Fly to the Moonlight
by Gyrotank
This little story was inspired by a picture "Gadget Working Late" by Chris Fischer and Sinclair's comment on it reading, in part, "I bet it was Chip who took this picture." The moment I saw it I thought 'Hey, it could be Dale, too, he's got a spy-camera and…' And here it is — a short story about a small idea. While writing it I didn't venture deep into all the relationship complexity and turbulence which is one of the main themes of CDRR fanfics. I leave this topic to the novel-length stories with enough pages to contain all the drama.
And the usual ceremonial functions:
All characters of "Chip'n'Dale Rescue Rangers" cartoon series are property of the Walt Disney Corporation and are used without permission for the sole purpose of personal entertainment. All events depicted in the story are a product of author's imagination.
A hot summer day gave way to a warm night, but the life in the megapolis didn't stop even for a minute. It has just begun, actually. The buildings sparkled with bright and multicolored illumination, and the streets stretched their shining hands in all directions. Only occasional patches of darkness could be seen on the cityscape, with the city park being one of the largest. There weren't many strollers on its alleys, and even those occasional visitors. Or rather, couples of visitors were too concentrated on one another to pay any attention to a small light streaming from inside the big tree in the center of the circular square. Even if they did, they would think it was some kind of decorative light or just a reflection of the nearby lamp post. In short, nobody could ever presume it was a window of the spacious workshop furnished with everything needed, not-so-needed and not-needed-at-all. In other words, completely jammed, with only a tiny island of free space and a narrow passage running from it to the doors. Just like always in times of its owner's compulsive research.
Gadget put a pencil aside and rubbed her eyes. She was already sick with the new model of gyroscope stabilizer. Even after many hours of drawing, calculating, re-drawing and re-calculating she made no headway. Everything seemed fitting up until that dreaded formula number 14-89, which somehow resulted in the negative number. It shouldn't have been, but it did. And even worse, kept doing it again and again.
'I'm so tired' Gadget mused looking at the blueprint unrolled over the desk before her. She knew it to the tiniest details already and it started being boring. It was a bad omen. Gadget very seldom got bored with her inventions, but if she did, it meant problems. She enjoyed solving problems and could do it indefinitely, because each problem she solved and each new result she obtained opened new doors and new roads to venture. But after several hours of dashing against the wall even the most restless traveler will eventually sit down and reconsider the path chosen quite some time ago.
"Okay, let's do it again…" mouse said to herself, picking up the pencil and starting from the upper left corner of the blueprint. Formula 1-1, formula 1-2, angular velocity of precession equals…
"Gadget, are you here?"
Inventor gave a start and looked at the doors, that is, in the direction of the doors hidden behind the piles of skin panels for the new jet aircraft.
"Yes, Dale, come in!"
The movement was heard in the darkness. The only source of light in the workshop was a lamp above Gadget's desk, and everything outside the bright spot around it was lost in shadows. It took chipmunk some time and some bumps to make his way through the heaps and pieces of machinery, and upon reaching the clearance he felt like finding oasis in the desert.
"Working late again, Gadget?" he asked stepping into the circle of light, and Gadget saw him wearing his Double-O-Dale tuxedo. 'Sure,' she thought, 'what else could have kept him from sleeping this late?'
"Yes," she answered with a smile. "You too, as I can see. Who did Dirk Suave was after this time?"
"Terrorists who planned to detonate atomic bomb in Brussels's Atomium Building," Dale said, smiling sheepishly. Gadget nodded knowingly. Dale always dressed accordingly for the Dirk Suave movie. Chip found it preposterous and shouted "GAS ATTACK!" every time he saw his friend wearing white suit, but Dale paid no heed to his mockeries. As for Gadget, she considered Dale's attire some kind of working clothes, like her goggles. It's more convenient to work wearing goggles, so why can't it be more convenient to watch the action movie dressed like the protagonist?
