Ozette's Destiny (9 page)

The princess smiled. “I’ve a pantry full of whole tomatoes I canned last summer. And soapwort. Let’s not forget that. I had a bumper crop last year,” the princess said.

“How will we get juice from these tomatoes?” Oliver asked.

Ozette scrunched up her squirrelly nose and said, “This will be messy, but we can put the tomatoes into a washtub, then stomp up and down on them with our feet, until they turn to juice.”

The princess clapped happily. “Perfect! And I’ll make a strong soapwort tea and strain it, so you aren’t picking bits of leaves out of your hair for a week,” she said to Oliver. “Then we’ll add the soapy tea, sage oil and the herbal tincture to the juiced tomatoes. Oliver can jump in and soak until he smells better.”

Everyone nodded, anxious to help.

The princess grabbed an old washtub, holding her nose as she got near Oliver. She gave him an apologetic look and he grinned sheepishly. They dumped jars of tomatoes into the tub.

“I’ll get the ingredients stirred together while you smash the tomatoes,” she said, going inside.

The trouble started with the fairies getting a little too playful. Ariel pitched a ripe tomato at Sydney and hit her in the face, splattering tomato down her chin. Sydney retaliated and accidentally hit Ozette on the back, covering her beautiful white fur with red tomato goo. Even Cassady got into the act, running to and fro, slapping everyone with her tomato-covered tail and happily licking tomato bits off of her friends.

The tomato throwing continued for several more rounds until everyone was covered in bits and dripping red juice.

“Hellllooo?” yelled Oliver finally, from his perch downwind. “I want to get this stink off of me, so quit playing and get to work. Smash those tomatoes, don’t wear them!”

The chastised friends laughed and returned to stomping, mashing and smashing until there was nothing left but pulp.

As they stopped to rest, they looked at each other and burst out in giggles again. Now everyone was covered from head to toe with red froth!

Just then, the princess came outside with the rest of the concoction. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, then added her mixture to the juiced tomatoes.

She turned around and gave Oliver the thumbs up, and he dove straight into the tub, tattered boxer shorts and all.

“I hope this works,” Ariel muttered, wrinkling her nose.

While Oliver bathed in the mixture, his tomato-covered friends dove into the princess’s pond and scrubbed and scrubbed to get the tomatoes off of their bodies and fur. Cassady dove underwater to rinse out a particularly large clump stuck behind her right ear.

Ozette grabbed some soapwort and scrubbed, wondering if she was scrubbing the fur right off of her squirrelly body. Then she climbed onto the bank and shook herself.

Meanwhile, Oliver washed his hair, his little elfin body and even his torn boxers. He lifted his arms and sniffed his armpits.

“Not bad, even if I do say so myself,” he said to himself. He scrubbed some more, just to be sure, then ran down the path as his friends climbed out of the pond. Oliver waved and dove into the pond for a final rinse. He looked no worse for wear, although his boxers were torn beyond repair from scrambling through the underground tunnel.

When his friends saw him, they approached cautiously, sniffing the air.

Ozette grinned. She hugged Oliver and he rewarded her with his brilliant smile, happy to be acceptable again.

Princess Abrianna invited her guests to a garden party, where they dined on toadstool tarts and lemon snappers.

After they had eaten, Oliver winked at Ariel. “Don’t tell Ozette,” he whispered, “but her fur has a decidedly pink cast.”

As the motley group bid the princess farewell, Oliver grabbed her hands and thanked her profusely for “de-stinking” him.

“That was some potent potion,” he quipped.

“My pleasure, Oliver. Now I have a new formula if this ever happens again,” the princess said with a wink.

Oliver shuddered and waved good-bye.

They were in good spirits, until Baby Fiona scrambled down a tree onto the path leading home.

“Is that you, Ozette?” she asked, looking puzzled at the animal on the trail.

“Of course, it’s me. Who did you think it was?” Ozette asked.

“Well, this may be rude of me to ask, but why is your fur pink?”

Ozette’s squirrelly eyes widened and she ran to a pond just off the path. Her friends heard a loud shriek as Ozette saw herself reflected in the pond.

