Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A tiny orange kitten let out a great yawn as he awoke from his third nap of the day. Forcing his eyes open he looked out over the pile of five other kittens curled up around him, snoring happily. Stretching his legs out as best he can while being surrounded by siblings, he rolls over to snuggle into the long belly fur of his mother. Her snow-white fur cascades around him as he burrows deep. She had stopped producing milk for them some time ago, but the sweet scent of it is still there. His mother opens her emerald eyes and gently reaches over to give him a quick wash behind the ears. Being the rebellious boy that he is, he pulls back to avoid the sweeping motions of her tongue and calls out a tiny kitten protest. His sharp movements and crying disturb the rest of the pile and soon there are six kittens trying to escape bath time. Their father jumps down from his perch atop the human’s lap and helps his mate wrangle the kittens.

“Now, now” he says with a stern voice, “None of that! We’ve told you today is a big day and you all have look and act your best.”

Four of the litter instantly start squeaking out a steady line of questions without waiting for any answers, “Why’s it so important? What’s happening? Do we really need a bath? Can I have an extra breakfast?”

The other two kittens, one orange and one calico, try to hide from their parents by…hiding under each other…it didn’t work. Eventually the parents managed to gather all six together for a bath and tried to prepare them for the big day ahead. For today was the day families would be coming in hopes of adopting these precious balls of floof. A sad and happy day, all in one.

A shrill screech sounded far off in the distance, a train whistle, their parents had told them. The orange kitten flattened his ears at the sound and vowed he would never go near such a rude and noisy creature.

Some time later there came many sounds at the front door as several families were escorted in and started talking in loud and excitable voices. The kits’ parents pulled the young ones close for a great big hug, then jumped up to the fireplace mantle and sat next to various ribbons and trophies. You see, the parents were both prized show cats. The kittens didn’t know what this meant, but they were sure impressed by it.

Soon the living room became a circus of kittens running every which way, human kittens chasing after them screaming “here kitty kitty!”, adult humans trying not to step on any of the little ones, even more people coming and going…chaos! One kitten in particular was staying as far away from the action as he could, hiding his bright orange coat in the shadows next to the fireplace. At first he hid because he didn’t want the little humans grabbing him, but as the day continued he noticed that there became fewer and fewer of his siblings around. As the humans left…they were taking his littermates with them!! He became terrified of what was happening and squeezed himself as far back into the shadows as he could.

Eventually there were only him and one calico sister left. Feeling relieved that he had not escaped the madness alone, he left his hiding place to find his parents and demand an explanation. He was about halfway across the living room floor when…another sound at the door came! They were back! He raced across the floor to his sister and pulled on her tail to try and get her to hide.

“Let go of me!” she laughed and pounced on him, mistaking his intentions.

“Hurry! Hurry!” he panted, “Their going to take us away!” Too late, one more human male and his kit had come in. He turned tail and ran back to his hiding place, leaving his sister to trot up to them and meow innocently. The large human reached down and picked her up, turning her in his hands and inspecting her closely as she playfully swatted at him and giggled. The poor, scared, lonely orange brother laid his ears flat and wished he was back in the warm pile of fur with his brothers and sisters. Bits and pieces of the human’s conversation floated over to him “…train was late…daughter has few friends…seems depressed…needs someone to take care of…” none of it made any since to the poor boy, and it didn’t explain where his family had gone either.

He peeked his head out from the corner and tried to catch the eyes of his mom and dad, but he caught the eye of the human kitten instead…and it started walking towards him! He curled up tighter and tried to disappear, but two hands reached out and slowly picked him up.

He twisted and fought the hands that struggled to hold him, he squeezed his eyes shut and cried for his mother to protect him like she used to. The human kitten held him close to her body as she turned and carried him to the others. He refused to be examined like his sister, no matter what he would not be handed over! I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t! He opened his jaws wide and bit down on the hand holding him…hard. The human kitten gasped and stopped walking, but she didn’t put him down. The hands continued to hold him, and he realized something…they were very soft hands. He opened his eyes a crack, then a bit more, then all the way. Staring into a pair of soft brown eyes.

The human kitten didn’t say anything, didn’t scream, didn’t tighten her grip, didn’t do anything, except look at him. It was her lack of reaction that made him feel guilty about biting her. He slowly pulled his teeth away from her hand and gently licked at the tiny red holes he had left there. She still didn’t say anything to him, yet, he got the feeling she forgave him. She gave a small smile and pulled him close to her shoulder. Her hair fell over her shoulder and tickled his nose. It was almost the same color as his fur, a little more red though.

“Daddy” she said softly, “This is the one for me. Can it please be this one?”

“You sure Penny?” His voice was low and rough, not all that pleasant to the kitten’s ears.

Penny nodded and gave the little kitten a kiss on the head. “I even know his name”

“Well, alright then.”

While he had been out the house before (they had a family trip to the vet not long ago), it was quite the frightening experience for the little kitten. There was so much noise and people and metal monsters rolling down the lanes. Horrifying! He shivered against Penny’s shoulder as she carried him through town, refusing to leave her side for even a second. Frozen with fear is probably more accurate.

She tilted her head to nuzzle his back with her cheek, “It’s ok Skimbleshanks, we’ll be home soon.” He had no idea what a “Skimbleshanks” was…other than it was a funny sounding word. Eventually they came to a great building with many people running to and fro. Sitting in the middle was a giant metal monster that belched black smoke from the top of its head. It suddenly gave a very familiar screech, it was the monster he used to hear when he curled up to go to sleep! But wasn’t far away this time, it was right in front of him!

“Wait!” he yelled at Penny! “That thing’s a monster! Where are we? Why are you taking me towards it? Help!!! Help!!!” He started to struggle in her grasp.

“Calm down, it’s okay, it’s okay. Nothing to be scared of.”

“Nothing to be scared of?! You’re carrying me towards a monster!”

Rough hands yanked him away from Penny and stuffed him in a small crate. “Daddy! He’s scared enough as it is. He needs me to hold him.”

“You can hold the carrier dear. If he jumps down, we’ll never find him in this crowd.” Now he wished he hadn’t struggled so much. Penny’s soft hands were better than this box, but at least they had stopped moving towards the mons- he spoke to soon. He kept screaming his protests as they made their way towards one of the many mouths along the side. Closing his eyes tightly, he prepared to be eaten.

Only when much of the sound had quieted did he dare open his eyes again. They were…in a hallway? How did they escape the monster? They passed many doors and would briefly step outside only to find themselves back inside again. What kind of place is this?

The rough voice of the tall human broke the silence, “You get him settled, I’ve got work to do.”

Penny hummed her acknowledgement and passed through another door, into a tiny room. “My daddy’s very important on this train. We get a car all to ourselves. This is where I live Skimble, he lives next door” She set his carrier down and opened the little door. “Come look” He cautiously stuck his head out and glanced around. Not nearly as big as where he grew up, but big enough for two kittens, even if one was a human kitten.

As night approached he felt safe enough to come out of the carrier and sniff around. He suddenly arched his back and hissed as the ground started to move beneath him. “That’s just the train moving Skimble, it won’t hurt you” Penny giggled at him and smoothed down his fur.

“Wait…are we inside the monster?”

She ignored his question and climbed onto a small bed. Patting the space next to her she called him over and said it was bed time. Never one to pass up on a good nap he struggled onto the bed next to her and laid down. She wrapped and arm around him and pulled him in close. Kissing the top of his head she whispered

“Goodnight Skimble”.

The rocking of the monster was surprisingly soothing. He was soon drifting off to sleep next to his new sister. Until a sudden thought rudely woke him up again. Hold it…Skimbleshanks is my name? Are you serious?!

The days passed quickly and turned into months. Skimbleshanks (still getting used to that name) grew quickly. His kitten fur soon turned into the beginnings of a proud, long orange coat like his father had. He still missed his family, but Penny was quickly becoming so much more to him.

Dodging the human’s legs became a daily occurrence, after he learned how to leave his and Penny’s room of course. He now knew enough to not let any of them try and grab him, they would try to throw him off the train. There was a strict “no stray” policy. Eventually one of the regular passengers was kind enough to make him a little vest. Skimble didn’t like it at first, but he soon learned it was the only thing that let people know he was allowed to be there. Eventually, he began to feel very important in his little vest. After all; everyone would point at him and whisper “that’s Skimbleshanks…the train’s most important crewmember…big name for a small cat.”

At any other time of day he would open his eyes wide and show everyone his bright green eyes. The passengers seemed to really like his eyes. But not right now, there was no way he could be late! The time was drawing closer as he raced through the train cars. Can’t be late, can’t be late, can’t be late. He kept repeating to himself. He had earned a few jobs and responsibilities while walking up and down the length of the train, but none were as important as the one he was racing towards. Zigzagging around parcels, legs, other pets, a mouse…he’d be back for that one…he began panicking that he wasn’t going to make it. It’s almost time…I have to run faster…can’t be late…not for this…anything but this. Skidding to a halt in front of the room he and Penny shared, he entered the room and saw that he was right on time.

“Perfect timing Skimble, I just finished setting up” Penny’s cheerful voice brought his heart’s beating back to normal, so relieved he hadn’t failed her. He sauntered up to the small table she had prepared and nosed at the little tea cup there. Evening tea was EXTREMELY important! You could NOT go to sleep without it!

Licking up the warm liquid always made Skimble happy. Though; he wasn’t sure if it was the tea itself, or just listening to Penny talk to him like she could understand his meows and purrs. He knew she couldn’t, but he sometimes wondered…

Penny finished her tea and changed into her nightclothes while Skimble was still working on his cup. (Give him a break! It’s a lot of tea when you’re smaller than a loaf of bread!) When he finally finished, he jumped onto the bed beside her and looked at the journal she kept. It was a journal of the stories various passengers would tell her. Penny kept track of them all and told Skimble that the two of them were gonna do them someday. She called them “extreme sports”. He couldn’t figure out what was so extreme about writing in a book, but he didn’t want to disappoint her, so he would look at the pages with interest and meow his approval.

As Penny’s yawns got bigger and bigger, he nuzzled her cheek and told her to get some sleep. She stretched up to put the journal back on its shelf. While she did that, Skimble took the opportunity to run around the room. He stuck his nose into every nook and cranny. Checked under the bed, the crack in the wall, out the window, everywhere a monster could possibly hide. Some of the other children would tell stories of monsters hiding in their rooms back home. Skimble had never seen a monster other than the train (which he was still convinced was alive), but he wasn’t taking any chances. He climbed back onto the bed after Penny had laid down, and positioned himself on her back. He would keep watch all night, protecting her from anything that dared get to close to his precious child…that was the plan anyway. Every night, he ended up snoring louder than the train before five minutes had passed.