"Has he succeeded?" mouse asked. There was no point in asking, since Dirk Suave always won, but this small talk helped her to digress from the gyroscope wildly rotating in her mind. She needed some time to get her thoughts in line in order to look at the problem at hand with a fresh eye.
"Of course!" Dale nodded. "He always succeeds! Just like you!"
Gadget hemmed skeptically.
"Thanks for the trust, but this time I think the problem is stronger than me…"
"You've got problems? Maybe I can help?" chipmunk grew agitated.
"Wmidunno, if you can read through all this mess…"
Mouse moved slightly aside to let Dale step up to the desk. Having leant back on a chair, she tucked her right leg under her and watched him working. Red-nosed chipmunk bent over the blueprint and started passing his finger over the drawings and formulas. His expression instantly changed to that of a deep thought and it was apparent he didn't play but indeed read and, what's more important, understood what he was reading.
It didn't come as a surprise for Gadget, though. Dale often assisted her in the workshop, time and again proving that building of the spy suit wasn't just a matter of luck or random stroke of genius. He really enjoyed what he was doing and showed quite impressive results, though his approach was completely different from Gadget's. While mouse, being an engineer by nature, relied on strict calculations and laws of physics in her projects, Dale was guided by pure imagination, often coming up with the ideas taken from the comic books or action movies. Although many of his projects could compete on equal terms with the designs of perpetual motion machine, oftentimes they contained some neat idea which turned out invaluable and even revolutionary, and which Gadget would have never derive from the information at hand. 'How did you come up with this?!' she would ask him at times like that, and he would shrug his shoulders and answer 'Well, I dreamt it up…' And they would both laugh at this and get to work on the new invention, which would seem to defy all the laws, while in truth it would simply present a look at them from different perspective. This, in turn, would lead to another seemingly unsolvable problem, but this time the mouse would follow Dale's example and try to find and implement completely unconventional approach, achieving astonishing success. Sometimes the mere thought 'what would have Dale come up with in this situation?' helped her to find the long-sought solution, and with each new contraption Gadget noticed that she tends to think about it first and only then turn to the manuals and reference books…
"Drop it."
"What?" Gadget aroused. "Sorry, I got lost in thoughts…"
"Drop it," Dale repeated, pointing at the figure in the middle of the blueprint. It was the scheme of the stabilizer feedback mechanism and Dale's nail was aimed at the large disk in the middle.
"You mean it must be removed? But it's the main feedback transition element! Without it there will be no connection between the working surface and the contacts leading to the ailerons, so there won't be anything to close the electric circuit!"
"Oh sure there will be! You have copper plates at the base of the frame; they are large enough to touch both wires and much lighter in weight than the disk. Without this excess mass the formula 14-89 will give you a positive momentum, which, as far as I can see, is just what's needed. Besides, you've already considered its removal, so there won't be any prob— uhm, in short, drop it."
Deeply astonished, Gadget looked at Dale first, then at the schematics in question and, having abruptly pushed her chair to the desk, grabbed the pencil and started writing. Her hand literally flew over the paper with figures pouring from beneath it. She got so carried away with her work that didn't care to change the pose, and Dale got the rare chance to see her sitting not like a schoolgirl during the strict teacher's lesson, but spontaneously and very naturally. And very gracefully…
"Golly, Dale!" mouse exclaimed as she wrote the last line of the formulae. "It's— it's amazing! How you came up with this?!"
"I didn't, Gadget. You did. The first three formulas contain the mass and the surface integral based on the plates' dimensions, but the fourth and beyond use the disk's instead. You forgot to remove it from the scheme and…"
"Ohhh," Gadget shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't know how I missed that disk but I missed it. That is, I didn't missed it but left it, and because I left it, I left it all the formulas concerning the picture and later missed to remove it, and because I didn't remove it, I kept missing the parameters I left— that is, I kept leaving the parameters I missed— of the disk I missed to leave out… Golly, what was I talking about?"
"The missing disk which you left," answered Dale with a broad smile.
