After another two weeks of intensive training, and dieting, it was the night before the skating competition. Sophia was confident that she was ready as she was ever going to be. Cedric was worried about her. She had come in late one night from practicing, only to find Cedric still up.
"I'd thought you'd be asleep," she said.
"I was waiting up for you," Cedric replied. "I'm really worried, Sophia."
"I told you, I'm fine! Stop being such a worrywart, Cedric!"
Cedric was a little stunned. He couldn't even talk to Sophia without her biting his head off lately. He decided to ignore her attitude.
"Forest really misses you," he said. "He's used to both of us around here."
"I have to practice if I want my routine to be perfect."
"It doesn't matter to Forest. He doesn't understand. He's only a baby."
Sophia didn't say anything. She began changing her clothes to get ready for bed. The minute she took off her sweat shirt, she sat down on the bed, and held her head in her hand for a moment.
"Are you okay, Sophia?" Cedric asked.
"Hmm?" Sophia asked, looking at Cedric. "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired that's all."
Tired nothing, Cedric thought to himself. He looked at Sophia, and he could clearly see the outline of her ribcage. That only started to get him even more worried. But he wasn't going to say a word about it. Instead he stood up.
"I think I'm going to raid the kitchen for a midnight snack," he said. "You want anything?"
Sophia hesitated. For just one moment, Cedric thought (and hoped, for that matter), that she would take him up on his offer. But she shook her head, walked over to the closet, and pulled her nightgown out of it.
"No thanks," she said. "I think I'm just going to get some sleep. I've got a big day ahead of me tomorrow."
"Actually, I think I'll turn in, too," Cedric replied.
"What about your midnight snack?"
"I just lost my appetite."
Sophia nodded. She crawled into bed, and turned out the light. Cedric followed. He positioned himself on his side, and draped his arm across Sophia, and held her close to him. He could feel her skeleton all too clearly. Needless to say, Cedric didn't get any sleep that night.
Dawn broke. Cedric was practically walking into the walls. Cyril stared at him as he came down to breakfast, hair messy, ears drooping, and glasses sitting lopsided on his face.
"Cedric, you look terrible," he said. "Been getting enough sleep, son?"
"No, I haven't," Cedric admitted. He walked over to the cabinets, and pulled out a jar of strained peaches for Forest.
Forest didn't look all that great, either. He had picked up a lot of Cedric's worried, and it only made him upset. Cyril thought they were both acting strange.
"Shape up, Cedric," he said. "Forest's starting to pick up something from you there."
"I know," Cedric said. "He just misses Sophia, that's all. Ever since we heard about the contest, Sophia's done nothing but practice, practice, practice."
Sophia came into the kitchen a few minutes later. She didn't look to well, either. As a matter of fact, she was very pale, and gaunt. Forest took one look at her, and shrieked. The sight of his mommy just scared the living daylights out of him.
"What's wrong with him?" Cyril asked.
"I don't know," Cedric said, but he had a pretty good idea why Forest had suddenly started crying like that. He pulled him out of the highchair, and began rubbing his back. Forest immediately buried his face in his daddy's shoulder.
"Well, today's the big day, my little ice princess," Cyril said to Sophia. "Are you ready to win that million dollar contract?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, Mr. Sneer," Sophia said.
"Pop, you can't let her go through with this," Cedric said.
"Shut up, Cedric," Cyril said. "You don't get big bucks by being chicken."
Cedric sighed. There was no way to talk Sophia out of competing, either. So, they went down to Evergreen Lake. The Pigs raced to the judges box the minute they got there. Sophia walked to where the other contestants were hanging out to change into her costume. Cyril and Cedric went into the audience. Bert, Ralph, Melissa, and Schafer joined them a few minutes later.
"Did you manage to talk to Sophia?" Schafer asked.
"Not much," Cedric said with a sigh. "I just hope she wins this contest. I'm starting to think that's the only way things will go back to normal."
Schafer nodded. Bert suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hey check out the Pigs down there!" he shouted.
Everyone turned too look and saw the Pigs in front of the judges box. Sitting in the judge's box was a pig with brown hair cut in a wedge. She wore a blue and magenta skating dress, and white figure skates. She was none other than the Olympic figure skating champion, Dorothy Ham.
"Oh Miss Ham, we think you're the greatest!" Boyd shouted.
"We've watched every competition you were ever in," Lloyd said.
"If you need anything just let us know," Floyd said.
"You boys are so sweet," Dorothy said to them.
The Pigs sighed dreamily, and practically melted onto the ice. They scrambled to their feet just then and crowded around Dorothy just then.
"Would you like a glass of water, Miss Ham?" Lloyd asked.
"Would you like a sandwich, Miss Ham?" Floyd asked.
"Would you like a husband, Miss Ham?" Boyd asked, dreamily.
"Uhhh," Dorothy said, a little nervously. "A glass of water would be fine, thank you."
The Pigs rushed off just then, practically fighting each other to get Dorothy Ham a glass of water. The Raccoons began to crack up.
"Boy, I've never seen anyone so smitten before!" Ralph shouted.
If Cedric wasn't so worried about Sophia, he probably would have been laughing over the Pigs making idiots of themselves over Dorothy Ham. After the Pigs returned with three glasses of water for Dorothy, the emcee started to announce the start of the contest.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the judge of our contest, Olympic gold medalist, Miss Dorothy Ham!"
The Pigs began jumping up and down, screaming, cheering, and whistling. The rest of the audience just applauded. Dorothy skated out onto the ice, and took a couple of bows.
