1 Family Thropp.

Melena is in the attic looking at all the boxes that are there. With a sigh, she puts down a new box. She hates to put all her daughters' crafts in a box. Every year during the summer holidays, she clears out her daughter's crafts so that two new things can hang on the fridge. She knows she can throw away most stuff, but she can't bear it. She opens the box of her eldest daughter Elphaba who is now 8 years old and puts her new crafts in it. For her youngest daughter Nessarose, who is now 6 years old, she has to make a new box. Despite Nessa being much more like her father, she has inherited her creative side.

She knows she will have to throw away some stuff, because the attic is almost completely filled with stuff from her husband Frex, Elphaba, Nessa and herself. She opens the box with Elphaba's baby things. She takes the little clothes, stuffed animals and photo albums out of the box. With great difficulty she puts things in the pile that she is going to throw away, but she puts most of the things back in the box. Meanwhile, she flips through the photo albums and smiles when she thinks back to those fun and exciting times during her pregnancy. She and Frex were all over the moon. They wanted to capture every moment. After Elphaba is born there are only pictures of Elphaba and her.

To her surprise, a letter falls from the album. She recognizes her own handwriting and immediately knows which letter it is. She'd actually thought she'd thrown that letter away long ago. She opens the letter with trembling hands and her suspicions are confirmed. It was the letter she had written to Elphaba's real father. Frex hadn't been able to accept that her daughter had green skin at first. He was ashamed of it and couldn't stand that her daughter was so different. For a long week Melena had to take care of Elphaba herself. During the week, she was convinced that Elphaba would be better off living with her real father.

After a week, Frex returned full of tears. He explained to her that he was mostly shocked. He regretted his own behaviour. He told her about his own father who had abandoned him and that he would never do that to his own children. From that moment on, Frex did everything he could to prove that he would never abandon his daughter. And as proof, he went to a psychologist, who helped him a lot. He has learned not only how to accept Elphaba but also himself. A week after the birth, a photo was taken of Frex giving his daughter the bottle. He doesn't have the sparkle in his eye he had when Nessa was born, but it was something. Melena was very glad she hadn't sent the letter by then. She wanted to see with her own eyes if Frex really kept his word. Melena had never been so proud and happy when Frex put their oldest daughter to bed.

When Melena found out she was pregnant with Nessa, she and Frex went to the doctor to see what they could do to avoid having two green children. Since Elphaba is the only green person in all of Oz, the doctors had no answers to their question. The doctors told about milk flowers, but they would be harmful to her and her unborn child. In the end, they decided to do nothing and hope for the best. For Melena, this was the ultimate proof that Frex was at peace with Elphaba's complexion.

Despite everything, Melena never told her husband about her affair. Over the years they have struggled with all of them and talked about the acceptance of Elphaba's skin. Every time everything has worked out and Melena wouldn't trade her life for anything in the world.

She is taken from her memory by the loud children's voices from below. She puts the letter in her pocket and wipes the tears from her eyes. She hurries downstairs. She hears Nessa running up the stairs screaming.

Nessa grabs her mother's skirt and tucks her face into the skirt. "Mama, you have to tell Fabala to stop."

Melena keeps her balance on the stairs. At the bottom she sees an angry Elphaba.

"That's nonsense Nessa, you shouldn't have touched my book."

"But you said you'd play with me when you finished the chapter."

"And I would have if you hadn't taken my book and thrown it away."

"But you started a new chapter."

"I started a new paragraph. That's something else. Look here. This chapter is on plants and I am at the section on the parts of plants. I am now at part about the stem and what its function is. Do you know how expensive this book is?"

"You shouldn't be angry. You promised that you would play with me." Nessa still says, her face tucked into her mother's skirt.

"Girls, this is enough. Both of you stop." Melena says sternly. She already has a good idea of what had happened between her two daughters. She knows her daughters are two typical sisters, they can't live with each other and can't live without each other. Also, they are both very different. Elphaba has a preference for reading and rest. Nessa, on the other hand, likes a lot of attention and prefers to run all day in the garden.

"But Mama, Fabala promised she would play with me," Nessa says in a small voice.

