Ozette's Destiny (2 page)

“How to get you up the tree…hmm...” Ozette pondered, tapping her paw on her chin.  Her brain may have only been the size of a walnut, but it was fast and creative. Suddenly she motioned for the dog to stay there and scampered up her tree.

“GWACK! GWACK! GWACK!” she shouted, her tail flagging wildly as she explained her dilemma to whatever forest friends were listening.

Duchess Zorina put her paws over her ears at the shrill sound.

Within seconds, there came an answering “GWACK! GWACK!” After several more “GWACK GWACKS” and a couple of “TWARK TWARKS,” five husky gray squirrels came bounding through the treetops to Ozette’s tree.

They stopped short when they saw the little white dog.

“This is what you need our help with…a dog?!” Guido, the biggest gray, asked, as he glared suspiciously. “It won’t chase us, will it?”

“I’m not an it,” Duchess Zorina said. “I’m a she, and a royal she at that. I don’t chase squirrels,” she said, then muttered under her breath, “unless they call me names, of course.”

“You know who could help?” said another muscular male named Rowdy. “Princess Abrianna. We could take the mutt over to her cottage. She’s the queen’s sister and will know what to do, especially since it thinks it’s royalty.”

“Mutt! Did you call me a mutt?” Duchess Zorina squeaked indignantly.

“Mutt, dog, whatever,” Guido said shrugging and turning back to the group. “I saw Princess Abrianna yesterday, camping near Moonlight Creek. But I don’t know when she’ll return to her cottage in Farlandia.”

The other males were quiet, assessing the situation.

“Come on, guys. Have some sympathy for our poor guest,” Ozette pleaded. “She’s cold, hungry, tired and needs our help. We need to hoist her up into my nest so she can have something to eat and sleep here tonight. Then I’ll need you to come back tomorrow morning to help carry her down the tree. And then I’ll try to get her home. Someway. Somehow. One problem at a time.”

“Well, Ozette, our first problem is that nesting hole of yours isn’t big enough for her to fit through,” said Rowdy, eying the plump dog compared to the little round nesting hole.

Ozette hurried up her tree and, using her razor-sharp teeth, enlarged the hole until it was just big enough for the little dog to fit through, she hoped. She could repair it later.

“Done!” she said efficiently.

The squirrels gathered around the dog, Grady and Rowdy pulling from the front and the other squirrels, Grayson, Dooley and Guido, pushing from the back. Slowly, they began tugging the white dog up the tall maple tree.

“How can such a little puffball weigh so much?” Rowdy said, tugging at the dog.

“I am not overweight, I am just really fluffy,” Duchess Zorina protested, her dark eyes filling with tears.

Ozette put her paws on her ample hips. “That was very unkind, Rowdy. I expect better from my squirrel friends.”

Rowdy hung his head and mumbled a contrite, “Sorry.”

“Look, guys. She’s been outside on her own for three nights. Quit with the insults and just help me.”

Push. Grunt. Shove. It was slow work, but they finally pushed and pulled the exhausted dog up the tree and into Ozette’s nest.

As the big gray squirrels stood huffing and puffing, Ozette thanked them kindly and said she’d see them in the morning when they came back to carry the dog down. All the squirrels groaned in unison.

“I don’t know, Ozette,” Grayson, the smallest of the squirrels, said worriedly as they exited the nesting hole. “Getting her down will be much harder than hoisting her up. And what if we drop her? It’s a long way to the ground.”

The little dog shuddered. Ozette patted her soft, fluffy head.

“Don’t worry, Duchess Zorina. I’ll think of something. Remember, we’re solving one problem at a time.”

After the gray squirrels left, Ozette began searching through her stash of food to find dinner for her unexpected guest.

“Our cook usually fixes me a nice juicy steak,” Duchess Zorina suggested hopefully.

Ozette shook her head in disbelief. Clearly she was not cooking a steak inside her nest. Instead she offered her guest some homemade pecan snookeroons and a jumbledberry scone. The little dog ate hungrily then curled up amidst the leaves, feathers and mosses that blanketed Ozette’s cozy nest.

“Thank you for being so kind to me,” she said sleepily. “I don’t mean to be such a bother. It’s just that I’m not used to this outdoor woodsy stuff and I’m scared.”

Ozette patted the dog gently on her back. “I’ll get you home. Somehow.”

And then Ozette did something she never thought she would do, as it wasn’t every day that she had a dog sharing her nest. The two-pound squirrel cuddled up next to a ten-pound dog and fell sound asleep, only to be awakened several times by Duchess Zorina running in her sleep and yipping softly during a dog-dream. Ozette gently rested her paw on the dog’s nose to calm her, and the two fell back into quiet slumber.

Ozette was awakened early by Duchess Zorina’s stirring. The little dog was looking anxiously out the hole down to the ground below.

“Ozette, thank you for letting me sleep up here. I feel so safe with you, but I’m really scared to have those squirrels trying to get me down this tree. What if I fall? I don’t think they like me very much, anyway.”

“They just don’t quite know what to make of you,” Ozette said. “But I may have an idea to get you down this tree that doesn’t involve pushing and pulling.”

Ozette gave Duchess Zorina some leftover walnut banana bread and climbed out onto her limb. “BWACK! BWACK!” she called, this time for another group of special friends.

 A few minutes later, Ozette’s fairy friends Ariel, Sydney and Annika came flitting over, their gossamer wings shining in the morning sun. They were followed by Oliver, Ozette’s dearest elf friend, who flew close behind and performed a spectacular array of intricate flips and dips before landing on Ozette’s tree.

After explaining her dilemma, Ozette told her winged pals her new plan to bring the dog back down to the ground.

