For a while there it felt like I would never get this chapter done. A few components had been long-standing in draft form, and the major delay was figuring out how to fit in the further developments I'd since made to those concepts, and then reconcile it all with the story. I'm glad that I finally solved the dilemma, because this is where the other animals really become involved in the struggle to protect their environment. Pipsqueak doesn't feature in this chapter beyond mentioning, because it's focusing on the others right now, but I intend to bring him back in the next one.
Even though the Lorax intended to keep all of the animals of the Truffula valley away from the human family's camp, it soon became clear that the animals had other ideas. Pipsqueak was already bound by oath not to go near the humans anymore, but the Humming fish in whom he'd confided, who thoroughly agreed with his motion that the animals needed to do something to help protect their forest, were determined not to let the cub's hard work go to waste. Before the Lorax could force the rest of the animals to promise to avoid the humans, they thereby set out spreading word of the concept as far as they could.
The general interest of the forest community was most definitely piqued by the story of what the baby Bar-ba-loot had been up to. Those especially close to him had been more than shocked upon hearing of his run-in with Brett and Chet; Pipsqueak's parents had almost had a fit in fact, but at the same time his courage and conviction gradually began to spark inspiration, along with admiration amongst all of them.
One thing the fish made clear, however, was that everyone had to avoid letting the Lorax order them to keep their distance; they couldn't even allow him a chance to bring the subject up. This sounded like a feat easier said than done, but when someone pointed out that the guardian was at this moment approaching their circle, necessity proved itself the mother of invention yet again.
Just as the Lorax was raising his paws to signal the animals' attention, one of them called, off the top of their head, "Tag everyone! The Lorax is It!" In seconds everyone clued in and scattered in all directions, and the forest guardian was left stopped in his tracks, paws never having altered their position.
The Lorax saw nothing unusual about this impromptu community game; such things were anything but uncommon in the Truffula valley, but he found it more than a tad annoying that it began right when he was about to deliver an important speech to the animals – unaware that this was precisely the whole aim behind it, of course.
For the most part following the object of the game was effortless enough, and at times some found it easy to forget the serious undertone in the thrill of the moment, but here and there a challenge arose which would remind them to stay on their toes. One such instance occurred with Lou, who despite putting his all into it, was not exactly what you'd call a runner, and did not take long to wear down. This, it seemed, called for a sizable portion of atmospheric suspense, as everyone still in Lou's vicinity momentarily ceased climbing up or diving in and around the foliage, watching in sympathetic dismay as he was faced with the mercy of a gaining Lorax.
Fortunately, about half a dozen swans came to the rescue, and the "danger" was... sort of averted. While the Lorax, who was by now a little more invested in the game (as well as seriously regarding it as a game of tag), protested that that was essentially "cheating", the swans were more busied with the problem of holding onto their Bar-ba-loot burden, who was unquestionably a far-cry from carrying a little cub. A quarter of a minute proved that six swans weren't enough to keep Lou airborne, and though it was through no intent of theirs, the poor fellow circumstantially embarked on an ill-equipped skydive into the forest below.
As the dismayed swans flew down to make sure their fallen passenger was alright, the game otherwise went on, mostly uneventful, till nightfall, and thankfully with the Lorax's message undelivered. Now, with both the forest guardian and the humans asleep, the animals could get down to business.
At first their midnight meeting consisted merely of a relay of what was already known about the situation, for they all needed to be on the same page in order to formulate the next step. Of all the details they covered, the one which seemed to stand out the most was that the Once-ler's mother had been the one to convince her son to ignore his promise. This was, after all, one of the first details Pipsqueak and his playmates had picked up on, and also had been reaffirmed by the Lorax.
"Then Pipsqueak's probably right, and we should try to get her to change her mind," someone said.
"I dunno, that woman gives me the creeps," another piped up. "Has anyone else noticed that thing she always wears around her neck? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that used to be someone... if you know what I mean."
There was a moment of silence. In fact, surprisingly few of the animals had noticed that the woman wore a stuffed dead creature around her neck, but with this grisly information brought to the fore... well suddenly she seemed far less approachable than before.
