Happy New Year everyone! Here's a new Legends of Oz story, based entirely on the movie Return to Oz, including scenes used from Journey Back to Oz and Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz to make the story longer and better. Bio; Dorothy is grown up and returns to the Land of Oz for another adventure. But this time, she's going up against more than just wicked witches and wheelers, she will need the help of some new friends to help her rescue all her old friends, including a captive Scarecrow. The lyrics I wrote for When the World came from a different version of the song back when the movie was originally called Dorothy of Oz.
RETURN TO OZ: DOROTHY TO THE RESCUE
Dorothy Gale – Lea Michele
The Scarecrow – Dan Aykroyd
Princess Ozma of Oz – Sierra Boggess
The Nome King/Dr. Worley – Tim Curry
Mombi the Wicked Witch/Head Nurse Wilson – Marianne Benedict
Jack Pumpkinhead – Rob Paulsen
Woodenhorse – Cuba Gooding Jr.
Tiktok – Edward Baker-Duly
Hungry Tiger – Denis Leary
The Gump – Kevin Michael Richardson
Billina – Emily Tierney
The Tin Man – Kelsey Grammer
Cowardly Lion – Jim Belushi
Glinda the Good Witch – Bernadette Peters
Langwidere – Lisa Horner
Wheeler – Mark Hamill
Aunt Em –Tacey Adams
Uncle Henry – Michael Krawic
The Wizard – Michael Crawford
Wiser – Oliver Platt
Marshal Mallow – Hugh Dancy
China Princess – Megan Hilty
Tugg – Patrick Stewart
Enjoy Reading!
The Kansas sky was clear and full of stars, and the moon shone high over a familiar and quiet farmyard. From her bed, a beautiful girl of eighteen kept her eyes fixed on the glowing moon while her head rested upon her pillow. She could not close her eyes and fall asleep. Her mind seemed to be far away from her bed.
The bedroom door opened and a middle-aged woman walked into the girl's bedroom, dressed in her nightgown. She sat down on the bedside, bringing the girl's attention back to reality.
"Can't you sleep?" asked the woman. The girl shook her head no in silent response. "It's past 3:00 in the morning, Dorothy."
"Aunt Em?" The girl asked.
"What is it, precious?"
"I wish I could put my head in my hands and fall asleep, like Toto does."
"Very soon you will, Dorothy."
In another bedroom, Uncle Henry, who couldn't help overhearing the small talk between his wife and niece, sat down on his bedside with a slight groan. He glanced over at a small newspaper clipping of a Dr. Worley's Miracle Works with a sigh.
"I just can't seem to pay out cash for this doctor when I don't have any money left. We don't even have money for a college fund for Dorothy."
Aunt Em, who had just come back into the bedroom, sat at her husband's side. "Don't worry, Henry. Garnet said she would give us the money we need to pay for the doctor."
Henry looked at his wife in disbelief. "Garnet? That's charity, Emily."
"Well, she's my sister," said Em, "and it's for family, not charity."
In her bedroom, Dorothy could still hear her aunt and uncle talking about her, and she grasped the two sides of her pillow to cover her ears and not listen to what they were saying, for it pained her to hear what they were going to do about her.
"It's been six years since the twister and Dorothy still hasn't been herself ever since…" was all she could hear Aunt Em say. "I'm taking her over to Cottonwood Falls tomorrow afternoon to see if she can be helped, and all she ever speaks about is some other place that just doesn't seem to exist...a talking Tin Man…..a walking Scarecrow…..a Cowardly Lion…..and ruby slippers."
Suddenly, a falling star streaked across the sky, almost close to the barn. Dorothy shot upright in bed when she saw it. "A shooting star, Toto!"
At the foot of the bed, and at Dorothy's feet, a little black dog, though older than last remembered, whined and smiled at his mistress.
Dorothy climbed out of bed and sat down on the floor, sitting on her knees, and her hands together as if in a prayer, she made a wish upon a star. "I wish that I could return to Oz, to see all my friends again, and to prove to my aunt and uncle that Oz really does exist."