Chapter Text

The noisy train chugged along the tracks towards its current destination. The crew onboard was hard at work; from the engineer shoveling coal into the hungry furnace, to the train master’s daughter, Penny, doing her schoolwork in her little boxcar. Only one member was shirking his responsibilities, a little orange cat. Skimbleshanks, to be precise. He had decided to take a break from hunting the mice in the passenger car, and instead opted to take a nap in the warm engine room. At the moment the train was traveling through tall mountains, their snowy peaks sent chilling winds down upon the locomotive. Although Skimble had lost his kitten coat, his thick adult fur wasn’t as full as it would be in the future.

“All the humans get to bundle up in extra layers,” he grumbled to himself, “they won’t even let me wear my vest just cause it’s laundry day.” He curled up tighter under the engineer’s bench (so he wouldn’t have to worry about being stepped on), and shifted as close as he dared to the hot engine. Normally he would’ve jumped up on Penny’s lap and leaned into the ear scratches she eagerly gave as she poured over her workbooks. For some reason she had kicked him out of their room and wouldn’t let him in, no matter how much he bawled at the door. One of the porters finally shooed him away, and that’s how he ended up trying to sleep next to the smelly coal.

Oh well…at least I’m not in charge of feeding the train, he thought as he laid his brown tail over his nose and closed his eyes. As always, the constant motion of the train soon sent him into a deep sleep…unfortunately it wasn’t a very long sleep. Hitting a bump! The train jumped a small bit off the tracks before continuing on its way. The coal bin rattled on its wheels and sent a pile of coal spilling into the engine room, right on top of a familiar orange cat. Skimble leapt to his paws and hit his head on the bench!

“Gah!! What did you do that for?!” He hissed at the engineer who was too busy cleaning up the coal to notice the angry green eyes staring at him. “Humph! That does it! I’m going to our room and Penny’s NOT going to keep me out!” With that, he turned tail and began trudging through the train cars, back to his den.
He could smell the coal dust that stuck to his fur and shook his head to clear his nose. “Now I’m gonna need to spend another two hours grooming myself…Sigh…do these humans think gorgeous fur like this happens on its own?” He ignored the strange looks of the passengers as he padded around their luggage. One lady nearly kicked him away as he brushed against her leg while he was passing her. “Hey now!” he yelled at her “what’s gotten into you?!” He quickly realized that every passenger was doing their best to avoid him. His fur began to stiffen as he continued on his way. You’d think none of them have ever seen a cat before. He was not having a good day.

The welcoming sight of his home’s door was made even better when he saw that it was propped open to let him in.

“Penny” he meowed when he got inside “I’m so happy to see you, you won’t believe how badly my nap went.”

Penny turned around in her chair with a big smile. “Hi Skimble! Happy birth - What happened to you?!” Her shocked face almost made him turn tail back out the door, but this was his Penny, why she not be happy to see him?

He sat patiently as she got up and came over to pick him up. Holding him at arms’ length she grimaced “gross” and carried him over to the wash bin. Now, there were very few things that he wouldn’t do for Penny, and anything involving water was most of them. He thrashed and twisted in her grasp to try and free himself.
“I can bathe myself! Let go!” He finally somersaulted to the floor and made a dash for the door. Until, that is, he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror hanging on one wall. Instead of seeing a beautiful orange coat; he saw a half black, half filthy orange coat. “What the…” He lifted up one paw and began fiercely licking away the offending black mess. “Plegh! Blagh!” He spat out every mouthful. This coal dust was awful! Penny hurried to grab him before bolted out the door. Only precious seconds remained for him to decide; take the time to lick all this grossness off, or take a water bath with Penny.

He relented as she grabbed him again and placed him in the small tub. He stiffened his legs as the lukewarm water surrounded him. He growled and groaned in protest, but he stayed put and allowed her to put soap on his fur, working it in to form a nice lather. “Don’t let that stuff get my eyes Penny!” He called as she lathered up his ears and neck.

An eternity later, she pulled him out the water and looked him all over. Satisfied there was no more dust on him, she grabbed a big fluffy towel and wrapped it around his dripping form. Like with the soap, she rubbed all up and down his body. A stray soap bubble landed on his nose “Achoo!”

“Bless you”

“Humph. That was not a pleasant experience.”

Finally satisfied, Penny threw the towel in the laundry pile and picked up her grumpy cat. “Oh poor baby, your shivering” She opened the buttons of her coat and pulled him close to her chest. As he pressed against her, desperate for warmth, she buttoned the coat back up and rested her chin on the top of his head as peeked over the collar. “Good boy. As I was saying, today’s my birthday, which means it’s your birthday cause you were my present for my 10th birthday last year.” Skimble just turned his head and sneezed again. “Don’t be like that. Here, I got you a present.” And she walked to the bed.

Sitting over on the covers was a tiny box with ribbon around it. Skimble’s eyes grew wide as he stared at the ribbon. If he wasn’t so cold and wet he’d run over and tangle himself in it. Plus, it was actually kinda nice sitting inside Penny’s jacket, he wasn’t ready to leave just yet. He then watched in horror as she took off the ribbon and tossed it aside like it was nothing!

“Hey!” he yelled in her ear, “why’d you throw away the best part?” As usual, she ignored him. “You know, just because I can’t talk doesn’t mean you can’t listen.” A small tinkle sound brought his eyes back to the box. Sitting in it was a fancy collar. He had never had one, but the pets that rode the train with their owners always wore these. He even had a vague memory of his parents wearing ones that had sparkling stones on the side. This one didn’t have any stones, but it had a shiny bell on it. Penny held it up so the bell was in front of his eyes.

“Now everyone will know when you’re patrolling the hallways, so they can be on their best behavior” Penny explained as she fastened it around his neck. Not so easy when you consider he was still in her jacket and he kept turning his head to try and see the bell.

She finally stood in front of the mirror and let Skimble admire himself. He lifted his chin and looked his collar. (And tried to avoid looking at his wet fur just beyond that) "It’s as shiny as my teeth. Almost as good as ribbon."

When he had finally dried off he started grooming himself in front of the mirror. Penny had tried to brush him earlier, he appreciated it, but there was no groomer like a cat tongue. When he again looked astonishing, he sat up and looked at his collar again. Giving his head a little shake, he heard the clear sound of the bell and watched the light reflect off the silver surface. "I am one stylish cat."

Chapter Text

Up…down…up…down…in…out…in…out…Skimbleshank’s green eyes moved up and down very slowly, following the movement of the needle that Penny was working with as it went in and out of the fabric of his vest. The hole that had been put there by a loose nail was slowly becoming smaller while he sat on the floor…watching…waiting…He knew it would happen. It happened every time Penny tried to sew something. All he had to do was be patient. Finally, “Plop” The thimble that had been loosely perched on her thumb had fallen off and began rolling across the floor.

“I got it I got it I got it!” Skimble yelled as he chased it around the chair leg. A quick whack of his paw sent the tiny instrument towards the opening door, which then sent it flying underneath the dresser. “Mine!” He called as he dove under the low opening, trying to reach it before it had slid to the back where it would be lost until the end of time.

“Hi daddy” Penny greeted the man that had sent the thimble deep into the darkness.

“Hm. Where’s that cat of yours?”

“Hunting the thimble” she giggled as she pointed at the dresser. Skimble could only squeeze under the cabinet up to his shoulders; so his rear was all that was visible as he stretched his front paws, blindly searching for his prize.

“…That’s not something you expect to hear coming into your daughter’s room” He sighed heavily as he grabbed Skimble by his hips and pulled him out.

“What are you doing?!” the dusty cat protested “I almost had it!”

“What are you doing daddy? He won’t be happy until he gets the thimble.”

“The thimble isn’t going anywhere”
The reply caused a snort from Skimble, “That’s what they want you to think Penny’s dad.”

“Besides, the train’ll be stopping soon for maintenance and he needs to get his shots while we’re here.” He quickly realized he should have waited until he had put Skimble in the cat carrier before saying that. The furry bundle began twisting and wriggling as he struggled to avoid being pushed into the narrow box. “Penny! Help me get him into the carrier!”

“Penny! Help me escape going into the carrier!”

…You can guess whom she listened to...

A short time later, the three of them were heading towards the forbidden building. A place where strangers mess with your fur, put sharp needles into your behind, press cold gadgets of all sorts to your bare skin, and…and…and…

“Don’t be scared Skimble.” Penny’s cheery voice cut through the cloud of fear in his head. “The vet will make sure you’re all nice and healthy.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one about to get a needle in their butt.” He humphed. As they entered the building and sat down, he decided to change tactics. He
laid his ears down low, opened his eyes wide, hunched his shoulders weakly and looked up at her, clearing his throat. “Penny” He said in a small and innocent voice “can we please go home now?” She reached a hand inside the carrier and rubbed his cheek. Well, that didn’t work. “Sigh. Fine. But I don’t have to like it.”

As much as he didn’t like the vet, he knew cooperating would get it over with quicker. He came out of the carrier and sat on the scale, which was not accurate at all! He was NOT that heavy! “Bloody equipment doesn’t even work” he grumbled as they shined a light in his eyes. He stuck out his tongue when they stuck their fingers in his ears. “Don’t push your luck!” was kinda hard to say as they opened his mouth to check his teeth, but he managed.
It had to happen sooner or later, Skimble was hoping for later. Several needles were brought to the table, and they were all for him. His confidence finally failed him as he tried to hide in Penny’s arms. She came to his rescue by lifting the bottom of her jacket a little to let him hide his head inside. Crouching down, he shivered as his rear was held steady by the assistant. A whine escaped his lips as he was given his shots one by one.

Finally…the most wonderful words in the world… “All done”

Penny pulled her jacket away from her body a little more and Skimble darted up until just his tail was hanging out the bottom. He was so scared he didn’t even poke his head over her collar like normal, just coward inside as everyone talked beyond his cotton shield.

The walk back to the train was infinitely better; Penny let him stay in her jacket, they were heading home, and they were heading away from the vet.

His courage returned with the train, and he crawled out of their shared jacket and began weaving around the benches of the passenger car. The train’s maintenance wasn’t scheduled to be finished for another few hours, so there were few people in the car. Penny made a quick trip to her room to get Skimble’s vest, then decided to return to the main car to meet some of the passengers.

She chose a seat across from a young couple that looked nice enough. The woman was quite happy to chat with Penny as she finished closing the hole in the vest. The man wasn’t rude; it’s just that he was so focused on writing something in his journal, he didn’t notice their guest.

“Come here Skimble, I’m finished.”

Her call finally distracted the man from his writing. “Huh?”

“Oh, sorry sir. I was calling my cat. Skimble, where is Skimble?” A meow came from her feet. “Oh, there you are.” She quickly fastened the vest around him and tossed her thimble down on the floor for him to play with. Now, Skimble hadn’t known she’d been sewing. Suddenly having a thimble come out of nowhere was quite exciting, and he eagerly began chasing it down.

The man was noticeably confused, “I didn’t think pets were allowed to roam the train.”

“Honey, he works on the train. We talked about it while you were in your own world.”

He was still confused. “That’s strange…but interesting” He flipped to a blank page in the journal and began scribbling notes again. “What does he do?”