One of the fish then pointed out, "Well, then again, isn't she usually the one who gets her other sons to stop playing around with us? I mean, they only stopped throwing us when she told them to, today, and she also got them to stop throwing you guys around when they first showed up," the speaking fish motioned to the Bar-ba-loots as he said this.
Everyone mulled over this for a moment. For a woman who treated the deceased as clothing, she had technically helped several of the forest inhabitants out of those rough encounters with her sons. And it was clear she was one of the top authorities in the Once-ler's family, and apparently the one who had the most influence over him. In the end that was enough to decide them. Somehow, in the hopes that it were possible, they would have to appeal to the woman, and try to garner her sympathy. A heart-to-heart was obviously out of the question, but there were other ways to befriend a human, and if they were lucky that would be enough.
/
First the Bar-ba-loots made their move on the woman. Penetrating the monstrous, looming structure of that RV when extended to its fullest wasn't nearly as easy as it was to get inside the Once-ler's home, and there would have been a lot more navigation required once inside, but as if by the genius of fate, it was into the trailer that Lou had landed that afternoon, the swans who'd dropped him following close behind. As all of the humans had been working at the time, no one was inside, and the Lorax was unlikely to find them there either, so the animals had felt secure in exploring the place a bit, now that they were inside. Along with finding some very nifty novelties amongst the family's food stash - "Wow, the Once-ler never has all these things!" Lou had marveled, taking the liberty of raiding a potato chip bag, a couple boxes of cookies, and a large fruit bowl in the kitchenette* – they also developed a basic understanding of where some of the key places within the RV were, including the sleeping quarters. So this time, it did not take terrifically long to determine which part of the vehicle was specifically the Once-ler's mother's place to hunker down for the night.
Granted, they didn't know the first thing about how humans made these extremely structural nests, but the sheer idea that so many rooms and passages could be incorporated into a convertible vehicle like this still struck the animals as surreal.
When they had established a clear sense of where to find her, they then proceeded on the second part of their plan. By now it was approaching dawn, and the humans were likely to wake up soon. About the only way of offering peace that the Bar-ba-loots were aware of was to gather fruit from the Truffula trees, to present to the party it was hoped that peace could be achieved with, so the lot of them snuck into the woman's quarters with as many fruits as they could carry, each. There would have to be something seriously wrong with her if she couldn't be bought with all these!
The Once-ler's mother lay snoring in bed, a mint-green face mask attempting to block out the years from showing on her skin. As she lay on her side, facing out towards the animals, they carefully slid the majority of the fruits up onto the bed beside her. What they couldn't get up there, they left for her to find around her slippers.
As if on cue, her alarm clock sounded, and she groggily rolled over to turn it off. With her face down, she was caught off guard by a cool, juicy mush which invaded her complexion.
"What the -" she sat up, taking in the Truffula mulch half squished into her pillow and covers, half squished onto herself. Exclaiming in disgust, she leaped out of bed, feet searching for her slippers, only to form and thereby slip in more mulch.
Judged by her salty language, this did not appease her in the slightest. The Bar-ba-loots, looking on, had a feeling this was not going to work after all. Especially not when she saw them, and started yelling at the "filthy bears" to get out, grabbing whatever random object she could and swinging it at them. So, this pretty much proved there was something seriously wrong with the woman, in any case, but now was definitely not the time to reflect on this, as everyone was far too busy trying to dodge the angry woman's strikes.
In the midst of the mother's game of whack-a-Bar-ba-loot, Lou somehow ended up inside the small closet in which she kept an almost comical over-stuffing of clothes and accessories, with the door closed behind him. True, this could lead to complications when he tried to leave again, but for the time being he wasn't too worried, as long as he wasn't anywhere where she could get at him. That was until, even in the closet's overall darkness, he got a faint glimpse of what a good part of her wardrobe was comprised of...*
Even after things quieted down at last, and the Once-ler's mother had left her "bedroom" to clean up and get set for the day, it took Lou a bit of time to recover enough from his shocking discovery in order to leave the closet and sneak outside again. When he reunited with his fellow Bar-ba-loots, they were all a bit flustered and disappointed with the outcome of that failed venture.
"Who's idea was it to give her such soft fruit, anyway?"
