Seuss!

“Hey! Give that back!”

Gerard opened his eyes and sat up, still half-asleep when he heard Horton yelling. As his vision cleared and sharpened, he realized several of the monkeys were climbing all over Horton, playing keep-away with the little pink clover. He scrambled to his feet to see if he could help.

“Let’s go, boys!” one monkey cried. “The kangaroo said she wanted this thing destroyed!”

The others shouted and screeched in agreement, and they took off through the trees. Horton tried to chase after them, but he was too frantic to decide which way to go.

“Horton!” Gerard cried. “I have an idea. Kneel down for a second.”

“Okay, but I don’t see why…” He obediently knelt to the ground. Gerard climbed onto his back, just behind his ears. Horton stood, and Gerard nearly fell off from the sudden jolt of motion.

“Go that way,” he said, pointing. “We have to get to them before they get to the river.”

Horton took off through the jungle, easily crashing through small plants and plucking branches out of his path with his trunk. Gerard had to duck several times to avoid being whacked in the face. He kept an eye on the canopy of trees above them, watching the monkeys dash ahead through the dense foliage.

They started passing it back and forth to each other across their path, laughing, and finally came to a stop just a few feet away from the edge of the river. Gerard stood up on Horton’s back and tried to catch the small flower, but it always drifted just out of his reach.

“You’ll have to do better than that!” one monkey cried. “Here, jump this time!” The monkey tossed the clover high into the air, letting it fall on a path straight toward Gerard. Just as he reached up to grab it, a set of sharp talons snapped it away from him, followed by a menacing laugh.

“No more of this monkeying around!” Vlad Vladikoff shouted back as he flew high into the sky, dark against the field of blue. “Kangaroo should never have trusted monkeys. Always ask Vlad first, I say, but she never listen.”

“Oh no!” Horton yelled. Gerard could only stare as the bird became a small black dot, impossibly high above them. He brought his eyes back to Horton’s dejected face.

“We’re not giving up,” he said resolutely. “Let’s go after that bird.”

Gerard intensely studied the sky, directing Horton where to turn in order to follow the bird’s winding path. His eyes began to burn from looking up at the sun as it moved across the sky, his view shaded by the trees only every once in a while. It wasn’t long before Horton began to tire from the journey.

“Okay, just go to the left a little more-”

Gerard was suddenly slammed forward onto Horton’s neck at full speed and found himself holding on to the elephant’s ears for dear life. “Why’d you stop? We almost caught him. In fact, I think he’s getting closer…”

“Look.”

Gerard brought himself back into a sitting position and stared at what Horton was talking about. A vast field of pink stretched before their eyes, reaching toward the horizon and fanning out in all directions. A sweeping shadow caught Gerard’s attention. He glanced up just as Vlad swooped down and flew in wide, slow circles over the field. Horton noticed the clover still clutched in the eagle’s talon and stretched out his trunk as if to catch it.

“Wait! Don’t let them fall!” he cried. “They’ll get hurt!”

Vlad cackled maniacally and let the flower drop. It plummeted helplessly toward the ground, disappearing entirely in the mass of pink. Gerard finally realized it was a giant field of clovers, all exactly alike. He barely managed a defeated sigh.

“I can’t believe this…we’ll never find it in there,” he said hopelessly. He slid off of Horton’s back and crumpled to the ground, unable to stand. Horton turned around to face him.

“No! We’re not giving up! I have to save the Whos!”

Horton picked up Gerard and galloped down the hill to the edge of the field of clovers, depositing him on the ground and desperately searching through the flowers with his face close to the ground. “Are you there?” he whispered, picking one clover from its place and holding it close to his ear. He sighed and tossed it aside, moving on to another flower.

“Horton, this is ridiculous,” Gerard said, standing up and brushing himself off. “We’re never going to find them. It’s impossible.”

But Horton was no longer listening to his words. Gerard tried to help him look for the clover, but he knew he couldn’t hear nearly as well as Horton, and he soon gave up. He heard a rustle in the bushes and glanced toward the sound, hoping he wouldn’t have to defend himself against crazy monkeys or giant Russian eagles.

To his surprise, a small, blue bird popped out of the bush, looking extremely beat up and out of breath. He walked over and carefully picked her up. “Gertrude, are you alright?”

It took her several moments to answer. “Yes…fine…I’m not used to walking so much. It’s more difficult than it looks. I don’t know how you can do it.”

“Why don’t you just fly?” he asked, puzzled.

“I can’t,” she answered sadly. “My tail’s too long.”

Gerard glanced down and realized she was right. Her tail, now every shade of blue and covered in dazzling patterns of stripes and spots, stretched down to the ground and fanned out near his feet. “Wow…I think you ate too many berries.”

“It’s okay,” said Gertrude. “At least I don’t have that stupid, short little tail anymore. My tail is even longer than Mayzie’s!”

“It certainly is,” Gerard muttered to himself. “Hey, can you help me talk some sense into Horton? He thinks he can find one clover out of all of these. It’s impossible.”

“Oh, dear,” the bird said worriedly. “It sure looks impossible.”

Gerard carried her over to where Horton was currently searching. A pile of picked pink flowers was quickly growing next to him. Gerard cleared his throat in hopes of grabbing the elephant’s attention. “Horton, uh…Gertrude wants to talk to you.” He set her on the ground. She shook out her tail as much as possible and stepped over to him.

“Horton…maybe you should stop trying to find one flower,” said the bird. “Maybe…pay attention to other things.” She realized he wasn’t listening, so she walked closer, standing directly in front of him. “Really, Horton, this isn’t going to work.”

