"So...you join sewing club because this Norma person was in it?" the Lorax asked slightly confused.
"Yes, and, once again, I say there is nothing unmanly about sewing, knitting, or things of those kind!" the Once-ler says in an agitated tone. "Besides, I was doing for a friend, so it doesn't really count."
Then, without any warning, a huge crack of thunder erupted through the valley. Heavy falling rain followed it, and the animals started to momentarily freak out again. But, after a few words from the Lorax, they seemed to calm down. A few moments were then spent silently listening to the rain harshly hitting the roof, but, then, the Lorax speaks up.
"Uh, hey Beanpole, mind telling a few more stories?" the Lorax asks sounding a bit embarrassed. "The rain doesn't seem like it's gonna leave anytime soon, and...we're all kind of interested in hearing stories from your past. So...how about it?"
The Once-ler then blinks in confusion before answering; "Sure. Anything you wanna know?"
"Hm..." The Lorax then takes a second to think, but then replies. "Actually, there is something I've always wondered. How did you get the idea for the Thneed anyway?" The Once-ler's cheeks then turn a shade of red, and he chuckles a bit nervously.
"Well, to be honest, the Thneed was only partly my idea." the Once-ler confessed. The animals then all seem to get confused expressions, so the Once-ler continues. "My original Thneed was actually given to me by Norma. Of course...it wasn't exactly what I would call a Thneed. It was actually supposed to be something entirely different, but, somehow, it wound as my prototype..."
~o~o~o~
"How could you have gotten an A on the assignment?!" Norma asks in total shock as the two walk with trays in hand to their usual table for lunch.
You see, it had been only a month since the run-in with Johnny, but Norma and Once-ler had already bonded a tight friendship. In fact, one would rarely be without the others company, and, even if they weren't together, the two were never far from each other. Of course, they were still had a lot of differences form one another, and this just happened to be one of them.
"I mean...you just randomly joined the club, but you still rock at it! I didn't even come close to a C, and I've sewed with my grandma tons of times..."
The Once-ler couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her agitation, and shrugs. "I really don't know how I pulled it off. I honestly have never sewed before, and...I'm probably making it worse for you, aren't I?"
"Pretty much." Norma says in a tone that's heard to tell if she's serious. The Once-ler sends her an apologetic look, and she gives him a look that basically says "Got ya" right back to him. The Once-ler then smiles in relief, and the two continue over to their regular lunch table. They finally get to their table, (a four person booth almost hidden in the back of lunch room) and file in on separate sides so they'd be looking at each other. Instantly, Once-ler began eating his food, but Norma just idly poked at her peas with an almost depressed expression.
"Hey...everything okay?" Once-ler asks once he notices Norma's expression. Norma was quiet for a moment, but then sighs, and looks at the boy across from her with the same sad expression.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Norma says in a sigh. "It's just...my mom is going to kill me when she find out about my poor grade on this assignment. And she'll read me the riot act about how I could have done better, and how I won't get into a good college if I keep up this poor work ethic, that I need to take school more seriously, etc." the Once-ler then gives her a sympathetic expression.
"Aw, come on now...it couldn't have been that bad." Norma then gives him an expression that screams it was. She then reaches into her pocket, and takes out a wadded up ball of yarn – tossing it onto the table. "Oh...is, um...is this-"
"My finished product?" Norma finishes his sentence. "Yep."
"Ah." I say slowly. I then look back down at the...thing Norma had placed on the table, and slowly reach out to grab it. "Ooooooh, come on Norm's. I mean, I've certainly seen worse...um..." I then hold up the thing of pink colored yarn, but...couldn't exactly figure out what it was. It seem to be a mesh-up of all sorts of different sorts of yarn-based things. The length suggested it may be a scarf, randomly jutting-out pieces on it lead one to believe it may be a coat of some kind, and random holes in it told that it could possibly be some weird sweater. "Worse...ummmm...what...exactly is this...?"
Norma groans, and rolls her eyes in frustration. "It was supposed to be a dust cover for a stool, okay." the Once-ler's jaw dropped slightly. He certainly wouldn't have guessed that.
"OH!" the Once-ler gasps – trying to keep the shock out of his voice, but fails. Norma rolls and gives a heavy sigh before crossing her arms and turning her gaze to the floor. The Once-ler couldn't help but feel bad for making his friend feel like this, and decided...he needed to cheer her up again. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and a smile comes across his face. "Hey, um, Norma, if you want, I could possibly...take your project with me, and if your parents ask if you had a bad grade, you could just say it's because it got lost somewhere." Norma then looks to her tall friend, and her sad look turns to a hopeful one. Soon, a wide smile appeared on her face.
