"Biggest Blame Fool"
It was a hot day, like any other, and the best place to be was poolside. And Aribelle the Zebraffe had an excellent position, lounging on the springy moss, dangling a paw in the cool blue water. The trees over head provided just enough shade.
At the moment, all was still, and she was just lounging, listening absently to the sounds of the birds.
Suddenly the pond rippled, and a second later, she felt the ground shake.
She sighed. So much for a peaceful spot by the pool. Only an elephant would be making that much noise, and as a general rule, elephants didn't relax in the pool. No, they had to splash around and get everything all wet.
She peered out through the leaves. It was an elephant alright, one Horton.
Horton was a quiet sort of elephant, always minded his own business.
It was her job to know everything about everyone, and Aribelle automatically reviewed her notes mentally.
But there was nothing interesting about Horton so she brushed her green hair out of her eyes and settled down.
The elephant had also settled in the water with the anticipated amount of splashing.
Aribelle sighed and shook water drops out of her striped fur. If it hadn't been so hot, she would've moved away. So she relaxed and half-watched Horton, for lack of anything better to do.
Suddenly, Horton opened his ears and stopped splashing. He looked around, gazing intently into the air.
Well that was different. She moved a bit closer, watching.
"I say," Horton said to himself, "How confusing. I've never heard tell of a small speck of dust that was able to yell."
She blinked. Horton was watching a speck of dust? Elephants weren't the brightest animals in the jungle, and Horton was a well known dreamer, but this was strange, even for him.
Horton frowned thoughtfully and eased out of the pool, his ear poised, his eyes glued on the air.
"So you know what I think..." Horton continued to himself, unaware that anyone was listening, "I think that there must be someone on top of that small speck of dust..."
She brushed her hair back again and tilted her head. This was amusing, but if he was serious... Well, she couldn't have a crazy elephant running around her jungle.
"Some poor little person who's shaking with fear that he'll blow in the pool, he had no way to steer." Horton gasped, "He's alone in the universe!" He squared his shoulders, "I'll just have to save him, because after all, a person's a person, no matter how small. A person's a person no matter how small."
Aribelle slipped out of her spot. If he was just pretending, she knew just the animal to snap him out of it.
She found her Second-in-Command in the middle of a snack. She patted the baby on his head and then looked to his mother. The kangaroo was one of the loudest animals in the jungle of Nool.
"Go see what's going on by the pool," she said to the kangaroo.
"Is this an assignment?" the kangaroo asked with interest.
"Might be," she replied, "A job for your special talents."
"Shall I call in the boys?" the kangaroo asked.
Aribelle considered and then nodded, "May as well, but hold them off unless you need them."
"Alright," the kangaroo agreed.
"And," Aribelle grinned, "I'm going to watch."
The kangaroo laughed, "of course."
Aribelle slipped back to her spot by the pool, looking for Horton.
He had transferred his attention to a clover, which he was cradling protectively.
The kangaroo was out of his sight, watching Horton murmuring soothing things to the clover.
"Humpf!" humphed the Kangaroo as she walked out.
And the young kangaroo in her pouch said "Humph!" too.
Horton backed away, still holding the clover protectively.
The kangaroo looked to the clover and sniffed. "Why that speck is as small as the head of a pin," the kangaroo laughed, "A person on that - why there never has been!"
Aribelle smiled slightly. Now this whole thing would be cleared up. Nobody who was imagining anything could resist the Sour Kangaroo's mocking. Now Horton would let her in on the game.
The Sour Kangaroo laughed, "You're the biggest blame fool in the jungle of Nool - and I don't care who I tell!"
Horton took a step back.
"Biggest blame fool!" the Kangaroo continued, "Just a fool, fool, fool!"
Her little one peeked out his head, "And I think so as well!"
The Kangaroo laughed again, "Maybe I'm nasty, maybe I'm cruel - but you're the biggest blame fool in the jungle of Nool!"
Horton frowned slightly. "It's true," he said to the kangaroo, "Please believe me, I tell you sincerely, my ears are quite keen and I heard it quite clearly. I know there's a person down there, and what's more, quite likely there's two, even three, even four!"
The Kangaroo looked past Horton to where she was watching. She considered, and then nodded slightly. The Kangaroo nodded as well, a signal to her "reinforcements".
