged. "Also master of heart-rending Irish songs."
"Really?" Sam said.
"Please don't make me sing 'Skibbereen'," Kashmir begged. Jemima and Vicki laughed, but Sam didn't understand what was so funny.
"Sing 'This Ireland'," Jemima suggested.
"Do I have to?" Kashmir asked.
"Yes," Vicki insisted firmly.
Looking around nervously, Kashmir began.
"The rolling fields of green, this Ireland.
Celtic stones, moss covered ages span.
The mountain mist rolls down across the land
Feeding the river Shannon.
"The ancient ruins abound this Ireland.
Castle walls call back the times that had been.
The lore of folk once heard across the land
Calling me back, back home again.
This Ireland, Ireland."
"Whew," said Vicki. "That one's somewhat shorter."
"Yes. Good," Kashmir said.
"Well," Sam said, "I must be going now."
"Why don't you see Munkustrap now," Vicki suggested. "Misto said he was going to talk to you about the pound problem."
"Does he tell you everything?" Sam asked wryly.
"No," Vicki answered , "just most things."
Sam smiled and walked away.
Munkustrap was sitting on top of the drainpipe when Sam found him, and Misto was sitting under him, inside the pipe. "Hey Misto," Sam called in a sing-song voice, "where's Vicki?"
"Shut up," Misto said defensively. "I don't know."
"Poor Misto," Munkustrap chuckled. "Subject to such abuse." He looked up. "Now, Sam, let's talk about this pound problem. My understanding of it is, this guy is trying to throw you in the slammer and you needed to escape. Correct?" Sam nodded. "So how're you going to know when you can go home?"
"I won't," Sam answered. "I'll have to wait long enough so that it's almost certain he's left and hope. You know how short the human attention span is."
Munkustrap looked at him thoughtfully. "I suppose we could make you a Jellicle so you can stay."
Sam shook his head. "Do you remember how much Plato and his buds wanted to kill me? I didn't do anything to him, but I was friends with Misto."
"So?" Misto said, alarmed.
"So Vicki," Sam explained.
Munkustrap nodded. "So now that he has a perfect excuse to kill you, he'll try for it. Well, we'll have to try to prevent that! You can stay with me, Sam. I don't think Plato would even think of coming there, and if he did, I don't think even Admetus and Quaxo would go along with it."
Sam nodded once. What else could he do?
"Jeez," Misto said as he and Sam left, "I didn't know Plato was that mad."
"Well, he's not the nicest cat around," Sam said dismissively. "Now what?"
"Now what what?" Misto asked.
"Now what what do you want to do now?"
"Oh. Well, we could go see Tumblebrutus and Pouncival. They're much friendlier then some cats I know."
And they did. They found Tumble and Pounce doing their favorite thing in the world - bouncing on a mattress.
"Hi!" - boing - Pouncival - boing - said.
"Hi!" Tumble echoed, executing a neat and tidy flip.
"What's up?" they both asked with a very high bounce. They bumped into each other in midair and landed in a heap.
"Sam's here. But you probably already knew that," Misto said.
"Yeah, Munkustrap came through here just a moment ago, screaming like a town crier. You'd think the monsters are due on Maple Street. But no, it was just Sam." Pouncival said all this while doing a series of cartwheels across the mattress.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."
"By the way," Tumblebrutus asked slyly, "where's Vicki?"
For once, Misto was armed and ready. "Where's Kashmir?"
"Oh, be quiet, Misto," Tumble said, grinning.
"You can dish it out, but can you take it?" Misto asked. "She's probably off singing some Irish song."
"Hey, she went through that whole entire trip to the stable without singing once," Tumble countered.
"Actually, she was singing, when I met her. Some song called 'This Ireland'. She Irish or something?" Sam said.
"Of course," Pouncival answered for Tumble. "You seen Plato?"
Misto was instantly alert. "No, why?"
"Well, he came through after Munkustrap, talking about something to Admetus and Quaxo. You know the signs. I was just wondering if you know what he's up to."
"No clue," Sam said.
"Sam!" came a voice behind them.
Sam turned around. "That'd be Munkustrap. I'm staying with him until the guy from the pound gets out of my alley. Safer with him, you know. See you." He ran off in search of Munkustrap.
Sam was completely lost. He had been following Munkustrap, but he had turned a corner and disappeared. Sam groaned. What a stupid excuse. He turned around at the sound of giggling, expecting to see Rumpleteazer. In her place was Plato, grinning like mad. Behind him was Quaxo and Admetus.
"Hello, Sam," he snarled. "I'd run right about now if I were you."
"Run?" Sam said, trying to be cool and collected. "Whatever for?"
Plato shrugged. "It's your funeral. There are three of us, one of you. You may as well make a break for it now."
Sam ran.
He looked behind him a moment later, and was not surprised to see Plato following him. He bumped into Quaxo in front of him, and did a quick turn on the forehand. After a while her ran into Admetus, and he was forced to take another route. After a couple minutes of this, the three cats disappeared. Sam was so tired he just sat down exactly where he was. He looked around.
He was at home.
No he wasn't. He was in a man's arms - in a wire cage - in a truck - in a pound cell. He had been captured.
Plato and his band came marching in came shuffling into the junkyard as inconspicuously as possible, but were met by Munkustrap. "Have you seen Sam?" he asked. "He was coming home with me, but he disappeared."