"That's actually not a bad idea." Norma says with her new bright and cheery smile displayed proudly on her face. "You'd really do that for me?"
"Sure." the Once-ler replies with a small shrug. "What are friends for?"
Norma's smile seems to grow wider, and she suddenly springs across the booth – lathing onto Once-ler in a tight hug. "Thanks, like, a million Once! I owe ya!" the Once-ler's cheeks tinted a red color at the hug, but he smiles and hugs his friend back. After a moment, Norma detaches herself from her friends skinny frame, and tosses Once-ler her project. "Here you go. Knock yourself out." with this, Norma then settled back into her seat, and begins to eat the food on her tray.
"Hehe...thanks." Once-ler says a bit awkwardly. Suddenly, the Once-ler sees that the "Dust Cover" was at a different angle, and...it sorta looked like...
"Sowethwiwg wong?" Norma asks with a mouthful of peas.
The Once-ler then scrambles to get something out of his pocket, and, when he did, it was revealed to be a small-sized sketch book. "Could this be it?" the Once-ler asks himself as he quickly flips through the pages. He then finally stops at a bookmarked page, (why he didn't just turn to that one, Norma will never know) and, out of the blue, gets a huge smile. "It's exactly what I need!"
"For what?" Norma speaks up – finally swallowing her peas.
"For my invention!" the Once-ler clarifies with his already Cheshire-like smile getting impossibly wider. "It's gonna be something that...um, it's gonna be a this...okaaaay, so I may not have all the details on it yet, but I sketched out what I thought my invention was going to look like, and this fits it!" Norma blinks in surprise, but then smiles and shrugs her shoulders slightly.
"Sounds cool." Norma says cheerfully. The Once-ler then practically starts shaking in joy, and nods.
"Your darned right it's gonna be!" The Once-ler shouts. Norma can't help but chuckle at her friends enthusiasm, and goes back to quietly eating her food.
The Once-ler then turns his attention back to the small sketchbook in front of him, and starts to scribble down notes and possible design changes for his upcoming creation. As he's doing so, without him really knowing it, Norma was looking at him. She couldn't stop herself from thinking that...the way his bangs fell in front of his face made him look...cute. The curly haired teenager quickly shakes the thoughts from her head, and goes back to eating. Her and Once-ler are merely friends, everyone knows it, but...maybe...deep inside...she wanted to be more with him.
Of course, what she didn't know was that, secretly...Once-ler was feeling the same way.
~o~o~o~
"And that's how I got my Thneed." the Once-ler concludes.
All the animals seemed to still be giving all their attention to the lanky man, and he was honestly surprised they still were interested after this long.
"So...you basically took a thing someone else already made instead of making your own?" The Lorax asks – raising one eyebrow.
The Once-ler then rolls his eyes. "No. I mean, sure, I took the thing she made, but I didn't steal it. She gave it to me so she wouldn't get in trouble at home. Besides, I had to work with what I had. I couldn't afford to buy that many materials, you know?"
"Sure." The Lorax says with sarcasm practically dripping form his voice. "Now, could you get back to the story? Another wave of thunder is coming, and the animals are already fidgeting."
"Right." the Once-ler sighs slightly. He then perks up slightly, and continues where he left off. "So, for the next week, I worked non-stop on developing my Thneed. Now, remember, I had no name for it yet, no final design, and was basically just winging my way though it." he then gives a bit of a laugh, and clears his throat before continuing. "Anyway, it was about two weeks in on development, and I had almost gotten my invention just right. However, I still needed to come up with the most important thing of a invention...the name and a catchy jingle."
~o~o~o~
It seemed like a regular type of Saturday afternoon.
The sun was out, birds were singing, and all the kids usually trapped within school walls at this time were taking advantage of their freedom.
The duo of Once-ler and Norma were no exception.
The two were hanging out in the barn as they usually did when Norma came over to Once-ler's house; mostly because he was to afraid of his mother ticking off Norma by criticizing as she usually did with his friends. Norma was leaning over Melvin's stable – idly stroking the now almost full grown mule's ear, and Once-ler was sitting on a nearby hay stack working on his new invention. He had actually sewed most of the holes up, and even re-sewed some of the parts that were coming loose. Everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful until Norma spoke up.