"You followed? I often have hard times following myself…"
"I had a lot of practice!" Dale's smile grew even broader. "Besides, I— uhm, I really enjoy you talking like that."
"Really?" Gadget didn't expect to hear something like that at all. "And I thought my speedtalking was confusing and tiresome…"
"Even if it is for someone, it's not for me!" chipmunk reassured her. "You look so excited at times like that, enlightened I would even say…"
"Oh, come on…" Gadget blushed and lowered her eyes.
"No, really! I mean it!"
"If I was as enlightened as you say, I'd have definitely caught it much sooner. I've been bashing at it for— for three hours already! And then you come along and 'Whoa, Gadget, look, here's the bug which you've been looking for three hours already…!' Oh, looks like I said that before…"
"You are enlightened, Gadget. Your writing's great. It's so logical and well-structured that even I can catch an error. That disk just wasn't logic; it didn't fit in your scheme at all, like an eyesore."
"Which means my eyes were so sore I didn't catch it…"
Dale squatted down and looked into her eyes. Because of the light from the table lamp her face was partly covered with shadows, but this penumbra wasn't nearly as dark as the shades under her eyes.
"You should rest," he spoke softly while touching mouse's palm
"Rest? Now? And leave all those endless possibilities your solution opened before me unchecked? There are plenty of them! With this disk gone and weight greatly reduced, I can use the space and mass reserves for— for anything! Electronic rotation limiter! Passive cooling system! Not to mention that now I can put some other device in it freeing the space for one of the contraptions I discarded due to the space and mass shortage! That's just fa-a-a—" inventor broadly yawned in the middle of the word, "a-antastic!"
"Gadget, you are sleepy…"
"No, Dale, that's just— that's just from the lack of oxygen! See?" she pointed her head at the direction where the window was, covered almost completely by the wing section of the future vessel. Dale looked there and all of a sudden he felt an urge to say…
"Well, we can take a walk… outside. The weather is fine, so… if you don't mind, that is…"
Mouse glanced at the blueprint ready and waiting at the table, but surmised that she would work more efficiently after a breath of fresh air, and nodded.
"You're right. It will be of great help, thanks!"
"You're welcome," Dale raised and helped her up. He led the way, still holding her gentle palm in his paw and constantly warning her about the incoming obstacles either with his voice or the dull sounds of bumping against them, with bumping clearly prevailing. But Dale wasn't noticing, his attention completely devoted to Gadget's safety
Having made their way out of the workshop, they quietly went downstairs and onto the porch. The freshness of summer night was a welcome, albeit slightly chilling, replacement for the compressed dry air of the crammed workshop. The mouse and the chipmunk sat down on the steps and Dale was happy to see the pallor and weariness slowly leaving Gadget's face as she inhaled the fresh and fragrant air of the central park. The gentle breeze played with her hair made silver by the moonlight coming through the dense foliage above them, with occasional stars seen in the rare gaps in it.
"It seems I haven't seen the stars for years…" mouse said, looking upwards at the little and infinitely distant lights. "It's hard to see the stars when your day is full of rescue missions, evening with workshop duties and the night with sleep or the aforementioned workshop duties…"
"Don't you think you overwork, Gadget? I mean, you seldom rest these days…"
"I need to finish the Ranger Foxbat. Then I'll have a rest."
"You are working on it for almost a month already, and all this time you leave the workshop only for a patrol or occasional mission or scarce sleep…"
"Well, I often sleep in the workshop…"
"Behind the desk. Very refreshing…"
"Dale, stop sounding like my—" mouse stopped, overwhelmed with sudden rush of feelings, but quickly regained self-control and finished, though obviously not the way she intended at first. "Like my mother!"
Dale didn't answer. He understood it all too well and didn't want to press her any further into the realm of sufferings and painful memories. Gadget chose to say 'mother' because she died when Gadget was too young, and the pain of this loss, though great nevertheless, was incomparable with her grief after Geegaw. She was thinking of him and only him, even now, when she was again looking at the night sky above, seeing not it but him with her eyes sparkling much brighter than before.