Plato put on a false frown. "He was captured by the pound near Bloomingsford Square." Munkustrap raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Plato began to talk faster. "I saw it with my own eyes! They grabbed him, stuck him in a cage in the back of a truck, and drove away."
Munkustrap nodded. Plato sighed with relief. "Then I suppose we'll have to rescue him. Plato, since you know where he went, why don't you do it." Munkustrap ignored Plato's horrified look.
A small black cat came slinking along the shadows. "Mistoffelees!" Munkustrap called. "Just the cat I wanted. Sam's been captured by the pound, and Plato is going to rescue him. Would you be so kind as to join him. I need you to break the lock."
Misto's look was even more horrified than Plato's. "Oh, Munk I-"
"Excellent! Well, get going, you two." Munkustrap vanished.
"Oh, great," Misto mumbled.
"Well, how do you think I feel?" Plato demanded. "I'm the one who sent him to the pound in the first place, and now I have to go rescue him! Don't look at me like that!" he snapped. "What would you expect from the son of Macavity?"
"You are?" Misto said, shrinking away.
"Yes. I tried to join the Jellicles, to become a good cat and get closer to Victoria, but then you came along and ruined it all."
"I'm sorry," Misto whispered.
"A lot of good it does me."
They walked on in silence.
Meanwhile, Sam was having a few eye-opening experiences himself. He had been placed in one of those uncomfortable wire cages with the cement bottoms that was the characteristic of shelter accommodations. "They didn't even leave a mint on my pillow," Sam thought wryly, looking around. He was sharing a cage with one other cat, a husky golden queen curled in one corner.
"Hey," the cat said, seemingly undisturbed by the new arrival. "Who're you? Street cat?"
"You could say that," Sam said, sitting down on the cold, hard floor. "I'm Sam. Guy from the pound raided my alley."
"Tough," the queen answered, looking a trifle sympathetic but not showing much emotion. "I'm Byntra. Victim of overpopulation."
"What do you do around here?" Sam said, desperately seeking a source of amusement. "I've been here for two minutes and already I'm bored."
Byntra shook her head. "Nothing to do but wait for either a kid to adopt you or the executioner to come. I'm on death row, you could say."
"Oh?"
"Been here to long. If the pound can't find a home for you, they kill you. But you must of known that."
"And that doesn't bother you?" Sam asked.
Byntra shrugged. "What's there to live for? No life on the streets, and no human wants me. I mean, look at me!" She gestured to her scarred body and matted fur.
Sam cocked his head. "I dunno, I think you're pretty enough. Your fur is a nice shade of gold."
Byntra grinned. "Gee, thanks. But a lot of good it does me. I don't suppose you could get that Mistoffelees kid to turn you into a human and adopt me?"
"You know him?"
"Not personally. But famous Jellicle news circulates. It's kind of like humans watching 'ET'. Go out and find any stray you like, and they'll be able to tell you the latest on Munkustrap." She paused. "And Mistoffelees, and Demeter, and just about anybody else."
"Hunh. I didn't know they were so famous."
"You'd be surprised." Byntra looked around. "But I don't think you'll have a chance to ask them anytime soon." She looked up. "Unless, of course, your bud Misto has come to rescue us." She looked at Sam. "Another possibility is that I'm hallucinating."
Sam looked up. "If you are, then I am, too, because there he is!" Sam's eyes opened wide. "And... Plato?"
Yes, it was Plato, being, of all things, cooperative. He was holding a little trap door Misto had cut into the roof open so that Misto could do his thing. Suddenly, Sam felt himself being lifted by the tail into the air. He was carried through the door and set down gently outside.
"You know," Sam complained once he had regained his breath, "that would have been plenty humiliating even if you hadn't done it in front of Byntra."
"Yeah, well, I couldn't find a Peke," Misto said. "Who's Byntra? Oh, that golden queen down there? Want me to grab her so she can suffer, too?" Without waiting for an answer, he plucked Byntra into the air and carried her onto the roof.
Byntra's eyes were wide. She ran around and hid behind Sam. "What was that?"
Misto laughed. "What, don't tell me you're scared of Misto! Me, the half-sized tom who is a prime candidate for abuse! Wait till I tell Vicki!" He began rolling on the roof. He rolled right across the roof and fell onto the ground, landing neatly on his feet. "C'mon!" he called from the ground. "Let's go!"
The three cats jumped to the ground. "Well," Sam said to Misto, "guess this is where I say good-bye."
"Really? You're gong already? You just got here!"
Sam nodded. "I know, but I think my alley's safe now. I'm going home." He turned to Byntra. "Would you be so kind as to join me?" Byntra grinned, and the two ran off into the night.
Misto and Plato began to walk home. "Thanks for the help," Misto said shyly.
Plato smiled. "No problem."
"Friends?"
"Friends." Plato looked at Misto out of the corner of his eye. "Does this mean you'll give me back my Victoria?"
"Never!" Misto teased, and began running off playfully, Plato chasing Misto's tail.
Nothing more is left to be said of this story, except maybe one thing. For any of those who care to know, Byntra later had a kitten, but was killed by a Peke soon afterward. It is unkown what happened to Sam, but the kitten literally miraculously found its way to the junkyard. Among the Jellicles, she was known as Samara.
But that's another story.