As Penny recounted the “Tales of the Railway Cat”, Skimble had chased the thimble to the back of the car. It rolled under a mountain of luggage that had yet to be put away. He looked at it disapprovingly, he easily saw that it wasn’t stacked properly. Even if it was temporary, it still needed to be done right. He’d have to watch the bagmen next time, they always tried to rush through their jobs to get back to their card games. He carefully began squeezing his way under the pile to get that bloody thimble.

Penny didn’t like the look of the luggage pile either, but she liked that Skimble was crawling into it even less. “Sorry Mr. Elliot, I gotta go check on something.” Just as she stood up, the pile came down.

CRASH!

“Skimble!!!”

“…Unbelievable…” The fog surrounding the cat’s head began to clear and he recognized the blurry image of the vet. But the words were still coming slow and
difficult. “…Weren’t we here…just an…an…um…not long ago…” His hips were sore, and his left back leg felt like it wasn’t there. He tried to lift his head to look, but the effort made him dizzy and he laid back down again. He could barely hear his name being spoken, somewhere, out in the void. A familiar redhead came into his view and he tried to focus on her. “Penny…what…happened..?” As the voices around him continued to mumble, he fell back into the comfort of sleep.

When he awoke again, much of the fog around his mind had lifted. His vision was crisp and clear, and showed that he was back in his room with Penny. His ears told him the train was moving, and it was probably night (he couldn’t hear people moving about). His hips still hurt terribly and he still couldn’t feel his leg. Lifting his head was not any easier than it had been earlier, but he was determined. He finally noticed Penny dozing off at his side. He hated to wake her, but he needed to see what had happened. Plus, it didn’t look like she wanted to be asleep, she hadn’t even changed into her sleeping shirt.

He stretched out a paw to set it on her knee, and meowed loudly. It took a few tries, but she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Lighting the lantern, she leaned down and gave him a gentle hug.

“I was so scared.” Tears started to dampen his fur as she pulled his front half towards her. “When we moved all the suitcases off you…I thought you were dead.” She tried to say more, but her crying made it impossible.

“I’m not dead. It’s ok, I’m ok” He gently licked her cheek to try and calm her down. He hated seeing her this sad. While he did remember chasing the thimble under the pile of luggage…he couldn’t remember anything after…except pain…his leg… “Penny, what happened to my leg?”

She seemed to understand his question and sat up again, allowing him to try and twist his neck to look at the rest of his body. He was so stiff; he could barely turn around. “The vet said you were very lucky. You mostly got a bunch of bruises.” She gently petted him from neck to stomach. “But one of the boxes landed on your hip weird and pulled out your leg.”

“…Pulled…Out…?” No amount of sore or stiff muscles could stop him from twisting up to look at his rear. His tail was fine, thank heavyside layer. His right back leg seemed ok, but he couldn’t see his left. Well, he could see his toes, but not the rest. It was wrapped tightly in white clothe that held it close to his body, preventing any movement. “Oh! Thank Everlasting Cat…It’s still there. I thought it was gone.” He leaned around to start licking at the wrap (he wanted to examine his leg further).
Penny quickly reached out and pushed his head away. “Stop that! If you lick at it, the vet said I have to put this on you,” and she held up a hideous white thing.

“Um. That looks like it goes on a lamp, not a cat.” He laid his ears flat as feeling began to come back into his injured leg. It itched something fierce. Scratch…cone thing…scratch…cone thing…

The next few weeks were awful! Periods of fighting his own willpower not to scratch the blasted bandage, and periods of him hiding in their room with a lampshade around his neck. But; eventually, the cast came off and he was able to get around without limping. Penny made it up to him by scratching his rear for hours…that was glorious!

You can bet that he NEVER again allowed the bagmen to incorrectly stack the luggage. He would sit there and stare at them until they did it right. If they didn’t, he’d jump into the middle of their card game knock everything off the table. Lazy buggers.

Time passed and Skimble’s feeling towards thimbles had changed slightly. A thimble first sent him to get shots; then one cause a mountain to fall on him. I knew these things were evil. He still leapt into action whenever he saw someone drop one; but now he would bat it under furniture or into a vent where no one could reach.
He’d then stick his nose after it and yell “And don’t come back you little dobber!”

Word quickly spread that female passengers needed to leave their sewing supplies at home.

Chapter Text

The strong scent of tea filled Skimbleshank’s nose as he rummaged through the many packages in the box. A sniff here, a wiff there, which one did he want? There were so many choices that day.

“Mmm, Chamomile. Oh, Peppermint. Gasp! We got more Earl Grey!” Skimble knew the scent of each and every one. Over the past few years he had become quite the connoisseur of tea. “Hmm. Today…there’s a big day ahead, I better not go with Sleepy Time Lemon.” He kept nosing around in the box, lifting his head only briefly as the cook came into the dining car.

“Morning Skimble. Yer up offly early. Glad to see ye keeping to yer box instead of
searching through the people box like ye used to.”

“I haven’t done that since I was a kitten, get over it already. Score! This is exactly what I
need!” He grabbed his prize and dashed off to his room. “Penny” He mumbled through a mouthful of tea. “I got our morning tea...Plegh…Can you cook it up?”

“What’d you choose this time?” Penny got up from her desk and grabbed the tea from where he dropped it. “Spiced Chai Black Tea. Awesome.” She tossed it into the already boiling kettle and returned to her chair. Skimble hopped up next to her and looked at the open notebook on the desk. “Are you ready for our first real adventure?”

“Totally. Although I would prefer that I didn’t end up in a cast like last year. Stupid pile of luggage.”

“Hehe. Hopefully you won’t end up in a cast like with that luggage pile last year.”

“…Are you sure you can’t understand me?” Penny got up and grabbed the tea kettle.
“Nope…you can’t understand me.” Pretty soon he had a hot cup of tea sending steam up his nose, and all was forgiven. “So” he asked between mouthfuls, “what are we doing again?”

Penny reached over and scratched him behind an ear. “I’m so excited! We’re finally old enough to get started on our list!” She took a sip of her tea as she thumbed through the pages of the journal she’d been keeping for years. “Finally getting started on our dreams.”

“And dreams are even better when you’re awake for them.” He licked the last few drops from his cup and stretched out. “Gotta stay limber.” His ears pricked up, “the train’s pulling into the station we should get going.”

“Oh! Skimble! We’re coming to the station! Let’s go!” She grabbed her jacket and sipped it up over Skimble. He stuck his head over the collar and let his tail hang out the bottom. He tried not to dig his claws into her shoulder too much, just enough to stop him from falling out. Grabbing the journal, Penny ran out the car and leapt to the platform as the train came to a gentle stop.

Skimble was grateful to be safely tucked away in Penny’s jacket, there were an awful lot of feet rushing around this station. Especially for so early in the morning.

“Penny!” They both turned around to face Penny’s father.

“Hurry dad! You promised!” She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. “We wanna get going.”

He walked toward them without hurrying, “You have plenty of time. We do this my way, or no way.”

Skimble laid his ears down and glanced up at Penny. She lowered her eyes to his, and they both sighed heavily. “Fine” she grumbled as she waited for her father to catch up.

Together the three of them walked out of the station and to a small bicycle shop. The bikes lined up out front cast odd shadows in the light of the sunrise.

The owner gave a few curious glances at the cat ears sticking out of Penny’s jacket as he led them to the rental options. They picked a small bike that came with a basket for Skimble to sit in. As he tested out the basket’s comfort level, Penny wobbly peddled back and forth in front of the shop.

“Alright Penny.” Her dad pulled her to a stop. “The train is scheduled to leave at –”

“8pm sharp, I know.”

“Ok. You have to return the bike before you come back to the train.”

“I know”

“Keep your purse hidden. Watch out for pick pockets”

“I will”

“Don’t go down dark alleys”

“I wont”

“If you get lost –”

“Dad! I’m keeping my money in my inner coat pocket. My watch is all wound and ready.
I have my route mapped out right here.” She pulled out a small map with a red line drawn all over. “I’m thirteen! Skimble and I can handle this.”

“Don’t worry Penny’s dad” Skimble sat up and pawed at the map. “I’ll keep us on track.”

“Ok Penny.” He patted her shoulder. “I trust you. I do have one more rule for you.” He pulled out one of those new portable Kodak cameras from an inner pocket. “I demand lots of pictures.”

“Wow! That’s so cool!” She hugged him tightly and held the camera at arms length.

Turning it around she pulled Skimble close. “Smile”

Skimble stretched out his neck to nose at the camera. “What is that thing?” *Flash* “Ah! My eyes!” He blinked rapidly to clear his vision. “Note to self…strange thing has a bright light.”

Stuffing the camera into the basket next to Skimble, Penny grabbed the handlebars tightly and began peddling down the street. Her father called out a few more rules…they went unheard…as they turned a corner and rode out of sight.

The map with their carefully planned route was clenched tightly between Penny’s hand and the handlebar. Carefully lifting her hand, she placed it in the basket between
Skimble and the camera. “Here Skimble, you be the navigator.”
He blinked his eyes a few more times and shook his head to clear the remaining spots the flash had created. “No worries lass. Just, tell me where we are again.” He hung his head over the edge of the basket and watched the people walking down the lanes. He tried to listen to their conversations, they were speaking a language he heard on the train. But he never bothered to learn it, the passengers couldn’t hold a conversation with him anyway.

The shaking of the bike slowly became steady as Penny became more confident and peddled faster. “This might not be the most ‘extreme’ thing on our extreme sports list, but I’m glad that we’re able to do this.”

“Me too. It’s nice to get off the train and feel the wind in your whiskers. It’s nice and quiet, being away from the station. A change of pace is always – A tea shop! Can we stop?” They didn’t stop. “Sigh” He leaned his head back and sniffed at the bell sitting on the bike frame.

Pulling over in the shade of a large tree, Penny pulled out the map and held it for both of them to see. “One of the passengers a while ago, told me of a bike race that people from all over the world participate in. He called it the ‘Tour de France’. I really wanted to do that, but I don’t think there’s enough time for us to bike all over France.”

“Hm. How many croissants would we have to eat if we biked all over France? That would take some serious butter.” He nibbled a little on the edge of the map because…he’s a cat.

“We can’t do the whole race, so I made our own race. I call it the tour de Paris. Let’s see…” she fingered the red outline and followed its path, glancing up every few seconds to orient herself. “Train is here, bike shop here, we’re here, turn that way…okay.” Sticking the map back in the basket, she started the bike rolling forward again.
The day passed by slowly. Not the dragging, boring, has time stopped; kinda slow. This was the peaceful, relaxing, time to think; kinda slow. The weather was kind and the streets and pathways were fairly clear of people. They peddled through parks, across bridges, under archways and between buildings. Every so often they’d pull off to the side to take a picture (Skimble closed his eyes for most of them).

Around 2pm saw Penny walking alongside bike, pushing it along a beautifully groomed lawn with well defined pathways. At her heals trotted Skimble; his tail held high and nose breathing in deeply, taking in the new scents all around. He looked at the lawn with longing. Oh, how he wanted to stretch out on the sun-soaked grass and nap ‘til evening. But Penny kept walking towards her goal at a brisk pace, and he did not want to get left behind.

