"Now Galinda, duckie, do be a dearie and be sure to listen to every Shiz superloustition, no matter how superfluous they may seem!" Ama Clutch reached out to pinch Galinda's round, pink cheek, but Galinda dodged out of the way, muttering in embarrassment. "I mean it, duckie!" Ama Clutch clicked her tongue and waggled a finger. "You may laugh now, but you'll thank me later when that little head of yours is a little fuller!"

"Ama, what ever are you jabbering on about?" Galinda sighed, shaking her gold curls, a tiny hint of fondness in her smile that she tried to hide. She did not wish to indulge her Ama's embarrassing behavior, after all. Not that it mattered. For already, somebody watched from behind a vine-draped pillar… It was a large, carpy, fish-faced woman, arms crossed in front of her ample bosom. A long, curved, painted nail tapped her arm as she listened in absentmindedly. A robotic, bronzen, Tiktok butler waited beside her, the key in its back slowly unwinding.

"Hmm." Dismissive, she flicked her fingers to wind the clocktick's clockwork mechanisms. As the key turned, a lightbulb went off in her head.

As Grommetik waited patiently beside its Headshizstress, a nail flew from its back, flying just beneath the oncoming foot of—

"YEOWCH!" Ama Clutch shrieked, and then Galinda shrieked as well, both in surprise and mortification.

I know I wanted for Ama to prattle on a little less, but I didn't want it to end like THIS! Several other Shiz students and their Amas, nannies, and nurses gawked. Galinda flashed them a sheepish smile, trying to look as composed as she could, before turning to her Ama. What is it now?!

"I stepped on a nail!" Ama held up her injured foot piteously, hopping and hobbling to the nearest handrail to lean against it.

"And you say I need to pay more attention," Galinda remarked balefully.

"Oh, Galinda, dearie duckie, not right now!" Now it was Ama Clutch's turn to sigh in exasperation. "What if my face freezes up in lockjaw?"

Following a quick, mutually melodramatic, conversation, Ama Clutch limp-hobble-hopped away to leave Galinda to escort herself to Crage Hall. Madam Morrible saw her dainty, delicate brow furrow in frustration as her Ama abandoned her. How doubly embarrassing! Madam Morrible, meanwhile, couldn't have been happier…

ooo

"—and so you see, duckie?" Ama Clutch spoke feverishly, excitedly, to the hooked, little nail. "I was right, wasn't I? Ol' Ama Clutch was as right as always! As right as rain! I told Galinda, you see, duckie? Told her not to be so quick to dismiss the signs! She wants to be an architect, you see? So her head is always so scientiferous! That is all well and good, mind your little mind, but sometimes, she forgets to see the larger picture, the magic hidden within… Oh, but shh, that's a lil secret only I'm supposed to know!" She hushed the rusty nail, giggling conspiratorily as she had with Galinda in her younger days, when Galinda first whispered these secrets to her, knowing her parents would merely laugh her dizzy daydreams off.

"That girlie's got an eye for detail, she does! And it shows in her fashion choices too!" Ama Clutch chuckled fondly as, through her addled mind, she waded through a hazy flood of memories. Galinda had always loved to play dress-up, and put on her mother's clothes. "But as detailed as she is, she's still got some blind spots, you see? Oh, but who doesn't? That's what ol' Ama is for! To be my lil duckie's eyes until she can use her lil brain herself! That's why she's at Uni, after all. Oh, did you know she was accepted into Uni?" She shifted in her hospital bed, sitting up slightly.

"We weren't shocked, of course, the Arduenna-Uplands, and I, but we were still ever so proud!" The Ama sighed, clutching her heart. "If only she could've heeded my advice and not ignored the signs…! Things are never as simple as they seem on the surface. I trust her little brain to figure that out eventually, but I can only hope she still has time…" She trailed off for a while before whispering to the little nail again. "Can you keep a secret? I had a vision once, as we were riding our way into Shiz. The felt faint in the carriage, and I thought I saw a girl with green skin…!"

"As first I discounted it as a vision, but then I saw her again as I departed the first time we met, you and me, little nail. I was hobbling my way to the nursery's office, and you were there, and so was she, that green girl that would one day come to mean so much to my lil duckie… What were the odds I'd notice her so many times, even back when she and Galinda were still strangers, then rivals? Now look at them…!" Ama Clutch chuckled fondly, weakly. "How they fight! But I think there is love betwixt them now… I can only hope Galinda is not too stubbornheaded to see…"

Ah, for want of a nail! she trailed off again. I been prayin' for that girl's future for a long time, hoping that she finds happiness whilst balancing tradition and duty. We got a miracle once, with that green-skinned girl, but I need another to make sure that Galinda sees it! By Lurline, they're meant to be, but getting 'em together's hard! The ailing woman sighed in quiet, quasi-defeat, deflating in her bed as if popped by a pin.

ooo

"It is my fault!" Galinda insisted fiercely, shaking her head to spite her tears. "It is!"

"I'm not disputing that!" Elphaba waved her off. "I'm saying to come off it, come off your highly emotional high horse for a second, so we can ask Ama Clutch what she saw that night!" She all but shoved Galinda aside to kneel beside the ailing Ama, whispering urgently to her about that poor old Goat. Galinda hissed in outrage at Elphaba's outrageous sanctimony. Ama Clutch, meanwhile, drifted in and out of consciousness, smiling in a hazy daze, and a dazy haze. She did the best she could to answer the green girl's questions before finally passing away.

Good luck, dearie. Best of luck, duckie… And soon, all that was left of poor old Ama Clutch was a nail.

"Oh, for want of a nail!" Galinda threw herself against the hospital bed with a dramatic wail. "If only I paid more heed in Madam Morrible's Sorcery Seminar! Perhaps I could've studied a spell that could've saved—"

"Oh, come off it," Elphaba interrupted her again. "Magic doesn't work like that, and you know it. It's not a panacea…" She knew better than anyone.

"You could at least let me believe!" Galinda pouted.

"Not if it leads to you blaming yourself," the green girl replied briskly. If you believe there's something different you could've done…? No. I know we all like to think that, but… I think this is more than just tetanus from a rusty nail… Speaking of that… "Here," she muttered brusquely, plucking the little shining object up between two green fingers, holding it out to the weeping Galinda. "If you wanted something to remember her by…" It was awkward, she knew, but unfortunately, Ama Clutch had no green bottles they could substitute, at least none that Elphaba had ever seen.

"Oh, Elphie! Is now really the time?!" Galinda's voice was muffled by Ama's bedsheets. Elphaba shrugged, even though she knew Galinda wasn't looking. She continued to hold out the nail.

What would I know? I'm not a funeral director. I just know that they won't let us keep Ama's body for long, so if there's anything you want to salvage… They had to act fast. She'd seen something she wasn't supposed to… Elphaba drifted closer to Galinda. Whatever got to Dillamond, and to Clutch, she vowed she wouldn't let get to Galinda… If only she could guarantee that promise! Oh, for want of a miracle! But hadn't she just chided Galinda for being too much of a dreamer? They had a cold, hard reality to face.

AN: This was another idea I got before the movie but never got around to writing until now, LOL! Randomly inspired by Ama's battle with the rusty nail in the book, even though I know the saying doesn't quite fit, but I tried to make it work, LOL! (It basically means overlooking small details because they're small can lead to downfall, as was the case for poor Ama herself, and Galinda's carelessness in giving Morrible the perfect ammo to do what she did).