Beyond the Rainbow

Everything is okay

The entire adventure was only a dream. Doretha was still lying on the living room floor, saying "There's no place like home" in her sleep.

"Wake up, Dorie," Eric said.

Doretha continued to say "There's no place like home" in her sleep.

"Come on, Doretha—open your eyes," Emily urged.

Doretha slowly opened her eyes and found herself in the living room, surrounded by her family and a few paramedics.

"Oh, Doretha, thank goodness you're okay," Marcy beamed.

"Oh, man, what happened?" Doretha asked, rubbing her head.

"You got a bump on the head there, dear," Emily said.

The paramedics helped Doretha get up on her feet.

"Well, Mrs. Gale, your daughter is perfectly stable," a paramedic said. "She's definitely tougher than she looks."

"Thank you," Emily smiled.

"Thanks for coming over," Eric smiled.

The paramedics left, and Marcy pulled her sister into a hug. Then she looked down at Doretha's feet and said, "Wow, I like your boots."

Doretha looked down to see that she was still wearing the ruby cowboy boots. "Wow," she smiled.

That night, the family had gotten together, and Doretha was telling them about the dream she had.

"Wow, that was quite the adventure," Zeke smiled.

"It sure was," Doretha smiled back. "Not that I'm happy about that tornado, but all I needed to boost my self-esteem was a nice journey."

"Good," Eric smiled. "Okay, we'd all best run off to bed. We've got to clean the farm, and you and your sister should help clean the town square. I've heard it's a big mess down there, and transportation may not be very easy."

"Okay," Marcy and Doretha chorused.

Doretha entered her bedroom and saw Sophie up there on the shelf as a toy, not a live deer. She smiled, remembering the great adventure they had today.

The next day, Emily, Eric, and the farmhands were fixing up the house, and the sisters went into town only to find a lot of shambles.

"Wow, I've never seen such a mess, and tornadoes happen here very often," Doretha said.

"We'd better get cleaning," Marcy said. "Good thing tomorrow is Labor Day because it'll probably take us two days to clean this up."

Everyone started cleaning up the mess, and the town was looking better. Suddenly, Amber came along, and she wasn't very happy with what she was seeing.

"This is ridiculous," Amber fretted. "I've got shopping to do, and the town is still in shambles."

Doretha came walking by, holding a basket of trash. "You could help, Amber," she sniffed. "The town square isn't going to clean itself up."

Amber walked alongside Doretha. "So, cleaning the town square, eh, Doretha?" she smirked. "I'm sure you're totally bummed because there's no school tomorrow, so you can make everyone look stupid thanks to your college-leveled knowledge of zoology."

Doretha had had enough of Amber's mean remarks. "Okay, I've had enough already," she fumed. "Amber Gulch, nobody is making you look stupid but you! The first day of school, you come and act like you're a famous movie star princess. Then the entire time, you endlessly make me feel bad because of my zoology skills. You don't even like science, much less zoology! Don't you have anything better to do with your life than to make others feel bad with your stank attitude?"

But apparently, something caught Amber's eye. "Skunk!" she shrieked.

"Very funny, Amber," Doretha sniffed.

"No, seriously, there's a skunk," Amber said nervously.

Doretha turned to see that there was, indeed, a skunk, and a lot of townsfolk were scared. "Don't worry, folks," she said, taking out a pair of gloves. "I can get this creature out of here and back to the wild where it belongs, okay?"

But Amber had other plans. "No, not okay," she glowered. "You've already made me look bad in school, and you're not going to make me look bad in front of the people of Sunflower Bay. Let me handle this mutt." She went over to the skunk, and the creature stomped its front paws, giving a warning.

"Amber, I'd get away if I were you," Doretha said nervously.

"I got this," Amber sniffed. She told the skunk, "Skunk, as the richest girl in Sunflower Bay, I demand you leave this town at once!"

But that was the final straw. The skunk turned and sprayed Amber, causing her to scream. Everyone was disgusted at the stench.

"That's why you should leave the work to the experts," Doretha said with a clothes pin on her nose. She was surprised that the skunk was carefully circling her feet, and the skunk jumped into her arms. "Well, hello there. Let's get you back to the wild where you belong." She called to her sister, "I'll be right back, Marcy."

"Take your time," Marcy called back.

"What about me?" Amber asked. "I stink!"

"The smell usually disappears on its own in just one week," Doretha said.

"One week?" Amber gasped.

"But there's a faster way to get it out," Doretha said.

"Tell me," Amber begged.

"You need to combine hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish detergent," Doretha said.

"Got it," Amber said. Then she anxiously took off without thanking Doretha.

Doretha just shrugged it off and walked away, carrying the skunk in her arms. A few minutes later, she came back, and everyone cheered loudly.

"Great job, Dorie," Marcy smiled.

"Thanks," Doretha smiled.