"Hey...Once, if you don't mind me asking...why do you wanna make this invention of your so badly?" Norma's voice timidly spoke up. The Once-ler stopped sewing, and stared blankly at the needles.
Of course, he knew the real reason he was doing this was to somehow keep apart of his father alive through him, but...he decided Norma didn't need to know that. "I just...wanna make my mark on history, you know?" Once-ler responds, looking to Norma with a smile. "I guess that...when I pass on...I want to be remembered for more that just that one tall kid."
"I can understand that." Norma says laughing slightly. She then glances down at the material in his hands, and looks back up at him. "So...is it finished yet?"
"Not yet, but it's close." Once-ler responds, his smile growing a bit wider.
"Great. When you finish it; I wanna be the first one to buy it." Norma tells him; causing a blush to come across the Once-ler's cheeks. A goofy smile then works it's way on his lips, but, luckily, Norma just thought it was an ordinary smile. "So, have you decided what to call your invention?" the smile the Once-ler had disappears, and he lets out a frustrated sigh.
"No...I've tried, but I can't think of anything that could be an interesting name and have a catchy slogan. I guess my brain isn't smart enough to come up with something like that..." Norma then gives him a sympathetic smile, and walks over to pat the tall teen's shoulder.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up." she tells Once-ler warmly. "The name will come to you eventually. Until then, just keep perfecting your invention, and, by the time you have a name, you'll be well and ready to sell it." at this, Once-ler actually regains some of his previous smile. He still felt pressured, but...Norma's words has somehow lightened the metaphorical load on his mind. The curly haired teen then briefly smiles back at him, but then gets a shocked look as if she just remembered something. "Oh crap! I have a paper due in U.S History Monday, and I haven't even put my name on the paper yet!" Norma then gives a frustrated groan, and starts harshly face-palming herself. "Ugh! How could I forget a paper worth half my grade?! This is..just...ugh! Thneed!"
The last words in Norma's sentence suddenly made the Once-ler freeze. "Um...wait...did you just say...Thneed?" the Once-ler asked slowly – making sure he heard her right.
"Um...yeah." Norma replies, sounding embarrassed all of a sudden. "Thneed is sorta my replacement for almost any cuss word. Hehe...sorry if it sounded...well, you know, stupid."
"Stupid?" the Once-ler asks in a bit of shock. "No...no, I isn't stupid. In fact...that would actually make a good name for my product! And, the company's slogan could be: "Thneeds. The thing that everyone needs."! It works out perfectly!" the lanky teen suddenly reaches out, and grabs Norma in a tight hug. "Thank you sooo much for the name, Norma! I owe you!"
"Hehe, anytime." Norma says with a smile – even though she was slightly confused about what had just happened. The Once-ler soon lets her go, and she headed toward the exit. "Sorry to bolt so fast, but I need to get home and do that paper. Hopefully I can fake my way into a B-."
"It's alright." the Once-ler assures her smiling. "I gotta work on perfecting my new Thneed anyway. Good luck on that paper, and thanks again for your help." Norma got a slight blush, but, thankfully, she was just out of range for Once-ler to notice it. She then nods, basically wishing him all the same, and leaves. The Once-ler then goes back to sewing, but...suddenly, it just feels different than before. Of course, this doesn't stop him, although...a question instantly haunts his mind.
Should he have...asked Norma to stay with him?
~o~o~o~
"So, from then on out, the designing process for my Thneed ran smoothly." Once-ler explains; surprisingly without any interruptions. "I spent two weeks completing my final design, and, at last, all my hard work had paid off! For I had built the worlds first Thneed, and, believe me, I was floating on air! It seemed like nothing was gonna bring me down." Once-ler's happy-go-lucky smile then slowly fades into a frown; something that seemed to be growing more common when remembering his past. "But...of course...something did..."
"What was it?" The Lorax asked out of curiosity.
The Once-ler then sighs, and his frowns twists into that of anger. "Oh, I'll tell you what it was! Or better yet who it was! The same people who always got a kick out of bullying me! The same people who seemed to make it their mission to see me miserable! The very same people who I'm forced to call brothers!" Once-ler's outburst makes all the animals get surprised looks. None of them have ever really seen him get angry before, so...this was a first.
"Well...what exactly did they do?" comes the Lorax's slightly scared follow-up question.
"What they always do!" the Once-ler answers in a grumble. "Break whatever I seemed to care for the most! In fact, my Thneed hadn't even gone an hour before they wrecked it!"
