Chapter 3:
For the last day of school before starting Christmas vacation, students in Cindy Lou's classroom have to tell their teacher what they are going to for the school report over the break. At first, she wasn't sure what to do on her report, but now Cindy Lou does.
"Cindy Lou," the teacher calls for her as she did for the others.
The little girl stands from her seat and speaks, "I've decided to do my report on two mysterious Christmas figures.....the Grinch and the Lady in Black." As soon as she mentions those words, the curtains flip open, surprising all of them, especially shocking her teacher. Cindy Lou simply smiles and shrugs it off.
"Cindy Lou Who!" the teacher exclaims at her, once getting her boundaries together. "You're staying after school!" that made the students "oooo" with smiles on their faces.
After school, the bell rings for Christmas vacation. Everyone runs out happily, almost knocking down Lou Lou Who. He manages to hold himself up and smiles at his daughter. "I'll take care of this," he mouths.
She nods her head worriedly.
Lou walks over towards the desks and speaks with her teacher, "Uhh, Ms. Ru Who, I understand that you are keeping Cindy-"
"Sit down, Lou!" she instructed him, using her ruler to point to a desk.
"Yes, ma'am," he sits down.
"Mr. Lou Who," Ms. Ru Who places the ruler down, "your daughter...." She isn't able to say the words of the recent news.
"All I said was, "I was planning on doing my report on two mysterious Christmas figures.....the Grinch and the Lady in Black"."
"Well, you know Cindy," Lou says, a little concern about the subject, "you really shouldn't be bringing up the Grinch and the Lady in Black."
The curtain flew open again at the mention of them, surprising them.
Lou stands back up, but he's stuck in the desk. He tried getting it off but couldn't. So, he walks over towards the teacher. "Don't worry about this. We'll take care of this," he tells her. "You properly remember me of how I was when I was little," he tries to lighten up the situation. "Now, I'm working as a postman at Whoville's Post Office."
"By the way," Ms. Ru Who speaks, "have you found my package?"
"No, we haven't," he answers.
Somehow, Lou manages to get the desk off of him before offering a hand to his little girl.
She accepts it, and they leave the school grounds.
"We'll talk about this later, Cindy," he tells her, "now we need to get back to the post office."
"Okay," Cindy Lou sighs.
As soon as the father and daughter arrive at the Post Office, countless Whos with wrapped Christmas presents calls for Lou Lou Who. He grabs a lot of gifts and gets on a roller ladder to sort them.
"But Dad," Cindy Lou speaks up, "I just don't understand something. Why won't anyone talk about the Grinch and the Lady in Black?"
"You kids and curious minds," he chuckles while throwing some presents into the sorting machine. "You see, Cindy," he pushes himself towards the other side, "the Lady in Black, first of all, is a Who, who had a bad experience during one Christmas. She's the same age as your brothers. And the Grinch is a Who, who always....Actually," he chuckles again, "he's not a Who. He's more of a...."
"A what?" she asked.
"Exactly, honey," he gets a few letters from a co-worker. "And he's a What who doesn't like Christmas. Take a look at his mailbox, sweetie." She walks over towards the very dusty and cobwebbed green mailbox labeled "The Grinch." "Not a simple Christmas card, in or out. Ever!"
"But why?" Cindy Lou asked him, curiously.
He was about to answer when the crowd got crazier.
"What happened to them?" the little girl mumbles to herself, worriedly.
Meanwhile, the Grinch, Lady in Black, and Max are in the backroom of Whoville's Post Office, making mischief as usual.
"It'll take them years to sort this out," snickered the Grinch. "This is his, and now it's yours, and this hers, and now it's his!" He mixes up the mail into different mailboxes.
The Lady smirks, as an idea begins to form in her mind. She picks up a handful of random mail. "Here you go, Father," she gives them to the Grinch.
"Good idea, my sweet little daughter," he chuckles while accepting them. "And for the rest of you. Jury duty! Jury duty! Jury duty! Blackmail! Pink Slip. Chain letter. Eviction notice. Jury duty!" The Grinch throws them like darts towards different mailboxes.
"Would you mind helping me take this to the backroom, honey?" Lou asked his daughter as he gave her some mail. "Be careful of the sorting machine, right?" He smiles a little.
"Yea," she smiles back while accepting them.
