Horton Hears a Who: A Day with the Cat

Chapter 2: Tut Tut, Looks Like Rain

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The last time we met

Young Sally and Ned,

They had escaped the sitter,

A sneaky escape plan from Sally's head.

They ran off to the park,

The young couple of Whos,

Where they were having a fun time…

Well, at least of one the twos.

--

Ned checked himself thoroughly, confused to a high degree. He had no fever, his skin wasn't melting off, and he didn't feel sick or anything, save for the butterflies in his stomach. And yet, he had touched Sally's hand. Sally was a girl. Girls had cooties. If you do the math, then that means that he should have cooties too. So why wasn't turning into some kind of Frankenstein monster right now?

Ned couldn't fathom it.

Ned pondered this as he watched Sally swing back and forth of the swing set in the Whoville central park, laughing every time she went just a little higher and having a grand time. Ned himself was just sitting on a bench, his hands folded over his lap and Thidwick's fishbowl set next to him.

After knowing her for only a short time, Ned had come to realize a few things about Sally. For one thing, she was rather intelligent for a girl her age. I mean, she was only five and she already knew how to swing on the swing set all by herself. Even Ned couldn't do that yet, and he was a whole year older than her… Well, okay maybe half a year.

Another thing about her that Ned had come to realize was that she was not only intelligent, but clever. She had learned how to sneak out under her older sister's watch and manage to escape unscathed. Guess when you live with an older sister as conniving and rude as Cassandra, you have to pick up on a few things.

And then there was that peculiar golden glow that Sally gave off ever other time Ned would look at her. He wondered if all girls gave off that kind of glow. He shook his head. No that was silly. He had never seen any other girl glow like that. His mom never glowed like that at least. Moms were girls, right?

"Hey!"

Ned jumped at the voice and shook himself of his thoughts, turning his attention to Sally, who had stopped swinging to wave at him.

"C'mon and swing with me Ned!" She called.

Ned gulped. Should he? He was still a little worried about the cootie factor. He shrugged his shoulders and shyly looked down at his feet, kicking them back and forth. Maybe he should just stay there on the bench.

Sally cocked her head to the side curiously. She then smiled and got out of her seat on the swing. She ran over to him and grabbed his hand, making him yelp in surprise.

"Cone on silly. Now's not the time to just sit around and mope." She smiled. Ned blushed red on the spot.

She tugged on his arm, forcing him to fall off the bench and nearly fall on his face if it weren't for Sally. She then proceeded to drag a protesting and reluctant Ned to the swings. Ned made sure to grab Thidwick's bowl before getting dragged too far away from the bench.

"Let's enjoy the time we have outside!" Sally said with a smile that made Ned's knees go weak.

"O-okay." He stuttered.

She let go of Ned's hand to sit in the first swing and grabbed one of the chains for the second one, motioning Ned to take a seat in it. Ned gulped and obeyed, worried that if he denied her, he'd hurt her feelings. He set Thidwick between them and shakily grabbed the chains on the swing, taking his seat. He looked to Sally, who nodded in approval and went back to swinging.

Ned grimaced as he watched, realizing there was a fatal flaw in joining Sally for swinging. He didn't know how to do so by himself yet. He was always used to his mother pushing him. He looked back at Sally and watched her for a moment. He was amazed by how high she was, having just started a few seconds beforehand. He observed her carefully as she kicked her feet back when sailing backwards, and shooting them back up when going forwards.

Legs back for going backwards and back up in front for forwards. Seemed simple enough.

Now wasn't the time to be shy.

Ned McDodd was going to show he could try.

Our young hero may be quiet,

And to have fun with Sally, he was willing to try it.

Ned took a deep breath to steel his nerves, and started kicking his feet like back to go forwards. Now, based on the information gathered from Sally's swinging, that should have worked, but Ned forgot to take one important fact into account before barreling headfirst into this. He wasn't exactly the most coordinated kid in the world. As a matter of fact, the poor boy pretty much had two left feet.