Melena pulls her youngest daughter off her skirt and sits on the stairs. "That's right, but you promised Elphaba could read until she finished her chapter. Besides, you probably ran away when Elphaba wanted to talk to you."

Nessa looks at the floor and gives a small nod.

Melena wraps her arms around Nessa. ''Then you know where it went wrong. I want you to apologize to Elphaba."

"Sorry, Fabala," Nessa says dutifully.

Elphaba looks approving and turn around

"BUT, that doesn't mean Elphaba should have gotten so angry. She is the eldest and could have handled it differently than jumping up angrily and screaming."

Elphaba begins to blush. "That didn't happen." she says in a small voice.

Her mother raises her eyebrow. Everyone knows what kind of temper Elphaba has. When Elphaba is really angry, the wind suddenly starts blowing hard, or the furniture starts to move. When Elphaba is calm again, everything stops.

Melena immediately thinks about the incident with that boy. Melena went to school, because Elphaba hadn't come home yet. She saw that her daughter was surrounded by several children, who were pushing and kicking her. She was about to intervene when a boy suddenly flew into the air. All the kids ran away screaming and yelling at Elphaba that she's a Freak. Melena quickly ran to her daughter who was still on the ground and took her in her arms. On the way back, Elphaba said that the children had beaten her and made fun of her for crying. The boy wanted to kick again her and then it happened. Melena felt Elphaba was more upset about hurting the boy than about being kicked.

Of course everyone in Munchkinland heard the story. Elphaba's teacher then told Melena and Frex that Elphaba probably has magical powers. That shocked Melena and Frex. There are several people with magical powers in Oz but not many in Munchkinland. They had many conversations about it and decided not to pay too much attention to Elphaba's powers. As long as she remains calm, she can control her powers well.

"Okay, sorry Nessa, for yelling at you." Elphaba says quickly. Her mother can look very stern and she will never admit it, but she is quite afraid of it.

Melena looks pleased. "Now shall we get a nice apple pie for your father?"

The girls immediately look a lot happier. "Can Fabala and I get the apples from the trees?"

"Of course, be careful with the ladders. I'll get the things ready in the kitchen."

The girls happily run away.

Melena feels in her pocket and looks at her letter again. Satisfied, she puts it back and knows that she will now throw the letter away. She made the right choice 8 years ago by giving Frex another chance. Frex behaves as any father should. He loves his children.

Melena rushes to the garage where she hears her children screaming again about who can carry the ladder outside. Despite the fact that her daughter demands so much attention, she does not want to miss a moment of their lives.

XXX

Frex comes home tired, but he is welcomed by the smell of apple pie and laughter that presumably comes from the kitchen. He first takes his suitcase to his office where he immediately puts his papers on his desk. He is very proud and happy to be the governor of Munchkinland but it takes a lot of time for him. He is often home late at night and all he can do is put the kids to bed. The next day he sees the children just as they are walking into the kitchen to have breakfast. But today he is lucky and can eat with his family. He'll finish his work when his kids are in bed.

"Good evening, my favourite family." He says cheerfully as he enters the kitchen.

"Daddy." Nessa and Elphaba say cheerfully as they jump off the table to give their father a hug.

"Frex, what a nice surprise. I'll get an extra plate." Melena says, waiting her turn to kiss her husband.

The girls giggle as Frex put Melana in a twirl.

"What has gotten into you tonight?" Melena asks when Frex finally lets her go after another kiss and a dip.

"It's been a long day and I'm glad to be back with the prettiest girls in all of OZ."

Melana puts a plate on the table, Nessa immediately scoops a lot of salad on her father's plate while Elphaba carefully puts a glass of water on the table.

"But how was your school day?"

"Daddy, we're on summer vacation. That means we're off for a very long time."

Elphaba nods. "We have eight weeks off, we showed you the school reports last week."

Frex takes a bite of his salad. "Oh yes, that's true. So what did you go today?'

"I made a new drawing." Nessa says proudly, mouth full. Melena immediately corrects her youngest daughter that she has to talk after swallowing her food.

"I'm reading in my last book borrowed from the library so I'm going to get another one tomorrow." Elphaba says after she swallowed food.

"Wow, you had a nice day. Are you taking Nessa with you?"

