The Invidia of Jack: Book Four of the Saga of Jack of Tabbyshire

By Harold Cheney Jr.

Deep in the heart of Eastshire there is a valley. Whatever name might be given to it in the proper geographies, it is know to most, if not all, of the people of the Shire as The Dark Valley.

This Dark Valley is located in the most remote district of Eastshire. It is sparsely populated. Indeed the population consists of but a handful of families. These families have lived apart from the other people of Eastshire for uncounted generations.

The same isolation holds for the cats who live there. And it is the cats and one special cat of the Dark Valley that constitute the very heart of this story. This particular cat proves to be The Invidia of Jack of Tabbyshire.

To the ancients the Greeks and Romans the Invidia held a special place, somewhat akin to the better-known Nemesis. But, where the Nemesis is the agent of the gods in fighting Hubris and enforcing Justice, Invidia embodies the Envy and Jealousy that evidences itself in a dog in the manger or what is yours should have been mine attitude and life style.

And Jack does have his Invidia. In this tale he will encounter his Invidia. How will he counter his Invidia? Can he? Or, will he need some help help from an unexpected source? This tale recounts this final mission of our Lord Jack of Tabbyshire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491759110

Harold Cheney Jr.

Harold (Hal) Cheney is well into his Eighties and his one-eyed friend, Jack, has passed his tenth year. While slowing down, both still hope that you will find something of value in this chronicle of the final years in the saga of Jack of Tabbyshire. But, take note. Jack has his scion, Willie who will carry on, after him, in Tabbyshire. Perhaps Grandpa Cheney will discover what adventures might develop for that young Tabby.

Book preview

PART ONE

The Threat Unfolds

Chapter 1 — In Grandpa’s Hut

It had all happened so quickly. At one moment the carriage had been lurching towards Grandpa’s Hut. Then….

…M’Lord, there is no further time to waste on the trip. We must act now. The carriage is too crowded for this occasion. Have the Pawcats spread some blankets. The Healer looked about. Over there, by that cypress. There — on that soft moss. Hurry!

In an instant all was attended to and Jack helped Muffy over to the place prepared for her. The Healers bade Jack to stand aside while they and the two accompanying Ladies-in-Waiting attended to the needs of Lady Muffy.

Jack paced back and forth, desperate to be of help but knowing his place.

His wait ended when he heard several feeble meows. Jack could no longer constrain himself and rushed to be at Muffy’s side. Already she was grooming, in turn, each of the three kittens as they snuggled tightly against her.

Are they…?

M’Lord I have never seen such perfect kittens. The senior of the two Healers thus spoke.

Relieved, Jack stood to one side and, for the first time — really — looked about at his surroundings. As he did, a strange sense came over him and he closed his eye. Into his shadowed eye came a faint vision of a mother cat leaving her new-born kitten bedded in the soft moss as she made off on a desperate search for needed help. Here? Could it have been here? Is this the spot?

…Are we far from Grandpa’s hut?

The driver answered. Not so far, M’Lord. Another few moments and we would have been there.

Then this could well be the place where Grandpa first held me in his hands.

With that thought Jack returned to his new family. The Healer spoke.

One fine young lad and two pretty lasses, M’Lord. What is to be the name of the new Young Master? …Jack smiled. The new Young Master honors his Grandfather Jefferson. He is to be known as Master Geoffrey. His sisters are to be known as Mistresses Teena and Patsy

Jack reached forward and with his teeth gently grasped the loose skin of the back of the Master Geoffrey’s neck. With great care Jack then carried his kitten to the nearby hut. This was his Grandpa’s hut — now memorialized as a Treasure of Tabbyshire. Jack entered and placed his kitten on the floor.

Here we are, little one. My Grandpa’s hut. Oh, how I wish he were here….

Jack was suddenly seized by an unexplainable wish — unvoiced — I wish that I had such hands as those had by Grandpa. They were gnarled and callused, but so gentle. How I would love to lift you with such hands and hold you close to my cheek.

But the only sound that escaped was a sad sigh. He was startled to hear, from behind, Dear Jack. Is anything wrong?

