Baby I'm Longing For- First Draft

Ransacked

Munkustrap walked through the door of his den and did a double take.

"What the Hell...?" The place was a complete tip! He didn't have very many material possessions, but the few that he did have were now strewn across the floor. The bookshelf had been emptied of its books and vinyl records, the volumes now carpeting the hardwood boards like paving slabs, some lying open as though someone had been reading them. A small table lay on its side next to its fallen comrades, a wooden wind up turntable and a large black typewriter, of which sheets of paper had exploded out of, like a wound, spreading out across the floor. Growling, Munkustrap quickly gathered up the papers, trying to put them into some sort of order, but groaning when he realised that they were completely muddled up and some bits were even missing. He righted the table and put the papers down onto it for now, intending to go through them later, then he rescued the heavy typewriter and hefted it back onto the table with a hollow 'clunk!' before doing the same with the turntable. Next, he set about picking up the records, then the books and shoving them back on the shelf. He would have to put them in alphabetical order later. It was as he was replacing a rather hefty volume entitled, The Rulebook: a guide to being a successful Jellicle Protector, that he noticed his old Victorian style teak storage trunk. It was a fine piece of furniture, simple and unassuming, but sturdy and functional in its design, with an aged finish, wooden feet, large metal ring handles, metal fixings and a metal cross latch which was usually locked shut with a chunky padlock. But someone had clearly managed to unlock it, for the flat lid was wide open and the trunk's contents had exploded out of it. It was looking most put out at having been broken into, for it had probably never happened in all the time it had been standing there in the corner of the room, which was a lot longer than Munkustrap had been alive. He abandoned the books and knelt to check over the items. Whoever had gotten them out had had a jolly good nose about, but, thankfully, nothing appeared to be missing. A scrap book was lying open. Someone had clearly been perusing through it, so he went through, page by page to check that none of the photographs or newspaper clippings had been ripped out. His flicking revealed a myriad of images, including a photograph of a newborn kitten, a beautiful charcoal marbled bengal queen holding five mismatched newborn kittens, a kitten dressed in a white chorister's cape, wearing a gold medal on a blue ribbon and proudly clutching a cut crystal trophy in the shape of a rhomboid and another photograph of a skinny youth standing in a clearly choreographed pose, staring blankly at an unseen camera. "Gosh, I'm so thin! How things have changed," he thought, noting that his biceps were probably the same size as the waist of his adolescent self. There were other images of models, including one of him posing moodily with his brother Rum Tum Tugger and a fresh faced Macavity. On turning the page, he found another image of a young dancer holding a finishing pose and this was followed by an image of his young self being presented with his mark of Protectorship, which was the collar that he now wore. There were also newspaper photographs of a band and various newspaper headlines, but it was the image of a couple that made him stop. He paid particular attention, not to the skinny youth with his sunken eyes and defiant smirk, but to the young female he was posing next to. She was a beautiful long furred Balinese, with light fawn merle markings mixed with white which was streaked with faint mackerel stripes. She gazed out at him with wide violet blue eyes which were slightly too close together, giving her the appearance of being just a little bit cross eyed, but this only added to her cute charm and around her neck, she wore a sparkling diamante collar which matched her eyes beautifully. How he had been mesmerized by those eyes...Before the lump in his throat could grow any larger, he shut the book with a, 'snap!' and carefully placed it in the bottom of the trunk. Then he proceeded to carefully place everything else back inside, including the weighty crystal trophy that had been in the photograph, along with the gold medal still hanging on its faded blue ribbon, a black leather case, containing a pince nez, a brass telescope, a harmonica and a crumpled black cloak, which he carefully folded before depositing it with the rest of his stuff. Lastly, he picked up a blue velvet collar which was covered in sparkling diamante crystals, the very same one that She had been wearing. Touching it sent shock waves through him like an electric current. "Yes I know! Sorry!" He muttered. He barely glanced at it as he quickly wrapped it up in its blue velvet cloth and stuffed it back inside the trunk, before closing the lid and locking it.

It didn't take him long to work out who the perpetrator of this destruction was, because, not only did their scent fill the den, but they were fast asleep on his bed! He could just make out his blankets moving up and down with the sleeper's shallow breaths. He slowly crept towards the bulge in the middle of the carefully laid out cushions, and with one deft movement, whipped off the blankets, revealing...

"Rumpleteazer. I might have known."

"Oh!" She woke up with a start.

"Oh indeed." She stared up at him with petrified eyes.

"Um...hi! Er...I was t-t-tired...?"

"It is a good job that you are female, or I would be whooping your behind right now. As it stands, I may well break my pledge of nonviolence towards the fairer sex if you do not vacate my den within the next five seconds! One..." Before he could get to 'two', she was off like a shot and practically zoomed out of the exit like a thing possessed. She didn't look back. "And if I see her come within ten feet of my den again, I will kick her all the way back to Victoria Grove!" he thought, moodily.

Munkustrap shook his head and groaned when he realised he now only had a short time to clean his wounds, clean his teeth, (he still had remnants of his opponent's fur stuck in the gaps!), have a wash and give his dusty coat a thorough brush! Yikes!