Chapter 1 The year is 2080
Author's note:
This story has been a journey in and of itself. I have sought help in these days, my debut work on the site. In all of this, I have to give thanks to those who have assisted me:
munkfeavor76
MRAY 4TW
Ben
Their contributions are appreciated, and I express my thanks. It has been a difficult ten chapters and were it not for them, it's likely that I would not have had made it thus far. I have enlisted further help from another reader, yet another who is committing himself to Beta'ing my work, a step they're taking to ensure that all you read is a fluid work of fiction. While we are not perfect individuals, that shouldn't stop us from doing what we enjoy to the best of our ability.
-SpyroDragonTime
The children all came rushing up to their grandfather, their youthful energy causing them to be all over the place. In their childhood exuberance, they called out eagerly to the one they sought. "Grandpa Si, Grandpa Si!"
Tim, Carla, Arthur, Selena, Anais, and Angela had effectively broken the elderly chipmunk out of his brooding, his mind losing his train of thought. He looked up to regard the children, and smiled not only with his mouth, but with his entire aged visage. With such white eyebrows and furring on his face that seemed to be accustomed to puckering, anyone would believe that he was wise beyond his years given his 'experienced' look, not even knowing that they were right in their assumptions. However, this didn't detract from his beaming smile that he radiated at them upon their arrival. "Oh, yes! What is it, little ones?"
"How come Grandpa Al and Grandpa Theo are always together?" Over the years, it had always puzzled many other people how the chipmunks sang and spoke together without prior rehearsal. While Simon had no idea at the time, it was his turn to feel the same way others may have had in the past when he heard the children speak together in perfect unison; that is, slightly unnerved.
"Ah, you mean the dynamic duo?" Simon asked back while raising his eyebrows.
"Yes." "Uh-huh!" "Yeah!" "Sure we do!" "You bet'cha!" The children exclaimed independently this time around.
Simon was still smiling somewhat, but it no longer reached his spectacled eyes as the memories of his past came flooding back to him. "Well, those two weren't always the dynamic duo that you see today."
"What?! What do you mean by that?" The children exclaimed at the same time.
"Well, when I was around your age, it was Theodore and myself at that time, not Alvin and fact, it was first Theodore and I due to the fact that our emotions and mindsets were more compatible," Simon went on to further explain, hoping that this would sate their inquisitiveness.
The grandkids all cocked their heads to the side, almost in the way curious puppies do. "Oh. What happened to the two of you, then?" One of them asked.
"We sort of… just grew apart." Simon said to the probing children.
The grandkids looked from one to another, asking the same question to themselves in their mind. 'Why would they grow apart?' Their three grandfathers seemed so close. Believing that they might have dredged up bad memories, Arthur spoke up quickly, hoping to change the subject and his grandfather's mood along with it.
"Oh. We didn't know. Anyway, we're always seeing that very old music CD that's above your bed on the shelf, standing up in a support frame as if it's on display. Who are those chipmunks on the cover picture? Are they you, Grandpa Al and Grandpa Theo? And who're the rest?"
Simon hobbled over to where the CD was located, chuckling the whole time. "One question at a time, one question at a time, Arthur!" After retrieving the CD from where it was, he presented it to the children while pointing at each of the chipmunks on it in turn.
"That's all of us; you know them as Grandma El, Grandma Brit, Grandma Jen, Grandpa Al, Grandpa Theo and I, Grandpa Si." He pointed at himself at the last with a pleased smile on his face. "Not including Grandpa Chip, Grandpa Ian, Grandma Ashley and Grandma Gadget. Our full names were Eleanor, Brittany, Jeanette, Alvin, Theodore and myself, Simon. Yes," Simon nodded to children as he allowed the names to roll off of his tongue with contented emotions, "those were our full names." He pointed at the picture of himself last, but the children easily picked him out; he was still wearing blue clothing after all these years, and the glasses were a giveaway as far as hints were concerned.
"We were called 'Alvin and the Chipmunks', along with the Chipettes. We were a famous band, and we were one of the top pop bands in the world. Alvin and Brittany sang lead as the front-singers, Theodore and Eleanor sang harmony, while Jeanette and I sang backup and melody. That was our last song that we sang as a group, on that CD." Simon laughed to himself. "This CD might be the last one of its kind, so all things considered, this is also a collector's item now; after all, it's rare enough."
The kids were shocked, but still reacted,"Wow! How come Chip, Ian, Ashley and Gadget are not on it?"
"Well, the other four chipmunks weren't with us yet and did not become a part of our family picture until several years later." Simon's reply was low, reminiscence was thick in his tone. He hoped that his drop in emotions wouldn't be noticed, however.
Then Tim, Carla, Arthur, Selena, Anais, and Angela looked at each other, before Angela put forward her question. "How come you always look very sad? I saw that you almost cried when you looked at Grandpa Al on the cover. Did Grandpa Al sing? What happened to his voice? He had to be able to sing if he was a front-man, right? But he's mute now."
Shrugging off the fact that Angel had recognized his emotional lapse, Simon answered. "It's a very painful memory of what had happened a very long time ago. Alvin was involved in an accident, along with Theodore and me. Alvin paid a significant price when he tried to save me. I… it was my fault the accident happened in the first place, and he-…"
Simon just couldn't hold back the tears after saying that. The children gave him a little time for him to collect himself before Angela continued. "He lost his voice, didn't he?"
