Author's notes: Okay, so this is my little story about one of the main characters in Seussical the Musical, Gertrude McFuzz. It sort of bothered me that there were no Seussical stories, so I decided to add my own. For those of you who don't know, Gertrude is a little bluebird who doesn't really view herself as someone beautiful...or bold...or witty...All because of her abnormally one-feathered tail and the fact that people...er...ANIMALS make fun of it. If you've ever seen the show, you'll know how much of a crush Gertrude has on a certain elephant...-cough-...Horton...-cough- So this first chapter is Gertrude's past through when the musical starts. The next few chapters will be her point of view during the musical. I hope you enjoy it! Please R/R!

Disclaimer:...Do I LOOK like Stephen Flaherty or Lynn Ahrens to you?

Chapter 1: Gertrude's Past

Sigh. A little bird sat, depressed, among the leaves of her mother's nest. She was old enough to be out on her own in the world, but what place had she to go? The little bluebird, who's name was Gertrude McFuzz, called out finally in her boredom.

"Isn't there any place for me to go, mom?" she asked impatiently as her mother searched through a little booklet of dwelling locations that her daughter might be able to make her home in.

"Not yet, dear," the elder bird stated. "All the places here are filled with carnivores." Gertrude involuntarily shuddered as her mother continued. "And you know that everywhere you go, they'll most likely…," she hesitated. "Make fun of you."

Gertrude pouted indignantly. She turned around and glared at her pathetic excuse for a tail behind her.

'What kind of bird has a one feather tail?' she asked herself time and time again, and this time was no different.

"I guess you'll just have to stay with me a bit longer," her mother stated quietly, a touch of happiness in her voice that was unnoticed by Gertrude.

'I suppose I'll just have to make other plans for that…,' Gertrude's mind wandered mischievously.

That night, Gertrude went to sleep beside her mother just like any other night. The older bird fell asleep quite quickly, which Gertrude was glad for. She quietly stood in the nest, and gathered her belongings, carefully making sure that her mother did not awake. A few minutes later, the little bluebird with the one feather tail was ready to set out on her own, determined to find the one true home that she could call her own.

'And maybe,' she thought. 'I'll be able to find…one small voice in the universe…'

She racked her brain for the right words to describe what she truly wanted.

'One true…friend in the universe…who believes in me…'

The young bird smiled happily at the thought of someone who truly cared for her…besides her mother. She turned to look at the bird that had raised her, remembering that it might be a long time before she would be able to see her again. Carefully bending down to meet the level her mother was on, Gertrude whispered quietly, her voice filled with emotion.

"I'm sorry, mom," she whispered. "But this is something I have to do on my own…I-I promise I'll visit as soon as I can…Whe-Whenever that is…I love you, mom……goo-goodbye…"

Gertrude stood back up, reluctantly turning her back on the other bird and flying off into the distance, unknowing of where she was headed. If she had stayed just a bit longer, she would have heard the small whisper behind her.

"Be careful, Gertrude."

Later…

"Ooh! How will I ever find someplace nice!" Gertrude muttered impatiently as she landed on the soft ground at a location she didn't yet know the whereabouts of.

She had already been to at least ten previous places, only to find that it didn't suit her liking. All the people in the other areas had ridiculed her, as she had already known would happen, but she was already determined to find some home where at least one person wouldn't make fun of her.

"Hey, what's that puny little thing?" a voice came from behind Gertrude.

'Puny!' Gertrude thought as she huffed indignantly, turning around to face a group of monkeys with a kangaroo at the head.

"Seems she doesn't like what we said, ey?" one of the monkeys stated cruelly.

"As a matter of fact, I didn't!" Gertrude replied boldly. The kangaroo, who apparently seemed to be the leader, began to laugh.

"Looks like this one has a bit of an attitude, boys," the kangaroo continued.

Another monkey with a very deep voice replied.

"Well have to fix that then, now won't we?"

Gertrude gulped. This wasn't going to turn out well. The kangaroo and the three monkeys advanced towards her, grinning cruelly. Gertrude began to turn around, intending to flee when she almost ran into a much taller figure that was looming over.

'Oh, great…,' Gertrude thought, seeing what the figure was. 'This is just my luck to run into an elephant…,'

She looked up slowly, expecting to see the elephant glaring down at her, as elephants tended to do to smaller life-forms. Gertrude gasped in surprise when she noticed the elephant was glaring, but not at herself. He glared in despise at the gang of a kangaroo and monkeys and spoke in a soft, kind voice…or at least that's what Gertrude supposed his voice usually was like. Right now it was filled with hate.

"Leave her alone, all of you," he spoke firmly, noting to use a warning tone in his voice. The kangaroo huffed in a hip-hoppish tone, and strode off with the rest of her pack.

The elephant turned to look down at Gertrude, smiling gently. Gertrude smiled back, silently thanking this new…um…hopefully…friend.

