Chapter 09

Once-ler was nowhere to be seen. Class started, attendance was taken, and Once-ler still hadn't shown up. Norma felt a slight uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. He had never missed a class before, excluding that day he knitted all through fourth period. That was something they just never really spoke about, though. Almost as if it had become taboo. Then she realized just what she may have done.

"No, Once-ler. I am not surprised in the least that you stayed up all night knitting and then slept until noon," Norma said monotonously. The two of them plucked grass at the top of their hill, an awkward silence building between them. He had had trouble admitting it, originally making up less believable stories as to why he hadn't shown up until after lunch, in hopes she would buy. But once he spat out the truth, he could tell Norma was a little disappointed in him. Maybe only because it had resulted in her not getting the information she desired during lunch period like he had promised. He managed to make it just in time for third period, having been a day two that day. He had to keep insisting it had nothing to do with him trying to get out of his end of the deal. He waited for her during his spare instead of going home, after all. What other proof did she need?

"I had to eat lunch alone," Norma whined, kicking out her feet in front of her and tossing grass into the air. The grass was starting to yellow with the October air. It was sweater weather and she had forgotten hers. She shivered a bit.

"Well, I'm sure you'll move passed that and heal someday," Once-ler teased with lowered eyelids, sarcasm in his words. Norma punched him in the same spot of his forearm as she had just the day before, reawakening the throbbing bruise. He didn't cry out like he really, really wanted to. He just glared while nursing his arm with massaging fingertips.

"Drawing book," she demanded sharply, with a snap of her fingers.

"Okay okay. Prepare to be amazed..." Once-ler began, deepening his voice a bit in attempts to sound like a voiceover in an infomercial. He pulled his backpack into his lap and pulled the snaps apart. They cracked open with an excited pop, and he dived right in, both arms elbow-deep. Norma watched quietly, expecting him to pull out his sketchpad. He rummaged around a little longer than usual, and what he pulled out was something she had never seen before.

Norma gaped, "What is that?"

Once-ler smiled big and proud, jumping to his feet. He held out what looked like a scarf. Sort of. A scarf that looped in ways a scarf shouldn't. Like what could be imagined as a prototype scarf back in the days when scarves were first being brainstormed. Beta scarf.

"This, my friend, is something everybody needs," the way he said it made her feel as though he was trying to sell it to her. Perhaps that was the point. It gave her the same feeling down her spine as when she answered the phone to telemarketing. He stretched it out between his hands, parts of it looping around his wrists and other parts hanging loosely. It was hard to tell where it began and where it ended. She examined it again, but it still looked like a confused scarf.

"I actually already have one," she replied, looking up at him with a blink. A scarf, that is. He towered over her seated position. When his proud smirk changed to a twisted frown, it was a little daunting.

"This is the very first one!" he cried, something of a laugh escaping him.

"That might depend on what it actually is," Norma retorted, shifting her eyes to the side. She was starting to get a little impatient. He was obviously stalling to avoid telling her about whatever it was he spent day in and day out scratching into his sketchpad.

"This..." he paused dramatically, "... is a thneed." Yes, a thneed. The name came to him in the night as he worked tirelessly. Knitting and purling. Casting on and casting off. Decreasing and increasing. He could hardly remember half of the creative process that had just taken place the night before. He couldn't remember where the name had come from. Maybe throughout the many times he dozed off for a split second, usually waking to his face smacking into his knitting needles. It didn't matter though. This was a thneed. The thneed. And it was more than welcome to rhyme with need.

"A what?" Norma wasn't sure if she could even pronounce that word.

"A thneed."

"Do you mean a scarf?"

Once-ler was offended, "A scarf? A scarf is only one of the many, many things a thneed can be. A thousand different uses, guaranteed!"

Norma was having a difficult time knowing how to properly react. Was this a joke? Was it funny? She didn't laugh. The thneed just sat there in his arms. It didn't look like it was about to jump up and do the job of a thousand things. It was limp and fluffy. Pinkish-red in colour. Once-ler held onto it like it was a prized possession. Like he was showing off to her the most amazing treasure. What did this have to do with this drawing book?

"Okay. Picture this: you are on your way home from school, and you're wearing your thneed as a scarf that day," Once-ler wraps the thneed around his neck like a scarf in demonstration, "But then, oh my, it starts to rain! Hard, even! You leant your umbrella to your good friend, the Once-ler, so you are without! Oh wait, but you have your thneed! Easily converts into a hood!" On cue, his hands began to turn and twist around the pink fluff around his neck, then pulling it up and over his head. It did kind of look like a hood now. Kind of.

"Alright. That's cool. But it's made of wool... so the rain will just go right through," she pointed out, just trying to provide some constructive criticism. Once-ler's smile dropped once more.

"It does other things too!" he blurted out stubbornly, pulling down the hood and converting it back into a scarf. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her. She felt the pressure of his eyes pressed up against her face and she started to feel uncomfortable. She was beginning to believe she wasn't reacting the way he had anticipated.

"Oh," she suddenly realized, "Oh, it's our business project! But I thought we were supposed to make a commercial for a product from the list."

His glare softened into confusion.

"Oh, no. Nevermind. You're being serious. Okay... what does this have to do with your sketchbook?"