Having kicked back and forth so hard, Ned began to losing his footing, or seating in this case. He screamed out in a start and fell face first onto the ground with a loud THUD.

"Oh my gosh!" Sally gasped.

She skidded to a stop and jumped from her seat to Ned's side. Ned lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of dirt and grass. Yuck.

"Ned, are you okay?" She asked.

Ned's response was only a small nervous laugh and a nod. Sally smirked as Ned looked up at her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Sally stretched out her hand and helped Ned to his feet. Luckily for him, his landing had been cushioned by the uncut grass.

Sally smirked. "You're not very good at swinging, are you?"

Ned blushed beat red and went back to rubbing the back of his neck, wondering why in the world he had made himself look so foolish in front of Sally. Sally only giggled and grasped his hand again.

"Don't worry. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Sally reassured, "Would you like me to teach you?"

"N-no thanks!" Ned furiously shook his head, not wanting to embarrass himself in public again. Sally frowned in disappointment, but then her frowned changed back into a smile. She took her seat in the swing again.

"Well then, how 'bout you just push me?" Sally offered.

Ned looked up at her in bewilderment for a moment. Then he made a small smile and nodded. He walked behind Sally, ready and waiting to do his part.

"Ready?" He asked.

Sally nodded. "Yep!"

And with a quick kick start, Sally took off once more. Ned waited for her to come sailing backwards before giving her a gentle push forward. Sally giggled in delight as she went higher and higher with Ned's help. Ned couldn't help but smile. Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

So for the first time that day

Ned was having fun as they played,

But it was then the life saw

To be cruel and sadistic with Murphy's Law.

It was then that Ned felt something wet hit the top of his head. This caught his attention. He ran a hand through his mop of brown hair and looked up at the sky. His brow furrowed when he saw that gray clouds were forming in the sky. A few droplets of water fell on his face making him flinch. Sally looked back when she noticed Ned wasn't pushing her anymore. She once again stopped herself and looked up at the sky along with Ned, her brow furrowing when she saw the grey clouds above them.

"Aw no, rain!" Sally whined.

Sure enough, Sally was right. After only a few minutes, it began to drizzle. Hopefully it would let up soon, but there was no such luck for our young couple here.

Ned picked up Thidwick's bowl as the drizzle picked up, and grabbed Sally's hand, telling her with his eyes that they should head back. Sally sighed sadly and had no choice but to comply.

"Man… and I was hoping it was going to be a fun and sunny day." Sally said in complaint.

The two young Whos left the park, walking back to Ned's house in silence. They quickened their pace when the rain picked up. After only a few minutes, it was really coming down. Of all the days for the weatherman to be right about a downpour.

"Oh no! Fur's getting soaked!" Sally wailed.

Ned didn't reply as he was focusing on running between the water droplets. He clutched Thidwick's bowl tighter when the wind picked up, making the poor boy shiver from the cold. Ned saw other Whos holding up umbrellas to keep them dry, and couldn't help but be a tad jealous.

It was then that Mother Nature decided to have a little fun with Ned and Sally.

Kraka-boom!

"AAH!" Sally and Ned screamed in fright.

Thunder and lightning. So typical, no?

Desperate to get out of the downpour, Ned grabbed Sally's hand and made a mad sprint down the sidewalk. Gasping for air, the two terrified children ran against the wind and rain, jumping over puddles to reach their destination.

So the rain came down.

Oh, how hard it came down

As our two little heroes

Ran through the town!

Sally smiled widely when she saw a welcomed familiar sight.

"There it is!" She exclaimed.

Ned smiled in relief as well when he saw his house. They had made it! With the last bit of their energy, the two children made a mad dash up Ned's driveway and up to the front door. Without a second thought, Ned lifted the welcome mat, grabbed the keys underneath and scrambled to unlock the door. Once the tumblers had clicked, Ned threw the front door open and ran inside with Sally on his heels.