After hearing someone coming, both the Grinch and the Lady in Black quickly find places to hide. He hides in a high corner with Max. She barely gets behind the pile of presents next to the entrance.
Cindy Lou enters in, trying to find a place for the letter when she feels something watching her. An eerie feeling sends a chill down her spine when she looks over where Mercy Grace is hiding.
Fear and panic shook her body as the sixteen-year-old Who girl tried to keep quiet by holding her breath. Just as when she seriously needs to breathe, the Grinch's mask falls, catching the little girl's attention.
Cindy Lou kneels, getting the mask, and merely shrugs. This causes the father/daughter duo to sigh in relief.
Then Max sneezes.
"Gesundheit," the Grinch says out of habit until realizing it.
Cindy Lou turns around. She screams, terrified at the sight of the Grinch. The Grinch mocks the screams, and Mercy Grace screams, revealing herself. The little girl screams again, terrified at the presence of the Lady in Black.
Both Father and Daughter stand in front of the terrified little girl while staring down at her.
"You're the....the....the...." Cindy Lou is looking between Mercy Grace and the Grinch.
"The, the, the," they both mock her before raising their voices in deep, terrifying tones, "the Lady in Black/Grinch!"
Another scream caused her to fall back into the sorting machine!
"Well, that worked out nicely," the Grinch states, surprised.
"Help! Help me! Somebody!"
Mercy Grace snaps out of her shock and quickly heads over towards the little girl between the presents.
"Max, Mercy Grace, let's go. Our work here is finished," the unhelpful Grinch says, beginning to walk away, but stops when Max bites his behind. Now, usually, the Lady in Black would laugh at this sort of thing but couldn't. She's trying, with all of her might, to get Cindy Lou out, but the machine is winning. It's taking both of them!
"Father, help!" Mercy Grace calls for him, sinking more.
The Grinch groans, annoyed, "Bleeding hearts of the world, untie!" With all of his strength, he pulls up his daughter and gets the little girl out. He places them down so he and his daughter could stare down at her - either with a glare or a concerned look. "Give me that!" the Grinch roughly takes his mask from the little girl. "Don't you know you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you? What's your problem? Are you some kind of wild animal? Huh?" he yells at her.
She shakes her head for a no.
"Are you okay, little girl?" Mercy Grace asked, worriedly, checking her for anything hurt.
The little girl nods her head for a yes.
"Let's go," the Grinch tells his daughter and dog while beginning to leave.
"Thanks for saving me," Cindy Lou thanked them.
Mercy Grace closes her eyes when she has her back to the little girl. "You should not have said that," she mumbles when the Grinch stops in his tracks.
His hands made a screeching-like sound against the glass. Mercy Grace watches in silence as her father glares at the little girl. "Saving you?" he didn't like that. "Is that what you think we were doing?"
She nods her head.
"Wrong-o," he moves his long, hairy finger side to side. The Grinch grabs the long Christmas wrapping paper and walks slowly towards the little Who girl. "We merely noticed that you were improperly packaged, my dear." This frightens Cindy Lou Who. He quickly begins to wrap the girl while yelling, "Hold still!" Then the Grinch says to Mercy Grace, "Daughter, pick out a bow!"
The Lady in Black randomly picks a golden bow and gives it to him.
Soon later, Cindy Lou Who is completely wrapped up while the small family exits the Post Office. "Hello! Hello!" she calls out, initially for the Grinch and the Lady in Black, but now for anyone.
"Cindy?" her father asked, hearing her call and entering in.
"Dad! Daddy!" she calls for him, hearing his voice from under the wrapping paper. "Daddy!"
"What the hey....?" he's confused and walking over to her. "Honey. Cindy?" Lou opens the paper, freeing Cindy Lou and kneeling.
"Dad! It was amazing!" she smiles big, excited about what has happened.
"You've been practicing your Christmas wrapping!" Lou smiles, thinking it's that. "I am so proud of you!"
"Oh," Cindy Lou says, a little softly.
"Now, that's holiday!" he smiles more while helping her out of the paper more.
"Sweet little Cindy Lou didn't know what to do. In her head, bum-tumbled a conflict or two. "If the Grinch and the Lady in Black are so bad, then why did they save me? Maybe they aren't so bad." Maybe. Just maybe."