"Sorry, Gadget, I didn't mean to…"
"That's nothing, Dale," inventor answered in a low voice. Dale was right, after all. She had forgotten when she just sat like that on the porch looking at the night sky. She liked looking at the night sky. Her home bomber had a vast glazing, and in summer she slept on the dashboard in the cockpit in the sleeping-bag with the sky being the ceiling of her bedroom and the stars — her night-light…
"Maybe we should get back to headquarter and you'll sleep…" Dale inquired again seeing that Gadget wasn't angry anymore. Mouse shook her head.
"No. This night is just too perfect to miss it by sleeping."
"But—"
"It's alright. I'm so glad you took me out for a walk. It was a great idea, Dale."
"I'm glad you're glad," he answered with a smile and a great relief noticing that Gadget's mood was going up again.
"Too bad one can't see all stars at once…" mouse continued, addressing rather herself than Dale, but the chipmunk took her words very seriously.
"We can climb higher if you want. Then we'll see all of them. Or, at least, much more…"
Gadget smiled sadly.
"That's the point, Dale. No matter how high we'll climb, we won't see all the stars out there…"
"Why?"
"Because the top-most and the thinniest branches won't hold us, and there will always be at least one leaf between us and the sky…"
'Between us and the sky…' Dale repeated to himself. These words moved him so deeply that for a minute or two he just sat there thoughtlessly picking the flower at his lapel risking activating the sky-copter at any moment…
'And what if…'
Chipmunk glanced at the flower concealing the power switch. His hand seemed to act on its own, as if his subconsciousness was trying to show him the way and the means.
'Or is it my lucky suit?'
Very neat idea, to say the least. No, really, what else can know how to help Gadget than this tuxedo, made in her workshop, with her instruments and materials?
'Okay, you spoke with The Red Badger of Courage, who's next? The White Tuxedo of Wisdom?'
Dale sighed. Even Jackie Chan's ultra-sophisticated tuxedo wasn't that much of a help when the matter concerned feelings. How can his be of any help?
'Sure it can. But the first move and first words must be mine only…'
With that thought Dale turned to mouse and said with determination and conviction:
"No problem, Gadget. We can go higher."
"Higher? Higher than what, Dale?"
"Higher than the last leaf. And even higher than that."
"You mean Ranger Wing? But we'll wake everybody up!"
"No, Gadget, I mean the spy-copter."
Gadget looked at him in wide-eyed surprise.
"You mean the copter in your suit? I'm sorry, but I don't think it…"
"It will, Gadget. I improved it significantly. Replaced the blades with aluminum ones and added two more of them. And I increased their angle of attack and pitch, so they now produce much greater lift while working much quieter. And I tested it with additional weight. And I know that it will carry two passengers."
"Well…" mouse hesitated and then looked up again, feeling clearly that she wanted to accept his offer. This opportunity to see the unobstructed stars for the first time in a while was just too good to waste, and Dale spoke so confidently and assuredly…
"You know, Dale, I— I like this idea."
"Really?" Despite all the determination sounded in his voice Dale wasn't quite sure that Gadget would accept such an irregular offer, and he found himself caught off guard with her answer, which turned the moment from splendid into plainly surreal. "Well, then— then let's go! That is, let's fly!"
"Let's fly!" Gadget walked up to him. Dale carefully moved the power switch and telescopic axle rose from the back of his collar, and four thin blades stuck out to the sides with the sound of opening umbrella. They started rotating, not yet fast enough to tear Dale from the ground but enough to cause Gadget's hair flutter. Having stepped up close to him mouse put her hands around his shoulders. Dale took her on his arms and pushed the switch further upward. The low buzzing of electromotor hidden beneath the tuxedo grew louder, the blades went faster and the duo slowly took off into the air. By leaning his body from side to side Dale drove them around the branches and into the open air over the park. As soon as they left the tree canopy and a panoramic view of the city park opened between them, Gadget involuntarily clung closer to Dale and a thought occurred to her for the first time whether her wish to see the stars was a reason or just an excuse to accept his offer.
