"Oz 'n Ends -- CJ Alexander"

"CJ, have you got anything you feel like posting on the blog?"

"Sure, ME, how about something from Breadsongs."

"Let's see it!"

"I'm on it...okay ... here goes ..."

The film, Wizard of Oz, debuted January 1, 1939. Times were tough, capital D Depression and WWII at hand. Guys in short supply everywhere. Women working on farms, factories, keeping things together. Heroines for sure. You put a number of strong womenfolk in a room and you know what happens next: one of them becomes the alpha and the rest fall in, do her bidding.

Picture Credit:  tvtropes.com

So Dorothy arrives in Oz. It's Dorothy accidentally killing the East Witch with her hurtling house, it's Dorothy who receives the magical ruby slippers as a gift (not Glinda the North Witch's to give) and it's Dorothy that Elphaba the West Witch mutters curses at. It's all about Dorothy! So now I get it: Dorothy must be the long-awaited 4th: The South Witch. The new alpha witch.

She heads off along the yellow brick road, carrying her yapping little mutt Toto in a hand basket. Determined to get home to her drudge-filled life on a dusty Kansas farm recently decimated by a tornado, she needs all the help she can get. So what does she get? A witless scarecrow, a heartless tin man, and a gutless lion. Gee thanks!

Meanwhile the old Alpha witch (Elphaba, some coincidence in that name, perhaps) tries everything and almost succeeds with the poppy ploy but ultimately it's the dog that tips the power scale in Dorothy's favor. Dorothy of course wafts home in an errant hot air balloon, but it was all a dream. And that's the end of the story except for the moral:

A girl can get into big trouble traveling her path with the witless, heartless and gutless,  but if she wants to come out of it alive,  she'd best stick with her dog.

"Gee, CJ, that was weird."

"Best I could do on short notice."

"Don't quit your day job, girl."