By now they had collected an audience. All of the other animals that had been taking advantage of the pool were watching with interest. Later, Aribelle would have to find out what the general opinion on all of this was, but for now, she pushed her green hair out of her eyes again and leaned forward in anticipation.
"Ha!" laughed a voice from up in the trees.
"Ha!" laughed some others.
Aribelle swivelled her head about as she watched the Sour Kangaroo's "reinforcements" swing into the scene. The Wickersham brothers, a trio of monkeys. They were a group of troublemakers, but they were her favorite operatives, for more reasons than one. The leader of the group glanced over at Aribelle and gave her a wink.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed the Wickersham brothers as they swung down, moving in on Horton.
"Oh he's the biggest blame fool in the jungle of Nool, and monkeys like us should now," they chorused, "we've been out on a limb looking down on him..."
"He's fat!"
"He's dumb!"
"He's slow!"
The Wickershams laughed, "Elephants ain't too swift as a rule - but he's the biggest blame fool in the jungle of Nool!"
"Cuz he's talkin' to a speck, talkin' to a speck, talkin' to a speck of dust!" the sour kangaroo and the Wickershams circled around Horton.
"Blame fool in the jungle of Nool!" one of the monkeys teased.
The Sour Kangaroo laughed, "R. E. S. P. E. C. K." she called out, "Oh please - take that speck away!"
The birds were the usual gossipers of the forest and they were paying close attention to this, spreading the word from tree to tree.
Through the jungle the news quickly flew - it even made the news on channel 2.
It was important for her to keep a low profile, so Aribelle had her assistants interview Horton's neighbors and friends, starting with a blue unimpressive looking little bird.
"I'm Gertrude McFuzz and I live right next door," the bird said, "he's never done anything crazy before... he's always been friendly and loyal and kind..." she shook her head, "I just can't believe Horton's out of his mind."
A brightly colored bird pushed her way over, wanting her turn in the spotlight.
"I'm Mayzie La Bird and I live in that tree," she said, "Enough about Horton - let's talk about me!"
Well, that wasn't surprising considering what the records held about Mayzie.- the bird was vain and always wanted to be the center of attention, but that was all. Mayzie never did anything worth bothering about. Nothing like this business with Horton.
While the birds were being interviews, the Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham brothers continued to taunt Horton:
"Blame fool, he's just a fool - just a fool!"
And the ever helpful gossip chain continued to spread the story: "Talkin' to a speck - talkin' to a speck to a speck of dust!"
Horton shook his head, "I just have to save them," he said, "Because after all, a person's a person, no matter how small... a person's a person no matter how..."
The jungle animals closed in around him.
"Biggest blame fool in the jungle of nool, he's the worst we ever saw!"
Horton tried to protect the clover as the Wickershams shoved him around.
"Tellin' lies."
"Making jokes!"
"It's an elephant hoax!"
"And that's against the law!"
Aribelle glared at Horton, "Breaking the peace, creating a fuss..."
"Someone's thinking different from us!" the Sour Kangaroo finished, earning nods of approval from the other animals.
Horton backed away from the accusing jungle animals and fled into the jungle.
The damage was done. Gossip would take care of the next step. Aribelle settled back down again next to the pool to wait. Either it would get to Horton and he would abandon his game... or... Well, she had time to think about it.
But the Wickersham brothers weren't done with Horton yet.
"Better look out - better look out!" they taunted, hanging from the trees and dangling just out of Horton's reach, "Or someone's gonna steal your clover!"
The little bird also watched Horton leave. "On the fifteenth of may, Miss Gertrude McFuzz discovered how truly unique Horton was..." She sighed, "But she knew to approach him would probably fail because," she sighed again, "Who'd notice a bird with a one feathered tail?"
Aribelle tilted her head, watching. She usually didn't concern herself with the love lives of the animals, it wasn't interesting enough, but it concerned Horton... this was interesting.
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So I wrote this story back in 2005, and then posted it on my old angelfire site in 2008, and now, for posterity's sake, I'm posting it here in 2018.
Back in 2005, I saw a friend of mine in Seussical, playing an assortment of ensemble roles, including a jungle creature. I imagined up a backstory for her character.