The next day, someone singing woke Gertrude up.
Oh I'm just the colors of the sunrise
And as lovely as can be
I am a treat to everyone's eyes
So everyone best look at me
"That must be Mayzie." Gertrude chuckled to herself; she yawned and stretched her wings. "I think I'll go see if Mayzie is as friendly as she is vain."
Gertrude flew until she found a red and orange bird preening herself in front of a pink and red fancy birdhouse. This bird resembled Gertrude, except she was taller and curvier and her head feathers were longer. Her body was red, with orange wing feathers, orange head feathers and...Gertrude's smile dropped. The bird had eight beautiful orange tail feathers. Gertrude landed on a branch and sadly looked at her lone green tail feather.
"Hello there, you must be new around here." The red and orange bird called out in a melodious voice. "My name is Mayzie LaBird, but everyone calls me Mayzie."
"My name is Gertrude McFuzz, but everyone calls me Gertrude." Gertrude's smile came back as she turned to Mayzie, who smiled at her in a friendly way.
They both laughed. Gertrude then flew closer to Mayzie.
"So you're Mayzie, Horton's other neighbor?" Gertrude said.
"Yes, I'm not surprised you've heard of me." Mayzie smiled. "Oh, you know Horton?"
"Uh-huh, he was one of the first animals I met yesterday." Gertrude explained. "I just moved in and I'm thinking of becoming a permanent resident here."
"Wonderful, I don't have any bird friends nearby so I would love for us to be friends."
"Okay, at least you're friendlier than these pretty birds that lived in my old home-jungle." Gertrude nodded.
"Friendlier?" Mayzie was confused.
"Yeah, they would always shun me or make fun of me." Gertrude's smile faded again.
"It, uh, wouldn't have anything to do with..." Mayzie hesitated.
"My one-feather tail? Yeah." Gertrude nodded sadly. "I'd rather not go into the specifics."
"Of course not, and don't you mind them either. A nasty personality can do harm to your outward appearance, that's what my mom always taught me."
"I'm glad." Gertrude smiled. "Say, I still need to build my house, do you want to help me?"
"Of course my dear, helping others makes you feel good and when you feel good you look good." Mayzie smiled back.
They flew off together to get supplies, and started to build Gertrude's house. It was similar to Mayzie's house, except it was blue and purple colored and not as fancy. Thanks to Mayzie's help they finished quicker than Gertrude would have if she did the whole thing by herself. By the time they finished it was lunchtime, and Horton had come back.
"Hi girls," Horton smiled, seeing Gertrude and Mayzie have tea on Gertrude's new patio. "Wow, Gertrude that's a beautiful house."
"Thank you Horton, Mayzie helped me build it." Gertrude smiled, flattered.
"Anything for a friend." Mayzie smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me it is time for my afternoon flight. Have to stay in shape you know."
"Of course, and thank you for your help."
"Anytime darling. Good-bye Gertrude, Horton."
Mayzie flew away.
"Say Horton, is it all right if I join you for lunch? I haven't gotten all my food supplies yet." Gertrude asked.
"I would be delighted, a meal tastes better when you share it with a friend." Horton smiled.
And they ate.
Time passed, and Gertrude ended up having the most fun she ever had. She and Mayzie hung out often, and sometimes Gertrude would even join her on her flights. Even though Mayzie talked about herself or about appearances in general a lot - which Gertrude quickly got tired of, but she put up with it - she proved to be a great friend and supportive as well. One day she caught Gertrude gazing at Horton and talked to her about it.
"You really like Horton don't you?" Mayzie guessed.
"Huh? Oh hi Mayzie." Gertrude said, turning around; then she blushed. "Yeah, I mean he's such a great guy and..."
"I know, and I don't blame you, but he is an elephant and you are a bird. Do you think it will work out?" Mayzie said with a concerned tone.
"I don't know...I hope so." Gertrude sighed.
"Well, maybe if you spruce yourself up a bit." Mayzie thought out loud. "Let me help, I love giving makeovers and rarely get to do it to someone besides myself!"
"Okay, just make sure I still stay recognizable."
"Of course. What would you like to makeover first?"
"My tail, obviously. I think the rest of me is okay the way it is"
"That it is, but you're right about your tail. Not that it's ugly or anything, it just doesn't stand out very well. Well, come on over to my place and I'll see what I can do."
Gertrude followed Mayzie to her house. Gertrude first tried dyeing her tail feather purple, but it didn't make much of a difference. She then tried puffing it up but it looked like a rabbit's tail. Finally she tried curling it, and there she had to stop because the iron scorched her tail.
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait a couple weeks for a new feather to grow in." Mayzie shook her head.
"Okay." Gertrude sighed.
A couple weeks later Gertrude tried putting flowers in her new tail feather, but that unfortunately attracted bees. Luckily she was able to ditch the flowers before anything bad happened. Mayzie couldn't think of anything else at the moment, so Gertrude decided to take a break and try writing songs for Horton. She was a pretty good singer, not like Mayzie but certainly better than a crow, so she wrote quite a few songs. During that time Mayzie had decided to take a vacation for three weeks, but that didn't make Gertrude lonely She still hung out with Horton and Morton, and was now also friends with Jane and Rudy. Sometimes she visited Whoville with them, and became good friends with Sally and Cindy. Gertrude wasn't as good a song writer as she was a singer, so she took a break from that for a while.