Relief flooding his senses, Ned nearly dropped Thidwick as he fell to his knees and collapsed on the plush carpeting of his living room. His lungs were on fire, his feet were killing him from all that running, and he was soaked to the bone. Regardless, he never felt so happy to be home in his entire life. Sally soon followed Ned's example and fell on her backside, taking deep breaths.

The two exhausted children were silent for a moment, save for their heavy breathing. That silence was shattered by a small sound. It started low, but then it started to grow. Ned raised an eyebrow. It kind of sounded like… laughter. Ned looked up for a moment, his eyes widening. Sure enough, Sally, flat on her back, was laughing near hysterically at who knew what. Ned raised a worried eyebrow.

"Uh… Sally?" Ned asked, "Are you alright?"

Sally noticed Ned's expression, and stopped her giggle fit for a moment. She raised one hand and wave it back and forth, the other clamped over her mouth.

"I-I… I'm sorry Ned… b-but… y-you look so funny!" And with that, Sally went into another fit of hysterical laughter.

Ned blinked in surprise. What did she mean by that? When Ned got a good look at himself, he understood what Sally was talking about. His fur was completely soaked and sticking up in weird places. He looked like a drowned rat. With any luck, his fur was going to get all matted. Blushing like mad, Ned was yet again thoroughly embarrassed. But then he looked at Sally and smirked slyly.

"Well, at least I'm not the only one." Ned pointed.

Sally calmed her laughter to look at Ned in confusion. She followed Ned's finger to where he was pointed, and blushed bright red. Indeed Ned wasn't alone, for Sally's fur was in the same condition, if not worse than Ned's. Sally looked up at Ned sheepishly, but then she smirked slyly as well.

So Ned had her pinned.

He had jousted with good right,

But Sally O'Malley wasn't about to

Give in without a fight.

"Well, at least I wasn't scared of a little thunder." She chided.

Ned raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" Ned asked.

"You were scared when that thunder cracked. Admit it!" Sally laughed.

"What?!" Ned's face turned even brighter shade of red, "Nuh-uh! I was not!"

"Oh yes you were!" Sally snapped playfully.

"Oh no I wasn't!" Ned got into Sally's face.

"Oh yes you were!" Sally mimicked Ned's tactics.

"Oh no, I wasn't!"

"Oh yes you were!"

"Oh no, I wasn't!"

"Oh yes you were!"

"So were you!" Ned pointed a finger between Sally's eyes, making her cross them to look at his hand.

There was a thick silence hat hung in the air. Sally was completely stunned by Ned's actions. Heck, he himself was stunned. He had never known he could stand up for himself like that. Now Ned felt ashamed. He had managed yet again to embarrass himself in front of Sally. Why? Why did he have to make himself look like a big idiot in front of her? Man, he felt awkward.

Was she mad?

Or was she not?

You could never really tell

With that young Who tot.

Ned felt so ashamed. Now Sally was probably mad at him, and wouldn't want to hang out with him anymore. That shattered Ned's poor little heart. He was hoping that he and Sally were friends after she had let him push her on the swings. Now there wasn't any chance of that happening with Sally being mad at him. She was going to yell at him for his, he was sure of it.

But then Sally did something that Ned had never expected. She smiled and stuck her tongue out playfully at him.

"Okay, so I was." Sally giggled.

Ned blinked. Did this mean that Sally wasn't mad at him? Did this mean that she still wanted to play with him?

Sally stood up and looked down at a bewildered Ned. Sally couldn't help but smile warmly at him. He looked so cute when he was confused! She reached out a hand to help him up, which confused Ned even further.

His brow furrowed. "Does this mean you're not mad?" He asked in a small voice.

Sally blinked. "Mad? Of course not. Why would I be mad?"