"Thank you," she said, waving at the audience.
"Did you see that?" Floyd asked. "She waved at me!"
"No she didn't," Boyd said. "She waved at me!"
"You're both wrong!" Lloyd shouted. "She clearly waved at me!"
"Will you three keep quiet!" Cyril yelled. "Sheesh!"
"Yes sir!" the Pigs shouted, and they shut up right away.
The contest was underway after awhile. A lot of the competitors were pretty good. Sophia was waiting to go on, as well as Carrie Anne Snodgress. Carrie Anne was performing some stretches and she looked at Sophia.
"Sheesh, you look terrible," she said. "What happened? Did you get run over by a zamboni while trying to skate?"
"Very funny," Sophia said.
"You might as well drop out of the contest, dear. I'm going to win it."
"We'll just see about that."
Carrie Anne just smirked, and checked her hair in the mirror. She was up next. Once her name was announced, she skated out onto the ice, and performed her routine, complete with quadruple axle. Of course, everywhere she skated, she sent a spray of silver glitter all over the place.
"Ptooey!" Bert shouted, spitting some of it out of his mouth. "Great. She got glitter in my peanut butter!"
Carrie Anne's music ended, and she stopped skating. As the judges began talking, Carrie Anne skated off the lake and turned to Sophia.
"Top that," she said, smirking.
"Our next contestant," the announcer said. "Sophia Sneer."
Ralph, Melissa, and Schafer began applauding and cheering. Bert stood up, and began whistling. Cedric took Forest's hands, and clapped them together, and cheered a little, but his heart really wasn't in it.
Sophia skating to the center of the lake, somewhat sluggishly. She could barely lift her leg up to start her routine. The blades on her skates felt like they were made out of lead. Her music started, and she took one swan glide forward, and fell to the ice. Carrie Anne began to laugh, rudely I might add.
"What is she doing?" Cyril asked. "Get up, Sofa Girl! You call that skating!"
"Pop!" Cedric shouted.
Sophia managed to pull herself to her feet. Her music started at the beginning, and she managed to start her routine without anything else happening, until she started to twirl. When she finished twirling, she got so dizzy that she just collapsed on the ice. The crowd gasped. Cyril jumped to his feet. Carrie Anne began laughing again, even harder than she did when Sophia fell the first time.
"Sophia!" Cedric shouted. He handed Forest to Cyril and raced down to the ice. He skidded a bit when he got there, and nearly fell and broke his leg, but it wouldn't have mattered to him. He placed his hand behind Sophia's neck, and pulled her head up a little.
"Sophia?" he asked. "Sophia, wake up! Please, speak to me, Sophia!"
The crowd began to talk at once. Ralph, Melissa, Bert, and Schafer came out onto the ice, themselves.
"Is she okay?" Bert asked.
"I don't know," Melissa said. She began patting Sophia's cheek, trying to get her to wake up. "Sophia? Sophia, are you all right?"
"Come on, Sophia," Ralph said, taking Sophia's hand.
Most of the crowd had gathered around Sophia just then, all talking at once. Dorothy Ham pushed through the crowd.
"Excuse me," she said. "Excuse me, please! Let me through!"
The crowd moved aside so Dorothy could skate through. She kneeled down and looked over Sophia.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" she shouted. "Hurry!"
The Pigs raced off to find a phone. Dorothy shook her head and sighed.
"Terrible," she said. "I've seen this too many times with girls. They think they have to be thin to be perfect."
"Will she be okay?" Cedric asked.
"I don't know. Only time will tell."
Cedric nodded and sighed. He knew Cyril worked Sophia too hard, and he knew that the diet she was on could only lead to disaster. An ambulance arrived a few moments later. Cedric could barely watch as the paramedics lifted Sophia onto a stretcher, carried her to the back of the ambulance, and then drove off.
"She'll be okay, Cedric," Bert said. "I know she will."
"I wish there was something I could have done to prevent this," Cedric said with a sigh. "I wish I could have stopped it from happening."
"Cedric, it wasn't your fault," Melissa said.
Cedric hung his head and sighed. Cyril came down to the lake, glaring at them all. Forest had begun to cry the minute Sophia went down, and seeing his mommy being loaded into the ambulance didn't do much for his morale. Cyril practically shoved him in Cedric's arms.
"What does she think she's doing!" he yelled. "She's supposed to be winning this contest!"
"Pop, how can you think of the contest at a time like this?" Cedric asked, as he rubbed Forest's back. "I tried to tell you she couldn't skate today, but you wouldn't listen!"
"Don't blame this on me, Cedric! Sofa Girl's going to be hearing from me! She just lost me a fortune!"
"I don't believe you!" Schafer yelled. "Sophia practically starved herself just to win this contest for you, and all you care about is money!"
"So?" Cyril asked.
Cedric couldn't take much more of this. He gave Forest a hug, and handed him to Melissa.
"Would you mind watching Forest for awhile, Melissa?" he asked. "I want to go down to the hospital and stay with Sophia."
"Of course," Melissa said, nodding.
"Thanks."
Cedric started to leave. Bert ran after him. At a time like this, he wasn't going to leave Cedric alone. Forest began to cry a little harder then. He knew his daddy was upset, and that something was wrong with his mommy, and he just couldn't take it. Melissa began patting him on the back.
"It'll be okay, Forest," she said softly. "Hush, hush, honey. It's going to be okay. Your mommy's going to be all right. I hope."