Chapter 12
"He has pneumonia. He's contagious. Go home," Once-ler's mother spoke abrupt and to the point when Norma asked for him. There was distaste in her words that Norma couldn't help but find unsettling. Before she had a chance to reply, the door was closed. She couldn't help but jump with the sound of the slam. Norma stared blankly at the barrier, unsure of how to react. Pneumonia? Contagious? Norma didn't care. She wanted to see him anyway.
Norma began knocking on the door once more. She pounded hard and persistently, leaving a few seconds between each knock. She knew she was being ignored at first, after a minute had passed of her consistent assault on the door. She kept at it though, determined to get in. Before her knuckles could meet the door for possibly the fiftieth time, the door swung open before her. Once-ler's mother stood in the threshold once more, glaring at Norma something fierce. It was worse than before. She had irritated her.
"Look, I won't be here for long. Let me just see him-"
"Do I have to call the police to get you off of my property?" his mother snapped, interrupting Norma's attempt to convince her. Norma piped down, staring at the woman in disbelief. What had she ever done to make her have such a dislike for her?
"I'd honestly prefer if you just stepped out of Oncie's life entirely, actually. I don't need you waltzing in, uninvited, and bringing him yarn to make useless piles of fluff instead of studying."
That answered it. Norma's lower jaw lost connection with the upper. Was she really being blamed for that? Once-ler obviously had bad time management skills, but that really didn't have anything to do with whether he was knitting or doing anything else. Norma swallowed hard, preparing a retort, but his mom only continued.
"In fact, I should call the school and get you removed from his class because you are nothing but a distraction. Maybe even a restraining-"
"Don't you think you might be going into the deep end? I think Once-ler is entitled to have whatever hobby - or friends - that he wants. Maybe you should give him a little line!" Norma stammered, frustrated with the controlling nature this woman was demonstrating. She looked back at Norma in shock, her mouth agape. It was quick to change though. It became completely clear that Norma had upset her. Her face twisted up into a scowl as she prepared another snipe.
"How dare you even consider telling me how to raise my son? Get off of my property. Now."
The door slammed once more in Norma's face. Her flesh had turned pink in frustration. She felt her elevated heart rate pulse like a metronome in her chest, aching for justice. This wasn't fair. It really wasn't. She imagined poor Once-ler, sick in his bed, awoken by his mother's horrible shrieks. Drunk on a fever and unable to fully comprehend the terrible words echoing throughout his home. She had to find a way to get his attention. A way in.
Norma took a few steps backward, taking in the whole situation with her eyes. They darted around, looking for some sign of which window might be his. There was no way to tell. She thought about taking the chance with one, but quickly realized that would only get the police here faster if she threw a rock through his mother's bedroom window. She started to consider knocking again and begging as pathetically as possible. There had to be a heart somewhere in that woman. She felt her knees turn into gelatin as she tried to step back towards the front door. There wasn't any way this could end well, and she knew it. She was going to get herself into trouble.
Suddenly, the door swung open for the third time, before she had a chance to even build up the courage to knock. Her instincts were screaming to run, but her feet remained planted. She cringed, expecting to find her new greatest enemy approaching her with a rolling pin. Norma blinked in confusion when she instead found Once-ler looking down at her, still appearing as unwell as before. He had a weak smile pasted on his lips, and he motioned her inside.
"Keep your shoes on and don't make a sound," he whispered, leading her into his home. He zipped quietly for the stairs and she followed after, mimicking his tiptoed steps. Her heart was still racing, but for different reasons now. She felt like she was being smuggled in. One wrong move and she could be caught, and who knew what would happen to them then. The stairs were creaky and she grimaced with each step. Every footfall felt like it echoed and vibrated down the floorboards and throughout the house. It seemed like an eternity before they reached the top of the stairs. The floor itself continued to creak under her and Once-ler's weight. He shushed her at one point, but it didn't matter how hard she tried. She started sliding her feet along to lessen the shifting of her weight from foot to foot. The creaking quieted, but not by much. Still, they reached his bedroom door undetected. They slipped hurriedly into the room, Once-ler locking the door behind them.
"Wow," Norma whispered, gazing around his bedroom. It was a simple room. All the basics. Bed. Desk. Book shelf. Etcetera. But the place was cluttered with skeins of half used up yarn – would-be thneeds still attached - and crumpled up pieces of paper. It was almost like a spider's nest. Rejected prototypes and ideas seemed to be scattered everywhere, all tangled up in each other, as if he just tossed them over his shoulder from his desk whenever he decided they weren't worthy. Other than that, the room was tidy. The most personality of the room sat in one corner; a drawing board with much larger scale drawings of his thneed. Much more detail and elegance had been put into these diagrams. She felt bad for thinking his drawings weren't that great earlier. He obviously didn't put nearly as much heart into the ones in his dinky sketchpad. The full scale drawings were lifelike. They were real.
