AN: I'm so sorry guys! I meant to have this chapter up sooner, but I accidentally slipped up deleted its outline, so I had to trust my memory and wing it. Unfortunately, it took a little longer. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous three. Please leave a review telling me what you think.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Horton Hears a Who or any of the characters involved in this story.
"Here we are," JoJo said to Tallulah as she stepped into the Mayor's office Monday afternoon.
Tallulah looked around in wonder. The Mayor's office was huge! Everything was so neat and orderly. Most of the room followed the color scheme of gold, white, and royal blue-Whoville's official colors.
"This is the Mayor's office!?" Tallulah exclaimed. "It's even bigger than my living room."
JoJo slid out of his oversized backpack and threw it on the divan. He let out a sigh. JoJo wished he could be in the observatory working on the lyrics to his dad's song. Even though JoJo had the whole weekend to compose, his writing turned into a trial and error of wading up paper and throwing it away. His mind just couldn't form the right words for some reason.
Snapping out of his thinks, JoJo walked over to the Mayor's long, oak wood desk and gestured for Tallulah to sit down. "Let's get started," he said. "Get out your spelling list."
Tallulah sat down and started swiveling her gummy bracelets around her wrists over and over. She watched JoJo unplug the desk phone and take down the wall clock. He then turned Tallulah's chair away from the balcony that overlooked the town.
"Hand me those," JoJo demanded. He was talking about Tallulah's bracelets. "You'll get them back later."
"Okay, teacher!" Tallulah said. She unfastened the bracelets with her teeth and handed them to JoJo.
By then, every "potential distraction" was gone. JoJo even made Tallulah tie her long, pink hair into a high ponytail just to keep it out of the way.
"Alright," JoJo said, sitting down next to Tallulah. He skimmed over the spelling list and looked for an easy word to start the session off with. "Spell the word, 'admire'."
"Admire," Tallulah repeated back to herself. "A-d-m-y-e-r?"
JoJo cringed. "Um, that's not quite right."
Tallulah looked discouraged.
"How about 'endear'?" JoJo suggested.
Tallulah tried again. "I-N-D-E-E-R?"
"No," JoJo said impatiently. "You can do this Tallulah. Your own name is eight letters long. You can spell your own name can't you?"
Tallulah nodded. "Yeah, of course."
"Then you can spell these words," JoJo said.
"But I write my name all the time," Tallulah argued. "I rarely write these other words."
Suddenly, an idea hit JoJo's brain. He pulled Tallulah's notebook toward himself and flipped to a clean page. "I want you to write each of you spelling words down ten times," he instructed.
Tallulah contorted her face like she had just sucked on a lemon. After a good twenty-five minutes of writing, Tallulah dropped her pencil and rubbed the palm of her hand. She'd managed to spell six out of eleven words correctly.
"I'm hungry, JoJo," Tallulah whined.
JoJo looked for the clock on the wall but then remembered he'd taken it down. He pulled out his whophone instead. Forty-five minutes had flown by. The session was over and JoJo felt like he'd accomplished nothing. He'd managed to keep Tallulah focused, but the spellings words just weren't sinking in.
He sighed. "I'll go and get you something to nibble on. In the meantime, you just keep looking at those words. When I come back you can try spelling them again."
Ned came happily, humming into his office. He had just finished speaking at Whoville's Historical Library in honor of his placement on the twenty who-dollar bill. He had a lot on his schedule with the ceremony being just two weeks away but for now, Ned wanted to sit down for a few quiet moments.
He drifted towards his desk and sat down when a sudden high-pitched squeal sent him right back to his feet. Ned spun around. He realized that he had just sat on a little who-girl.
"Oh! Excuse me, Miss. I'm so sorry," Ned said.
The girl didn't respond. She lowered her eyes and kept still. Being face to face with the Mayor seemed to have her completely lost for words.
Ned leaned toward her and tried again. "You must be Tallulah," he said smiling.
Tallulah looked away. She bit her bottom lip to tame its trembling.
"Well, don't mind me," Ned said. "I just need a few things from the bottom drawer."
Ned crouched down and rustled through the bottom drawer. He pulled out his framed bill and then pushed the drawer shut. Ned tried to stand up but he was sent back to his knees.
A smile lit Tallulah's face. She suppressed a giggle. Ned had just closed the drawer on his tie!
"Oh!" he said. He tugged frantically at his tie until it finally slipped free, completely jagged and wrinkled.
"Well, that was clumsy of me," Ned said.
Tallulah laughed into her hands. Ned couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. The young girl probably believed that she had a fool for a mayor, but at least she wasn't so nervous anymore.
Ned picked up the framed bill and placed it on the bookshelf for display.
Tallulah got up to take a closer look at the bill. "Wow! You look so handsome," she gushed.
Ned's face reddened. He wasn't expecting that after all the nasty comments Chairman VonFrood made. It was nice to be complemented.
"Thank you," Ned said softly. "You don't know how happy it makes me to hear that."
Tallulah gazed at Ned—hard! She seemed like she had something weighing on her mind.
Ned reached into his pocket and pulled out some candy for her.
Tallulah looked delighted. She threw her little arms around Ned's waist, hugging him. Ned jumped in surprise. He followed Tallulah's lead and hugged her back.
Just then, JoJo walked into the office with a juice box and some raisins.
"Tallulah, you're supposed to be looking over your spelling words," he barked.
Ned released Tallulah. "I'm so sorry JoJo. I didn't mean to interrupt," he said.
JoJo let out a short huff. "It's fine, we can pick up where we left off tomorrow. You can have your office back, dad." JoJo said, grabbing his backpack.
"Okay, I'll see you when I get home, son." Ned waved.
Tallulah followed JoJo out the door, but not before racing back to give Ned one final hug.