~o~o~o~
"I did it!" Once-ler exclaims – hopping up from the hay stack he'd been sitting on.
It had taken him two whole weeks of working on it, but...he had finally finished it. Sure, it had taken a lot of blood, (he accidentally jabbed his finger with a needle he was sewing with a few time) sweat, and tears but...it was worth it. That's right; Once-ler had at last completed his Thneed!
"Oh man, this is so awesome!" Once-ler exclaimed in pure excitement. "It's finally done! My invention is now finished! Norma's gonna wig out when I tell her!" the Once-ler then giggles in glee – barely being able to contain his pure joy. He then raced into the house, and went straight to the telephone. In his hurry he thought he heard his family talking to him, but he blocked them out. The lanky teens head was to high in the clouds, and he wasn't gonna let his family bring him down.
Once he gets to the phone, he quickly dials Norma's number, and, after a few rings, the curly haired girl herself picked up. "Hello?"
"Hey Norma!" Once-ler exclaimed.
"Ah, it's you Once." Norma said with a slightly teasing giggle. "So, what's up?"
"Nothing much...just finished the best invention in the history of man is all!" Once-ler says; joy developing in his voice with every word. Norma then giggle on the other line.
"I'm really happy for you, buddy."
"Thanks!" Once-ler then took a pause, but then gets a huge smile mixed with a slight blush on his cheeks. "Um...I was thinking, if you wanted to, you could come over to see it. Possibly, like, now?" Norma then seems to giggle a bit more, but then sadly sighs.
"Believe me, I'd love to, but my Grandparents are visiting for the weekend. Basically; I'm on lock-down for two whole days. But I'd love to see it on Monday."
Once-ler's smile then fades, and then sighs understandingly. "Okay. Sorry about being on lock-down."
"Ah, don't worry about it." Norma says with a slight giggle. "I'll just see it Monday. Oh...hold on..." there was a secondary pause, but then Norma comes back on the line with a sigh. "Hey, look, I gotta go. My family is gonna sit down and play a rousing game of checkers. Oh, the joy." the last words out f Norma's mouth were practically dripping with sarcasm. They both exchanged one last goodbye before hanging up the phone almost at the same time.
"Guess I need to occupy myself until Monday." the Once-ler says more to himself. He was about to go to his room to get some much needed sleep, but then...
"Who was that nerd; your girlfriend?" Once-ler's older brother Chet asks teasingly from behind Oncie.
Once-ler jumps a bit, but he quickly rolls his eyes in an annoyed manner when he realized it was only Chet. "First of all, it doesn't matter who I was talking to, and second, why do you even care?" Once-ler's words seemed to catch Chet off guard, (Once-ler was a whole level of intelligence up from him after all) and he was going to slip off. But, suddenly, the Thneed gripped in his hand was yanked out.
"Oh what is this?!" Bret asks sounding like he just heard the world funniest joke. "Once, I knew you were a homo, but now you're makin' pink scarfs?!"
"S-Shut up, and give me that back Bret!" Once-ler hisses slightly; getting a dark blush.
Once-ler then makes a grab for the Thneed in his brothers hands, but, thanks to playing sports, Bret had much faster reflexes than him. He then tosses it to an open Chet on the other side of the hall, and, with their combined efforts, have a good three minute game of keep-away.
"Come on, we gotta show this one to mom!" Chet shouted to his twin.
"N-no!" Once-ler exclaimed in pure terror.
He never really planned to show his mom his invention until when (and if, for that matter) it became famous. Plus...she had never really approved of him knitting, and he was just...tired of disappointing her. He makes a made dash to catch his brothers, but trips over his feet – landing face first. He was only thrown off for a moment, but then shook it off and ran after his brothers.
Unfortunately...when he caught up to them...they were already showing his mom his invention.
"Mama! Look what Once made!" Bret says with a laugh. Lauren then takes the piece of pink fabric from Bret, and eyes it judgmentally. Once-ler inwardly cringes, and tries to slowly tip-toe off to his room to hide. But, like everything in the last few minutes, it didn't wok out for him.
"Oncie, come on in here." Lauren said in an almost sweet tone.
A shiver goes down Once-ler's back. He had learned at a young age that, when his mom used a sweet tone...your self-esteem was about to take a heavy blow. He stayed frozen in place, but, soon, found the courage to at least go into the doorway.
"Y-yeah mom?" Once-ler tries to say as innocently as he can.