Once-ler marched instantly back to his bed. Gravity took the wheel and he fell into his mattress, face buried into his pillow. He left his sheets beneath him, as he was experiencing a hot flash for the moment. He knew though, that chills would be on their way soon enough. Oh, fevers and their bipolar tendencies. He was surprised he had made it down and then back up the stairs at all, with how dizzy he was feeling. The world spun around him even as he pinched his eyelids tightly closed. He could fall back to sleep now.
Norma found Once-ler's guitar propped up against his desk, his school bag tossed to the floor next to it. She picked it up delicately after gently placing her own bag beside his. She sat down in his desk chair, spinning it around to face the bed.
"So... pneumonia?" Norma enquired softly.
Once-ler reluctantly rolled over onto his back to reply while nodding, "Doctor said I could be contagious for at least four days."
"Yikes. Wait. Does that mean you are going to be away from school for the rest of the week?"
"Until I feel better," he answered briefly, his voice growing hoarser. Norma didn't ask any more questions right away. She could tell it was hard on him to be speaking. She didn't want to cause him anymore pain than he already had to endure. She tried to ignore the dull ache in her chest, pushing away the thoughts of business class and lunch period without Once-ler. She had to be more focused on what was important, and that was that he felt better and comfortable.
Norma began to quietly strum on his guitar that she cradled in her lap. The sounds weren't so horrible anymore. They didn't sound like much of anything but noise, but at least she was getting better, instead of producing the same crashing racket as before. Improvement, even if miniscule. She was proud of herself and hoped that Once-ler would be too.
"You've learned what not to play," he teased in a whisper as to not strain his throat. On impulse, Norma wanted to punch him. Playfully. But instead she just giggled and glared, keeping her hands away from him. She had to be considerate of his fragile state.
"Well, someone is supposed to be giving me lessons," she retorted, strumming another noise. She wanted to hear Once-ler play, but knew he wouldn't have it in him. He was staring at the ceiling, his eyes moving in slow, circling patterns, probably following the rotation of his fever.
"Na na na na na na..." Norma hummed softly to the tune of that song Once-ler seemed to always sing. His lips curled into a smile as she allowed his melody to flow around the room in her voice.
"I think that's plagiarism," he mumbled. His eyes didn't shift to Norma when he spoke. They continued the path of his fever, from ceiling speckle to ceiling speckle.
"I think it's a cover," Norma sang her response, in the same tune. She tried to play along with the guitar, plucking strings slowly and carefully. Once-ler let go of something caught between a laugh and a cough. Suddenly his eyes focused and darted to her. A thought was flowing.
"Norma. Open the first drawer of my desk," he directed, raising an arm lifelessly to point. His trembling index finger lead her eyes part of the way there before he dropped his whole limb weakly, back to his side. He slowly let his eyes drift back to the ceiling. Norma blinked, registering the instruction. She then carefully propped the guitar back up against the desk and spun around to face the drawers. Her fingers wrapped around the first drawer's handle. She paused to wonder just what she might find. The suspense became too much for her too quickly and she ripped it open. A pile of pale green fluff stared up at her.
"Thneed number two," Once-ler whispered, "I made it last night. It's better."
Norma picked up the new thneed. It was softer and thicker than the one she had at home. The paleness of the green reminded her of the many pastels of Spring, even though Winter was coming. It was spotted in a few places though. Almost as if it had been thrown into a puddle. Had he been knitting out in the rain last night?
"What happened to it?" she questioned, running her fingers along the thneed and feeling the texture change with the stains.
"Nevermind that. Just try it on." Once-ler huffed.
Norma looked it over again. It didn't follow the same curves and twists as the first thneed. It had some of its own unique qualities. She shook it out and ravelled it around her neck like a scarf. It was more comfortable, if nothing else. She wasn't sure if green was her colour though.
"It's nice, Once-ler," Norma said kindly, stroking its stitching as if it were a pet. She smiled genuinely toward him, even though he wasn't looking her way. He had a proud grin on his face. He shared it with the ceiling. She was happy to see him happy, even while sick. It was important to her that she could help him forget all the bad things every once in a while. This thought reminded her of what had only just occurred. One of those bad things. Somewhere close by, his mother lurked, unaware of her presence. Norma had forgotten for a little while, having just been pleased with seeing Once-ler. She started to wonder if he had heard the whole argument and that was why he had known she was out there. That was probably the case. She asked her heart if it was the right time to bring it up, and it shrugged back at her.