 “Whoa,” Ariel exclaimed, her violet eyes wide. “That will take a whole flock of us.”

Oliver cupped his chin in his hands. His pointed ears were twitching, a sure sign he was thinking.

“I think we can do it,” he said confidently. “Just give me a few minutes to gather the forces.”

Off he flew while the fairies flitted into Ozette’s nest to meet the new visitor. Duchess Zorina had never seen a fairy before, since most of them typically stayed in the far reaches of the woodlands, which were nowhere near the palace. Fascinated by the diminutive creatures, she sniffed Ariel’s glossy black curls and pointed ears. Annika offered the dog her delicate hand, and Duchess Zorina held up her own paw to shake. Sydney giggled as Duchess Zorina licked the fairy’s nut-brown face with an affectionate dog kiss.

While the group dined on honeysuckle tea and nutty fruitinas, Ozette told Duchess Zorina her new plan and the dog’s mouth dropped wide open.

“You think that will work?” she asked.

Ozette nodded confidently. She didn’t want the dog to know that this was their only good option since the burley squirrels were so doubtful they could carry her safely down the tree.

Suddenly they heard a loud whirring noise. Ozette stuck her head out of the tree and beheld the most awesome sight: Hundreds of fairies and elves were flying in a “V” formation toward her nest.

“They’re here!” she shouted, clapping her paws. “Come, Duchess Zorina. Climb out on the thickest part of this limb. The fairies and elves will fly you down to the ground.”

Frightened at the commotion, poor Duchess Zorina scurried to the farthest corner of Ozette’s nest, hid her head in a pile of leaves and started shaking. Ozette went over to the little dog and stroked her rump.

“I’ll be with you. Fairies and elves are stronger than they look. It will be fine,” Ozette assured her. She coaxed the frightened dog onto the limb, while the fairies and elves took hold of her gently with their tiny hands.

“OK,” Sydney commanded. “At the count of three – One. Two. Three. Liftoff!”

What a sight! The dog was literally covered with brightly colored fairies and elves who carefully lifted her into the air and slowly, ever-so-slowly, lowered her to the ground in a blaze of brilliant color. They set the dog down gently then hovered over her reassuringly, while Ozette raced down the tree and jumped around with joy!

Duchess Zorina was so relieved; she started running in ever-widening circles, as fast as her stubby legs would carry her! She yipped happily and returned to Ozette.

“Thank you all so much! That was most exciting!

“Now I just need to get home to my queen,” she said excitedly, and looked at Ozette expectantly.

“Who knows where Queen Beatrix’s palace is?” Ozette asked the assembled elves and fairies.

“It’s that way,” said Oliver, twitching his elfin ears and pointing confidently due east. 

“No it isn’t. It’s over there,” said Sydney, gesturing northwest.

“You’re both wrong,” insisted Ariel. “It’s over there.” She pointed south.

While the little creatures argued among themselves, their tiny voices creating a noisy buzz, Ozette and Duchess Zorina sat under a shady hemlock tree.

“I’ve never been to the queen’s palace,” Ozette said to the dog. “What other creatures who live in the forest might know the way?”

Duchess Zorina was silent for several minutes, and then her eyes lit up. “Do you have any unicorns around here?  They visit our vegetable gardens at the palace. If we could find one, maybe it could tell us the way.”

“What a great idea,” Ozette said. “Hmm. I know! Princess Abrianna often has unicorns in her vegetable garden. She’s not home now, but let’s head over and see if any are there this morning.”

Down the tree-lined path they went, dog and squirrel.

“My friends call me DZ,” said the dog. “You could call me that.” 

Ozette nodded and smiled.

DZ regaled Ozette with stories from the palace – grand balls, feasts that made Ozette’s mouth water and silly antics of the humans who lived there. Ozette chuckled, and soon it seemed like the duo had been friends forever.

They finally came to Princess Abrianna’s home. Ozette sighed. Princess Abrianna’s cottage almost made her want to be a human. It was charming with its bay windows, stone fireplaces and inviting benches set amid a profusion of flowers and herbs. In one corner of her wildflower garden was a creek that flowed into a clear, inviting pool. It was a favorite cooling-off spot for all the creatures on hot summer days.

Princess Abrianna had a wonderful vegetable garden that Ozette often scavenged – with permission, of course. If she overindulged, the princess would fix her a cup of chamomile or peppermint tea with herbs from her garden, and they would sit in the gazebo near a pond filled with fish and turtles.

It was rumored that Princess Abrianna not only knew the secrets of healing herbs, but could also slip effortlessly from Farlandia into other worlds, although why anyone would want to leave Farlandia was a mystery to Ozette.

They peeked into the garden, but no unicorns were feeding. As they sat silently waiting, DZ’s stomach began rumbling.

“Hmm,” said Ozette. “We may need another plan if the unicorns don’t arrive. But for now, let’s take care of that belly!” She led DZ around back, where she knew the princess kept her dog Cassady’s dishes.

“Yes!” Ozette shouted, pumping a paw in the air. One dish was full of water, and the other held several home-baked dog cookies.

“I don’t know, Ozette. I was taught to not take what belongs to others,” DZ said, gazing longingly at the food.

“Princess Abrianna and Cassady will understand,” Ozette said, pushing the dish closer to DZ. “They would never want an animal to go hungry. Go ahead.”

The dog had just finished gobbling the cookies and slurping the water, when they heard a “wushhh wuuuussh” coming from the sky. They looked up and saw a majestic black unicorn just as it landed gracefully in the garden.

Now, Farland was one of the few magical lands where unicorns were winged, so they knew this beautiful animal came from DZ’s home. They ran to the garden, DZ yipping excitedly.