He meowed at her “Can we take a minute break? That grass is calling me.”

“Look Skimble, here it is.” The large structure they had been moving towards seemed to suddenly loom large over them. “The Eiffel Tower. It’s huge! Wow…” She propped up the bike and grabbed the camera. “…Isn’t it cool Skimble? Skimble? Skimble!” Panic rose in her chest for a few seconds as she turned in quick circles, looking for her beloved cat. “Where –” A bush rustled as a familiar orange head poked out from between the leaves.

“Can’t a cat get a little privacy?” He pulled his head back in and quickly finished his business.

After both of them felt relieved, for different reasons, they flagged down a stranger and got a nice picture of them under the tower. Penny then granted Skimble’s request to take a nap on the lawn. They sat there for a long while; Penny watching the people pass by and admiring the tower, Skimble admiring the inside of his eyelids.

Eventually her rumbling stomach forced Penny to stand and pick up her furry companion. “Come on buddy, let’s get some food.” Skimble let out a tiny whine at being disturbed, but he liked the idea of food. Even better considering he didn’t have to walk to it.

They dined at a quiet café. It took a little convincing, but eventually they convinced the owner that the cat did, in fact, want a cup of tea and a few pastries. They reluctantly agreed to bring his order, but he had to stay off the table. Skimble became quite the attraction after that. The other customers and passersby both stopped and stared at the strange cat. Skimble had hopped up onto the chair across from Penny, and leaned over to eat his sweets and tea without touching the table at all. He brought so much attention to the business that the owner brought him an extra pastry, no charge.

With full bellies and a nearly full camera roll, they climbed back onto the bike and continued on their way. This leg of the journey took them past little stores with large window displays. Whatever basket space Skimble and the camera weren’t taking up, was soon filled with souvenirs. It became so full that Skimble had to sit on top of the trinkets and hang over the side of the basket a little.

“Uh, Penny…does this thing have weight limit?”

Thus far their journey had been relaxing and peaceful, and it remained that way for the rest of the day. Though full of new sights and experiences, nothing you or I would call “eventful” happened. But; it was more than enough for the young adventurers.

Evening fell and they returned the bike to the shop right on time. The two of them carried their new belongings (by them, I mean Penny) and walked the short distance to the waiting train. Although Skimble had enjoyed the new scents the city had provided, when he walked into the station, he breathed the familiar scents in deep. Happy to be home.

Much of the next hour was spent in the dining car, surrounded by the train’s crew. Penny told them every detail of their first big adventure, she left nothing out and kept referring to the pictures that had yet to be developed.

Skimble perched on the table (where he belonged!) and lapped up his tea as he listened to their day being retold. He only interrupted a few times, correcting a few details here and there. However, each correction only resulted in a crew member chuckling and a scratch under his chin. Better than nothing.

The questions finally ended when Penny and Skimble bid them all a goodnight and closed the door to their room.

“I can’t sleep tonight Skimble.” She mumbled as she started to unbutton her top. “I’m still so excited, how can I even try to sleep?”

“It’s easy. All you do is lay down, start to purr -” he turned and saw that Penny had greatly underestimated how much the day had worn her out. She lay diagonally across the bed, still dressed, breathing deeply as she biked through the land of dreams. He jumped up next to her and laid down with his head on her shoulder. Licking her cheek, he closed his eyes and jumped into the basket in her dreams.

Chapter Text

The Bookshop

It was quite the view outside the little bookstore in the Venice train station. A young girl with bright red hair was fighting to keep a cat, with an even brighter orange coat, hidden inside her jacket. Every time she managed to tuck his tail inside, he’d poke his head over the collar. Every time she pushed his head down, he’d stick a foot out the bottom.
“Come ON Skimble!” She grunted as they continued their struggle. “The sign says no pets. Do you want to go in with me or not?!”
“Come ON Penny!” The cat meowed back at her as he tried to climb on her shoulder. “Any store that won’t let me in doesn’t deserve us in the first place.”
They continued back and forth a few times until Penny finally managed to tuck her jacket in all around the furry lump. Smiling victoriously, she opened the door and inhaled the beautiful scent of books. Feeling Penny breath deep made Skimble’s mood even more foul, he liked the smell of books too. He couldn’t get that rich scent with the jacket in the way.
“I hope I make you look fat!” He knew she often got strange looks because of the furry lump he made. “Will you at least get a book for me?”
She placed a hand over where she thought his head was and rushed past the owner to the store’s back. As soon as they were safely out of the owner’s sight and far from the front door, Penny unbuttoned the top of her jacket to let her pouting cat breathe a little easier.
“Sorry buddy,” she whispered as quietly as she could. “I can’t let you out or we might get in trouble.”
Skimble stuck his ears up as best he could in the confined space and nosed at her chin. “Just because I can’t read doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be allowed around books.” She began skimming the shelf nearest her while he continued to gripe. “Is this because I chewed up the corner on that one book a while ago? I didn’t mean to eat the whole page! I had a tummy ache and paper makes me feel better.”
Penny laid her hand outside the jacket and stroked his back through it. “We shouldn’t be in here too long. Just need to find a good use for my birthday money.”
His anger faded as they wandered from shelf to shelf. The smell of old books penetrated the jacket and filled his nose. Sigh. Can’t stay mad forever, I guess. Can anyone really stay angry when they’re surrounded by the smell of books? A certain orange cat couldn’t. The only smell that he enjoyed more than books was that of brewing tea. Well, nothing smelled better than Penny of course, but tea and books were really good too. And the laundry hamper, it had a nice smell while he napped in it. Rain smelled nice as long as it didn’t touch him. Toast, bacon, raspberries; those smells always made his mouth water. Pies…fresh bread…a lot of food…Where was I going with this thought? I had a point…His nose twitched as he thought about broccoli. He didn’t like the smell or the taste. He lost himself in the world of smells from a distant past as Penny continued through the shelves.
Running her fingers over the bindings of the books gave her a strange thrill. She quietly whispered the various titles as her eyes roamed along the shelf. “The True Confessions of Charolette Doyle…The Princess Bride…The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon…Dracula…”
Remembering they were in a bookstore instead of the kitchen, Skimble flattened his ears down and dared to peak above the jacket’s collar. “Any about railroad cats?” He too let his eyes roam the length of the bookshelf, though, the words on the spines didn’t mean much to him. Nothing there spelled out his or Penny’s names, “train” or “kitchen”; and those were the only words he actually knew.
Footsteps caused the stowaway cat to duck back into the jacket, just in time for the owner to come around the corner and begin filling a few empty spaces with more books. Penny turned her head and gave the old gentleman a big smile before continuing her perusal of the book titles. With her head filled with books and Skimble’s head hidden in the jacket, neither one of them noticed the owner kept eyeing Penny with a suspicious look. Specifically, the lump in her clothes that was obviously hiding something.
“Lion Boy” She picked up the trilogy and fingered the binding. “This looks like the book for us!” Holding the book close to her chest, she re-buttoned her jacket and briskly walked to the front. The owner stood there whispering to a lady, his wife maybe. “Hi” she greeted as she handed the owner her chosen selection. “This trilogy please.” And she began counting out her birthday money next to the register.
“I need what’s in your jacket too.” The lady glared at Penny as she reached for the buttons.
“Wait! What?” Pulling back quickly, Penny avoided the lady but got her shoulders grabbed by the man.
“You got something stashed in there. Plain as the nose on my face” he growled. (Penny almost cracked a smile at that, because he did have a pretty big nose) “We don’t take kindly to thieves in this station. Either give back what you’ve taken or pay for it.”
Even though she was telling the whole truth, she found words just wouldn’t come. “I…I…I haven’t taken anything. Honest! I had this when I came in.”
“Dang Penny, even I didn’t believe that” Skimble mumbled from his (not so hidden) hiding place. He wanted to peak out and give a good glare to whomever was bothering his girl, but Penny told him to stay and so he would stay.
“Come on missy! Give it!” The lady grabbed at the buttons again. Penny couldn’t dodge with the man holding her in place.
“Let me go!”
That tore it. Skimble clawed out the narrow opening at the top and quickly took in the situation. Spiking up his fur he let out a hiss. A long and loud one. One that would send even the bravest cat lover reeling back a few steps. Or, in this case, force two shopkeepers to release their suspected thief and hastily retreat more than a few steps. He followed the hiss with a low growl. They retreated even further.
All the color drained from the man’s face while the woman’s turned red. “What is that thing doing in our shop?!” She forced out through clenched teeth.
“I never go anywhere without him. He’s my best friend.” Again, her true words came out wobbly and unconvincing.
“Vermin like that don’t belong indoors! They were born outside and they’ll stay outside!”
“Um…he was born indoors and he prefers– ”
The woman pointed an angry finger at Skimble’s even angrier face. “Either take that thing out of here or I will throw it out!”
Another hiss was the only reply.
Penny couldn’t tell whose claws were sharper, the woman’s or Skimble’s. She quickly fled through the door towards the familiarity of the sleeping train. Skimble maintained eye contact with the woman for as long as he could. He didn’t even let his fur lie flat until the door to their room had been closed and locked.
Penny dropped to the bed and Skimble finally jumped off her shoulder. He stared at the door and dared the woman to come looking for them. He crouched low and listened for approaching footsteps. None came.
Soft sniffles made him forsake his guard post in favor of the shaking lap next to him. Tears where silently rolling down her cheeks. He reached up and licked a few off.
“It’s ok lass. I know they scared you. But I’m here. They could never hurt you as long as I’m here.” He allowed her to wrap her arms around him in giant hug. She buried her face in his coat and breathed shakily.
“That was so scary Skimble. I didn’t know what to do.”
Despite his lingering anger, he began a gentle purr in hopes of soothing her. “That’s not a situation you should know how to handle. People should not behave like that to a wonderful person like you.” He turned to give her another lick before a thought came to him. “You dropped your coins by the money thingy and they didn’t give it back OR give you the books! Those thieves!” He began twisting out of her arms “I’m going back there right now to get your stuff. Just try and see them throw me out!”
“I thought they were really gonna hurt you.” Her voice was so quiet it almost went unnoticed. Almost. But he did notice it and stopped struggling. “Why did they look at you like that? What were they gonna do?”
He just rubbed his head against her cheek thoughtfully. “All I thought about was you. All you thought about was me. All they thought about was themselves. I think you and I are better off then they’ll ever be.”
They sat like that for a long while, each waiting for the other to calm down.
Relief finally came when the train began its journey again, placing distance between them and that awful shop. Soon after they had a pot of tea boiling and were letting their minds wander with a couple old books from the dresser. Penny’s book took her to the world of Narnia. Skimble’s book lay open on the bed and took him to the world of dreams as he curled up on top of it. All trouble forgotten as they continued on their journey. Both just happy to be near someone who loved them.