One day she overheard a bird talking to her friends about how she grew three new feathers thanks to a pill berry bush from Dr. Dake, a doctor for birds. This gave Mayzie the idea to try it too. She went into Dr. Dake's treehouse and asked him for the pill berry bush. He refused at first because he only gave them to that other bird to help her fly better and Gertrude's species didn't need a lot of tail feathers to fly, but Gertrude threw a tantrum.
"Okay okay!" Dr. Dake said exasperatedly. "Just knock it off!"
Annoyed, he called for a nurse to bring in the pill berry bush. When the bush arrived Gertrude ate a few of the berries and grew four new feathers! They were a mix of blue, green, and purple. Gertrude was so excited that she started to quickly eat more of the berries.
"Whoa, slow down, you'll overdo it!" Dr. Dake warned her.
She didn't listen, and more beautiful feathers started to grow.
"Horton will certainly notice me now!" Gertrude smiled before flying away. "Thank you Dr. Dake!" She called over her shoulder.
"Poor girl, she's going to regret eating so many berries." Dr. Dake shook his head.
As Gertrude continued flying more feathers grew in and started to make her tail too heavy. When her tenth feather grew in she had to land on the ground, so she walked back home, holding her tail up like a peacock. By the time she made it home it was dinner time.
"Hello Horton." She smiled flirtingly.
"Oh, hello Gertrude, how was your day?" Horton smiled back.
"Wonderful, I feel like a new bird." Gertrude continued smiling. "Horton, do you notice anything different about me?"
"Um...oh yeah, your tail has more feathers." Horton smiled, but didn't look as if he returned Gertrude's love. "It looks nice, but it must be hard to fly with all those extra feathers."
"I can manage." Gertrude was crushed, Horton still didn't love her back.
"Say, do you want to join me for dinner?" Horton asked, not noticing Gertrude's hurt expression.
"Sure." Gertrude put on a false smile.
The next day, Mayzie returned home but looked exhausted. Gertrude saw her first and walked over.
"Partied hard didn't you?" Gertrude guessed.
"I sure did, and I met this nightingale who I thought was dashing but turned out to be a jerk." Mayzie frowned.
"Really? What did he do?"
"Well we...er...oh let's just say my child will never know his father." Mayzie scowled.
"What?" Gertrude gasped. "You mean...oh dear."
"Exactly, and to me of all birds! I'm not even the family type!" Mayzie wailed. "Now I'll have to spend months alone in a nest waiting for my egg to hatch!"
"Why...he really is a jerk!" Gertrude frowned. "I can't believe he abandoned you!"
"I know, it turns out he's not the family type either." Mayzie sobbed onto Gertrude's shoulder. "But unlike me he doesn't care what happens to the egg. As for me, well, I regret everything but I don't want the little one to die."
"Well you won't be alone, I'll help you." Gertrude smiled.
"Oh thank you, you're a true friend." Mayzie then took a closer look at Gertrude. "Why Gertrude, are those new tail feathers?"
"Yup, I took some pill berries yesterday."
"Why darling you look wonderful!"
"Thanks, but I don't feel wonderful." Now Gertrude looked as if she was going to cry.
"Why not?"
"Because...because Horton still hasn't fallen in love with me." Gertrude sniffled.
"Oh you poor thing." Mayzie said sympathetically.
"No, you're the poor thing. My problem isn't as great as yours."
"But of course it is, love is more important than partying." Mayzie comfortingly put a wing on Gertrude's shoulder. "There there, maybe Horton isn't ready for a relationship yet. Just you wait, one day the sunrise will shine on your feathers, Horton will see you glowing in the dawn's light, and cupid's arrow will strike his heart hard."
"You really think so?"
"But of course. Who knows, it might even happen tomorrow." Mayzie winked. "You just have to keep trying."
"And I will, thank you Mayzie."
"Anytime."
Mayzie went home and to built a nest on the opposite side of her tree.
The next morning, Gertrude woke up at dawn and went to a spot where the light would surely hit her feathers. She spread her tail, and waited for Horton to wake up. Horton often slept in, but when he planned big days he always got up at dawn. Fortunately, today was one of those days.
"Good morning Horton." Gertrude sang out.
"Huh? Oh, good morning Gertrude, you're up early this morning." Horton smiled.
"Well I thought I'd warm my feathers." Gertrude smoothed her head feathers. "Got a big day planned?"
"Oh yeah, I promised Ned we'd hang out today, but I also have class and want to take a long swim. I'd better get going, class starts in less than three hours."
"Okay, see you tonight."
"Bye."
Gertrude again was disappointed, and now confused because Horton seemed a little distant. There was a reason for that, as Horton revealed when he muttered to himself after being out of earshot of Gertrude.
"I think Mayzie has become a bad influence on Gertrude." Horton shook his head. "She was beautiful when she was herself but now she's just another feather head."
Gertrude, even though she didn't know about Horton's mutter, couldn't take it anymore. She went back to her house and cried on her bed. Now she knew that she truly loved Horton, because she felt like her heart was breaking.