The view was indeed fascinating. As Dale was gaining altitude, the city park went further down and the street lights of the avenues surrounding it, previously hidden behind the trees on its borders, grew brighter and brighter, turning the park into a landscape masterpiece drawn by unknown artist and set into a golden frame. And as the trees disappeared below, the sky dome was seen in its densely stellated entirety. Gadget looked around amazed. For the first time in years she had a chance to glance at the open night skies, usually hidden behind the canopy of their tree or the Ranger Plane balloon. And even while flying Ranger Wing she seldom could allow herself to stare upwards, because controlling much faster and maneuverable aircraft demanded all her attention. Despite being capable of substantially greater speed, the Ranger Foxbat should be much more forgiving in this regard due to many sophisticated automatic control mechanisms she planned to install, the heart of which was the gyroscopic stabilizer. The pilot of the Foxbat will be able to point the vessel in the right direction and by pressing the single button place the aircraft under auto-pilot's control. It will allow him or her to settle back and look at the landscape and the skies behind the cockpit glass, knowing for sure that his fate is in reliable hands.
Just like she knew it now…
"Are you cold?" Dale asked anxiously having felt her fingers dipping further into the fur on his neck. "Wait a second, I'll descend…"
"No, it's okay," Gadget answered.
They were slowly drifting to the side driven by a wind coming from the right. Mouse rested her head on chipmunk's shoulder and looked at the sky, and her hair seemed to blend with his tuxedo. 'I wish it lasted forever' Dale thought. 'Or at least until morning…' Yeah, morning, time to wake up…
"Uhm, Gadget, would you mind a couple of circles over the park?"
"Not at all, Dale."
Chipmunk bent forward and they started moving. As the speed increased, he clasped Gadget closer, and she moved a bit to adjust to it.
"Don't worry, I won't let you down," Dale assured answering the tightening of her embrace.
"I know," mouse whispered. "Just like I knew it then…"
"'Then'? You— you mean…" chipmunk stammered, his thoughts runnig amok. "You mean…"
"The carpet ride," Gadget finished for him. "Don't you remember?"
Dale burst out a short but loud laugh.
"Who?! Me?! You ask whether I remember one of the brightest moments in my life? Oh boy, it was…" he paused again trying to find the most appropriate words. Then he spoke again, this time much slower, trying not to miss any piece of past emotions, with any light-mindedness absent from his voice completely.
"It was… special. I remember it as if it were yesterday. You climbed down those glass beads trying to rescue me from that carpet, but as it turned out, I had to rescue you instead. When you started falling I— I went crazy. And when I say 'crazy' about myself, I mean 'complete nuts'. I ran back and forth praying to find that one and only right spot to catch you… And then I did. I caught you. You fell into my arms, gazed at me with your star-sparkling eyes, said 'Thank you, Dale' and put your arms around my neck. I wasn't able to move or even to say anything… I just stood there, holding you, and you smiled— smiled to me, then closed your eyes and pressed your cheek against my shoulder… You were so graceful and so light I could have held you for hours and hours… You looked so— so tranquil and so— so close, if only for a second… But it was a very special second, at least for me…"
"For me too," Gadget quietly added.
"Really?"
"No, not really, but unreally special… You're right, it lasted for a mere second, even less than that, but— but during that second I felt so safe. I knew that nothing wrong can happen to me, nothing at all. It was the first time I felt that since—" she paused and looked slightly aside, and Dale saw the tears returning to the corners of her eyes. "Since my father was gone…"
The only words Dale was capable of saying were "Oh dear…" and "I'm sorry", as he felt guilty for reminding her of her loss for a second time in a row.
"No, Dale, you shouldn't be," Gadget said looking back at him. "For a long time these memories were the brightest aspect of my life I had, especially during the first year. Even all those traps…
"Against the salesmen?"