Once-ler's smile resurfaced and he crouched down, beginning to search through his bag for a second time. He tossed out whatever got in his way, including but not limited to school binders, pencils, marshmallows, and textbooks. He finally managed to pull out his worn out sketchpad and softly hand it to her in a gentlemanly manner. She took a hold of it and let it sit in her hands for a few seconds. This felt like being given permission to trespass on private properly. Like she was VIP. She ran her fingers along the cover and opened it to the first page. And then the second. Third, fourth, and fifth. The pages were full of thneeds. Well, versions and variations of thneeds. Drawings of all the things they could do. Sketches of knitting patterns that he had brainstormed when knitting needles weren't around. The book was full to the very last page.

"That one is supposed to be you wearing the thneed like a hood since I know how much you hate the rain," he admitted shyly, pointing to the sketchy doodle of a girl hiding from the rain. This caught Norma off guard. She examined the drawing with biased eyes and couldn't help but smile and giggle a little. He wasn't exactly good at drawing. It wasn't horrible, but nothing breathtakingly amazing. That was okay though. It was still cute.

"Was that your secret weapon to sway me into liking this thing?" she laughed, sending hand gestures towards the thneed. He tried to hold back his victory smile. She saw it anyway.

"Okay, well, I'm cold, so..." Norma snatched the thneed away and wrapped it around her neck. It was soft and warm if nothing else. Once-ler seemed a little shaken by the fact she had just taken it away from him. He had been protective of this idea since she first met him almost two months ago. Who knew how long he had been secretly harboring it. She could easily imagine that he was imagining her running off with it and claiming it as her own invention. Selling it to the world and becoming super rich. She knew though, that even if she tried, it wouldn't amount to much. But she wouldn't honestly put her name on something like this anyway. It was cute, sure, but it mostly looked like a mess of dropped stitches by the hand of someone who had never handled knitting needles in their life. Obviously this hadn't been the case with the Once-ler, so she was shocked and confused about this. She could have knitted something like this, and she, as previously stated, had never handled knitting needles in her life.

"If you'd like to own the first thneed, it's only $3.98," he pitched, putting his voiceover voice back on.

"Buy it? How about we call ourselves even since you spent an additional $2.20 yesterday on your thneed parts."

"That would leave you $1.78 in debt to me."

"I'm glad to hear that skipping math class didn't hurt your subtracting skills," Norma snapped with a glare. The two of them stared daggers into each other for minutes in complete silence. It didn't take long for it to change into lighthearted laughter. Once-ler plopped himself back down to the ground, across from Norma, a silly smile plastered on his face.

"So," Once-ler breathed with expectation gleaming in his eyes.

"So?"

"Do you like it?" his eyes motioned to the thneed and back again to her face. She looked down at the fluffy fibers wrapped around her neck and bit onto her bottom lip. Like might not have been the right word. But what was the word? It was soft and comfortable. Maybe a little fuzzy, actually. Probably wouldn't do too well in the wash. It was a nice colour, but she was sure it could be any colour if it needed to be. It looked like a lot of careful work was put into it despite the fact it also looked like a fourth grader's project. Mixed feelings spun around Norma's head as she weighed the options. She then realized what she had to do.

"I think it's great," she cheered, throwing her arms into the air enthusiastically. She was forcing it a little bit. She liked Once-ler a lot, and she could clearly see he was more than proud of his creation. It could have been years he had been scribbling out his ideas for it, and finally today it was born into a physical thing. Norma decided she wouldn't rain down on this. None of her usual realism, just optimism from her.

Once-ler stared her down, a look of distrust in his eyes. Norma's enthusiasm was a little out of character and it made him a little uneasy at first. At first. Then he smiled big and proud, "It is great. The greatest thing that was ever invented! One day, everyone will have a thneed, and you will be able to say you had the first!"

"Imagine how much I could sell it for at that point," Norma teased, laughing a little. Once-ler chuckled too, but a look came over him. Norma had never seen this look before, dancing like a fire behind his eyes. The innocence she usually saw there was replaced by something a little heavier. Maybe it was his deep violet pride glimmering in his irises, darkening his usual blue. It seemed he had lost sight of her, and was alone now, in his thoughts. Biggering his invention in his imagination. Living his dream, right there in front of her, but without her. She wondered if she had a place at all in any of it. She wondered if she would be more than just the first customer.

"""""

Ted had shuddered when the thneed had come up. Already? It felt like it was way too soon. Ted could hear the change in tone when Grammy spoke of it. Audrey could too, and her bright smile had faded. They both knew what the thneed had done.

"The Once-ler told me about his thneed..." Ted mumbled uncomfortably.

Grammy smiled, but it lacked luster, "I'm sure it was a very important part of his story. The Once-ler lived and breathed his thneed. I didn't realize it then, but, everything he ever did, he always thought about how it would benefit his thneed. How he could make it better. He was running a business inside his own head, and he played every role in its upkeep."

"Do you still have the thneed he gave you?" Audrey asked.

"We'll get to that part eventually, dear."

And the story would go on.


A/N: Oh. It's Tuesday morning, and I said I'd post by Monday. I am officially unworthy of all my kind and beautiful readers. ;n; Anyway, chapter 09 finally. Next chapter means I'm in the double digits... woo! This chapter I hope helped the pace a little. Thank you so much for reading!