Chapter Text

Summon the Police
An orange cat wove his way skillfully between the legs of the train passengers as they made their way through the cars. He dodged this way and that, missing the clacking heels by less than one of his fiery hairs. But he held no fear. He did this every day. The only thing different about today, was that he was sporting a fancy new collar.
He held his head high and gave it the occasional shake to let the passengers hear his shiny new bell. This collar was made of soft leather, with gemstones embedded every half inch, and the bell was a brighter gold than he had ever seen. He felt even more beautiful than normal when Penny had buckled it on him this morning.
“Happy 5th anniversary Skimble. I’ve been saving up for this since I got you.” She was as proud about it as he was.
He returned to the present moment when a black bag was used like a crocket mallet to send him flying back a few feet. Springing to his paws with a hiss, he stared at the man that treated him as a common stray. Growling low in his throat he warned “There’ll be none of that on my train mister stranger!”
The man threw him an evil look and walked to his seat. Skimble stalked after him, “this passenger better not make things difficult for our regulars.” The man took his seat across from a lone woman. Skimble jumped into the empty space beside her and continued observing the man.
“Better get the bagmen to throw this flea-bitten heap off the train.” He grumbled when he noticed Skimble staring at him.
Both Skimble and the woman were taken aback by his harsh words and even harsher tone. “Um, he’s supposed to be here.” She began tentatively. “He belongs to someone who lives on the train. He’s kinda become a part of the crew.”
“That’s right mister!” Skimble huffed as he sat up straighter. “Name me one ‘flea-bitten heap’ with fur as nicely groomed as this, a vest as well made as this, or a collar as exquisite as this.” He lifted his head and gave the bell another shake.
The man didn’t respond, just stared at the collar. As much as Skimble loved attention and showing off his wonderful accessories, something about the way this man looked at him made his fur stand on end. He quickly jumped off the seat and headed towards his and Penny’s room, but not before he had thrown the man one last suspicious look.
As evening fell, he motioned for Penny to take his collar off along with his vest. Nice as it was, it was still new and stiff. He didn’t really want to sleep in it.
“I’m pretty tired Skimble” Penny’s words were distorted as she struggled to say them at the same time as a yawn. “I’m gonna hit the sack early tonight.”
“Well, I guess that’s ok. But I can’t sleep until I’ve made one last check from engine to caboose.” He turned around and walked out the door towards the front.
“I’ll leave the door open for you” she called to his tail as she propped the door open just a crack.
He made his way quickly to the front and checked that the engine was chugging along smoothly. After accepting a friendly pat from the engineer; he began trekking back towards the caboose, checking the passengers and cars along the way.
He did pause for a moment behind one of the guards. The guard was asking one of the passengers in the sleeper car how they liked their morning tea. Skimble knew this particular guard had a somewhat bad memory, and he didn’t see any notepad to record their answer. The guard almost tripped over Skimble after he closed the door.
“Hey! Watch where you’re sitting Shanks.”
Skimble just sat there staring at him (he didn’t like being called Shanks) until the man sighed. “I know, I know.” He pulled out a notepad and wrote down their morning order. A quick paw swiped the pen as he wrote down ‘strong tea’. Quickly he crossed it out and wrote ‘weak tea’, looking to Skimble for approval. Skimble dipped his head and continued on his final check, but over his shoulder he heard muttering behind him “I don’t know which is worse. Being corrected by a cat, or the fact he’s right.”
Everything seemed to be in order as he inspected the caboose. “Hm, quiet night. Just how I like it.” He opened his jaws in a yawn. “Time to curl up and go to sleep.” Heading towards home he wondered to himself ‘I didn’t see that strange passenger. Did he get a sleeper car? Did I just not notice him?’
He paused again as he passed through the luggage van. There was that bag the man had. It looked a little heavier than when he saw it earlier. He cautiously walked over to the bag and sniffed it. He didn’t make a habit of inspecting the luggage, what people traveled with was nobody’s business but their own. But there was something that just wasn’t right.
Something about that bag smelled…familiar. Nosing the bag again, he breathed in deep, trying to place the scent. “Smells like…home?...family?...ME!” Claws dug furiously at the zipper, trying to pull it back to reveal the contents. “That smells like MY collar! My beautiful new collar!” He finally grasped the zipper between his teeth and snapped his head back. The opening wasn’t big enough for him to fit, but it was big enough for his head to squeeze through. Plunging into the darkness, nose sniffing everything it encountered, dozens of different people scents washed over him. But nothing smelled like the man whose bag this was.
“Thief! I knew he didn’t smell right.” He tried to wiggle in deeper as he caught whiff of his collar. “There you are.” He opened his jaws wide to grab it, “Come to Skimble-” A pair of hands grabbed his middle and yanked him from the bag; his jaws clamped around something that was, sadly, not his collar.
One of the new bagman; Charles, if he wasn’t mistaken, held Skimble up to eye level. “Skimbleshanks! What do you think you’re doing ye mangy beast?! Stealing someone else’s belongings.”
He couldn’t respond with the…whatever…between his teeth.
Charles tucked Skimble under one arm, the burglarized bag under the other and carried them both out. “We’ll get to the bottom of this with yer little girl. Can’t believe they just let you roam around like this.” Skimble felt a rumble in his throat, how dare this man whose been riding the train less than a fortnight suggest they keep him locked up like an animal!
As they crossed into the passenger car, Skimble swiveled his head side to side, trying to find the owner of the bag. But he was nowhere in sight.
“Oh my!” A woman started as they passed by, “That’s my bracelet.”
“So that’s what I’m holding. Tasted expensive too.” He dropped the bracelet in her open hand.
Charles bowed low as he could while still holding both bundles. “I’m so sorry about that ma’am. Caught this little thief wriggling around in your bag.”
“My bag?” The lady glanced from Skimble, to the bag, to Charles. Confusion spread across her face. “I’m not traveling with a bag. I thought my bracelet just fell off after I boarded the train.”
Her confusion spread to Charles. Skimble just rolled his eyes. “But…then…who’s bag is-”
“I’ll take that if you don’t mind” a voice growled as a fist slammed into the back of poor Charles’ head, sending him and his bundles to the floor. Screams and gasps filled the car as the man Skimble recognized from before held a gun at the lady with the bracelet. He sneered as he snatched the bracelet from her. “I’ll take THAT too.” He fired a shot in the air, adding to the chaos, “SHUT UP!”
Skimble grabbed the bag strap in his teeth and tried to pull it away. Needless to say, it was way too heavy for him. He glanced up in time to see the man aim his gun at him. Releasing the bag, he dashed between the man’s legs and sprinted towards the train’s engine. “Plan B!” He called as he jumped the car gap. As he sprinted from car to car, the passengers and crew all seemed blissfully unaware of what was happening just a few cars away.
He made it to the engine just as the train began slowing down, letting out its whistling cry to announce its arrival to the station. Skimble took this moment to catch his breath as he planned out his next move. The man would surely try to dismount since he had been discovered. Should he alert the station’s crew? No. The man had a gun and he didn’t want them to get shot. Plus, he wasn’t sure of their level of bravery.
The station was rapidly approaching, but any idea as to what he could do wouldn’t appear. He panted hard from his sprint and from his nerves. “What do I do?”
As the brakes squealed in their effort to bring the enormous train to a stop, the wind brought a particular scent and sound to him. “Pollicle dogs.” He wrinkled his nose at the scent. “And a human whistle.” The gears in his mind turned as he tried to remember the significance of those two things. They were important. But how were they connected. “Wait…” He frantically tried to see the name of the station they were pulling into. “Where are we?” A big blue sign sat on the clock tower at the center of the station answered him. DUMFRIES. He twitched his whiskers as a plan formed.
“Stand back Skimble. I’m bringin’ her in.” The engineer called as he nudged Skimble away from the edge. He obediently backed away a few paces and readied himself for a dangerous leap. The moment the station platform came into view; he took a running start and jumped the narrow gap. “Skimble! Have you lost your furry little mind?”
The distance itself wasn’t the issue, but the train’s speed was still too fast for any sane cat to try and cross. But he was desperate. What if that man came back and pointed his gun at Penny? He landed awkwardly and tumbled a few feet before thudding against a guard’s leg.
“Bloody hell?” He looked down to see what had hit him, but Skimble was already up and running. Though, he kinda zig zagged here and there, dizzy from his ungraceful landing.
Head clearing, he bolted out of the station and took a sharp left down the street. Tail streaking behind him as he pumped his legs fast as they could go. Dumfries Station was known as being the safest station on the route. Because the police station was only two blocks away. And they had some wild police pollicles.
When the walls of the police kennels came into view, he clambered up the wall and scanned for any unchained pollicles. Frighteningly, there was one below him, outside the wall. The officer must have just left to go on his beat because this pollicle still had all his energy. He began jumping and scrabbling at the wall, trying to get the jellicle that had dared to enter his territory.
“You’ve got a lot of energy.” Skimble panted as he caught his breath. “Hope your human’s as fast as you are.” And he tore across the top of the wall back towards the station. The pollicle took off after him, dragging the poor policeman behind him. “Sorry officer.” Skimble called over his shoulder as he heard the man yelling for the dog to stop. “But your assistance is required at the station.”
He was delighted to see his trip to find the pollicle had taken less time than it took for the train to fully stop. The passengers were just beginning to exit their cars in orderly lines. ‘The man should still be in the fourth passenger car.’ He tried to ignore the jaws snapping a tail’s length away. ‘I’ve got to get to him before he disappears into the crowd.’
The three runners dashed through the station gates and sped towards the target car. Skimble lost a bit of speed as he nimbly dodged the passengers’ legs. Luckily the pollicle lost speed too, every pair of legs he barreled into kept him an even pace behind Skimble. Only the poor policeman, who had let go of the dog’s leash, couldn’t keep up through the crowd and fell further behind.
Eyes, ears and nose scanned the line of passengers as Skimble desperately tried to locate the thief before the pollicle caught up to him. Except for one problem, the man hadn’t come out and they were almost out of platform! He prepared to try and run up the side of the train. ‘Is that possible?’ Jellicles could run up a wall and swing through the trees, why couldn’t he run up a train? He bunched his muscles and prepared to take the first leap when he realized, the pollicle had veered away towards the line of passengers just exiting the train. Specifically, towards the thief.
The pollicle had forgotten all about chasing the jellicle when he had smelled gunpowder among the passengers. He regularly patrolled the station, and he knew that smell should not be there. He howled loudly as he ran towards the scent. The smell led him to a tall man walking briskly away from the crowd. He barked for the man to surrender his gunpowder and to alert his officer there was danger.
The thief took one look at the dog and sprinted in the opposite direction. ‘Anyone who runs from a police pollicle needs to be taken down’ the pollicle thought as he jumped at the man. He sank his teeth in the man’s thigh and shook his head to throw the man off balance. When the man fell, the pollicle tightened his grip and growled at the man. Daring him to fight back.
Heavy panting signaled the arrive of his human partner. Passengers yelled to the approaching officer, “Thief!” “He has a gun!”
Skimble watched with satisfaction as the officer and his pollicle took the man into custody. He sat perched on top of the sleeping car. (He could climb it after all.) He only came down after the officer led the thief AND the pollicle away. He jumped down to the platform with a grunt, his poor legs were so sore and his lungs burned. Winding his way through the curious crowd, he walked up to the station guard that was busy returning the stolen goods to their rightful owners.
“Oh, there you are cat.” The guard said when he noticed Skimble sitting patiently at his feet. “That officer told us how you led them here.” Most of the passengers leaned down to scratch his ear with appreciation.
“Good boy” “Clever cat” “Really brave of you to summon the police like that”
After soaking in the praise he so rightfully deserved, he stood on his hind legs and gently swiped at the bag of stolen goods.
“Got somethin’ in here do ya?” The guard set the open bag on the ground and let Skimble rummage around.
His collar finally clenched in his jaws, Skimble waved his long brown tail and headed towards the boxcar with his and Penny’s room. He made his way through the open door and pushed it closed with his shoulder. “No more people today.” Penny was deep in sleep, totally oblivious. Pushing off with tired hind legs, he jumped up to the bed and dropped his collar on the blanket. And then, promptly fell over in an exhausted heap of fur.
Penny eventually awoke to find Skimble laying on his back, legs stretched out every which way, tongue hanging out of his mouth as he snored loudly. Chuckling to herself, she reached out and rubbed a hand through his long belly fur. “Rough night buddy?” His only response was another snore.