"Oncie," his mother began – totally ignoring his innocent greeting. "Did you make this...thing here in my hands?" Lauren then holds up the Thneed, and Once-ler gulps – avoiding his mothers gaze.
"Yes...I did." Once-ler replies softly. He then slowly looks up to see his moms expression.
It wasn't good.
Her eyes screamed she was embarrassed by him without words, and she was shaking her head in disbelief. "Oncie...I don't think I've ever been as disappointed in you as I am now."
You could practically hear the lanky teen's heart break from there to China.
"...w-what...?" Oncie manages to ask.
"I thought you were going to be different than him, Oncie." his mother sighed; ignoring his question completely. "But, I guess you have to much of your father in you for your personality to be any different. He always had his head high up in the clouds; inviting failed after failed invention. And, in the end, that's what took his life. Ignorance coupled with false childish hope. Now, please promise me you'll stop all this silly inventing, and focus on something that actually matters." as Lauren spoke; Oncie's hand balled into fists at his sides.
Never before in his life had he wanted to tell his mother off so badly. She was making his father sound like a complete moron, and he was letting her! But...Once knew he would never have the back-bone to stand up to his mother...he just couldn't...
"I...I promise mom." Once-ler says quietly in defeat – feeling like a total wimp.
"Good." Lauren says ; beaming in victory. "Now, go upstairs and study one of your subjects. Oh, and go put this...whatever it is far away from sight" she then tosses the Thneed back to her son, and Once-ler nods. He then slinks out of the room and up to the attic – not even trying to think about Bret and Chet's taunting looks as he went.
Once he get to his room; Once-ler locked the door, and slumped over to his desk hidden away in the corner of the room. He then plops down in the chair with a heavy sigh, and stares at the Thneed.
Maybe...maybe she's right. Once-ler thinks as he continues to stare blankly at his pink invention. This...thing is probably destined to fail anyway. Why was I kidding myself into believing I could actually make something useful...? Once-ler then sighs again, and, from the corner of his eye, sees something shimmering. He then looks fully toward it, and sees...a pair of scissors laying on the other side of the desk. Once-ler then subconsciously grabs them, and looks at the two items in his hands.
To his Thneed, and to the scissors. To the scissors to the Thneed.
After a moment, the lanky teen's eye brows suddenly furrow in anger. A burst of rage seems to take Once-ler, and, before he knew what had happened, he was surrounded by billions of pink shreds of what appeared to be yarn. The scissors were still in his hand, but his Thneed wasn't.
It took a minute, but, when everything finally caught up with Once-ler, his eyes widen and he instantly drops the scissors to the floor.
"Oh...oh god..." the Once-ler gasps slightly. He then scoops up a hand-full of the pink threat, and watched helplessly as they fall through the spaces of his fingers to the desk once more. "What...what have I done?! All that time...that effort...it's all for nothing..." suddenly, the Once-ler felt very shaky.
A part of him was glad to be rid of that dumb invention, but...another was...ashamed of himself.
Once-ler then slowly stands up from the chair, and shuffles through the pink mess to his nearby bed. He then crawls onto it, and settles into the mattress. His thoughts then suddenly turn to his father, and...how he probably would have wanted him to continue inventing things. His eyes then slowly shut – slowly drifting off into slumber.
But, I guess you have to much of your father in you for your personality to be any different. His mothers words suddenly ring through his mind as he falls asleep.
But...hadn't that been what he always wanted?
~o~o~o~
"And...that's what basically happened." Once-ler concludes.
The room of animals (and Lorax) was silent. They were all surprised to hear that the Once-ler had such a bad string of luck in his childhood.
"Well Beanpole...I...I never expected you to have such a rough childhood." The Lorax admits; actually feeling a big bad for the lanky man. "I mean...you always seem so cheerful, and...I would have never guessed the stories you've been telling us happened to you." The Lorax then seemed to pause a bit in hesitation, but then sighs. "So...how do you do it?"
"Do...what?" Once-ler asked in genuine confusion.
"How are you always so...cheerful?" The Lorax finally spits out. "I mean, I may not be an expert on humans, but...anyone else who went what you went through would be a walking mess. But you...you seem perfectly happy. I just...wanna know how your able to do it." The Lorax half expected Once-ler to be offended by his question, but...he surprisingly smiled.
"Well...I guess it was because...someone was always there for me." the lanky man explains.
The Lorax raises an eyebrow. "Who?" The Once-ler then flashes a smile at the orange-furred forest guardian, and the Lorax instantly knew the name before it came out of his mouth.
"Norma."