Horton said nothing. He reached his trunk toward Gertrude as if he was going to pick her up, but he simply plucked a clover from beneath her feet and held it up to his ear. Gerard saw the expression on Gertrude’s face change from hopeful to despairing. She hung her head and plodded away from Horton.

“Hey, I found it!” the elephant cried, backing up several steps. Gertrude scurried out of the way before she was trampled. Gerard picked her up so nothing would happen to her. “Oh, wait…never mind.”

Gertrude sighed. “I…I won’t give up! He’ll notice me eventually, right?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah. He has to,” said Gerard. He tried to smile reassuringly, but Gertrude still looked unhappy. He set her on the ground and watched as she sadly trudged away.

Gerard rested under the shade of the trees as Horton carved a widening path through the flowers. He didn’t understand how one elephant could be so persistent when it was so impossible. There was no way he would find the one clover out of so many.

The day stretched on, growing hotter and more humid, and Gerard was finding it more and more difficult to stay awake. A shadow flickered over his closed eyelids. For a moment he thought he was only seeing things, but he heard wings flapping and looked up at the source. It was Mayzie, the ruby-red bird, sitting on a pile of twigs nestled into the tree branches.

“Two million, nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine…” Horton sighed and sat down. “It’s hopeless.”

“You said it, kid,” Mayzie called in agreement, letting out a sigh of her own.

Horton jumped up and turned around. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me. Mayzie. Up here.”

“Mayzie?” he asked, glancing up at her. His eyes widened. “Are you on a nest?”

“Yeah, you wanna make something of it?” Mayzie asked indignantly.

“No…I just never thought I’d see you on a nest,” said Horton.

“Neither did I.” Mayzie sighed again. “My legs hurt so much from sitting here all day. I didn’t think this would be so much work!” Gerard rolled his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” said Horton. “I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“Oh, but you can!” she cried. “I just need a little vacation. But since I can’t leave my egg all alone, well…could you sit on my nest, Horton?”

Horton laughed. “Why, that’s ridiculous! I’m not a bird. I can’t sit on a nest.”

“Pleeeease?” Mayzie begged. “I promise I won’t be gone very long.”

“…well…I guess vacations aren’t so bad…alright, I’ll sit on your egg. But you have to come back soon, okay? Promise?”

“Thanks a million, kid!” she cried gleefully. She jumped into the air and fluttered away. Gerard thought Horton wasn’t serious at first, but he found he had to quickly move out of the way as the elephant made his way to the tree.

“You’re kidding, right?” Gerard asked. Horton didn’t seem to hear him. “There’s no way you’re going to sit on that nest. How are you going to get up there?”

Horton ignored his words and placed his front feet on the tree’s trunk. “Hmm…” He backed off for a moment and began wandering around, then ripped two thick branches off of a nearby tree, placing them beneath the other tree’s trunk for support. “That’s better.” He began to walk up the tree, not even wincing when the trunk bent over and rested heavily on the two branches. Gerard covered his eyes with his fingers, expecting to hear the snapping of the tree’s trunk (and perhaps the crunch of the tiny egg’s delicate shell), but nothing happened.

“There, that’s not so bad,” said Horton with a bright smile on his face.

“An elephant sitting on a bird’s nest,” Gerard murmured to himself. “…yeah. I’ve finally lost it.”

“I’m sure Mayzie will be back soon.” Horton looked anxiously at the patch of clovers. “I really need to find the Whos. I can’t let them get hurt.”

“I’ll, uh…go look for them, I guess,” Gerard said uneasily. He reluctantly stepped out of the shade and carefully stepped through the winding path Horton had made through the flowers. He took several moments to study them. Each looked exactly alike, a small, pink puffball soaking up the warm sun. He didn’t see a speck of dust on any of them. Now he couldn’t even remember where Vlad had dropped the clover. He sank to his knees. It really was hopeless.

“Hey, what’s that?” a voice whispered from the bushes. Gerard glanced toward it and saw three or four figures crouching behind the shrubbery.

“I’m not sure,” said another. “Let’s capture him!”

‘They must be talking about Horton,’ Gerard thought. ‘I have to warn him!’ He ran back towards the elephant. “Horton! Run!”

A sudden force brought him crashing to the ground. He flailed wildly and tried to get back to his feet, but heavy netting tangled itself around his arms and forced him to remain where he was. Footsteps pounded near his ears, and shadows fell across him.

“What do you think he is?”

“He almost looks human!” one of them exclaimed.

“…what? Of course I’m human,” Gerard said, still struggling to even sit up properly.

“Don’t be ridiculous. No human would wear that much black. Toss him in the wagon, boys.”

Gerard was lifted off the ground, thrown into the air, and dropped over the side of a cage and into a wooden cart like a piece of luggage. He scrambled to get the net off of him, but it was held down by heavy metal weights, and he soon gave up. Finally, he was able to get a look at who had captured him. They looked less like men and more like cartoons come to life. All of them were dressed like hunters on a safari. They held guns with horn-shaped barrels and had huge mustaches that covered their eyes. One of them noticed Horton, and they slowly crept up to the elephant, who was still sitting rather contentedly on the egg.

“Maybe we should bring him back, too,” said one of the hunters. “He’s almost as strange as this other thing.” The others nodded in agreement. They sprang out to capture him.

“Horton, look out!” Gerard cried. Horton heard him and gasped when he saw the hunters. “Run! Get away!”

“I’m not going to run away!” Horton cried. “I promise Mayzie I would sit on her egg, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“An elephant on a bird’s nest?” one hunter said excitedly. “Imagine what kind of money we could get if we sold him!”

“Yeah, to the circus!” another exclaimed. They carefully began digging up the tree, and before Gerard knew it, he and Horton were in a wooden cage being led through the Jungle of Nool.