"Salesmen…" mouse smiled sadly. "Well, traveling salesmen were a nuisance for sure, but basically the sign reading 'No salesmen allowed' and a couple of plunger arrows were quite enough to hold even the most notorious at bay. But I kept building more and more traps. They grew bigger, more sophisticated and more deadly each time, but— but I didn't felt even a bit safer, Dale. No matter how many of them I installed, I still couldn't regain that feeling I had when my father was around, when he hugged me… Up until that ride…"
Her soft voice boomed in Dale's head like a ring of a huge bell. He remembered it all too well, all those arrows, weights and a bank safe falling around them as they slalomed across the hull of the bomber. And when Gadget told them all those things were aimed at the salesmen, he had no other way but to admit on the heels of Monterey Jack that the mouse girl they encountered wasn't fully sane. Now he was so ashamed of those thoughts that he would have hit himself in the head with all his might if it weren't for Gadget he was holding. He couldn't even say 'sorry', for she would think he ignored her request not to feel sorry, and so he said nothing, just leant to the left to make a u-turn, for they were already approaching the edge of the park. They flew in silence for some time, and Gadget was the first to break it.
"I'm so happy you came up with this idea, Dale."
"It wasn't me, actually. It was you. I just tried to do my best to fulfill your wish."
"And you managed to do it perfectly."
Dale grinned and countered.
"And for that you should thank not me but my suit."
"Is that so?"
"It is. If it weren't for it, we wouldn't be flying up here now."
Mouse decided to play along.
"So maybe I should address my gratitude directly to Dirk Suave? If it weren't for him and the movie about him, you wouldn't have worn the suit today, no?"
"Who knows," Dale shrugged his shoulders, "but Dirk Suave is too far away to hear us, while my lucky suit is here."
"Your lucky suit?" Gadget inquired.
"Yes, my lucky suit," chipmunk repeated.
"Well, considering that spy affair that followed…"
"I know," Dale nodded and went on after a short pause, because it took him some time to bring himself to tell her what he wanted to tell her, and to ask the question he wanted to ask for a very long time. "But I still consider it my lucky suit, because— because the very day I built it, you kissed me. It's a good sign, don't you think?"
Now it was Gadget's time to feel embarrassed as she turned beet red at the memory of that day and the unasked and unanswered questions it brought along with it. The tension of the fight for their lives that ensued blurred the significance of that moment. The missions and dangers that followed also made it sink deeper and deeper into the sands of time. But it was still there, just like that red dress in her wardrobe. More than just a few times she caught herself thinking about it, mostly as a part of her trying to walk in Dale's shoes. Not only then, though, and now was one of that rare occurrences. But it was much more vivid now, and the air around seemed compressed and electrified as if before the approaching thunderstorm. And somehow she knew Dale sensed it too…
"You know, Gadget, erm" Dale cleared his throat nervously, "it's been a long time since that but— but I'm still not quite sure… That is, quite not sure. I didn't ask you this question before, but now I just feel like asking it— that is, I know I must ask it…"
He inhaled deeply preparing to pronounce the question itself, but, as it turned out, there was no need for Dale to say it aloud, because mouse already knew it. And more importantly, she already knew the answer to it.
"No, Dale. It wasn't a part of the game."
"Wowie-zowie…" chipmunk grew staggered. "So you weren't…"
"I wasn't performing a role. That is, I was, but not in that part. My task was to give you a microfilm and a map and leave, but all of a sudden I found myself so close to you, with your face less than at arm's length and your lips only a couple of millimeters away and— and I kissed you."
"My first thought after that kiss… well, when I came back to my senses, that is, was 'I wish it were Gadget'. And when I discovered it were you, my first thought was 'I wish she had done it for real…' You know, I had never been kissed like that before, and I didn't want it to turn out just an act of, well, acting…"
"It wasn't acting, Dale. And I must admit—" Gadget paused being somewhat reluctant to confess it not even to Dale, but rather to herself, "that I had never kissed anyone like that before, too."