"Hey... can I ask you something?" Norma began, unease dripping from her words. Once-ler's eyes had drifted shut at some point between his proud smirk and her self-doubting thoughts. His eyebrows raised in response to her voice. She took it as permission to continue.
"It's about your mom. Or your whole family. Did you hear what went on at your front door?" the words didn't come out easily. She didn't want to be the one quoting if he had, in fact, not heard a thing. He did react at first. The room fell into a silence that creeped under her skin and stayed. It itched and begged to be broken by more of her questions. But, she knew very well that once you scratched, it never stopped.
"I heard," was all he finally said. Norma could feel the wind whisk out of her in a sigh of relief. His reply had been short and empty, though. Lifeless just like his body. He didn't open his eyes. He didn't express any body language whatsoever. Norma couldn't predict what he was thinking.
"Did you want to, maybe, talk about it?" Norma tried to sound counselling, finding herself placing a friendly hand on his shoulder. This time he looked up, eyes open and blue, but bloodshot. His feelings started to show better through his concrete face.
"My mom just wants the best for me," he whispered sincerely. He felt that with every part of his being. Everything that she ever told him was just to motivate him. Set him in the correct direction. Right?
"What? No. Your mom obviously wants what's best for her. What's best for you is whatever you want to do. If I was your mom, I would be proud of this," Norma quickly defended him against himself, clutching the thneed around her neck for emphasis. Once-ler's smile was weak. He really didn't want to talk about it.
"What about your dad? Or anyone else?"
"My dad's not here. Never knew him. I have brothers. Half-brothers, I guess. I don't know who their father is either. My aunt and uncle live here too. Don't see much of them," Once-ler's answers were choppy with several pauses for breath. Norma's eyes widened as she fixated on his words. It was sad to hear that he never knew his father. Norma was close to her dad and couldn't imagine her life without him. Even if he was a little dorky at times. She loved him and she needed him for all those things that dads needed to do. She wondered if his father ever looked back and wondered about him.
"I'm sorry..." Norma mumbled, unsure of what to say now. She was at a loss.
"Don't sweat it," Once-ler laughed a little, but she could tell it was half-hearted, "It's things like that that make you stronger, right?"
Norma thought on this. Once-ler didn't behave like a strong individual. His mindset was hard to determine. She decided before that his confidence levels were purely situational. A rollercoaster of ups and downs. As an example, he was completely proud of his thneed, but was easily convinced it wasn't that great for limited times. He was always second guessing himself. His mother's attitude toward the things he did in his free time couldn't have been helping him with this, either. And he didn't have a father to run to when his mother wasn't giving him the support he needed.
"Do your brothers knit or play music like you?" Norma brought up as she pondered. Maybe the three of them suffered through this upbringing together as frustrated artists.
Once-ler laughed, "No."
"Oh."
Once-ler really didn't want to talk about this. At least, not right now. His mind was spinning and he kept feeling worse and worse with each passing minute. All the talking was leaving his throat raw and he wasn't sure if he could muster out any more information anyhow. He looked to Norma almost desperately, trying to clear away the stickiness running down his trachea.
She saw it in his eyes and knew it was time to stop talking. She pulled the guitar back onto her lap and began to fiddle around with its strings again. She watched the relief come over him. There were a lot of things about Once-ler that she didn't know. As she thought about it more, there were many things he didn't know about her either. Building up a friendship took a lot more work than she first realized. It didn't happen overnight, and it wasn't going to happen in two months either. He'd tell her things when he wanted to, she supposed. Pressing for information would only push him away, she knew that much.
"Hey. So let's make a pact," she sang with a strum that almost sounded okay, "That we will help each other with our dreams."
"Okay," was all that Once-ler replied, allowing his eyes to drift closed.
"We'll study music together," Norma went on, "We'll go to college and we will take the same classes and knit thneeds on all our breaks."
Once-ler smiled in his half-sleep.
"We'll be amazing," she whispered.
A/N: This was supposed to be finished yesterday. Or the day before. I sort of rushed the end to get it done before I have to go to work this morning. If there are any obvious spelling or grammar errors, it's because I haven't proofread it yet! But I will later on tonight or tomorrow. Anyway, I'd like to really, truly, 100% honestly thank my readers. I can't believe I have so many! I have never been so successful on the internet before. v.v I love you all and you really keep motivating me to make it to the end with this. It'll be the first time I ever finished a story! I can't wait! Thank you!