The very next morning, Uncle Henry was outside feeding the pigs dumping their feed in their trough, and Dorothy had collected chicken eggs for today's breakfast in the large chicken wire pen. Since the chicks had grown up and started families of their own both the pen and the coop had to be built bigger. One of the chickens that Dorothy knew too well was Billina, a light brown hen that Dorothy once helped fix her home years ago after the twister.
It had been six years since the twister hit Kansas and the town had been rebuilt and fixed, all thanks to Dorothy Gale, whom the people now called a town hero. Dorothy was no longer the spunky twelve year old she had once been years ago. She was a grown, matured, not to mention attractive, young lady. Her brown hair seemed to have grown longer, reaching up to her breasts, no longer was it tied in pigtails. She now dressed in a blue and white checked short-sleeved shirt with blue overall shorts, and old cowboy boots.
After finishing collecting the eggs, Dorothy went back to the farmhouse, entering through the back door where that took her to the kitchen, and set the basket down on the table to put the eggs in some of the waiting trays. Her Aunt Em was busy heating up the grill to cook the eggs for breakfast.
While she was busy unloading the eggs, Dorothy caught Toto chewing on one of her satin slippers.
"No Toto, no! My slipper is not to be played with!" Dorothy scolded, taking the slipper out of Toto's hold, and shooed him out the door so he could play. Dorothy walked back to her bedroom to put the slipper away when she stopped and looked at the slipper. The color and semblance reminded her of the ruby slippers she once wore in the Land of Oz. Thinking about Oz made her miss it even more, and she missed all the friends who loved and cared for her.
"What are you thinking about?" Aunt Em asked, noticing Dorothy staring at the slipper.
Dorothy didn't answer in embarrassed silence as she tossed the slipper away in the direction of her bedroom.
"Answer me," Em said, firmly.
"The ruby slippers…" Dorothy answered, quietly.
Aunt Em shut her eyes in fatigue and sighed. Dorothy opened her mouth to say something when the door flew open and Billina came fluttering in, clucking wildly. Toto came following after, chasing and barking at Billina.
"Shoo! Get out! Shoo!" cried Aunt Em, waving her apron at the hen.
Dorothy rushed over and picked up Toto, holding him tightly so he would not chase after Billina anymore. Billina dashed right out of the kitchen still clucking wildly.
"Dorothy, go see if Billina had laid some eggs this morning," said Aunt Em.
Dorothy nodded, put Toto down, and went out the back door.
She found Billina inside the barn, wandering aimlessly near the horse stalls. Dorothy suspected that if Billina wanted to be in here, she must've hidden her eggs in the haystack in the barn. So Dorothy dug into the haystack, looking for chicken eggs but found none.
"Where are your eggs, Billina? Didn't you lay any this morning?" Dorothy asked the chicken.
Billina just clucked at her in response.
"Billina, if you don't start laying eggs again, Aunt Em says she's gonna cook you up for dinner," Dorothy sighed.
This made Billina go into a panic mode as she began clucking and flapping her wings frantically, and started to run out of the barn when she suddenly tripped on something metal and fell with her beak stuck to the wooden floor.
Dorothy saw this and helped Billina get unstuck by pulling her beak out from the floor. Then Dorothy picked up the something metal that made the hen trip. It was a key, a gold key with two letters O and Z imprinted together on the top of the key.
Dorothy studied the letters on the key carefully. "O…..Z…..Oz." Dorothy looked up and saw a hole in the roof of the barn, its sun's rays shining down on the spot where the key was. It looked as if something crashed through the roof and fell into the barn. Dorothy thought back to the shooting star she had seen last night.
This key must have come from Oz! Dorothy thought. My friends must've sent it to me by that shooting star!
Excitedly, Dorothy dashed out of the barn and through the back door where her uncle sat at the table eating a piece of toast and her aunt holding a frying pan over the stove to cook the eggs.
"Aunt Em, look! Look! It's a key from Oz!" exclaimed Dorothy, showing her aunt the key she had found.
"It's just a key to the old shed," Em said, taking only one glance at the key and continued back to her cooking.
