Ugly Sally Seeks Her Roots

“Ugly Sally,” said Mother, seeing Ugly Sally sitting on the sofa. “I need some help with dinner. Would you be a dear and come and help me, please?”

“Okay,” said Ugly Sally, slowly getting herself off the sofa and shuffling her feet across the floor as she walked.

“It is okay,” said Mother, just as Ugly Sally came into the kitchen. “I don’t need your help now.”

“Why not!” yelled Ugly Sally. “You made me got off the sofa for no reason. That isn’t fair.”

“I needed your help right away,” said Mother. “You were taking too long.”

“You know it takes me awhile to get off the sofa,” said Ugly Sally.

“I think you need to go lay down,” said Mother. “You are a little bit grouchy today.”

“Fine,” said Ugly Sally.

Ugly Sally stomped her way up the stairs to her room and flopped down on her bed. She was asleep within minutes.

“Where is Ugly Sally?” asked Father, when he got home from work.

“I sent her for a nap,” said Mother.

“Again,” said Father. “That is twice this week.”

“She was getting grouchy,” said Mother.

“Something is bothering her,” said Father. “I will have a talk with her tonight, after dinner.”

“Good idea,” said Mother.

After dinner, Ugly Sally went up to her room. Father waited a few minutes and then he went upstairs to talk to her.

“Mother said you were grouchy today,” said Father. “That is the second time this week. Is there a reason for that?”

“Kind of,” said Ugly Sally.

“What is wrong?” asked Father, sitting on Ugly Sally’s bed.

“I had a bad dream,” said Ugly Sally, sadly.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed Father. “Bad dreams are sometimes difficult to deal with. It might help to talk about it.”

“I don’t remember the whole dream,” said Ugly Sally. “But, what I do remember was horrible. I remember that I felt so alone and I also felt that I don’t belong.”

“Now,” said Father. “That is nonsense. You have to remember that Mother and I love you very much and we will always be here for you. You never have to feel like you are alone. We would do anything to help you.”

“Of course I know that,” said Ugly Sally. “I love both you and Mother with all my heart. I need to seek my roots.”

“Well,” said Father. “I knew this day was going to come sooner or later.”

“Are you angry?” asked Ugly Sally.

“No,” said Father. “Not at all. Your Mother and I support you, no matter what.”

Father gave Ugly Sally a big hug. He then went downstairs to let Mother know what was going on.

“Ugly Sally wants to seek her roots,” Father explained to Mother. “I knew this day was going to come eventually.”

“Yes,” said Mother. “Me too but I guess she does need to find out more about her past.”

“I told her that we support her decision,” said Father.

“Yes,” said Mother. “Absolutely.”

Later that evening, Ugly Sally went on the internet and did some research. The internet showed a lot of information about monsters but nothing about an existing tribe of monsters that lived in western Canada.

The next morning, Ugly Sally went to the Public Library. She spent hours looking through different books. She did find one look that was all about the Tamarack tribe of monsters. That book showed several pictures and one picture showed a female Tamarack. Ugly Sally thought she was looking at herself in the mirror.

“What do you have there?” asked Father that night when he went to say goodnight to Ugly Sally.

“I found this book at the library,” said Ugly Sally. “It talks about a tribe of monsters called Tamarack.”

Ugly Sally showed Father the picture of the female Tamarack and Father had to agree that it did look like her.

“I think it is time that I take you to the cabin I found you in,” said Father. “We can go tomorrow morning.”

“That would be great,” said Ugly Sally. “I would love to see it.”

Ugly Sally could hardly sleep at all that night. She was so excited. She was finally going to see where she came from. She wasn’t expecting to find too much but anything would be better than what she knows now about herself, which was basically nothing.

“Better wear your hiking boots,” said Father the next morning, when he saw that Ugly Sally just had a pair of sneakers on. “It is a long hike.”

Ugly Sally put her hiking boots on and then she followed Father outside.

“It is a nice day for a walk,” said Father, seeing a clear blue sky.

“It sure is,” said Ugly Sally.

Father and Ugly Sally walked for a few kilometres up their dirt road and then Father turned off and walked through a field. They walked through that field, across the river, up a very narrow pathway and then they reached the forest.

Ugly Sally took a deep breath. She loved the scent coming from the pine trees.

“I love that smell,” said Ugly Sally.

“Oh yes,” agreed Father. “I love it too.”

Soon, Father came to a clearing in the forest and about twenty feet from where they stood, was the old cabin that Father had found Ugly Sally in all those years ago.

“It has been 16 years since I was last here,” said Father. “The old cabin still looks pretty much the same.”

Ugly Sally went up to the cabin and opened the door. There, inside was the cradle that Father had first found her in. Ugly Sally saw a little doll that was carved out of wood. It was sitting right beside the cradle.

“That must have been your little doll,” said Father.

“It must have been,” said Ugly Sally.

Just then, Father and Ugly Sally could hear something outside. They went outside and Father saw a male monster standing just outside the cabin door.

“Who are you?” yelled the male monster.

“I am here to seek my roots,” said Ugly Sally. “I was born here. Both my parents were found dead.”

“Jessabel,” said the male. “Is that you?”

“My name is Ugly Sally,” said Ugly Sally.

“Jessabel might have been your birth name,” said Father. “We never knew your real name.”

“Jessabel,” repeated Ugly Sally. “I like that name.”

“It is a very pretty name,” said Father.

“I think I am Jessabel,” said Ugly Sally.

“You went missing the night your parents died,” said the male.

“I took her home with me,” said Father. “We raised her as our own child. Who are you?”

“I am Jessabel’s Uncle Joe,” said the male. “It looks like you have done a really good job raising her.”

“Were you here when her parents died?” asked Father.

“No,” said Uncle Joe. “I moved away from here before Jessabel was born. I just moved back here about two years ago.”

“So,” said Father. “You resemble Ugly Sally, or I mean Jessabel, but, you don’t act like her.”

“I think you are trying to ask me if I am a monster,” said Uncle Joe, laughing.

“Yes,” said Father. “I am. Jessabel is at the age where she wants to know more about who she really is and where she came from.”

“As you probably have already guessed,” said Uncle Joe. “We are monsters but we aren’t 100% monsters. We only have about 10% monster blood in us. We are 90% human.”

“So I only have a little bit of monster in me,” said Ugly Sally.

“Yes,” said Uncle Joe.

“That makes me feel so much better about myself,” said Ugly Sally.

“I bet it does,” said Uncle Joe. “When I left here, I actually went into a lab and they did years and years of research. I, too, was curious about our past.”

“Are we part Tamarack?” asked Ugly Sally.

“No,” said Uncle Joe. “The Tamarack tribe have actually been wiped out completely.”

“So,” said Ugly Sally. “What tribe are we?”

“We are from the Pinecrest tribe,” said Uncle Joe. “The Pinecrest are actually a very intelligent breed. We are the only living descendants though. The Tamarack tribe had killed all of our people. They must not have seen you in the crib and, of course, I was not here.”

“If the Tamarack wiped out our tribe,” said Ugly Sally. “Then what happened to them.”

“I heard that they were killed off with a deadly disease,” said Uncle Joe.

Father and Ugly Sally had a long, long talk with Uncle Joe. Father invited Uncle Joe to come have dinner with them.

“I would love too,” said Uncle Joe. “I am so happy that Jessabel was rescued that night and I will never stand in the way of the way you are raising her. However, I do want to see Jessabel whenever possible. She is my only living relative.”

“Of course,” said Father. “My wife and I would never stand in your way.”