“Oh no! My fur is ruined! I’ll never look like me again!”

“Oh, come on, Ozette,” Ariel chastened her. “You’re just a little pink. It’s a nice color on you. Brings out your dark eyes.”

The truth was, Ozette was a lovely shade of pink, but pink she was.

“I feel like a pink stuffed animal toy,” she muttered, as she sat down under a hickory tree.

The friends gathered around Ozette and broke out some dried-fruit snacks to cheer her up. However, their chatter inadvertently disturbed a number of birds napping nearby.

One of the birds, a large white owl, swooped down to the ground. “Ozette,” the snowy owl nodded in greeting.

“You recognize me!” Ozette said, relaxing for the first time since she’d seen her reflection.

The wise owl was a tactful bird, but also didn’t want to tell fibs. “You’re known by the company you keep,” he said sagely.

Ozette and her friends were pondering that bit of wisdom that was both literal and figurative when Melanie, a large black magpie, swooped down and tried to grab a tuft of fur off of Ozette’s rump.

“Ouch!” Ozette looked up, shocked.

“Oops, sorry,” the magpie said, looking baffled. “I thought you were a blob of cotton candy.”

Ozette lowered her head, her pink chin quivering. A fat tear rolled down her cheek. Then another. Faster and faster they fell. She cried so hard, a small creek formed on the ground below. Her friends watched in amazement as a flotilla of mice floated down the little creek on leaves, using twigs as oars.

“Oh, no,” Ariel muttered. She glared at the magpie, a creature known for blundering insensitivity, and hissed, “You’ve really stuck your foot in your beak this time.”

Oliver shook his fist at the thoughtless bird silently behind Ozette’s back.

The magpie slowly began to realize that she had better make amends.

“Blob! Did I say blob?” she chattered nervously. “What I meant to say was a puff – or a poof. That’s it – a small poof of lovely cotton candy.” She looked hopefully at Ozette and her friends to see if she had fixed her faux pas, but they just shook their heads.

Ozette had had enough. To everyone’s surprise, she suddenly scrambled up a tree and headed back to her nest, flitting from tree to tree as fast as her little pink legs could carry her, muttering to herself as she went. “Pink blob, indeed.”

She was unaware that Cassady was trotting along below, keeping a watchful eye on the distraught squirrel as she scrambled along the forest canopy. Ozette stopped to rest on the branch of her favorite hickory tree and looked over her squirrelly body. She surely was not a blob! When Ozette arrived home, she dove into her nest. Cassady lay down under the tree, resting her head on her paws and keeping watch over her upset friend.

Suddenly, something hard rained down on the big dog’s head. She sniffed and smelled jumbledberry scones. Cassady looked up quizzically and saw Ozette leaning out of her nest, throwing what appeared to be her entire food stash down to the ground below. Out went half of a neener-neener supreme, some walnutto wafers and her store of pecanettes that Oliver had baked. Cassady snarfed down every morsel, feeling only a little guilty.

“Pink blob, harrumph!” Ozette muttered. “I’ll show them. I won’t come out of my nest until I’m thin as a twig.” Ozette stuffed leaves into her doorway so no one would disturb her and, ignoring her growling stomach, fell asleep.

She woke early the next morning to the sound of whispering outside her nest. She tossed aside the leaves and stuck out her head to find four of her best squirrel-girl friends – Daphne, Zoe, Luna and Nissa – perched on her branch.

“Go away. I’m staying in my nest until I’m not a pink blob,” she said crossly.

Daphne held out her paw kindly. “Come with us, Ozette.” Ozette shook her head. Daphne grabbed Ozette’s paw and pulled her out of her nest. “This is important and will just take a minute.”

Ozette reluctantly climbed down her tree with the squirrels, who then led her to a pond.

“Look at us, Ozette,” Daphne ordered.

Ozette looked at the four squirrels and shrugged her shoulders.

“Are we blobs?” Zoe asked.

“Of course not. You’ve normal squirrelly shapes, with lots of muscle from climbing. You look great,” she said.

“Look in the pond, Ozette,” Luna ordered.

