Visions of Greed

Chapter 3: How Bad Can Biggering Possibly Be?

Recommended Songs: Room To Breathe- You Me At Six, Biggering- The 88 The Lorax Singers, How Bad Can I Be- Ed Helms The Lorax Singers, Forest- Red

Another work day at Thneed inc. was coming to a close. Most of the workers were heading home for the evening, but Once-ler still toiled away at his desk in his office. He was working on the blueprints for the factory expansion. Once-ler was trying to find a way to modify the layout. He hoped that he could come up with a slightly different floor plan that would still allow his company to keep on biggering, while also preserving some of the Truffula Forest.

Once-ler was so engrossed in his work that he did not hear his mother come into his office. At Isabella's insistence Once-ler had given her and the rest of his family members each a key that allowed all of them access to the entire factory, including Once-ler's private office and penthouse. Isabella liked to be able to check up on her son whenever she felt like it. She thought that today she would see what he was up to before going home.

"What are you working on Oncie?" she asked.

Once-ler looked up from his work. "Oh hey Mom," he replied nervously "I was just finalizing the plans for the factory expansion."

"Oh, let me have a look," Isabella exclaimed as she walked over behind Once-ler's desk.

Once-ler cringed in anticipation, worried about what his mother would have to say. His fears were confirmed when Isabella looked at the blueprints and frowned. "You can't possibly be serious. There's no way this is going to be big enough. Why aren't you following the original dimensions?" she asked angrily.

"I just thought we could make a few adjustments." Once-ler tried to explain. "The factory is still going to be bigger, but I thought we could lower the dimensions of the building a bit in order to reduce the amount of truffula trees we'll have to cut down."

"Now why in the world would you want to do that?" Isabella snapped "You need to chop those darn trees down anyway in order to turn the tufts into thneeds. So why don't you want to remove them in order to expand your factory?"

"I know we have to chop down some of the trees Mom, but I told you before, if we went with the original plan, a large amount of trees will have to be removed all at once, and I'm worried about the animals. I don't want to completely destroy their home." Once-ler tried to reason with her.

"I can't believe this!" his mother yelled. "You've finally become successful and made something of yourself, and You're going to mess it all up just because you're still worried about some mangy critters!"

"I'm not going to mess it up!" Once-ler protested. "Don't worry. These plans aren't finalized yet. I'm still working on the layout. " Once-ler tried to reassure her.

"You had better be." Isabella hissed as she headed for the door. Then she turned around and glared at Once-ler. "Son, don't let me down," Isabella stated coldly.

"I won't Mom," he replied

Isabella slammed the door shut. Once-ler sighed and looked back down at his blueprints. His mother was right, it wasn't big enough. Once-ler crumpled up the paper and threw it in his wastebasket. Then he pulled out another sheet and started over. Once-ler continued to work on the plans for some time, his brow furrowed in concentration. Unfortunately, he couldn't come up with a layout that felt right, and he kept on having to start over. As Once-ler kept working, his wastebasket became full of crumpled-up papers. He simply couldn't find a way to make the factory bigger without destroying a significant part of the Truffula Forest.

Once-ler sighed and decided to take a break from his blueprints. He pulled out his guitar and began to play a few notes. Once-ler decided that now would be a good time to practice one of the potential songs that he had been working on for his TV appearance. He needed inspiration and music always made him feel better. Once-ler strummed his guitar and began to sing: