My Father's Daughter (a mr. O'hare fanfic)

Part IV: the discovery

I wandered about Thneedville for a time, grimacing at the hippie lifestyle of the city. There were plant pots everywhere, and every few feet, a tidy truffula tree was stuck in the ground. I was utterly unprepared for how inviting the locals were. On every street corner there were people lounging in cafe seating, drinking green shakes and greeting everyone who walked past. Banners slouched over every available surface, touting slogans of environmentalism and friendship. I hated every second. I'd left the grove to get away from plants and people, and the big city was just more plants and more people?

The clouds knitted together into dark swirls , as if sensing my mood. A great wave of humdity washed over the street. The smiling citizens of Thneedville packed up their croquet sets and charcuterie boards and took shelter in the colorful buildings lining the street. A large, plump drop splatted on my fivehead, disrupting my perfect edgy bangs and making my eyeliner run. I looked like an emo girl in a music video. My cute alternative clothes and 4ft platforms were soaked.  Water sloshed out of my boots. It was now pelting down rain. I raced across the street and huddled under a green striped awning. The rain thundered on the sidewalk. 

A very old, wrinkly lady stopped me, stepping out of the door next to me marked "Grammy Norma Memorial Library". The nametag on her ruffly dress read "Bernice", and a sash marked "Save the Trees" was slung around her shoulders. She was typical Thneedvill drivel. 

"You look like you could use some shelter from the rain and a cup of tea! Come on in, the library welcomes everyone." She ushered me in. I hesitated, then followed her. A library would be the perfect place to find out about my father. Surely if he was as prominent as he seemed, there would be a book or two on him. 

"Hey, old lady," I said. The woman's eye twitched. "Do you guys have any books on a Mr. O'Hare?" She sighed. "Right this way, sugarbooger."

The wrinkly lady was intent on talking to me, as much as I rolled my eyes at her. "We've always got some young thing in here trying to research Mr. O'Hare. Some of them for the true crime podcasts, some out of morbid curiosity, and we get tons of people claiming he's their father, isn't that hilarious? I mean, sure, he was a hunk- I can't imagine not wanting a piece of that- but i'm loathed to believe he had any children. Oh look, we're here." She pressed a recyclable cup full of steaming tea into my hand and walked off. 

The section Bernice had led me into was local history. Just like in my hometown library, which i never visited because I was too pretty for reading, many of the books were devoted to either praising or criticizing Ted Wiggins. From biographies to exposees, a solid portion of the books were about him. However, there were a few ratty volumes cataloguing other things. Most of it was boring; one titled Doorknobs in Thneedville Over the Years nearly put me to sleep just looking at it, but one yellow-bound tome caught my eye; Aloysius O'Hare: Where it All Went Wrong. That name! My Father! I snatched the book up hungrily and lugged it to a nearby table. Its spine cracked forcefully as I opened it, indicating it was new. My breath held in anticipation, I began to read. 

The town of Thneedville wasn't always a paradise of trees and togetherness. Twenty years ago, the city was filled with plastic, and everything was controlled by the greedy, evil miser Aloysius O'Hare. He rose to prominence and riches by selling bottled air- a rare commodity in the treeless Thneedville- and exploiting the citizens. No one dared oppose the tyrant until Theodore Wiggins-

I flung the book against the wall in anger. It disintegrated into dust and left a substantial hole in the drywall. How dare they call my father a miser! Greedy? Tyrant? Sure, I'd only just heard about him, and he'd abandoned me and my mother when I had yet to be born and had made no effort to financially support us, but he wasn't a bad person! This idiotic book pushed me over the edge. I hated Thneedville, I hated trees, I hated libraries, and most of all I hated the stupid residents of my father's city. It was time to make them suffer.