Elphaba frowns and Nessa immediately looks cheerful. Elphaba still finds it scary to walk on the street. Many people in their town are already used to her green skin, but she is still being pointed out. People still whisper behind her back, still for the colour. Some people are also afraid of Elphaba, because of her powers.

'That seems like a good idea to me. You are old enough to go to the library alone." Melena says immediately, before Elphaba can say anything. She knows that she always has to give her daughter a little push to get her out the door. At first, she also found it very difficult to send Elphaba to the city alone. She often kept looking at an appropriate distance. But things always went well with Nessa, because the sisters protect each other. "Maybe it's smart if you make a list of which books you want to get. When your father has finished eating, we will eat the apple pie together in the living room."

Nessa immediately jumps off the table and puts her plate in the sink. Elphaba swallows the last bite and then quickly follows Nessa.

'How was your day?'

"It took some getting used to again having the two whirlwinds in the house. Nessa wanted to play with Elphaba outside and Elphaba wanted to read outside. That clashed for a bit. For the rest, they couldn't keep their attention on anything for five minutes. They had only just taken their coloring stuff out of the closet and then they wanted to play another game or go to their room. It was exhausting to keep correcting them for clearing their things."

Frex kisses his wife on the forehead. "It will be better tomorrow."

'I think so too. They are at least an hour away from home, then I can finally clean everything again."

"Maybe they should be given some household chores?"

Melena raises her eyebrow. "Maybe they're too young for that. They are only eight and six. Let them be children for a while."

"It's an idea. You might think differently halfway through the holiday."

Melena looks unconvinced. She decides to talk about another topic. ''How was your day?''

"Busy, I had one meeting after another. Fortunately, the harvest went well this year. We can now sell a lot of harvest to the Emerald city and the Vikuns. We can use all the extra money for the yellow brick road. That project took way too long, but it's good for our economy. This whole process takes a lot of time."

"Let's hope it all works out. Are you free for the rest of the evening?"

Frex shakes his head. "Tonight, after the kids are in bed, I have some letters to answer. I promise not to work too long."

"I'll hold you to that. Go see what the girls are doing. They are suspiciously quiet. I'll clean up everything here and I'll be there with the apple pie."

"Are you sure I can't help you?"

"Oh, you can certainly help me. But I think it's important that you spend some time with the girls."

"Did I tell you how grateful I am to you and how much I love you?"

Melena pretends to be thinking really hard. "I think it was this morning."

"That was way too long ago."

Frex takes Melena in his arms and kisses her. When Frex stops kissing, he hears giggles from his two daughters again.

"I believe we have fans," Melena whispers softly.

"I think I should punish those two fans with the tickle fight." Frex says loudly. He runs to the living room, where two screams are immediately heard.

Smiling, Melena gets to work with her task. Slowly the giggling diminishes and when Melena walks into the living room she sees that Elphaba and Nessa are busy writing. Frex takes over the plates. "They write down the topics they like to read during the holidays. I think Elphaba writes down all the subjects she has taken in school this year. Nessa is drawing a picture of everything."

Melena grins and indeed sees that Elphaba's paper is almost completely full.

"Come on girls, let's treat ourselves well. your mother has a lot of talent in making apple pies."

"Hey," the girls say indignantly. "We helped."

"Nessa, what did your mother say about talking with your mouth full?"

Nessa blushes and swallows her piece of pie. "We also helped."

"Then you all made a delicious cake." Frex says, eating another piece.

Time flies by before everyone realizes it. Nessa begins to tire and Elphaba suppresses a yawn. With a small protest the girls go to bed.

Tired, Melena and Frex flop onto the couch after all the work is done.

"Remember when we talked about a third child?" Melena asks, turning to Frex.

Frex nods.

"Well forget it. Two is more than enough. They are both calm, but they demand a lot of attention in their own way."

"I'll be back on time tomorrow too. Then you can focus on Nessa and I on Elphaba, or vice versa."

'That would be nice.'

They lie in each other's arms enjoying the silence.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing, letting Elphaba walk down the street?"

"We've talked about this many times before. Everyone agrees that her condition will make it hard for Elphaba, but that shouldn't mean she should be locked up in her house."

