Gale: Past Memories I - Baby Dorothy
Jonathan: *leans down next to her hospital bed* So, what are we calling her, Annie? You get to pick.
Annie: *laughs and looks down at their newborn daughter* Can we name her Dorothy? After my grandma? She was a very sweet but sassy lady. I would want our daughter to be exactly like that.
Jonathan: Well then, Dorothy, it is! *asks his daughter total as a joke* Do you like your new name, Dorothy?
Baby Dorothy: Goo!
Annie: I think that means “yes.”
Jonathan: *smiles* I suppose she’s already showing her opinionated side just like you.
*The memory ripples again, adjusting.*
*Just outside the hospital room, the four figures watch.*
Tin Man: *completely breaks down, shoulders shaking, tears dripping onto the floor* Oh—oh my. A name given in love, in honor of family. *sniff* I knew it. I knew humans did things like this. It’s too much. It’s beautiful!
Lion: Awwwww. Look at you, Dorothy! She’s tiny and already talking back. *grins* That’s adorable. Fearless, even. I mean, when I was that small, I was terrified of everything.
Scarecrow: *smiles at the memory and then gets right to business* Dorothy, was he always like this? How can we find him?
Dorothy: *doesn’t take her eyes off the memory* I know we have to find him…his spirit can’t wander forever. My mom needs to see him again, and so does the rest of the family. *sighs* I just don’t know how going through all his memories will help us find him.
Scarecrow: *thinks harder* Maybe the goal here is to figure out how he died. Maybe that will help us figure out where his soul went. Why it’s lost anyway.
Dorothy: I know how he died though. He died in car accident. That’s what my aunt and uncle told me anyways *sadly with tears in her eyes* That’s why his casket was closed…
Tin Man: *the crying softens into something heavier, more careful* Oh, Dorothy… *steps closer, voice gentle* A closed casket doesn’t always mean a closed story. Sometimes it just means someone wanted to protect a little girl from seeing too much, too soon.
Dorothy: *crying now* Maybe they just lied to me…maybe something else happened…
Lion: Hey. That doesn’t mean they lied to you. But it doesn’t mean they knew everything either. Grown-ups…you were young…they guess sometimes. Especially when the truth is scary.
Dorothy: *wipes at her eyes, frustrated* But if he died in a car accident, then why does his spirit feel so…far away? Like he’s still walking somewhere? Why didn’t he go be with the rest of my family when he died?
Scarecrow: *quiet now, thinking harder than ever* Because how someone dies isn’t always why they’re lost. But I think something strange is happening here. *looks back at the frozen memory of Jonathan holding baby Dorothy* Let’s go everyone. We got more memories to get through and so little time to stop this curse from becoming set in stone.
Tin Man: *not wanting to leave the sweet scene but nods* Alright, I understand, you’re right. We have so much to do if we want to save Dorothy’s family.
Lion: Understood, Captain. We got to figure this out! *goes through the portal and leaves the memory.
*The memory dims further: Jonathan’s laugh, Annie’s tired smile, Baby Dorothy’s proud little “Goo” dissolving into light.*
Scarecrow: *comfortingly offers his hand to her* Everything’s going to be okay, I promise. There are more memories waiting. Different roads. *soft smile* If we’re going to understand a wandering soul, we have to follow where it wandered. I’m sure we’ll find him.
Dorothy: *looks one more time at her parents, takes a steadying breath, then steps forward, accepting his hand* Okay. Let’s go.