Ten months after Once-ler had given Ted the last truffula seed, Ted had decided to go to Once-ler's house with an idea on his mind, a newspaper, and a bag of marshmallows in his hands
Ted rang the doorbell.
"Is that you Ted?" A voice asked from behind the door.
Since Once-ler was old and by himself, with practically no one to help him. The Lorax had decided to be a guardian not only to the trees but to Once-ler as well. This duty included greeting any potential guests. As his guardian, the Lorax was very protective of Once-ler. If anyone came to visit him, he would assess whether they meant any harm to Once-ler.
"Yeah" Ted replied.
"Alright come in. You know the drill, open the door yourself." The Lorax lectured him.
Ted turned the knob, opened the door and walked in. He turned to the Lorax whispered his idea for Once-ler to reveal his birthday by reading his horoscope and the Lorax nodded once to show he understood.
Once-ler was in the kitchen finishing his lunch. He looked up at Ted, his face beaming.
"Hello Ted, how are you?" Once-ler greeted him.
"I'm good thanks, how are you." Ted replied.
"Not too bad. So what brings you here?" He asked.
"I wanted to see you again and to thank you again for the seed. It's growing quite well; it has already turned into a sapling."
"Well thank you for thinking of me Ted and you are quite welcome. I am very glad it is growing well. You have brought me great happiness." He was quite flattered that someone wanted to see him and that the seed was growing well.
"You made the whole town happy with that seed. You deserve to be acknowledged and be thought of. Oh and I brought you some marshmallows that should make you even happier. Do you mind if I look around?" Ted asked and then inconspicuously placed the newspaper with the horoscope section opened and observed the house. Hoping that his plan; to find out Once-ler's birthday would succeed.
Once-ler thanked Ted quietly and once Ted had his back turned, admired him with awe.
Once-ler was pleasantly surprised at how thoughtful and kind Ted was at his age. He could a feel pang of jealousy in himself and wishing he had been that nice when he was younger. He cast that thought aside though and opened the bag of marshmallows and ate one. The Lorax showed up at the table and ate some too
As Once-ler was chewing he noticed the newspaper on the table and wondered how it got here.
"Hey moustache, how did this newspaper get here? Did you bring it in?" He asked his friend.
"No, it's probably Ted that brought it and left here bean pole." The Lorax replied.
"Ah, I see." Once-ler realised.
Once-ler looked at the newspaper.
"I haven't seen those things for such a long time that I almost forgot they existed." Once-ler chuckled.
Once-ler gave the horoscope section of the newspaper a quick gaze and turned the page since it didn't interest him.
Oh no, Ted's plan is failing. I have to do something… The Lorax thought.
"Hey when is your birthday anyway?" The Lorax asked nonchalantly.
"Oh… I can't remember." Once-ler replied quickly, and avoided the Lorax's gaze. Too quickly the Lorax observed. I've got him now, he thought.
"Beanpole… you replied too quickly. You're lying." The Lorax spoke softly.
Once-ler quickly turned his head to avoid his gaze and sighed loudly.
"I don't celebrate birthdays anymore. I don't deserve them, I have no one to celebrate them with and they remind me of how many years I've been alive since I cut the trees." Once-ler snapped bitterly. He closed his eyes, scrunched his face and regretted losing his temper in front of his friend.
"You're wrong. First of all, I'll celebrate your birthday with you and so will Audrey and Ted, second of all, you deserved your birthdays the minute you regretted your actions and fixed things and lastly your birthdays can now honour the years where you changed for the better and made things right. Now tell me your birthday or I'll feed all your present and future marshmallows to the animals." The Lorax ranted vehemently. He was annoyed with Once-ler's obstinacy and saddened by his self loathing.
"All right I'll tell you. It's the twenty ninth of March." He threw his arms up in defeat.
"There, that's a good little human, here have a marshmallow." The Lorax mocked him with a patronizing voice as he squeezed a marshmallow in front of his face and handed it to Once-ler. Just like the Once-ler had done to him; when they first met a long, long, time ago. "I'm going to eat this but I am highly offended by it." Once-ler said in an almost serious tone. He then ate the marshmallow.
"Those were some good times." Once-ler reminisced with a small smile.
"Yes they were, but now we have to focus on the present. That reminds me, I think it's about time Ted went home. Isn't that right Ted?" The Lorax exclaimed loudly.
"You're right, I should go. My mom will be worried." Ted agreed.
Ted walked up to the door and said goodbye to the Lorax and Once-ler.
"Goodbye Ted thanks for visiting me and for the marshmallows. It was a good plan you know" Once-ler winked at him.
"Ah…er you're welcome." Ted stammered realising his plan was busted. This made Once-ler laugh. Ted then left the house.
"Oh…Ted!" Once-ler cried.
"Yeah?" Ted asked eagerly.
"It's on the twenty ninth of March."
"Thank you." Ted thanked him and rushed home.
Now that Once-ler's birthday had been discovered it was important that Ted got out of the house quickly so Ted could tell Audrey to come to the house to make preparations for the Once-ler's present since his birthday was tomorrow.
Ted had thought that two people at once asking questions would make Once-ler suspicious of his plan, so he went by himself to find out Once-ler's birthday. Having determined that secrecy was no longer issue, it was safe for Audrey to come over to Once-ler's house.
An hour had passed when Audrey had arrived at Once-ler's house, since she preferred to walk and not pollute the air. She had a measuring tape, a sheet of paper and a pencil in her hands, to measure Once-ler to make him some new clothes.
Once-ler was out in the fields watering a truffula sapling. Audrey waved at him. Once-ler waved back. Audrey walked closer to Once-ler and they began to talk.
"Hello Once-ler, how are you? Audrey asked, smiling.
"I feel great at the moment and you? Once-ler replied. He always felt his happiest when he was watering the saplings.
"I'm excited because I'm going to help to make your birthday present soon."
"You don't have to do that." He protested.
"Yes I do, you gave Ted the truffula seed and he gave it to me and it was practically a birthday present to me." Audrey replied.
"Alright then. So how are you going to help make it? He asked curiously.
"Well if you don't mind, I'm going to take your measurements and then Ted's grandmother will sew you a new outfit."
Once-ler nodded once to show his agreement and Audrey took his measurements, wrote them down, said goodbye to Once-ler and ran home.
Audrey gave the measurements to Norma and she made the outfit.
Once-ler's birthday was a very joyous occasion. Ted, Norma, Audrey and the Lorax had all attended. The cake had marshmallows on top of it. The music and the games were fun and uplifting and the presents were great and very meaningful to Once-ler.
The first present was an orange electric guitar so Once-ler could play again after all these years and so he would always remember his fuzzy orange friend.
The second present brought tears of joy to Once-ler. It was an outfit reminiscent of a field with a truffula tree. It consisted of brown shoes to resemble dirt, green socks to resemble grass, white pants with black horizontal stripes to resemble a truffula tree trunk, a white shirt, a pink vest to resemble the tufts of a truffula tree and finally a blue fedora with a white ribbon to resemble a cloudy sky.
Once-ler was ecstatic, he saw that all these people cared and loved him and for the first time in a long time he forgot his horrible deeds and his misery and he felt like the happiest man in the world.