Free Ozette's Destiny by Judy Pierce

rewarded her with his brilliant smile, happy to be acceptable again.
    Princess Abrianna invited her guests to a garden party, where they dined on toadstool tarts and lemon snappers.
    After they had eaten, Oliver winked at Ariel. “Don’t tell Ozette,” he whispered, “but her fur has a decidedly pink cast.”
    As the motley group bid the princess farewell, Oliver grabbed her hands and thanked her profusely for “de-stinking” him.
    “That was some potent potion,” he quipped.
    “My pleasure, Oliver. Now I have a new formula if this ever happens again,” the princess said with a wink.
    Oliver shuddered and waved good-bye.
     

 
    They were in good spirits, until Baby Fiona scrambled down a tree onto the path leading home.
    “Is that you, Ozette?” she asked, looking puzzled at the animal on the trail.
    “Of course, it’s me. Who did you think it was?” Ozette asked.
    “Well, this may be rude of me to ask, but why is your fur pink?”
    Ozette’s squirrelly eyes widened and she ran to a pond just off the path. Her friends heard a loud shriek as Ozette saw herself reflected in the pond.
    “Oh no! My fur is ruined! I’ll never look like me again!”
    “Oh, come on, Ozette,” Ariel chastened her. “You’re just a little pink. It’s a nice color on you. Brings out your dark eyes.”
    The truth was, Ozette was a lovely shade of pink, but pink she was.
    “I feel like a pink stuffed animal toy,” she muttered, as she sat down under a hickory tree.
    The friends gathered around Ozette and broke out some dried-fruit snacks to cheer her up. However, their chatter inadvertently disturbed a number of birds napping nearby.
    One of the birds, a large white owl, swooped down to the ground. “Ozette,” the snowy owl nodded in greeting.
    “You recognize me!” Ozette said, relaxing for the first time since she’d seen her reflection.
    The wise owl was a tactful bird, but also didn’t want to tell fibs. “You’re known by the company you keep,” he said sagely.
    Ozette and her friends were pondering that bit of wisdom that was both literal and figurative when Melanie, a large black magpie, swooped down and tried to grab a tuft of fur off of Ozette’s rump.
    “Ouch!” Ozette looked up, shocked.
    “Oops, sorry,” the magpie said, looking baffled. “I thought you were a blob of cotton candy.”
    Ozette lowered her head, her pink chin quivering. A fat tear rolled down her cheek. Then another. Faster and faster they fell. She cried so hard, a small creek formed on the ground below. Her friends watched in amazement as a flotilla of mice floated down the little creek on leaves, using twigs as oars.
    “Oh, no,” Ariel muttered. She glared at the magpie, a creature known for blundering insensitivity, and hissed, “You’ve really stuck your foot in your beak this time.”
    Oliver shook his fist at the thoughtless bird silently behind Ozette’s back.
    The magpie slowly began to realize that she had better make amends.
    “Blob! Did I say blob?” she chattered nervously. “What I meant to say was a puff – or a poof. That’s it – a small poof of lovely cotton candy.” She looked hopefully at Ozette and her friends to see if she had fixed her faux pas, but they just shook their heads.
    Ozette had had enough. To everyone’s surprise, she suddenly scrambled up a tree and headed back to her nest, flitting from tree to tree as fast as her little pink legs could carry her, muttering to herself as she went. “Pink blob, indeed.”
    She was unaware that Cassady was trotting along below, keeping a watchful eye on the distraught squirrel as she scrambled along the forest canopy. Ozette stopped to rest on the branch of her favorite hickory tree and looked over her squirrelly body. She surely was not a blob! When Ozette arrived home, she dove into her nest. Cassady lay down under the tree, resting her head on her paws and keeping watch over her upset friend.
    Suddenly, something hard rained down on the big dog’s