Hiya, readers! Probably my earlier readers didn't expect me here! For all my readers of my LotF story, I'm afraid it will be a long time until I write my sequel about Katie's kids. Meanwhile, I decided to write on the old classic that I loved when I was a little kid. Except, Dorothy is more of a naïve little girl than a personality-less girl, and her cousin Jax is there. The girls will encounter Oz, and there will be some twists! Read and Review, please!
Dorothy ran down the dusty road away from Miss Gulch's house, with her shaggy puppy Toto following her. "Come on." she called to him. "We'll go tell Aunty Em about what she planned to do. I wonder what Jax will think." Jax-also Jackie or Jacqueline-was Dorothy's sixteen-year-old cousin, the daughter of Dorothy's aunt and uncle.
Dorothy ran to her aunt first, but she wouldn't listen. She at last went to Jax to complain. Jax wasn't properly listening, because she was trying to flirt with the farmhands.
"Miss Gulch said she was going to go to the sheriff to get Toto destroyed, just because he gets into her garden and chases her cat everyday." Dorothy persisted.
"Oh?" Jax said vaguely, turning to the youngest farmhand, nineteen-year-old Hunk. "You didn't hurt yourself again, did you?" she asked, rolling her eyes, acting like she thought he was stupid. "Hunk, you are a total klutz."
"Oh, but Toto doesn't do it every day!" Dorothy persisted. "He can't even catch the stupid cat."
Jax sighed, and gave her younger cousin full attention. "Gulch hates Toto, but most of the town hates her, and she has no real evidence against your dog to get him killed."
"Are you sure, Jax?" Dorothy asked.
Her cousin smiled at her. "Of course. Now go find somewhere where you'll stop getting in scrapes like these." She ran after the farmhands, again to flirt.
"Somewhere where there's no trouble." Dorothy mused. "Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto?" She dreamily stared up at the sky. "It's far, far away, behind the moon...beyond the rain...over the rainbow!" She began to sing, and Toto wished for the hundredth time that his best friend, kind and caring as she was to him, didn't break into song so frequently. It got old fast.
About an hour later, Miss Gulch was talking to the family about Toto. "I'm taking him to the sheriff to make sure he's destroyed."
"Destroyed, Toto?" gasped Dorothy. "Oh, you can't, you mustn't!" She ran to each member of your family. "You won't let her, will you?"
Jax shushed her. "Mom and Dad are fair. They wouldn't do that to you."
But Gulch had the law on her side. "I'm afraid poor Toto has to go." said Em, Dorothy's aunt and Jax's mom.
"No, no, I won't let you take him!" screamed Dorothy. "You go away-or I'll bite you myself!"
"Threatening to follow Toto's example isn't funny." Jax said, although her twitching lips betrayed that she didn't mean a word of it and was only expecting Gulch to believe she meant it.
"You wicked old witch!" Dorothy cried, hanging onto Toto.
"Take him and put him in the basket." Em told her husband, as he gently took Toto from a now sobbing Dorothy. "Jackie, you and Dorothy leave. Try to make her understand why we've done this." Dorothy was already running from the room. Jax followed, but overheard Em telling Gulch exactly what she thought of her. She grinned and followed Dorothy out.
"Listen, Dot." Jax said, using the nickname only she used for her cousin. "Toto's a smart dog. When Gulch takes him to the sheriff, he'll behave so well that she'll have to bring him back."
"I don't care." sobbed the younger girl. "She's making everything up. Toto didn't mean to do anything wrong."
Ten minutes later, Jax was still trying to comfort Dorothy when Toto jumped through the window.
Dorothy stopped crying and hugged him. "Oh, you came back!"
Jax gave the thumbs up. "Told ya he was smart."
"But they'll come back for him!" Dorothy added. "We've got to run away! Jax, you come with us."
"But it'll break Mom's heart!" Jax protested. "I can't come with you! Your running away alone will drive her crazy, but me going will kill her."
"Please?" begged Dorothy. "I'll leave a note for Auntie Em."
Jax thought it over. If she went with Dorothy, she could just about convince her to go back. And if she couldn't, she needed to be there to protect her. Dorothy was only twelve, and very naïve for her age. She was too trusting of other people.
"OK." Jax said, sighing. "I'll come with you, Dot."
Only fifteen minutes later, they came across the caravan of the fortune-telling Professor Marvel, who claimed to be travelling everywhere around the world. Dorothy asked him to take herself and Jax with him, and he said he had to consult the crystal ball first.
"Say no." Jax whispered to herself. "We should go home." Dorothy didn't hear her, but it seemed as if Marvel had, when he made his prediction with the crystal ball.
"Close your eyes." He instructed the girls. "We need to become connected to the magical world. Now you can open them, now let's gaze into the crystal." He predicted that Em had a heart attack with the shock of losing her niece and daughter.
Jax could tell he'd just looked at a picture of Dorothy and Em that was in her basket when they had their eyes closed, but Dorothy believed it. "I have to get to her right away!" she cried. "Come on, Jax, come on, Toto!"
As the girls rushed off, the wind howled. "Goodbye, Professor Marvel, and thanks a lot!" called Dorothy as they ran off.
"Dorothy! Jacqueline!" called Em back at the farm. She had to get into the cellar to be safe from the twister, but she still worried about the two girls, who at that moment were running into the house, unable to hear her.
"Mom!" yelled Jax.
"Auntie Em!" cried Dorothy. There was a scream. Dorothy ran to her room, and Jax lay there, unconsious.
"Jax!" cried Dorothy, as the window pane shattered, and the wood holding it hit her in the head. She collapsed beside Jax.
Well, not yet too different from the movie, but when we get to Oz, I promise Jax will complicate things. Plus, I'll put a bit more of Toto's dislike of Dorothy's singing. Notice how he didn't enjoy "Over The Rainbow"? Oh, and just a warning, I'll try to update fast, but it's likely it'll be slower when I go back to school in three weeks. By the way, there's a poll on my profile page for which story you think I should update next-open to anyone. Anyone can vote, so vote on that, please!