"Oh dear, oh dear" Dale mumbled visibly brightening after these words. The pessimist inside him who had been telling him all these years that it was just a role-playing and nothing else on Gadget's part, suffered a crushing defeat. "And you didn't believe when I said about my lucky suit…"
"I believe now," inventor answered, gently touching the lapel of the tuxedo as if speaking to it. Dale smiled at this thought. Maybe that was indeed the case, who knows? He spoke with imaginary heroes, and noticed Gadget saying something to the devices she was working on a couple of times. Yet another feature they both shared…
"Good to hear that," chipmunk said, "and I'm sure my suit is glad to know that you believe in it, too."
Gadget giggled at the notion of 'the sentient tuxedo', but found this game pretty exciting.
"Then I'm sure it— oh, sorry, he…"
Now it was time for Dale to laugh and to make the next u-turn. They flew high enough not to worry about the trees and the skies above the city park were empty at this hour.
"So, as I've said," Gadget continued when they stopped laughing, "I'm sure your suit will be even gladder to know that I'm very happy you built it and, more importantly, enhanced it so it could carry two of us."
"I know he is," Dale assured her. "While enhancing him I kept asking him 'Please, suitie, I know you can become even better than you are and I know you are strong enough to hold all these additional elements without tearing apart…'"
"Golly, you were indeed saying that? I also used to talk to my inventions and vehicles while working on them. Sometimes I even think I hear them answering… well, not like some voice from beneath the hull, obviously, but suddenly an idea pops up in my mind and I run to the desk and start writing and… Well, you saw today how it looks like, didn't you?"
"Sure I did," Dale answered and went on with his story. "And while showing new blades into the box they are kept in while folded I repeated 'Oh, come on, I know you can fold enough to go in the container and then go out when needed, at the same time remaining strong enough to hold me and Gadget in the air…'"
"What? You mean… Wait a minute; I thought you enhanced it so you could carry heavier loads while on the mission!"
"That was the idea, too," Dale nodded his acknowledgement, "but the main reason for me to try to make the spy-copter better was to make it hold two passengers. Me and you. That was the basic premise from which I proceeded to create it."
"Golly, Dale, so you— you did it with me on your mind?"
"I do everything with you on my mind, Gadget. I can even say that I live with you on my mind. You are my inspiration, without which I'd have never built anything more complicated than a false cat made of rags and sticks. But I have only to think of you, and the problem becomes solved all by itself… That's true!" he quickly added, noticing Gadget wonder-struck expression as she was trying to digest what she just heard. "Please, don't think I'm simply…"
"Don't, Dale," mouse interrupted him. There was no need for him to make any excuses, because she knew this feeling all to well. The problem was, she couldn't describe it, couldn't grasp in all entirety before. And just like in almost any recent case, it took her Dale's simple, but ingenious words to understand it. "I know it's true, Dale, because— because I experience that too when thinking about you."
"Wait… What?! How?! You—" Dale was ready to burst open with emotions boiling inside. "You mean that— that I inspire you?"
"Yes, Dale," Gadget nodded her accordance with the word she had been searching for for a very long time.
"But— But how can that be? I mean, I turn to you because you are so smart and know how to make things right according to all the laws and theorems and formulas. You are the example of how one must come to the problem — with a blueprint and a ruler and a pair of compasses. Without all these instruments I'd have never made any single of my crazy ideas a reality! You inspire me to be concentrated and methodical. But what can I teach you?"
"You taught me to dare to think beyond the boundaries. To dream, to set your imagination free from the doctrines which seem carved in stone and think of new ways, no matter how strange and unreasonable they may seem. Being self-taught, the books meant too much for me, and I used to seek advice from them. There's nothing bad in it actually, but only if you are able to forget the written rules and devise your own when needed. This is what you give me. And I must confess I can't work the old way anymore. I can't create anything without having walked in your shoes at first. Without— without thinking of you, Dale."