Ozette stared at her reflection. “So what?” Ozette asked, noticing she was still pink.

“Look at your shape, Ozette,” Daphne said. “Compare it with ours.”

Ozette peered into the pond. She bit her lip. “Why, I look the same size as you! In fact, I’m thinner than you, Daphne,” she exclaimed. “I just overreacted at the magpie’s words, but realize now that she didn’t mean to be hurtful. All of us squirrels need a little extra cushion and muscle, and you are right…we all look just fine! OK, so I’m not a blob. But I am definitely pink!” she sighed. “I can’t go to the Spring Fling pink! We’ll just have to call it off,” she said sadly, wondering how canceling her coronation would affect her destiny.

“No way, Ozette,” Luna said determinedly. “We’re looking forward to your coronation. Besides, we want you to be our queen because of who you are on the inside, not the color of your fur or your shape.”

They bid farewell to Ozette, who started home in a much better mood. When she reached her tree, Ozette saw a bespectacled black magpie perched on a limb.

“Hi Ozette. Do you recognize me?” she chirped.

Ozette pursed her lips and cocked her head. There was something vaguely familiar about her visitor, although she had never seen a bird with glasses before.

“I wanted to come by and formally introduce myself since we didn’t have the greatest start,” the bird said, politely. “I’m Melanie Magpie. My family has been begging me for months to get spectacles. After thoughtlessly mistaking you for a pink, um, blob of cotton candy, I decided they were right and I got a pair. Now I can see you clearly. And what a lovely pink squirrel you are!”

“Thank you, Melanie,” Ozette said, bowing graciously. After all, she still had the same forgiving heart underneath her new pink fur. “Please do come to the Spring Fling, if I still decide to have it.”

Melanie’s beak snapped open in surprise. “If? If? You must have the Spring Fling. We’re all counting on it.”

Just then, Ariel landed on Ozette’s tree, fluttering her violet wings excitedly. She looked quite pleased with herself and eager to share news.

“I think I found a solution. After you took off, I flew back to Princess Abrianna’s cottage. She thinks she can concoct an herbal tincture that will not only make your fur white again, but will also condition it, make it soft and a bunch of other stuff. She’s never done it before, but she said it might work. She wants you to come over in the morning.”

Ozette agreed, although reluctantly. She had a lot of faith in Princess Abrianna’s abilities, but it was the “bunch of other stuff” that had her worried. While she didn’t want pink fur, a big unknown didn’t necessarily sound promising either.

Ozette slept late the next morning. She didn’t know if it was the quincette quiche or the pearly peachettes that Oliver had brought her, but something had given her nightmares all night long.

She shuddered as she remembered her first dream in which her fur had turned white but then fallen out in large clumps, leaving her bald as a newborn squirrel! In her second dream, her fur started growing, growing, growing, until she looked like a fluffy white mop.

She shook off her dreams and slipped out of her nest. Scampering down the tree, she found Ariel munching on a bunch of grapes and spitting seeds in a most unladylike manner.

“All set to head to Princess Abrianna’s to get bleached?” Ariel asked.

“I don’t know, Ariel,” Ozette said, scrunching up her eyes. “Maybe I’ll just let the color fade naturally. We can postpone the Spring Fling until I’m back to normal,” she said nervously as she started grooming her pink tail with her claws.

“You can’t do that! We always have the Spring Fling in the spring, not three months from now when your fur has grown out! Besides, then we’d have to call it Summer Fling, and that doesn’t even rhyme! It would have to be the Summer Bummer,” Ariel squawked. She grabbed a handful of Ozette’s fur. “Plus, unless you want a major fur cut, you’re going to look pretty weird as this pink grows out. Have you ever seen a two-toned squirrel?” Ariel shook her head. “I don’t think so!”

Convinced but reluctant, Ozette headed to Princess Abrianna’s. On the way, she and Ariel ran into several more girlfriends. The beautiful fairy Sydney and the “squirrel-girls” Daphne, Zoe and Baby Fiona gave Ozette an encouraging group hug, and Annika cheered from overhead, her pale green wings shining in the dew-drenched sunlight.