Chapter 1
Leroy, a young man in the war, was a great soldier. He had finally become nicknamed. The other soldiers called him the Once~Ler. He had only been in one major mission, (Once), and they dropped the "o" and "y" off of his name (Ler). His next battle had started. Several shots fire at him. He just barely jumped out of the way of a single bullet heading for his leg. His ears ring, and all he can hear is ticking. Then he realizes. "RUN!!!! It's a bomb!!!" he yells to his fellow soldiers. Another soldier gets in front of Leroy, and they start to run to the ditch. Leroy makes sure all of the soldiers get into the ditch; then he jumps in himself. However, the bomb went off before he got all the way into the ditch. Above the ditch were big concrete blocks. When the bomb hit, he was behind the blocks and they left a stripe pattern on his pants. He passed out in the ditch and was taken to the medic.
Chapter 2
Leroy woke up in the hospital. He was pretty well healed and able to stand up. He got off the bed. Sargent Harrison was waiting for him. "I'm ready to go back into battle," Leroy says. "No, you can't," says the Sargent. "I want to continue to serve our…" "No, you can't go back," the Sargent interrupts. "Have I done something wrong?" asks Leroy. "No, you are a great soldier and don't need to suffer any more. Go home," the Sargent responds.
Leroy didn't have a lot of money, so he couldn't change his clothes. He went into an alley and found an old ripped sweater in the trash. He picked it up and sewed it back together. He sewed it differently though. It could do the job of a million. He called it a thneed and figured that he could sell it.
Chapter 3
Leroy went into the forest with nothing but his first thneed and an axe. The forest is filled with beautiful truffula trees with tuffs as soft as silk. The colors of the trees brighten the land. All the animals loved the forest. Leroy chops down his first tree. It doesn't take very long because Leroy is strong, fast, and a good fighter from being in the war. As he's taking the tuffs off of the tree to make his thneed, an old man, Mr. Lorax, appears out of nowhere. At first, the man scares Leroy, but then he just looks at him. The man says nothing, so Leroy returns to his work. As soon as he does, Mr. Lorax speaks. "Why did you cut down this tree?" he asks. "I'm making a new product. I don't have very much money, so I'm simply using this tree to get myself a little money," Leroy responds. "I see. As long as you only cut down the trees that are necessary, that is okay." As Leroy goes back to work, Mr. Lorax disappears.
Chapter 4
Leroy finishes his new thneed, and tries to sell it. At first, people don't like it. Leroy throws it on the ground in despair. Someone picks it up. "Hey, you left your… uh," the person says. "You can keep it," Leroy responds as he walks away. The person looks at it and is puzzled. He wears it like a hat. It fits perfectly. He wears it as a scarf. It's so fuzzy and warm. He uses it as a belt. It looks great. "What is this?" he asks himself.
Chapter 5
Leroy finds himself starring in the eyes of hundreds of people who love his thneed, and will pay money to get it. Right before he takes the money of the first customer, Mr. Lorax appears behind him. Leroy is the only one who sees him. Mr. Lorax looks Leroy in the eyes then disappears. Leroy continues to take the money and make more thneeds.
He gets the money he needs and moves on with life. Then he notices a lot of people following him, wanting more thneeds. Leroy thinks for a moment. He remembers what Mr. Lorax told him. "I could use a little more money," thinks Leroy, "and I'm not doing it for the money, I'm doing it because the people want more thneeds. I need a stage name." He thinks for a while. "I know! I'll call myself the Once~Ler."
Mr. Lorax appears once again and shakes his head. Leroy looks for a moment then moves on.
Chapter 6
The next day, Leroy starts major production. He builds a factory, gets some employees, and builds himself an office. At first it was just a small business, but Leroy went farther. As his business grew, he became greedy. Leroy often sat in his office and smoked. He would think about ways to promote the thneed as many trees were being cut down outside.
As Leroy was smoking, he heard something. It sounded like clicking. He walked down the stairs slowly. At the bottom, he finds a woman trying to break the lock on Leroy's safe. The woman is startled by Leroy's appearance. "Mister Once~Ler," she says. "This is a private safe," he replies. The woman throws her fist at his face, but Leroy blocks it easily. He kicks her on the side. She falls in pain. "Nice try," he says quietly as she runs off.
Chapter 7
Leroy walks back upstairs to find Mr. Lorax waiting for him. Leroy ignores him and sits down. He continues to smoke as Mr. Lorax speaks. "What happened to only cut down the trees you need,'" he said. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something," Leroy responds. "In the middle of what, smoking?" Mr. Lorax says, "I told you…" "I never did anything wrong!" Leroy interrupts as he gets up and throws his cigarette on the floor, "and I have no intention of stopping!" Leroy leans over Mr. Lorax as he is so much taller than him. After a short moment, Leroy goes to sit back down. As Leroy is turning his chair around, Mr. Lorax responds. "You will regret this," he says quietly. Leroy stops his chair and says "Excuse me?" He gets up and slowly walks to Mr. Lorax. "I hope, for your sake, I am mistaken in what I just heard," Leroy explains. Mr. Lorax just stares him in the eyes. Then silence.
And during that silence, one last cut echoes through the barren land.
Chapter 8
The echo opens Leroy's eyes. He stares at his mistake as Mr. Lorax disappears once again. An employee comes into his office uninvited, which is usually not allowed. Her name is Norma. "Mr. Once~Ler?" she says softly, calmingly, "I brought you some hot chocolate, I heard you yelling and I…" she stops suddenly and looks at the dirt ground and the grey sky and all of the tree stumps, but no trees. At first she looks shocked, but her surprised face quickly goes away as she tries to cheer Leroy up. "I wanted to try…" Norma starts. "Try to what, fix my impossible mistake! It's over! Don't you see? I ruined everything!" he snaps back. Leroy throws his cigarette down to the ground, angry.
The truffula sapling in his pocket had died by now, but it left something, a seed. A single seed sat in his pocket. "You still have a chance," Norma says quietly.
Mr. Lorax appears in front of Leroy. "Mr. Lorax!" Leroy says slightly happily. "Mr. Once~Ler," he says. "Call me Leroy," Leroy responds. "You will wait, wait until someone comes to plant the seed. You will keep it until then. And when you do, I will appear once again. I don't call you Once~Ler because everyone else does. I call you Once~Ler because ONCE you LEaRned your lesson, you felt regret. Let your new name remind you of who you should've been and who you were. And UNLESS there is a difference between who you were, and who you are, you will feel this regret for the rest of your life," Mr. Lorax explains. One blow of the wind is all it takes, and Mr. Lorax was gone.