Jack turned. No. No, Muffy dear. And then Jack told Muffy what he had just been thinking. I just wish that Grandpa were still here. I feel so inadequate to be such a mentor to our kittens as was Grandpa to me.

"Dear Jack, your Grandpa is here. Don’t you see? You are who you are because of your Grandpa. He IS here — within you. What you do, and who you are, before our kittens is so because of the Grandpa you carry within you."

Do you know, Muffy dear, that I never knew Grandpa’s name — William, or Will’m — he was always Grandpa.

Jack dear, in the Great Hall of our Manor, our kitten will be Geoffrey. In the nursery he will be our Willie.

Oh my dearest Muffy, you are so wise! Yes. WILLIE he will be, within our family. Jack paused in thought. Willie, yes — Corporal Will’m!

Corporal?

Grandpa’s rank in the Palace Guard. Corporal — an honorable rank. It is the Corporal who marches beside the common soldier or rides beside the common trooper as they advance into the storm of battle. Jack smiled down at the tiny kitten at their feet. My stout little Corporal Will’m!

Muffy thought on this and began, with some hesitation, Jack, dear, I have some fear that you have — or will have — such great expectations for our little kittens. I wonder if it is wise…. Here Muffy caught herself. She did not quite know herself the exact nature of her concerns. I know that it sounds… well, sounds as if I am borrowing troubles from the future, but….

Not at all, Muffy dear. I share with you what I can only describe as a complete sense of my inadequacy. I have fought Wild Cats and contested with our Sovereign’s Lord Chamberlain, but these feats seem as nothing compared with the challenges of rearing our kittens. My Grandfather and Grandmama were well meaning, but….

"Hush, now, Dear Jack. We…. You will do just fine. And, remember, I was with you on your campaign into those Northern Hills and into Eastshire. We will share in this campaign, too Muffy changed the subject. We keep our attendants waiting. Come, let us return to the Great Manor. There are so many of our family and friends there who are waiting on us, and upon our kittens."

Of course, Dear. Jack went to the doorway and called out for the Head Healer. Master Healer, please prepare for our immediate return to the Great Manor.

As you command, M’Lord.

Chapter 2 — Jack’s Growing Concern

Tootoo, it may be that you are the only cat to whom I can confide my troubles. Jack had called his friend, Sir Tootoo, to his study in the Great Manor. In the Moons that had followed the birthing of the kittens, he had grown increasingly disturbed and uncertain in his demeanor. He knew that he had to get hold of a problem that seemed at times about to overwhelm him. I try to raise them with Muffy but she is so … so dashed positive and certain of my ability to…. Here he paused and favored Tootoo with a look of bemused uncertainty. His continued silence invited a response from Tootoo.

You do me a singular honor by so saying, Friend Jack. Is there some particular confidence that you now wish to share?

Yes, indeed. I cannot put it to you with any degree of precision or completeness. I think that if I could do so, I would then also have my answer.

I think that I understand, Friend Jack. Let us then work it out, as best we can, together.

It is little Willie — Master Geoffrey…. No, there is nothing wrong… yet. But I am haunted by the fear that I expect too much of him — or perhaps the wrong things of him. Worse yet, I fear that he shares — in his way, and from his point of view — similar concerns.

"I think that I get some sense of what worries you, and it is wise of you to be so concerned. There are — as a human author once wrote — nine and twenty ways of constructing tribal lays, and each and every one of them is right. To which I might add, …or wrong."

Ah, yes. I take it that you infer that there are many ways of raising a kitten and that all or any of them may be right — or wrong. That does put some of my concerns on the table. Lady Muffy and I have spoken on this. She thinks that I fret too much over it. I do not agree with her. One gets only one chance at this job — there is no doing it over.

As you spoke, Friend Jack, and while I took in your concerns, a thought came to me that you might wish to consider.

Wonderful! Just what I hoped for. I am anxious to hear what you have thought of.

Friend Jack, think upon broadening the field of elders from whom the young Master might draw upon to develop his sense of self and what he wants of himself — who he wishes to become.