Chapter Text

The Lost Kitten

Skimbleshanks swiveled his ears lazily as he lay in the small strip of sun that managed to break through the thick canopy of trees above. It was strange to him, not having the constant grinding of the train’s wheels against the track, but it couldn’t be helped at the moment. A recent rockslide had blocked the tracks and the crew was busily working to clear it. The train had been sitting silently in the forest for almost two hours, only the sound of picks and shovels coming from the front gave any indication that there was life beyond him and Penny.

As luck would have it, the train had stopped only a short distance from a small lake with plenty of fish in it. Well, it had few less fish since Penny had decided to try and catch enough to feed the crew.

“They deserve some fresh fish after working so hard out here.”

Skimble secretly thought she was just excited to try out the new fishing rod she had gotten for her 16th birthday last week. He remembered one of the “extreme sports” she had listed in her adventure journal was about men catching fish bigger than their own boats. But that was out in the ocean, not a tiny little lake. ‘I guess she’ll need to practice before trying to hook a really big one.’

He wondered if any cat had ever caught a fish that big before. He had managed to scoop out one big enough for him to snack on; but his paws got wet, scales stuck to his claws, and it flopped around after he threw it on the shore and smacked him a couple of times with its tail. After that he had decided to let Penny do the fishing.

Penny sighed and kicked her legs through the water. “I guess the fish are done biting. I don’t think we got enough for everyone though.”

“Did you get enough for me at least?” he asked as he eyed the bucket of fish cooling in the water. “That little minnow I caught didn’t fill me up like I’d hoped.”

She threw her arms above her head and fell back to the ground. “There were a lot of rocks on the track. There’s probably enough time for us to get a little bit of sleep.” She glanced over at Skimble, “what do you think? Should we head back or nap here?”

His reply came as a snore.

Chuckling to herself, she curled up next to him and closed her eyes. Sleep evaded Penny, but the foreign sounds of the forest seemed to grow louder as she lay perfectly still and perfectly quiet. Being surrounded by train noises her entire life, she relished this quiet time with an appreciation lost on most people.

Her guessing game about what animal was making what sound came to an abrupt halt when she heard a surprisingly familiar sound.

“mew”

A cat? She looked over at Skimble, he was still sleeping.

“mew”

A kitten. Penny got up as quietly as she could and tried to locate the source of the mewling. After crawling around for a few minutes, she finally saw a little brown nose peaking out from under a bush. She slowly crawled towards it and kept her voice quiet, “Hi there little one.”

The nose quickly disappeared into the bush. She reached her hand out and received a swipe from a very small paw. The cat’s claws were out, but the swipe was so weak that they didn’t even break the skin. A feeble hiss came from the bush when she reached in and felt around. She felt teeth before she felt fur, but the bite was even weaker than the claw swipe and she pulled the kitten out anyway.

It struggled and twisted in her grasp, but it just didn’t have the energy to break free. Now that she could see it clearly; Penny saw that it was scrawnier than any animal she had ever seen. After making sure there were no other cats hiding in the bush, she carried it back to the lake and grabbed a clothe from her supplies.

“Calm down. We’ll get you cleaned up then find something for you to eat. I don’t think Skimble will mind sharing some fish.” She glanced down at Skimble again. Still asleep.

Ignoring the small cat’s cries and struggles, she dipped the clothe in the lake water and rubbed her clean. Several layers of dirt later, she discovered the nose was white instead of brown. She now held a small, angry, wet, starving, white cat.

Penny used her toes to nudge Skimble awake, receiving a groan of protest from him. “Great, now I have two cats mad at me.” She nudged him more, “Come on Skimble move! You’ve slept in the sun long enough and this cat needs that warm spot more.”

Skimble widened his eyes in shock as he was pushed into the shade. They narrowed again as Penny set the new cat in the patch of sun.

The new cat was so hungry, tired and scared; that she couldn’t even try to run away. She just stared up at Skimble silently.

Watching her shiver with fear and cold made Skimble’s anger disappear and his features soften. ‘Ok, I guess she did need it more than me.’ He had a soft spot for kits anyway. He walked over and tried to lick the cat behind her ear in a sign of peace. A pathetically frail swipe across his nose was the other cat’s reaction. He was more upset than anything about how weak the swipe was. He lifted his paw and cuffed the cat across the ear. It was gentle, but the other cat was so frail it sent her to the ground. “None of that now lass! You’re obviously starving and we’re trying to help ya. Now sit still and let me dry you off.”

The small cat curled into herself as best she could and let Skimble lick her fur the wrong way to dry it. “My name’s Skimbleshanks by the way, call me Skimble. The one bringing you food is my girl Penny. I see you trying to swipe at her I’ll cuff you so hard those blue eyes will spin!”

“Here you go kitty” Penny placed one of the fish she had caught in front of the, now terrified, cat.

The look of fear in her eyes was very clear, but the rumble in her stomach was even louder. She dove right for the fish and devoured every last edible morsal. After the last bite, she saw Penny
setting down a bowl of cool lake water. She did the same thing to the water she had done with the fish. With the fish curbing her hunger, the water soothing her throat and the sun was warming her fur, she calmed down and looked up at the two strangers before her.

Skimble walked up to her again and touched noses. “You got a slight fever. You come with us and we’ll get that fixed. What’s your name kitten?”

A feeble and unused voice forced out, “…my…name…”, before she collapsed on the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

“Oh no! Poor kitty!” Penny gasped as she picked up the limp form and checked that she was still breathing. “Hm, she seems ok enough. I guess she was just exhausted.” They quickly packed up their fishing gear and carried everything back to the train.

They kept the new kitten in their cabin and tended to her constantly. It was several days before she woke up to the train’s whistle as it pulled into a station.

Skimble was busy licking water from his bowl when he heard a stirring in the bed they had made for the cat. “Awake at last?” He asked as he pranced over and peaked into the blanket. A tiny voice whispered out to him.

“I don’t have one.”

Skimble stuck his nose further into the blanket. “I beg your pardon?”

“You asked my name. I don’t have one.” Her voice shook as she burrowed even deeper into the blanket. Frightened by this strange place and even stranger cat.

Skimble, oblivious to the kitten’s discomfort, grabbed the blanket with his teeth and pulled it from the bed; exposing her hunched over in the corner. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Penny’s decided to call you Victoria.”

“Vic-tor-ia?” her voice cracked as she tried out the new name.

Skimble wrapped his tail around her neck and guided her to his water bowl. “Drink up lass. There’s plenty where that came from.” She didn’t have to be told twice. She dove in and began gulping down the water at an incredible rate. “Woah lass! There is plenty more but you’ll make yourself sick at that rate.”

She flattened her ears in shame and looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I’m just so hungry.”

He tilted his ears “then you need food, not water.”

“I can never find enough food. Water at least fills my tummy.”

The corners of his muzzle lifted in a smile as he lay his tail across her shoulders. “On this train you’ll never go hungry. Just follow me.”

He preceded to give Victoria the grand tour of his beloved home. He took her all the way from the coal bin (being careful not to smudge her pretty white coat), all the way to the caboose at the far end (he had to pull her back by the scruff when she got a little close to the edge), and to dining car in between (where she practically inhaled the food the cook gave them).

Even when he was moving a little slow and kept getting stopped by passengers or to hunt a wayward mouse, the trip would take him two hours at the absolute most. This trip took the two of them all day. Poor Victoria kept running away from the passengers and hiding in any nook or cranny she could find. When he would finally coax her out, she would freeze in terror at any hand that would reach out to give her a friendly pet. And when they had to cross the gap to get to another train car…well…that took a lot convincing, each and every time.

At the end of the day poor Victoria collapsed into her little bed, exhausted beyond belief. She was still scared half to death at the movement she felt under her paws and the scenery rushing by. There were so many giant creatures walking around on two legs that she felt she would be crushed at any time. She even heard strange barking coming from one of the crates in the car with all the giants’ belongings. Lug-age, Skimble had called it.

“At least Skimble’s nice.” She muttered to herself as she watched him groom his tail across the room. She had almost worked up the courage to go over and ask if they could groom together, even though she was scared her instincts told her friends should groom each other, the door opened and another giant walked in. She burrowed back into her blanket, but not before a delicious smell filled the tiny room.

Skimble ran up to the giant. “Penny! I missed you all day! Is that dinner?”

“Penny?” Victoria had a fuzzy memory of that name from the forest. This must be the girl Skimble said brought her food. She was nice too.

“Skimble! You’re gonna make me drop the food.” She skillfully dodged her prancing cat and set two bowls of steaming hot chicken soup on the floor. Slowly making her way to Victoria’s bed, “Are you hungry Victoria?” She kept her voice low. “There’s nothing to be scared of. See,” she gestured to Skimble slurping up his soup, “Skimble’s not afraid. If you eat this you can grow big and beautiful like him.”

Penny’s voice was soft and the smell of the food was strong. Hunger finally won out and Victoria cautiously made her way to the bowl. The warm liquid seemed to spread through her entire body and revive her in a way nothing else ever had. She still flinched when Penny reached out and began petting her, but she was so hungry she didn’t run away like she would have this morning. ‘Her hands sure are soft. I guess she really won’t hurt me.’

The hours passed peacefully as Victoria let Penny pet her more and more. And yes, Skimble did invite her to groom with him; though she was so small he had to crouch down for her to reach his head. Feeling full, clean, and safe; Victoria climbed into her bed and watched as Skimble jumped up next to Penny. Suddenly the room felt empty, having no one else down on the floor with her. She waited a short while, waiting for them to fall asleep, before she climbed out of her bed and made her way across the floor.