"No Aunt Em, look! Its proof! Look! O and Z! They mean Oz! My friends sent it to me on a shooting star I saw last night! Billina found it for me when I was searching through the barn for her eggs!"
"Dorothy, enough!" Uncle Henry said, sternly, standing up from his chair. "You've got to stop this Oz nonsense one and for all!"
"It's not nonsense, Uncle Henry, its real!" retorted Dorothy. "If you were caught in the twister with me and Toto years ago…"
"All right! Calm down, both of you!" Aunt Em announced, raising a hand a Henry to silence him and gave him a look to assure him that she will handle this. Henry sighed and sat back down in his chair.
Aunt Em turned to face Dorothy. "Now, what did we talk about?"
Dorothy frowned and answered, "Not to talk about Oz?"
"And why is that?"
"Cause it's just a figment of my imagination." Dorothy turned away in disappointment, sighing heavily.
"I know you don't want to go to the doctor's office, Dorothy," said Aunt Em, "but you haven't fallen asleep for months and your no help to me in the morning."
"But Aunt Em, my friends might be in trouble," complained Dorothy, "I just know it."
"We are in trouble, Dorothy," Aunt Em responded. "Paying the money for your visit to the doctor has taken away most of the money we were saving for your college fund."
"I could always find a job to earn some money," Dorothy suggested.
"True, but you still need an education," stated Aunt Em. "The doctor will help you get rid of those awful dreams and you won't have to worry about this Oz business ever again. Now why don't you eat something before we leave?"
Em handed out a plate of fried eggs with jam covered toast for Dorothy to take. But Dorothy refused to take the plate and her expression turned into a glare.
"I think I've lost my appetite," she said, coldly, before shouting angrily. "Thinking about Oz helps clear away the fears, concerns, and depressions I get! Even if you think sending me to a doctor will solve your problems, I still won't forget the friends that are dear to me in Oz!"
The farm girl raced out of the kitchen through the back door, ignoring her aunt and uncle's calls. Dorothy ran out of the farm yard and up to the spot on the hilltop that overlooked the entire town below. She plopped down on the soft grass and began to cry.
(Dorothy)
If only I knew how
I'd fix all this
Turn it back around
But how can one simple girl
Try to change the
Turning of my world
Poor Dorothy couldn't bear the thought of forgetting all the people dear to her in Oz. She had shared so many adventures with them and she loved them as much as they loved her. But if whatever treatment the doctor gave her would make her forget all about them, Dorothy didn't want to think about it.
Nobody knows where my world's gonna fly
But I still gotta give it a try
When my world turns upside down
It happens every night
I'll close my eyes and won't let go
I'm on my way
I'm all alone
Dorothy looked up into the clouds and saw silhouettes of the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion, Wiser, Marshal Mallow, China Princess, Glinda, and Tugg in the sky. She even saw herself as the twelve year old she once was, joining the group and dancing headlong among the clouds.
If only I knew
How to fix it all I would
If only one heart
All alone did any good
But I'm just so small
What can I do at all?
Now that my world has turned upside down
Turned upside down
"Dorothy! Where are you? It's time to go!"
Dorothy heard her aunt calling and sighed. "It looks like I'm never going back to Oz again."
Half an hour later, Toto pawed at the window, whining dismally. He watched as a reluctant Dorothy got into the car with Aunt Em.
"Bye, Uncle Henry," Dorothy said, quietly, through the car window.
"You'll be fine," Uncle Henry assured her, "You'll be back here sooner than you know it."
But Dorothy ignored him as Aunt Em started the car engine. The car pulled out from the dusty driveway and up towards the opening of the road.
Toto squeezed through the small opening of the window and jumped down. He chased after the car, barking wildly. The little dog didn't want his mistress to go to the doctor's as much as Dorothy didn't.
Dorothy looked out from the rearview mirror and saw Toto chasing after them. She leaned her head out from the window and shouted, "Go home, Toto! Go home! GO HOME!"
Toto slowed his pace and stopped at the fence, watching the car disappear down the road. He howled in despair, sad to see his mistress leave him. Uncle Henry picked up the little dog and stroked his back. "Don't worry, Toto. Dorothy will be alright."