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Chapter 4
Over the next few days, Oscar was acting very, very odd indeed. He had undergone a complete transformation, one that everyone was impressed with, though perhaps none more so than Bob. He had always hoped to see the day when Oscar would change his ways, but never thought he’d actually live to see it. He found himself spending more and more time with Oscar as the days went on. He taught the ex-Grouch chess, one of his favorite games, and though Oscar was uncomfortable at first with playing what is, in essence, a game of war, he loved the time spent with his good friend Bob.
As Bob was around Oscar the most, he saw firsthand how Oscar’s new personality affected the residents of Sesame Street. Oscar greeted everyone passing by, inviting them for tea, sharing a laugh, or just shooting the breeze. Nobody left Oscar’s can without a smile.
When David accidentally lost his basketball behind Oscar’s trash can, the Grouch gladly returned it… and without deflating it first! He stopped calling Big Bird a turkey, and whenever Big Bird did something “turkey-like,” Oscar was the most understanding person around. He relished the Bird’s tales of Mr. Snuffleupagus, that hulking, hairy elephant creature that the others had written off as imaginary, and he was the only one on Sesame Street willing to believe the creature was real and encouraged the stories.
“And then,” Big Bird would tell him, “Mr. Snuffleupagus raised his trunk way up high, and blew water all over Susan and Gordon! They thought it was raining!”
Big Bird laughed at his story of misfortune, but Oscar was only presented with a moral dilemma. Truly the story was amusing, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for poor Susan and Gordon, who were surely drenched by the beast’s carelessness. Oscar decided he would be polite and say nothing except to tell Big Bird what a good storyteller he was.
Much had changed about Oscar’s attitude, in particular his attitude towards his surroundings. Where at one time he took pleasure in the mess around him, he soon found himself as disgusted by it as everyone else. And so, he cleaned his trash can from top to bottom, making it sparkle and shine! You never saw a cleaner trash can. For that matter, you never saw a cleaner anything!
In addition to this, one day Oscar decided his surroundings were too drab and dull for his tastes. He wanted his world to be full of color and life! He called all the neighborhood children together to help him plant a garden that would grow all around his trash can. The children, who had recognized the change in Oscar’s personality, knew that he wasn’t trying to trick them, and so they were more than happy to oblige.
Oscar and his team of young gardeners planted all sorts of flowers and plants. Peonies of all sorts surrounded his can, perched atop boxes, cans, whatever would bring them up to his level so he could watch them bloom. They had planted climbing vines all along the railing to 123 Sesame Street, and they were coming along nicely.
Yes, as Bob went about his day, he would notice all that went on over at Oscar’s. And one thing he had noticed, perhaps the most interesting of things, was also the most perplexing to him. Maria, that young Puerto Rican girl of twenty (or so), had been spending a great deal of time hanging around with Oscar as well. Oscar, who had stopped his occasional inappropriate advances on Maria, had instead begun courting her as any gentleman might.
“Maria,” Oscar told her, presenting her with a beautiful bouquet of roses, “I don’t know if I’ve ever told ya this, but I’ve been a cad!”
“A cad?” Maria asked. She knew it was true, but didn’t know he knew. She didn’t even know he knew the word to use it!
“Yeah, a cad!” Oscar said. “But... You’re a princess, Maria. You deserve the very best, and a Grouch would be lucky to be in the same room as ya. I compare ya to the glorious peddles of the rose…”
Oscar continued on with more sappy stuff like that, making Maria feel uncomfortable… but at the same time flattered and a bit attracted to the newly reformed Grouch. The two soon formed a friendship unmatchable. Oscar dropped everything to be with her, and she dropped everything to come see him. They shared their dreams with one another, their goals, their desires.
Oscar had definitely changed. He had changed a great deal.