Penny and Skimble were so high up, Victoria didn’t think she’d ever make it. She jumped few times only to fall back to the floor. Her legs were still weak from starving and tired from walking the length of the train, plus she was very small. Ears and tail drooping, she turned back to her bed to sleep alone. Until, that is, Penny reached hand over the edge and scooped Victoria up.

Pulling Victoria close she kissed the top of her head and whispered “Skimble used to have trouble jumping up here too. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“You’re never going to let me forget that are you?” he mumbled back.

Victoria made her way to Skimble and pressed her back against his warm fur. “Um. Mr. Skimbleshanks?”

“Just Skimble will do lass.” His voice was drowsy, but there was a chuckle in it.

“Well…I guess…you can call me Victoria.”

“Fair enough Victoria. Is there something you need?”

“This place is scary, but I like the two of you. And I don’t have a family. How long can I stay here?”

He rolled over and wrapped himself around her small body, pulling her close. “However long you want.” Her next question was so quiet Skimble almost didn’t hear it.

“Can I call you papa?”

He licked the tip of her ear. “Only if I can call you kitten.”

“Goodnight papa”

“Goodnight kitten”

Chapter Text

Snow Day

The recent blizzard made the tracks too dangerous to travel at speed, so the train inched along slower than most thought possible. Skimbleshanks bounded alongside the train, his fluffy orange coat a stark contrast to the mounds of snow he leapt through. Bounding along behind him was a less noticeable figure. Her white fur blended into the snow so well, only her pink nose and blue eyes kept Victoria from being mistaken for a runaway snowball. The two cats frolicked and played alongside the crawling train, throwing snow high in the air as they wrestled and tumbled about.

A few of the crew and passengers watched the two cats through the window, amazed to see the usually somber Skimble bouncing around like a carefree kitten. What didn’t surprise them was the teenage human bounding after the cats with her scarf flailing wildly behind her.

Racing across the snow as fast as she could in the awkward snow shoes, Penny chased after her cats with a half dozen snowballs tucked into the crook of her arm. She grabbed one and cocked her arm back behind her, “Wild snow leopards! We must defend ourselves, take this!” And flung it toward the frolicking felines.

Victoria shrieked and ducked out of the way of the flying object. Skimble jumped up and let the ball hit him right in the stomach. The snow ball exploded in a white powder and he fell back to the snow on all fours. His, now white, stomach fur ruffled from the excitement.

Understanding the game now, Victoria charged towards the next flying ball and caught it in much the same manner. Only, she fell onto her side instead of landing gracefully on her paws. Not that she minded. She quickly stood up and began racing against Skimble for the chance to catch the next ball.

The three friends continued their game until their breath came out in loud, laborious gasps. “Come on,” thick, white vapor clouded Penny’s face. “Let’s go and rest.” She grabbed the two cats as they bounded toward her.

Racing past the slow train proved easy for the tired trio, and they were soon just beyond the engine. Clutching a giggling Victoria and a struggling Skimbleshanks, Penny let herself fall back into the snow with an audible “thud”.

“The train’ll take a while to pass us.” Her words short from the walk to the train’s front. “We can rest for a while without worrying.”

Finally wriggling free of her arms, Skimble ran in small circles to warm himself up. Victoria sat warmly on Penny’s chest as Penny spread her arms and feet out around her. Moving them in back and forth, she pushed the snow around her in an arching fashion.

“Papa” Victoria tilted her head the girl beneath her “Why is she flapping her arms like that? Is she trying to fly?”

Skimble pounced and swatted at Penny’s boot each time it passed by him. “If she’s trying to fly, she’s gonna have to flap a lot more than that.”

Once Penny was satisfied with her snow angel, she crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the thick clouds filling the sky.

No longer having Penny’s boots to chase, Skimble climbed onto her stomach next to Victoria and wrapped his thick tail around her. She nuzzled close to his warm body and buried her nose in his flank.

“I like this white stuff” her voice muffled by Skimble’s fur, “but it’s too cold to have fun all the time. Why can’t it be warmer?”

Twisting around so he rest his chin on Victoria’s head he chuckled, “cause then we’d be swimming.”

Her tilted ears told him she didn’t understand, but she chose to close her eyes instead of questioning him further.

Penny shifted underneath them cautiously pushed her fingers into their belly fur. Skimble fluffed up his coat and Victoria flinched the cold digits. But the slow grinding of the train’s wheels were the only sound to fall over the blanketed field.

By the time the caboose rumbled past the trio, they were fully rested, and thoroughly cold. Penny rolled onto her feet and hurried to the steps. Keeping an eye on her cats, she shook the snow from her red hair and stomped it off her boots. The two cats were stretching their cold legs and trotting after the train, Victoria a tail length behind Skimble.

“Papa” her voice puffed out little white clouds past her whiskers, “My paws are starting to freeze, and my nose has an icy spike on it. Can we go inside and have some hot tea?”

Skimble raised his head, now covered in snowy flakes, “you would rather sit inside and drink hot tea instead of playing outside in the snow? …I can see I’ve raised you well.” He gave a powerful shake to clear his head of snow and began prancing back to the train. “Last one there gets the chipped cup.”

“Not me!” Victoria squeaked as she desperately tried to keep up. But when she tried to run she sunk into a hole. Every time she jumped out of one hole, she would sink into another. The snow wasn’t too deep, but she was still pretty small. Poking her head above her current hole she called out “HELP! I’m stuck!”

Skimble doubled back and looked into her icy dungeon.

“I sunk”

“I see. Spread out your toes as wide as you can. That will help you stay on top.” He grasped her scruff firmly in his teeth and heaved her to the surface.

She spread her toes as instructed and gently lay a paw on the snow. The icy surface held for half a second before giving way beneath her with a crack. “Spread them wider” Skimble mumbled through her fur. She spread her toes until they felt like they would break apart. This time she sunk a little, but she mostly stayed on top.

“I did it!” She tore from Skimble’s mouth and dashed across the snowy field, all cold forgotten. “Look! Look! Look! I did it! I did it!” She turned and raced towards the train. “You’re gonna drink out of the chipped cup this time!”

“Not if I can help it!” He shouted as he chased after her, gaining with each step until they were neck and neck. The caboose was only a few yards away. Victoria squinted her eyes and pumped her legs faster, gaze locked on the platform. Skimble pulled out in front, then mis-stepped and fell nose first into the frozen ground. Victoria jumped hard and landed squarely on the bottom step.

“I win!!” she jumped up and down, flinging snow off her paws and covering the steps with the slippery substance.

Scrambling up behind her, Skimble shook himself off and gave her ear a lick. “I can’t believe I lost to you kitten. You’re so fast!”

Squealing with delight, Victoria dashed through the door as soon as it was opened, eager to tell any and all passengers that she finally won a race.

Skimble glanced up to Penny and she gave him a knowing smirk. He blinked innocently before heading towards the door.

“I might not speak cat, but I do speak Skimbleshanks, and I think you let her win.”

He meowed over his shoulder, “I don’t know what you mean” and disappeared inside.

Before long the three were in their room with thick blankets burying them on all sides. Three piping hot cups of tea sat on the floor, filling the room with more warmth and a sweet smell. The tea remained untouched until it eventually cooled. But it still went undrunk. The three intended drinkers had burrowed far into their blankets and let sleep warm them up. Anyone who entered the room would have seen nothing but a pile of blankets next to three cups of cold tea.

Chapter Text

'Sick'

“cough, cough” Penny’s body convulsed with each cough that tore itself from her throat.

Skimbleshanks padded lightly across the bed to touch his nose to Penny’s cheek. “Still really warm” his voice was low and somber. He knew this was nothing but a cold, something he saw people have all the time and didn’t warrant any real worry…but…this was HIS girl after all. He couldn’t just go about his day like there was nothing wrong.

Penny shuddered violently and leaned over the side of the bed to find the bucket her father had left there. Skimble wrinkled his nose as she emptied her stomach into it. “Good thing I sent kitten to help guide the passengers to their seats. I don’t think she has the stomach for this.”

He waited patiently for Penny to lay back down before making himself comfortable. He curled up in the crook of her neck and rested his chin above her eye. Purring gently, he willed his feline healing to enter Penny and take away her sickness.

All through the day he lay with her; rubbing his head against her hand, purring his most healing purr against her chest, checking her forehead’s temperature, licking the sweat from her cheek, doing everything he could to help her weather this illness before finally falling into an exhausted sleep himself.

---

His twitching nose awoke him. Flicking his ears around, he checked the room. Penny had fallen into a fitful sleep, kitten slept pressed against his flank, the train rumbled steadily down the track…nothing seemed wrong. “So, why…?” Opening his mouth, he inhaled deeply, trying to find a reason for his unease. A tiny scent wisped through his nose and a faint taste settled on his tongue. “Familiar…” he tried desperately to place the sensation “but…that shouldn’t be here.”

He shrugged free from Victoria and wandered into the hallway. “sniff sniff” he tested the air up and down the corridor. “It’s coming from the back.” Following his nose, he turned towards the scent and began making his way towards the back. He jumped across the gap between the cars and pressed his nose against the opposite door.

His ears dropped, his eyes widened, his tail fluffed out and his mouth gaped silently. Although the door still blocked his view, he now knew what was wrong. That smell and taste were familiar to him and they would have been a good thing, if this had been the engine. But smoke should not have been filling up the luggage car!

He whipped around and leapt back into his home car and burst into their shared room! Wailing loudly, he jumped on the bed and tried to wake Penny.

Victoria had woken the moment he burst into the room. “Papa” her voice was still groggy “what’s going on?”

“Come on kitten!” His voice came out in hurried pants “we gotta get outta here! There’s a fire in the luggage car!”

Victoria froze as she tried to comprehend what he had said. Penny also didn’t move a muscle. Her fever had exhausted her all day and sent her into a deep, deep sleep.

“This isn’t working.” He wracked his brain to come up with a plan. Their car was between the luggage car and the coal car. It was like that so passengers wouldn’t wander through and disturb them. That worked to their disadvantage now, there was no one up here to help them. To get help they’d have to go through the… “Follow me kitten!”

He leapt down from the bed and bounded across the floor. It only took a few steps for him to realize Victoria wasn’t following him. He made it back to her in two bounds and bowled her over. “VICTORIA! MOVE! I NEED YOUR HELP!”

The force of the hit and Skimble’s loud voice shook Victoria from her stupor and forced her paws forward. Together they ran back to gap between the cars. Skimble leaned between the gap and examined the connector. Tentatively her reached out a paw and batted at the link.

“We’ll have to try and remove the pin.”

“What?! Papa, are you serious?”

“We have to unhook from the luggage car or Penny’ll burn alive. Here’s the pin!” He carefully stretched out and tried to grasp the pin in his teeth.

Victoria stretched out beside him, barely able to stand on her shaking legs, and made her own attempts to free the pin.

