Haunted by Greed

Chapter 5: Smogulous Smoke and Shattered Mirrors

It was the end of another long day at Thneed inc. Only Once-ler himself remained working at the factory, as there were more things he still had to do. After Once-ler completed one last inspection of the manufacturing area, he made his way down hall to his office. Once-ler went inside, sat down in his chair, and yawned, then he pulled out his to-do list.

He was relieved to see that most of the tasks had been completed, except for a few. Once-ler's song for his TV appearance was almost done. After taking Greed-ler's suggestions, Once-ler found that the song was coming along nicely. He was looking forward to finally completing the song and playing it. When Once-ler looked at the next item on the list, however, he cringed. It was the plans for the factory expansion. That particular task filled Once-ler with dread and he had been procrastinating on that. Technically, since he threw out all his blueprints, he hadn't even gotten started. The last task was just some paperwork that needed to be filled out.

Once-ler yawned again. He decided that he was too tired to work on either the song or the expansion plans, so he decided to just finish the paperwork and then retire to his penthouse. The other tasks could wait. As he worked on the paperwork, Once-ler began to nod off. Just as he had begun to fall asleep, he heard a voice.

"Good evening, Mr. Once-ler."

Once-ler's head shot up, and he saw Greed-ler standing in front of him, as the smell of smogulous smoke began to fill the room. "What are you doing here?" Once-ler asked in annoyance.

"I was wondering if you had reconsidered my proposal for a merger yet," Greed-ler answered.

Once-ler winced. He didn't want to talk about any sort of merger right now. He was tired and just wanted to be done for the day. Once-ler took a deep breath and put on his professional persona as he stood up from his desk. "I've been very busy and haven't had time to think about your offer, but perhaps we can discuss it another time," he told Greed-ler as he began to leave the office.

"I can see that you are still hesitant Mr. Once-ler, but perhaps you just need some persuasion," Greed-ler replied, undeterred. Before Once-ler could exit the office, the room began to darken as more smogulous smoke began to circulate around the room. Greed-ler lifted his hand. "Allow me to show you something." Greed-ler spoke as he snapped his fingers.

The dark smoke suddenly surrounded them. Once-ler couldn't see anything except for Greed-ler's green gloves and blue eyes. Just as quickly as it had arrived, the smogulous smoke dissipated and Once-ler could see that they were no longer in his office. Instead, he turned around to see that they were in front of his family's old farmhouse.

"What? How?" Once-ler asked in surprise.

"Just watch," Greed-ler instructed as he stood next to Once-ler. The pair began to observe the scene in front of them.

It was a beautiful day. A young Once-ler was sitting by the side of the house, knitting. Meanwhile, a few feet away in the yard, his two brothers were tossing a football around. Suddenly, Brett got a sinister look on his face. He gave Chet a wink, then threw the football towards the unsuspecting Once-ler. The football hit the side of the house with a loud thud, missing Once-ler's head by only a few inches. Startled, Once-ler let out a surprised yelp and fell to the ground.

The twins both started laughing at him. "Burn!" they both yelled out in unison. Then Brett came back over to get the football and began to mock Once-ler. "Aw what's the matter Oncie, did I scare ya? You're such a sissy."

"Cut it out Brett," Once-ler replied in an irritated tone as he sat back up and brushed the dust off himself.

"What's with all the commotion out here?" Uncle Ubb came over to the boys. He had heard the thud against the side of the house and had come over to investigate.