Chapter 2

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Ned was heading to a corner store to pick up a coffee the next morning. He had been disappointed to find that Horton didn't respond to his repeated calls.

He had waited hopefully for Horton to claim he was Benny again, but found himself sorely disappointed; he tried to rationalize why he shouldn't feel hurt, and ignored the pang in his chest. He treasured the few times Horton had come to visit him, and held himself lucky that he would even consider a tiny creature like himself a friend at all.

So, he tried to push down the sadness, washed up in the nearby bathroom and set off to grab coffee and a doughnut. He was lost in his own thoughts as he took a large bite out of his treat, but he looked up in alarm as he heard a strange trumpeting sound, and suddenly tuned in to what the Who next to him was saying.

"...An elephant on top of Bob's roof! You gotta see this, it's-"

He stopped abruptly as the Mayor grabbed him. "An elephant?! Where?" Ned nearly yelled, shaking him.

Looking alarmed, the Who tried to push him off. "Mayor, what-"

"Take me to him," he ordered, surprised at how authoritative and serious he sounded.

"Sure thing, Mr. Mayor!" The Who responded, and took off running. Ned followed close behind.

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He had never seen Horton before, but as the Mayor looked up at the strangely bald-ish elephant on the roof, he felt a jolt. Especially since he could tell the animal was panicking; he was moving from edge to edge on the roof, trumpeting and whimpering, tail and ears drooping.

Instantly berating himself for his foolish hope, he scrambled up a nearby home, jumping from foothold to foothold. He landed in front of the elephant, who stopped moving and drew himself up, still much larger than any Who around. Ned was intimidated as the elephant's eyes narrowed and he raised his trunk, and reacted by holding his hands up defensively. "Wait, wait, stop! Horton, it's me, it's ME!"

The elephant stopped moving, then his trunk slowly dropped, his expression softening from anger, to hope, then to incredulity, but no words left his mouth. Ned waited and waited, and when no response was forthcoming, his spirits sagged a little and he looked down. "Sorry... I thought..."

"Mr. Mayor?"

Ned's head snapped up again, and he smiled ad he looked into teal eyes. "Horton! How...?" Without thinking, he rushed forward and hugged the elephant around the trunk.

He felt the muscly appendage wrap around him twice and lift him to eye level, at which point a collective gasp from the surrounding Who's brought him back to his senses. Disentangling himself, he raised his arms, still held in the air by Horton, and announced, "Citizens of Whoville; this is Horton the Elephant, savior of our city!"

Murmuring broke out, and one female Who shouted shrilly, "How come we can see him?", and another, deeper voice asked, "He's not big enough to carry Whoville around on a flower!"

Seeing a disaster coming, Ned spoke again. "While we still don't understand the miracle that has brought him here, let us show him the greatest respect while he is with us." The murmurs changed to agreement, and Ned breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, we Who's need to find a way to get Horton down from here. Any ideas? Any at all?"

He felt slightly disappointed as Horton put him down, but kept his smile plastered on anyway, his mind reeling. Finally, someone suggested using a Who-dozer to gently lift Horton down, and since this seemed reasonable, the Mayor sent some Who's down to city hall for assistance.

Then he turned to Horton and lowered his voice. "Horton, how did this happen?"

"Gee, I...I dunno..." Horton was still glancing about in bewilderment. "It's really weird, isn't it?"

"But Horton, Horton!" He tugged on Horton's ear, bringing his attention back to him. "This is amazing! You're here! I can see you...touch you...!"

"Well, yeah!" Horton smiled brightly, reaching his trunk out to run the tip over Ned's cheek. "That is amazing."

Ned smiled goofily. "Yeah..." It felt nice to finally see his dearest friend, and he leaned into his touch, eyes closing in pleasure. After a moment he came back to himself, and pulled away with a yelp and a cough. "You should meet my family," he blurted out, thinking guiltily of Sally as he pulled away. "Jojo has been going to a private music school recently, and he's more talkative than ever! Heh..."

Horton dropped his trunk and grinned sheepishly. "Sure... I'd love to! I don't know how long I'll have before I get all enormous again!" Then he looked a little sad. "If I do."

Ned patted his side where he could reach. "Don't worry. First things first. We'll get you down, then we'll go see Dr. Larue. She'll know what to do."

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To Be Continued