Chapter 2

Mistoffelees crawled back into his black pipe and leaned his side against the pipe wall, with his legs tucked in front of him. He took some deep breaths to help him calm down so he could fall asleep again. He moved his gaze from the floor of the pipe to outside, where most of his tribe was singing 'The Gumpy Cat' song.

They're not singing the songs in order, thought Mistoffelees as he turned onto his left side, to face away from the mouth of the pipe.

He slowly closed his eyes and drifted away to sleep. When Mistoffelees woke up, he realized how silent the junkyard had become. He looked outside the pipe and noticed that Victoria was alone again.

Here's my chance, he thought as he crawled towards the mouth of the pipe.

I'll ask her to be my m-.

Suddenly a large wood pallet fell from the top of the pipe and landed standing in front of the pipe, trapping Mistoffelees. Then he heard something sliding across the ground towards the pallet.

The sound didn't last long and suddenly stopped. Mistoffelees put both of his paws on the wood pallet and tried to push it, but the pallet didn't budge. He was trapped in there, with little streaks of light streaming in from the full Jellicle moon.

Mistoffelees squinted his eyes and tried to see down the other side of the pipe. But it was impossible to see the other end because it goes up vertically in the air.

I would have to climb up fourteen feet of pipe before I would reach the other end.

Mistoffelees put his eyes up to the wood pallet and peered in between the spaces of the boards. He saw Victoria facing another cat, who Mistoffelees couldn't identify since the tom's back was facing him.

I'll ask Victoria, once I get out of here.

He sat there, thinking about how to get out.

Since this pipe is made completely out of metal, I could shake the pallet to make a noise to get Victoria and the other tom's attention, so they could help me out.

Mistoffelees went up to the wood pallet, placed his paws on a couple of boards on opposite sides and tried to shake it, but it wouldn;t budge.

Damn, is this pallet nailed down to the ground somehow?

Then he tried to slam it against the pipe. Nothing. Not even the slightest sound came from the pipe or the pallet itself.

Crap!

Mistoffelees leaned against the wall of the pipe, feeling defeated.

How did it not even make a sound? I feel like somebody intentionally trapped me, but why?

And who?

He turned his head to look at Victoria, who was still talking to the tom. He frowned.

All I wanted to do was hang out with Victoria for a bit and ask her to be my mate.

Mistoffelees watched as the unknown tom said goodbye to Victoria and left, leaving her once again alone. He frowned even more. Just then he got an idea.

What if I kick the wooden pallet down?

Mistoffelees put his feet against the pallet.

Please work, he thought as he pleaded in his head.

With all of his strength, he kicked at the wood pallet and it finally fell down in front of the pipe. He crawled out of the pipe and on top of the pallet, breathing in the fresh air. Mistoffelees peeked under the wood pallet and saw that it was now leaning on a metal box.

That's strange. Before I crawled into my pipe to sleep, that metal box was nowhere near here.

He looked up again and saw Victoria, who was now heading towards an old stove to sleep in.

I better get to her before she goes to sleep.

Mistoffelees jumped to his feet and ran towards her.

"Victoria, wait" he called.

Victoria stopped walking, turned around and watched as Mistoffelees ran to catch up to her. When he got to her, Victoria looked curiously at him.

"Yes?".

"I-I forgot to tell you my name" he stuttered.

"I'm Quaxo".

"Quaxo? I've never heard that name before, but I like it".

Mistoffelees's cheeks went a bit red.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll catch up on my sleep" said Victoria, as she moved her gaze from him to the stove, then back to Mistoffelees.

"But before you do that, would you like to learn a new dance?".

Victoria raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of dance?".

"I like to call it, the conjuring turn" explained Mistoffelees, as he and Victoria walked over to the very center of the junkyard.

"I'll do a demo for you. And you might want to give me some space".

Victoria took a few steps back from him. Mistoffelees got into position to do a la second turn. Then as he spun around, he used Victoria's eyes to spot. He spun around fourteen times, before he did a pirouette to finish.

"Wow, Quaxo! I've never seen a turn like that before" commented Victoria, as she went over to him.

"I don't think I can learn all of that in one night".

Mistoffelees chuckled.

"It's easy; which paw is dominant for you?".

"My right".

"First you put your right foot out, as if you're going into a lunge. Then you put your left foot back and keep your knee bent".

Mistoffelees helped Victoria get into proper position.

"Now raise your arms up. Put your right arm forward, pointing it to me and have your left arm point straight out to the left".

Mistoffelees circled her, Making sure she was in the proper position.

"Good. Keep your chest up".

Victoria took a deep breath and raised her chest up.

"Now here's the tricky part; As you spin you have to spot something; It can be me or an object. Spin around on your toes, keep your leg up and put your left arm close to your chest every time you're facing away from your spotted object".

"Wow. That sounds kind of hard".

"Once you've mastered it, it'll become second nature. Do you want to try it?".

"Sure. I'll try my best".

Victoria locked eyes with Mistoffelees before spinning almost three-sixty degrees. She didn't turn her head quickly enough to spot him again and lost her balance, falling down towards the soft brown dirt.

Mistoffelees was quick and caught her in the air, putting his right paw behind Victoria's right shoulder and the other on her back, just above her waist.

"Luckily for you, I was spotting".

He brought her to her feet.

"Thank you for catching me. I think we both should get some sleep, It's hard to learn something new when you're tired".

"Yeah, you're right" replied Mistoffelees, as he let go of Victoria.

"Do you want to continue tomorrow night?" he asked, as he smiled at her warmly.

"Sure. But after the Jellicle Ball" agreed Victoria.

"Goodnight Quaxo".

She glanced at him one more time, before walking over to the old stove and curled up inside.

"Goodnight, Victoria" answered back Mistoffelees, before he made his way over to his black pipe and crawled inside.

Then he realized, he forgot to ask Victoria about who that mystery tom she was chatting to earlier.

That's okay, he thought.

I'll see this mystery cat at the Jellicle Ball tomorrow night.