The luggage car began to steadily glow as the two cats struggled to unhook the car. It took a lot wiggling and biting and nosing, but Victoria eventually held the pin between her jaws. They watched as the connecting pieces of the cars slowly parted ways, putting distance between them and the heat emanating from the luggage car.

Victoria let the pin fall to the tracks and tumble out of sight. “What about everyone at the back?”

Before she had even finished speaking, Skimble gave a powerful thrust with his back legs and grabbed onto the far platform with his front claws.

“Papa!” Her whole body tensed, but she knew she could never cross the ever-widening gap. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m the railway cat. I can’t leave my passengers in a time like this.” He turned tail and dove into the luggage car, and out of Victoria’s sight.

The fire was much worse that the car’s peaceful outside let on. He narrowed his eyes until they were just slits, trying to block out the blinding orange glow and the stinging smoke. His throat burned and his nose was useless in the barrage of burning smells that assaulted it. Within seconds, he lost his orientation. The crackling of the fire blocked out any helpful sounds, and his eyes were blurring worse with every passing second.

He was the railway cat. This was his train. He had lived here the past eight years of his life; he could never get lost. Closing his eyes, he let instinct guide his running paws in the right direction. The fire licked at his fur and singed his whiskers, but he did not stop until he reached the door. The metal door was hot to the touch, but it was the only way out.

Cool night air greeted him when he managed to push it open, but there was no time to relax! He cleared the gap to the next car with a labored jump. The landing sent him into a coughing fit as the smoke wreaked havoc with his lungs. He couldn’t uncouple the cars without Victoria, no sense wasting precious seconds trying.

Charging through the hall proved almost as futile as trying to unhook the car. All the passengers were sleeping in their bunks and none paid any attention to the desperate caterwauling. “This isn’t working! I need the conductor, porter, chef, anyone!!” He ran through the cars faster than he ever had before, but there was no sign of him. “Blast it! Where is everyone?” He panted heavily, his lungs burning from the smoke that lingered there.

“Cough Cough!” His body shook with each cough as he desperately tried to clear his lungs. “The train’s movement is pushing the smoke over the passenger cars. Cough, Gasp…need…air” he struggled to move his paws as he labored towards the back, checking every doorway for someone to help him. He found no one.

The heat from the fire grew as it ate through the luggage car and began heading back along the cars. The orange glow caused him to chase an eerie shadow of himself as he continued his journey past open, empty doors.

Where were the crew? Where were the passengers? Where was the end of this car? A side window showed the scenery speeding past at an alarming rate! But the engine was uncoupled. Shouldn’t the cars have stopped by now? Were they heading downhill?

The floor began to shake as the train rattled on its tracks. He slipped and slid down the corridor, his paws barely able to keep contact with the shaking floor. Digging his claws in he lunged forward in desperation. “Have…to…find…help!”

A light ahead of him pierced through the smoke cloud. Wait! When had the corridor filled with smoke? It didn’t matter, there was a light! He charged forward and finally burst through the door…into the burning luggage car.

He had gone the wrong way?! How? The floor shook and bounced angrily as it continued to race forward. The heat from the fire was stifling and its glow was blinding. He could no longer keep his footing and bounced along with the train.

It violently jostled and leapt high off the tracks. His paws left the ground for a frightening moment before crashing back into the soft blankets covering Penny. Her body convulsed violently as she launched into another coughing fit. Skimble shook his head to clear the sleep from his mind.

“A dream?”

Glancing around the car he spotted Penny’s dad fast asleep in their reading chair with Victoria snuggled on his lap.

“A dream.”

He waited for the fit to pass and touched her forehead again – as hot as the fire from his dream. “Sigh” He laid back down and licked her sweat away. Penny groaned and settled back into her restless sleep. Curling up he tried to conjure up a dream of snow and ice to cool her fever. “I’m glad Penny never put ‘surviving a fire’ in her book of adventures. That wasn’t something I’d ever want to do again. Not even if I knew I was dreaming.”

Chapter Text

Our New Train

The carriage rocked and bounced as the horses trudged along in front of it. The three passengers watched the scenery slip by slowly. Oh boy…was it ever slow! Penny leaned her head against the window pain and amused herself by making up stories about the people they passed. Victoria was curled in Penny’s lap and amused herself by dreaming about soft pillows. Skimbleshanks, on the other hand, was staring out the front window at the horses and demanding them to go faster!

“What in the name of mouse is taking these creatures so long?!” His tail twitched in agitation as another mile crawled by. “I understand why we couldn’t take a train here, but seriously…WHY?”

The distant sound of a train whistle brought Penny and Victoria back to reality with Skimble. They were all eager to leave the confines of this…primitive…transportation and back on a train where they belonged! The thin trails of smoke that signified a train station were finally in sight. But they were still a long way off.

“Ugh” Penny sighed as she slammed back against her seat. “I’ve been waiting for this day for years. Now it’s finally come, and we get stuck with old sawhorses that wouldn’t trot if a fire were blazing behind them!”

Skimble ruffled his fur at that comment, he still wasn’t over his horrifying dream last year about a fire onboard the train. “That’s the problem when exciting things happen, they always happen slowly.” He settled on the seat next to Penny and licked Victoria’s ear. “Are you excited too kitten?”

Her ears drooped despite his kind licks. “No” her voice was quiet and shaky.

He draped his tail across her body and rested his chin between her ears. He purred softly to soothe the distress she was obviously feeling. “Tell me why” his voice was gentle and smooth.

“I miss our old train. It was the only home I’ve ever known. It was where you saved me. I don’t want to leave.” She nuzzled deeper into Skimble and settled a little heavier on Penny’s lap.

“I understand kitten. It was my home for a long time too. But it wasn’t our train, it was Penny’s dad’s train. This new train we’re heading towards, Penny’s the conductor! This train really will be ours.”

“Aren’t you scared of leaving everything behind?” Her sapphire eyes were bright with tears that never quite fell.

Skimble hummed thoughtfully as he mulled over her question. A smile tugged at his lips as he finally realized what he should have already. “All I left behind were metal and coal. And there’s more metal and coal waiting ahead of us.” He wagged his tail, gently brushing it along Victoria and Penny’s sides. “You two are everything to me, and you’re both here. Everything I love is right here. So…I left nothing behind.”

Victoria pondered this for a bit before she too began to purr. “I’m still scared of the new train papa. But, a little less now.”

XXX

The train’s three new crew members inspected every inch of that train. From the grate on the engine’s front to the lantern hanging off the caboose’s rear. Every cabin, every wheel, every bolt got inspected by at least one of them.

Penny stood in their new cabin sipping tea thoughtfully. “Hm. This train seems to be in top shape. Physically at least. I spotted a number of efficiency problems that we need to address if we want to raise the train up to our standards.” She took another sip and began writing out a list of things to be done. “What do you two think?”

Skimble lapped at his tea before answering, “Agreed. There are a number of crewmen that need a good talking to if they want to stay.” He glanced at Victoria to see if she had anything to add, she didn’t. “I also spotted a few mice holes here and there. The scents were fresh too. I don’t know who the previous cat on this train was, but he did not do his job properly.”

XXX

The next day the crew assembled to meet their new conductor. While Penny gave them the details of what she noticed and how to improve function, Skimble sat off to the side with Victoria and carefully observed the crew. His brow furrowed in disappointment as the meeting began winding down.

“I don’t like the looks of this crew one bit” he grumbled through clenched teeth.

Victoria glanced at him quickly before staring hard at the group. “They don’t look much different than our old crew.”

“I don’t mean how they look” he playfully swatted her with his tail at her confusion “don’t you see how they look at Penny?”

“I don’t think they’re looking at her all that much.”

“Exactly! They obviously don’t take her seriously!” He clawed the chair beneath him and growled. “I don’t like it one bit.” His ears twitched when he heard a mumbled ‘damn kid thinks she can order us’.

With the crew wandering back to their stations, Penny came and sat next the two cats. Taking off her conductors cap she ran her hands through her hair in exhaustion. “Sigh. I don’t think anybody here listened to a word I said.” Two paws on her leg brought slight grin to her face. “Okay, there were at least two listeners.” She groaned and laid her head against the back of the chair. “I just don’t know if they don’t listen because I’m new, I’m only 19 or because I’m a woman.”

“Or they’re just stupid” Victoria chimed in, earning a chuckle from Skimble.

Penny turned and pulled the two into her arms, burying her face in their fur. “We’ll show them. It might take a while, but this train is ours now. Tomorrow we start taking on passengers, and we’ll show them that we’ve earned our places here.”

XXX

The next day the passengers boarded the train in droves. They had been waiting a long while for the midnight express to find a new conductor. They were sick and tired of the chaos that came when the previous conductor retired, and they were eager for some order.

That order was only to be found in one car…the car that was overseen by the new conductor and two cats. While the remainder of the crew stubbornly refused to follow the procedures explained to them in yesterday’s meeting; Penny, Skimble and Victoria expertly guided twice the number of passengers in half the time.

While it would have been so satisfactory to let the crew crash and burn for their behavior yesterday, the trio rose above their pettiness and split up to help. For the sake of the passengers of course.

Despite the delays the stubborn crew caused, the three were able to pick up the slack and actually got the train ready to embark on time! The first time since the previous conductor retired two months previous. Penny never got an apology for being ignored at their first meeting (but the crew subtly implemented her policies at the next station.)

As the train pulled out of the station on time for the first time in months, Penny walked through the cars to make her rounds for the first time. Skimble and Victoria settled on the caboose platform to watch the station slip away. They let the wind ruffle their whiskers as they rested on the platform. The rocking of the train brought back the calm Skimble hadn’t even realized he was missing. ‘So much nicer than those smelly horses’, he chose to keep the comment to himself instead ruining the moment with Victoria.

A moment more passed before she breathed deeply and sighed, “I do feel more comfortable on the train papa but being on solid ground wasn’t so bad either.”

Skimble shrugged his shoulders, “nothing wrong with liking stone and dirt under your paws. Just not for me kitten.”

Their silence continued until they approached the city’s edge. It was broken by a caterwaul from what appeared to be a junkyard. Straining their eyes against the setting sun, Skimble and Victoria saw two cats perched atop a pile of old furniture. One was a large gray tabby tom, the other a small tuxedo tom with a bright white face. The junkyard cats’ eyes met the eyes of the railway cats. There was too much distance between them, no one bothered trying to speak. The train picked up speed and soon left the junkyard and its cats behind.

“Papa,” Victoria began cautiously. “Why did they look at us like that?" She turned to face him, but his emerald eyes were still gazing back towards the mysterious strangers.

He finally took a deep breath and, letting it out slowly, replied “I don’t know kitten. But. I think. They might be like us.”

“Like us?” She didn’t even try to mask her confusion.

“Again, I don’t know. But I think we need to keep an eye turned that way whenever we pass by.”

The two cats continued to sit and stare thoughtfully into the distance as the train rumbled farther and farther from the answers they both so desperately yearned for.