Ned didn't answer, but only smiled and seemed to sigh in relief, which confused Sally for only a minute. She smiled when he reached his hand out. She took it and helped him up. The two children just stood there for a moment, unable to find anything to say during the awkward silence. Ned didn't really notice or mind though, being too relieved to hear that Sally was still his friend… sort of.

"So…" Sally began, flicking a bit of Ned's sodden brown locks out of his face, "Do you have any towels?"

Ned blinked, and then slapped his forehead. "Oh! U-uh, right! I'll go get them for you!"

And with that, Ned dashed off to get some towels for him and Sally, leaving the other young Who completely stunned. She then jumped when she heard very loud and familiar snoring. She turned to see Cassie, who was still out cold on the couch with the TV on.

Sally rolled her eyes. "Typical."

--

Later, Ned found Sally sitting patiently in a chair set in front of one of the windows at the front of his house. He was surprised to see her looking curiously at Thidwick's fishbowl, set neatly on another chair right next to it. He didn't remember putting him there. He smiled when she laughed at Thidwick's swimming. Guess she had put him there.

"I'm back. Sorry if it took so long." Ned said as he handed her a fresh towel.

Sally shook her head as she accepted it. "You didn't take long at all."

As the two children toweled off, Sally couldn't help but stare a little at Ned. She had seen him plenty of times at Whoville Elementary, but had never ally got the chance to talk to him. It's not that she didn't want to, but her friends had always said that Ned as a stuck up and arrogant brat, being the Mayor's son and all, and that he wouldn't talk to anyone because he thought he was so much better than they were. At first, Sally had believed them since he didn't talk much around others, but now that she had gotten a chance to really get to know him… she had realized that he was a really sweet boy. A little quiet and uncoordinated, but still sweet. Charming even. She then shook her head of those thoughts, feeling her cheeks get a little warm. Was she getting a fever?

"Ah… man I needed that." Sally sighed once her fur was completely dry.

Ned looked up, and smiled at Sally. She smiled right back.

Kraka-boom!

"AAH!"

Mother Nature, now that was just unfair. Why must you be so cruel to these two children?

Ned and Sally shakily tried to calm themselves down, scared out of their minds from the thunder clap. It was then that the two realized that they were hugging each other, most likely induced from the fear of thunder the two had. They looked at each other, and then started blushing like mad. They quickly let go of each other, Ned clearing his throat uncomfortably.

"Uh… sorry about that." Sally muttered, her face scarlet red.

"D-don't mention it." Ned stuttered, feeling faint.

After that awkward scene, Sally looked out the window, not able to see anything through the now even heavier downpour. She pouted.

"Well, so much for our sunny afternoon at the park." Sally sighed.

Ned let the blush recede and shrugged. "Well, there's always tomorrow."

Sally smiled at him. "It's a date then?"

Ned felt himself freeze in place, his eye widened and his jaw slacked at those words. Date? A date? With Sally O'Malley? Someone pinch him.

"U-uh… okay." Ned finally squeaked.

Sally giggled. She then looked out the window, and leaned up closer to it. Ned sat in the chair next to her, making sure to take Thidwick off first and set his bowl on his lap, and leaned up to the window as well.

The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So they sat in the house

All that cold, cold, wet day.

So time passed, and the rain kept falling. The two children sighed, now thoroughly bored out of their minds. Ned sighed, and Sally mimicked him. Even Thidwick sighed from the boredom.

Ned sat there with Sally.

They sat there, those two.

And he said

"…I wish that we had something to do."

Sally nodded in agreement. "Me too."

The quiet and the lack of anything to do were driving the two children stir crazy. Eventually Sally just groaned and smacked her read against the windowpane.

"It's too wet to go out." She grumbled.

"And way too cold to play ball." Ned groaned in agreement.

So they sat in the house.

They did nothing at all.

Now Ned was the one who smacked his head against the window, repeating the action of banging his head against the windowsill. Sally looked at him dryly and looked back out the window, her eyelids half-closed.