"She's a lady! You always give ladies the ripest fruits you can find."
"Yeah, that's just how it's done!"
"And anyway, how were we supposed to know she doesn't like Truffula fruit? Who'd ever guess that anyone could dislike it?!"*
"Oh, hey, Lou!" They finally noticed him. "We were getting worried about you there!"
"What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
Lou's blank, somewhat quivering expression did not undergo any adjustments, but if he could bring himself to speak at the moment he might have said, "Close enough!"
Well, that attempt may have been a bust, but the Swomee swans and Humming fish were up next; perhaps they'd have more success?
About the only way to "work their charms" that they could think of was a musical display – it was, after all, the most notable shared talent of the two species. For that matter, a song and dance collaboration between swans and fish should create even more of an impression than either group going it alone; if they dared say so, their mutual performances were nothing short of spectacular.
They waited a while before conducting their serenade; a little practice choreography beforehand couldn't hurt, and after what they'd heard had happened with the Bar-ba-loots, it might be wise to give the woman a chance to cool down again.
It was close to breakfast when the swans and fish were ready. With the day being off to a balmy start, the humans were dining outside again, which was actually quite an ideal arrangement relative to the performance the creatures were about to give. Being inside the RV would not have allotted sufficient space for the swans to do their aerial swerves and terpsichores.
Naturally, the human family was caught by surprise by the sudden swarm of fish and birds – the latter of which in fact caused a few of them to duck for cover, initially. They recovered soon enough, when they realized that the animals were not trying to swipe anything from them, or do anything else of an overly invasive nature, but the little woodland musical they were being treated to maintained a hold on their attention.
"Oh, would y'all listen to that?" the Once-ler's mother remarked, smiling. "Who'd ever think a bunch of forest critters could be so melodic?"
Even as they continued performing, the swans and fish were now beaming, themselves. Good! That was just the sort of reaction they wanted her to give!
"Meh, too much noise if you ask me," Aunt Grizelda snorted. Okay, that wasn't so encouraging, but it still seemed they were on the right track. The woman they needed to create a good impression on was responding favourably, and furthermore the men all seemed equally captivated, as well. This alone would probably not lead to the tree-chopping coming to an end, but it was a good start, at any rate!
Or, then again, maybe not. Towards the end of their number, as the Humming fish and Swomee swans gathered together on the ground in intricately-laced clusters, finishing their harmonization in the process, a swan named Myrna just happened to notice something about the comestibles laid out on the little patio table everyone was seated around. Squinting, the female swan studied the several small cups, each holding a disproportionately large, speckled oval object atop. Easily the most horrifying thing to catch a swan's attention.
Shrieking, she squawked, "Wait a minute! Our EGGS! Hold everything! These monsters are eating our EGGS!"
Gosh, to describe the pandemonium which erupted among the Swomee swans when that observation had been shared! The majority of it is probably best left to the imagination, but to summarize: The swans, particularly the females (and moreso if they were expecting mothers who, for all they knew, may now be out their most recent eggs!), suddenly began to act like something out of the works of Alfred Hitchcock, the Humming fish were dumbstruck and horrified, though decidedly less active about it, and of course, the humans were alarmed by this sudden change in the birds' mood, and made a quick switch to the defensive. Just when it seemed like things were about to get indescribably ugly, a sharpish, bossy voice rang out, "ALRIGHT, TIME OUT! What the heck is going on here?!"
Well, neither the humans nor the animals could avoid feeling like students caught in a schoolyard fight, now.
AN: I think we can all guess who's happened on to the scene! Their plan has gone from "bust" to busted! Not to worry, none of the animals are ready to give up just yet - though I'll bet the swans will be forever disenchanted with trying to form an unspoken peace treaty with the Once-ler's folks. Now, as for those asterisks:
1. I just imagine the Once-ler as having relatively limited and simple food preferences, based on the food types associated with him in the film.
2. Where there's one fur-based garment in an individual's wardrobe, there's likely to be others. Enough said.
3. Frankly, it's hard to blame the Once-ler's mother for getting so uptight about what happened with those fruits. If she really did dislike them altogether, however... well, to each their own, I guess.
Once again, I would like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far; 'tis ever-so reassuring! :)