"Daddy!"
There was no answer.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" came the voice again, louder than before.
He groaned as the little voice of his daughter finally got through, and the Once-ler slowly turned his head to stare at the little face who was looking at him so bright eyed. Taking a deep huff the man pushed an easy smile onto his face, and ran a and through his hair, ruffling the black locks even more so than they already were.
"Hey there sweetie..." he whispered. He could feel the weight of Norma pressing against his back, the woman still dead to the world.
"Daddy, daddy, its Sunday!" Helen squealed, gripping at the bed tightly in her small
"Oncie?"
The soft, Southerly drawl of his mother drew Once-ler out of his moment of silent contemplation on completing the plans for his Thneed factory. He turned his head slightly to see his mother standing outside his window, hands clasped together.
"We got us a lil' problem." she elaborated.
"Problem?" he asked, turning in his seat now to look at her, tilting his head curiously like a dog.
"Mmhmm." she nodded. "You see we're not makin' thneeds fast enough " she added and behind her, Once-ler caught sight of his uncle Ubb pushing along a large rolling cart full of harvested Truffula tufts.
"Harvesting the tufts takes too long!" he