Melanie sighs. 'I know that. And she knows she can always say anything to us. We often solved some problems for her. Yet. I can't let go of the feeling. The idea that my little girl is unhappy."

Frex kisses his wife. "I know how you feel. But like Nessa, she also has to grow up. We have to give her the chance to enjoy the world. How hard it may be. We have helped her enough to stand up for herself. She knows how to ignore the whispers and how to avoid a fight."

"Like that helped." Melena whispers.

"I admit she has a temper. Her anger outbursts combined with magic don't really help. But we can't control what other people say about us. Besides, I don't think Elphaba is unhappy. She knows we love her unconditionally." Frex says, hearing his wife anyway.

"Every now and then you say the right things at the right time." Melena kisses her husband and thinks about everything that has happened.

Frex, on the other hand, feels that his wife is not calming down. "You know what, I'm going to work some more and then you can talk to Elphaba. Surely you are feeling better after talking to her. I think Elphaba would like that too. She always prefers to talk to you than to me."

Melanie smiles. "You're not doing badly. Elphaba loves you as much as she loves me and she opens up to you. There are only certain things that a boy discusses with his father and a daughter with her mother."

Frex and Melena both walk to the hallway, where they part ways. Frex walks to his office where he is happy that he can work quietly. He loves his family, but he loves to immerse himself in his work. His office has a desk with several chairs. His diplomas hang on the walls, but also the great results of his daughters. A report from his eldest daughter with a lowest score on count that is a B+. His youngest daughter has a beautiful drawing of the flowers that are blooming in his backyard. He is proud of both his children and is happy that they are proud of him too.

XXX

Meanwhile, Melena is standing at Elphaba's door, where light still comes from under the door. She knocks softly on the door and walks in without waiting for an answer.

"Mama?" Elphaba asks in surprise, looking up from her book. She looks at her clock and sees that she has ten minutes of reading time left.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk to you for a second, without Nessa."

Elphaba puts her book away and makes way for her mother to sit on her bed.

"What about?" Elphaba knows what her mother wants to talk about, but she doesn't want to. As long as she can pretend she doesn't care, people will eventually leave her alone. Unfortunately, her mother always has an eye on something. Her parents have helped her a lot over the years, but sometimes she was bullied because of that. Fortunately, her parents don't know everything. Over the years she has been able to hide a bruise well. She knows the teasing and whispering is never going to stop. Although she often pretends that all those words don't touch her, her mother knows how hurt she feels.

"If people whisper too much about you, you can always tell me. Then I can do something about it."

"Like what?" Elphaba asks bitterly.

Melena bites her lip. "Actually, I mean you should ignore it. Those people don't know you like we know you. You are kind, smart and you cares about everything. It helps if you talk about your feelings. Your father and I are always there for you."

Elphaba nods. She has learned not to show her tears. The bullies will only bully her more, her parents will feel even more sorry and her friends won't understand the tears.

Melena's heart breaks to see her daughter like this. But she said what she wanted to say. So she now moves on to the more fun topics. "Luckily Miss Danie will be at the library tomorrow. Maybe Boq is in the library then."

Elphaba immediately looks a lot happier. "Maybe Marty can come, then we can play together."

Melena kisses her daughter's forehead. "That would be great fun. You know what, run to Marty's house in the morning. you can ask him if he and his sister can come too. Nessa would love that too."

Fortunately, there are children and parents at school who look beyond Elphaba's skin. Boq's and Marty's parents were immediately very open and very clear to their sons that they should treat Elphaba like everyone else. Melena wishes everyone thought that way.

"Yeah, I think Nessa would like that."

"You are my sweet girl, Fabala. Never forget that.'

Elphaba blushes and looks away, but nods anyway. "I love you too mommy."

Melena tucks her daughter into bed and quietly leaves the room. She is a lot happier now that she knows that Elphaba will have support from her friends tomorrow. She knocks softly on the door of Frex's office. She sees that her husband is still working hard and don't even notice she's in the room. She gently closes the door and prepares herself for bed. She decides to read until Frex decides to go to bed, but she doesn't notice when her husband comes to bed. Because she's been asleep for a long time.