"Be careful. You may not be able to stop if you keep that up." Sally said dully.

Ned lifted his head, "I don't know if I can take much more of this." He wailed.

Sally looked up at the clock. She raised an eyebrow. Now Sally and Ned hadn't been at the park for very long, and it hadn't been raining for very long either, but it shouldn't have taken her more than half an hour just to go to the supermarket. That was just plain ridiculous.

"What's taking your mom so long?" Sally asked.

"Oh…" Ned blew his lips outwards in a sigh, "She's really scatter-brained. She might have gone to ever store in Whoville if she needed to get something."

"I see." Sally deadpanned.

Suddenly, from out of the blue came a loud BUMP. The bump was so loud, it made Sally and Ned nearly jump out of their seats. Sally and Ned looked around frantically, searching for the source of such an odd sound. They then turned to face each other.

"Did you hear that?" Sally asked.

"Yep." Ned nodded.

"Good. I thought it was just me." Sally said as she went back to searching.

There was another BUMP,

Making Ned and Sally jump.

As they turned 'round once more

They found it coming from the front door.

Slowly but surely, Sally and Ned carefully slipped out of their seats. They tip-toed as quietly as possible, and peaked their heads out into the hallway. Ned's head was on top, Sally's was next, and Thidwick in his bowl was on the bottom. What they saw at the front door was a tall figure in a rain soaked poncho hidden by shadows, giving it daunting and ominous aura.

Ned gulped. That was most definitely not his mother. This worried Ned. What if it was a burglar? Or worse, a kidnapper? The very thought made Ned start to shiver in terror. He had to get Sally and him out of there and call WHO-1-1. He needed to get Cassie up too, as much as he hated to admit it.

But it was then that Ned felt a presence behind him and turned around to see Sally shivering in terror as well. Ned was rather surprised by this, since Sally seemed like such a brave young girl up until now, but then again he really couldn't blame her. Who wouldn't be freaked to find Mr. Tall, Dark and Scary standing at the door step? When he saw Sally looking at him for with her big brown eyes, Ned blinked in surprise, but then he puffed out his chest and steeled his eyes. Now was not the time to be a coward. Sally was depending upon him.

Taking a deep breath for fortification, Ned slinked along to walls, inching closer and closer to the door where the figure stood. Sally slowly followed after him, not wanting Ned o go in alone. Ned and Sally then walked down the middle of the hallway, Thidwick in Ned's arms, up to behind the stranger. Ned swallowed a fearful lump in his throat and shakily grabbed onto the trim of the figure's poncho.

"U-uh… excuse me?" Ned said meekly with a tug of the figure's poncho.

The two nearly jumped out of their skin when the figure stood up at full height and turned around to face them. In one swift motion, he pulled off his poncho, revealing his true form.

Ned and Sally's jaws dropped.

They looked.

Then they saw him step in on the mat.

They looked,

And they saw him.

The Cat in the Hat.

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Dun-Dun-DUUUUN! XD Enters the Cat. Now does the title of the fic make sense? I love the parallels in his story with the Cat in the Cat. For example, Thidwick (:3), Sally being the name of both Ned's future wife and the little sister in the book, and (if you paid attention in the movie) there was a scene where Nedwas unscrewing the chandelier that hung over his and Sally's bed, afraid it would fall on top him and his wife. As he stacked up various things to reach up to the chandelier, there was a bit where he grabbed an umbrella and bent it slightly. That same umbrella is the one the Cat carries in when he enters the story… XD I pay way too much attention to detail.

Shameless Ned and Sally fluff at the beginning. I have no regrets. :D I actually had a lot of fun with Ned and Sally in the park.

Again, if there are any major spelling errors or grammatical mistakes in this chapter, please let me know. Thank you :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Horton Hears a Who! or The Cat in the Hat. They are the rightful property of Dr. Seuss.

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