"My name's Horton," the elephant stated, noticing the lack of conversation.

Gertrude flushed slightly.

"I'm Gertrude," she replied bashfully, looking at her own feet.

Horton smiled and soon left Gertrude to stand by herself. She noted where he was headed and soon decided to follow suit.

'Maybe this place will be nice,' she thought, pushing through a small bundle of bushes.

Gertrude gasped. What she saw before her was…absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The area was filled with a lush jungle inhabited by different animals that waved to her as she passed…well…actually they waved until they saw her tail. Then they would try to suppress a snicker and would turn their backs to her.

But Gertrude didn't care. She had just met someone who was actually kind to her, even though he didn't really know her, and therefore, she didn't care about anything else that would ruin her day.

Passing by an overly large purple tree, Gertrude suddenly heard a bold, yet lazy, voice sounding above her.

"Why hello, little bluebird. Come to join the…um…I guess you could call them "friendly" people of The Jungle of Nool?"

The small bird looked up to see another bird looking back at her, a snobby expression framing her face. Gertrude noticed that this bird was a glittery pink color and was obviously a bit of a show-off.

"Why…um…Well, I was thinking about it."

"The name's Mayzie, kid," the pink bird stated. "In case you didn't already know. Everybody here MUST know who I am."

Gertrude nodded, not really caring that she had met Mayzie. She figured she would have been better off not knowing her in the first place.

"Where can I talk to the um…well…whoever can give me somewhere to live?" Gertrude asked politely. Mayzie seemed disappointed that the attention had been taken away from her, but she pointed towards a round cave with a little swamp outside of it none the less.

Gertrude nodded her thanks and trotted off towards the cavern. Upon reaching the entrance, she noticed a slightly overlarge red and white hat lying on the ground.

"Now what's this?" she wondered aloud, reaching down to pick it up. Suddenly a large, black figure came and snatched the hat off the ground. Gertrude looked up to the figure to find it was…a really big cat!

The cat that was now in the hat looked up to notice Gertrude standing there.

"Why hello there!" he said. "What brings you here to our little town?"

"I'm looking for a home…," Gertrude answered shyly.

"Well! Right this way, Miss…?" he paused, looking at Gertrude for an answer.

"Miss Gertrude McFuzz," Gertrude replied, smiling a little.

The Cat in the Hat seemed to be one who liked lots of stories…and who also liked to make up titles of stories. He noticed the small tail that was part of Gertrude's frame and decided to make up a little story title of it.

"The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz," he stated cheerfully as Gertrude smiled warily.

It seemed only a short amount of time before the two reached a nice sized grass hut which lay next to a larger house made of leaves.

Gertrude stepped into the smaller grass hut and was pleased with what she saw.

Stepping back out, she listened to the Cat in the Hat as he spoke again.

"Is everything to your liking?" he asked.

Gertrude nodded eagerly, ready to finally have a home of her own.

One year later…

A small-framed bluebird stepped silently out into the morning sun. She looked like your typical next door neighbor. Slippers, dress, un-brushed feathers, etc. made up her wardrobe.

Gertrude yawned sleepily, greeting the cool breeze that flowed into her mouth. She turned to her left, ready to start her daily routine. This routine started with a longing gaze at her next door neighbor, Horton's, house (No surprise there, eh?). She followed suit by doing whatever need be done for her day.

The afternoon followed pleasantly enough with Gertrude trying her best to avoid the Sour Kangaroo and her follower monkeys, whose names Gertrude now knew were the Wickersham Brothers. As she sat silently outside of her home, Gertrude lazily watched the different inhabitants that she now had gotten used to after year. The Sour Kangaroo and The Wickersham Brothers were busy yelling at The Cat in the Hat while he annoyed them to a great extent. Mayzie was sitting up in her tree, smoothing her feathers. Gertrude looked around a bit and practically fell over with delight when she saw Horton enter the jungle.

Gertrude suddenly noticed that a few people were staring at her oddly, and she turned and scampered into her house, afraid that Horton would see her.

She made herself some purple tea and sat down on one of her VERY cushy chairs. All was silent in the Jungle. Gertrude could smell the beautiful summer breeze wafting through her hut. She was perfectly content…

A dominant voice suddenly sounded outside.

"You're the Biggest Blame Fool in the Jungle of Nool…"

Gertrude raised an eyebrow. Who was a fool?

Then she heard it…She could plainly make Horton's voice talking in a defensive manner.

"It's true, please believe me!" she could hear him plead.

Gertrude huffed, bravery building in her small frame, as she marched outside, unknowing of the giant roller-coaster that was about to unfold on her life.

To be continued…

Author's notes: I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! And please review!...Don't leave a poor little thing like me out in the cold...-whimper- Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but it might take a while...Hey! Don't look at me! You can blame cheerleading, Student Council, CATS, Honor's Band, and the term exams that I have to study for soon!