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy" Dale kept muttering as Gadget's words flowed. And her last phrase literally crushed him on the spot, like a train rushing out of tunnel with loud hooting.
"I can't spend a day without thinking of you, Gadget," he said, his mouth and tongue dry. "I try hard to be near you as much as possible, but the more time I spent with you, the longer the periods of not seeing you seem to me. It's like a vicious circle, from which one can't escape. Like some darned perpetual motion machine which can't stop…"
"Golly, Dale, don't you know that perpetual motion machine is a fantasy? Nothing can work indefinitely. Perpetual motion is impossible. Simply impossible. It must stop someday, no matter what it's made of…"
Gadget was saying something else, going deeper and deeper into the technical details, but Dale wasn't listening. He heard everything he needed to hear, and knew everything he needed to know. That was the pinnacle of the power of reason and imagination's ultimate flaw. Perpetual motion is indeed possible in one's mind only. But there it reigns supreme if left unchecked, because the energy of imagination is limitless, and the eternal machine will work with no problems, consuming the power of dreams and producing the equal, if not greater amount of nightmares, which in turn fuel it again and again. It takes a reason to understand that it's impossible, and as soon as you understand it, the nightmare will be over and you will be free to say and to do everything previously perceived as totally impossible…
"I miss you when you aren't around, Gadget," Dale said looking back at her.
"I miss you, too," she answered, looking right into his eyes.
"I adore you above all else," Dale continued.
"I feel the same about you," mouse said as she rested her cheek on his shoulder more comfortably and closing her eyes.
"I can't live without you."
"So can't I…"
"I love you, Gadget."
She opened her eyes and understood why Dale's whisper as he uttered the final phrase sounded almost as loud as his normal voice all this time. He was gradually leaning towards her as their dialog progressed, and now his face was only a point away, their noses almost touching. His eyes were closed, too, but then he opened them, disturbed with this long pause. Excessively long, for that matter, because no additional thinking or extensive research was needed to obtain the answer. Gadget's situation was exactly opposite to Dale's. While Dale needed to employ a power reason to crush imaginary wall, mouse just got to stop assessing everything as a theorem and listen to her feelings. Or, rather, to that one and only feeling, the sum of all others. Or the product. Or— well, that wasn't important at all…
"I love you, too…" Gadget said turning her muzzle to the side in order not to collide with Dale's wide nose, and their lips joined. They tighened their embraces, and even Gadget's tail which rested on Dale's during the flight came into action and span around chipmunk's waist, as if ensuring that he wouldn't dissolve into the night air. Neither of them did, albeit during the kissing they felt like separated from the outside world by some invisible but very thick curtain. But they knew everything was for real due to the rustling of the blades above them, their hands around one another and the taste of each other's lips, with each new kiss growing only sweeter…
"Dale, dear…"
"What?"
"I'm looking at you, right?"
"Yes, you are…"
"Uhm… And you're looking at me…"
"Only you…"
"Then I've got a question…"
"I'm listening…"
"Who's watching the road— uhm, the air?"
"Gadget, we're way over the trees and there no night birds in the city, so…"
"Then what is THAT?!"
Dale looked at the direction she pointed and saw the black spots of the crows rapidly growing in size, apparently waked up by the garbage truck passing through the deserted alleys. Chipmunk abruptly turned sidewards to avoid midair collision but the distance turned out too little to miss the flock altogether.
"SORRY!" the couple shouted back answering the angry croaking from behind.
"Uhm, Dale," Gadget asked upon finishing getting the fluff out of her hair, "are you sure this is your lucky suit? I mean, every time you wear it we run into some kind of trouble!"
"You know, Gadget, I thought about it…"
"And?"
"And concluded that no matter what, there was always something that made it worth all the risks. Am I right, my love?"
"Darn right…" Gadget answered with a giggle drawing closer to him. Dale bent over to meet her and simultaneously leant to the left entering yet another circle.
THE END