Excellent! Yes! We must broaden his focus — take it off of me — and see for himself the many things that he could aim to become. Yes! Now, Friend Tootoo, I would have him learn much from you. Imagine young Willie combining the best of both of us!

Not so fast, M’Lord. Among humans there is reputed to have been a very comely lady who proposed to a very wise (but plain) man that they come together a produce a human child with her looks and his brains. He is said to have challenged her by suggesting that their offspring might have his looks and her brains.

Oh, Willie could do worse than that — but I think he would do better. But, anyway, young Willie already thinks much of you. I have no doubt but that something of you is growing in him and will make him something of what he will be. And, really, how much do we differ from each other?

You flatter me, M’Lord. But I have a serious thought. Think of my Brother, Golden Fur. We know his quality and he is a good deal different from either of us.

Friend Tootoo, you are so right. Yes! Little Willie would indeed be rounded out with a bit of Golden Fur. Sir Samuel will be touring the Northern Hills within this Moon. I shall task him with sounding out Golden Fur on this matter. Oh, I know that he will be receptive. He has seen the young Master several times and they hit it off so well. Yes, several Moons or more with good Golden Fur would certainly help build young Willie into the cat we would all wish him to be.

Jack may think now that he has this affair under — or coming under — control. If only one could face life’s problems one at a time! Ah, Jack, you are soon to be faced with a problem from without. It is to be a problem that will task your abilities to the utmost. Already there is trouble abroad. All too soon will news of it be brought to you.

Chapter 3 — Willie’s Fear

Mother? Young Master Geoffrey found his Mother chatting with his visiting Oma, the Lady Patsy. Lady Muffy answered using her son’s familial name — Willie.

Yes, Willie, what is it?

Mother… Mother… are you ever… ever… afraid of Father?

Afraid? In what way do you mean, Willie? Lady Muffy thus parried her son’s question. She full well knew what she thought Willie meant, but she was hesitant to presume the fact. She waited for her son to expand on his question.

Father seems to know so much. You know what I mean. It is as if he were inside of my head at times — as if he knew what I was going to say, or what I was going to ask before I said a word.

Oh, Willie. It is not something that your Father invented, or even wanted. It is his fate, and believe me, oh Willie, it is not the happiest of fates.

Isn’t Father happy — with us?

"There is an old saying about greatness. Some are born to it while others achieve it. But there are those few who have it thrust upon them. Your Father is such as these few. He talks so little about his adventures and accomplishments — about his grand achievements. What he does talk about — in the most wistful terms — are the days he spent as a kitten in his Grandpa’s hut. He never tires of reliving those days. I think, sometimes, that he views all that he has done since those days as some sort of trial or test that was set upon him. Perhaps he believes that when he has accomplished them as required, he will somehow be rewarded by being returned to that happy state.

Your Father is more than happy with us… with you and your sisters… more than you can imagine or ever understand. But there are things that he was born to do — things that he must do, whether or not they take him away from us.

Does he expect me to… to be like… like him?

Your Father expects you to be like you. He would have you be no other way.

But Mother, he must expect me to carry on his work — in someway or another.

To all of this, Lady Patsy had listened quietly. As her grandson spoke, thoughts and concerns that had filled her life welled up. Oh, how well she knew the troubled way of youth! But she held her thoughts a little longer. Lady Muffy continued.

Darling, I expect that you will do so, but you will do it in your way. Your Father faced the problems that troubled his times. He has bested many of them. But times have changed. Oh, Willie, how much they have changed! We are not so bound up in our little world of Tabbyshire anymore. We have that great world out there — a world filled with people who think of us in very different ways. We will need — who knows what — in the years to come — your years my Darling Willie. Tomorrow is yours, and you must face it in your ways.

It was then that Lady Patsy spoke up. "Dear Willie, your Father was younger, than you now are, when he had the first of his great tasks — as your Mother said — thrust upon him. He had no idea that he would be separated from his Grandpa. He was wrenched from that early comfort of being loved and cared for. All too soon he was called upon to his life of service.

"Yes, my Jack expects you to devote your life to the service of other cats, but in YOUR way, not in his way. Just