The old chipmunk could only nod in response. To help console him, they hugged him tightly, as if they would never let go, in the way only children could. Simon felt a bit better, but not much. Just then, however, Alvin and Theodore both walked into the house. They had marvelous timing; he suspected that they had overheard what had been said in the 'privacy' of his house. Simon lived a far ways from where Alvin and Theodore lived, but they were sure to have been overhearing everything he and the grandkids have been saying. No one knew how they could do such things, but suffice to say, it was something they were able to do. It was really easy to entertain some speculation that it was from an event that had taken place during their youth.
Alvin turned to Theodore and used sign language to communicate something to him; this passed quickly and efficiently, scarcely a second before the younger of the brothers would speak in Alvin's stead. "Alvin says: 'Simon, you need to forgive yourself. After all what happened was an accident'. And I agree, Simon," Theodore mumbled the last mostly to himself, but he was sure that Simon still heard him.
The old chipmunk who was still sitting with the children shook his head, his cheeks still glistening from the tears as he focused on Alvin. His voice cracked in the sadness of the moment, "How those ten words… those ten words that I said to you sixty-three years ago still haunt me."
"I went through the same thing that you are still going through Simon. The only difference is that I forgave myself with Alvin's help, and you haven't," Theodore spoke. "I also said something to him before the experiment went wrong that I still remember to this day. What you didn't know is that Alvin had begged me to call you and to ask you to do your experiment outside. So I felt guilty for not calling you and for what I had said to him. I'm also to blame, so you're not alone in this!"
Simon wiped away the tears using his arms before looking at his brothers. "I have tried everything I can to let go and forgive myself; but the one thing that I miss the most is Alvin's voice. The other thing that bothers me, as well as Jeanette, is that we couldn't learn sign language, which is terribly ironic. We have read thousands of books on the subject and have watched countless hours of videos on the internet just to try to learn it."
Alvin scratched his chin briefly in thought before an idea came to him, which he then told Theodore via sign-language. Theodore spoke for him, "do you still have your old guitar? And can I borrow some cotton balls, Simon?"
Simon pointed to his bedroom closet, tears still welling up in his eyes that were beginning to smear the insides of his glasses. The little ones were still hugging their grandfather; while it helped, the progress was slow, as in the fashion of a river that was succumbing to the effects of a drought. Alvin took notice of this as he walked to Simon's bedroom; he turned around and signed something to Theodore, who nodded in return.
Theodore turned his attention to Simon. "Simon, do you trust us? I know Alvin has a plan." Simon merely nodded his head. "We want you to close your eyes, and this goes for the little ones as well. We are going to play a very old song, well… old to us, but new to all seven of you and we just want you to just to listen to the song."
Alvin returned with the guitar and some cotton balls which he then stuffed into Theodore's ears and his own. This confused Simon, but he decided not to ask about it.
When Alvin starts to play 'Walk the line' on his guitar, Simon and the others close their eyes before Theodore starts to sing… but to Simon's confusion and shock, he hears Alvin singing. Over the years, Theodore had learned how to imitate Alvin's voice by listening to songs that Alvin had sung before the accident robbed him of his voice. Theodore has so mastered singing in Alvin's voice that no one could tell the difference. It was a perfect mastery of tone and tempo.
After the song was over, Simon opened his eyes abruptly before dashing (as only an old chipmunk could) over to his older brother, and hugged him. "I-I m-m-missed y-your v-voice s-so b-bad, but how?" Simon had longed to hear Alvin's voice again. This was by far the most welcome surprise he'd had in decades.
"What you heard was me singing, not Alvin." Theodore said, "We didn't want you to be even more miserable, and we did not want to try to trick you either. We are sorry about that." Once Theo stopped talking Simon went over to his younger brother and gave him a hug.
Simon shook his head while a smile traced his lips. "If it was a trick, I appreciate the effort, Theodore." He turned to Alvin as well. "You too, Alvin. Thank you."
Alvin's hands moved rapidly to communicate. "If you don't forgive yourself, you're never going to heal on the inside. Now is the time to let go and be whole again, if I can forgive you, then you can forgive yourself."
Theodore was just about to tell Simon what he had said; that's when Simon said, "I… I think I can understand what you just said to me, Alvin. I understand the meaning behind the song." Simon spoke a light tremor in his voice as tears of happiness glistened in his eyes.
"Theodore, you gave me the best gift of all, and you gave me what I missed the most, thank you, thank you, thank you. You're right; I do need to forgive myself. Thank you; both of you for helping me to understand."
"Theodore and I have always kept an eye on both of you and helped you when you did not want us to help. Just know that we will always keep an eye on both of you no matter what." Theodore translated for Alvin.
"Alvin, Theodore, even though I have pushed both of you away, more times than I can count, I'm ashamed to admit, I'm glad that you both still tried to help me over the years and never gave up." Simon looked to both of his brothers with teary eyes as he said those words.
"Big brother Alvin told me something that I did not quite understand at that time, but I figured it out a little later that night. What he said to me was 'look, Theodore, you need to forgive yourself, it was an accident that none of us saw coming. I don't want to lose any of my only brothers who mean the world to me, the accident has made me realize just how much I could have lost and has made me so grateful to find what I never realized. I have family who I love dearly.' I took those words to heart, Simon!"
"I just wish I could have understood what you were trying to do for me all those years ago. I want to thank both of you again for helping me deal with my guilt and shame." Simon said to both of his brothers feeling better about himself now. It was a little, but it was going a long way.
"It's what brothers are for," Theodore answered with a smile.
"What brings you to my library anyways?" Simon asked. While the brothers were finally coming to terms with each, the children merely sat and watched. They didn't want to interrupt this special moment that had obviously been building for a long time; precisely why they wanted to stay and listen. They were also hoping to learn more about their somewhat secret pasts which wasn't usually something spoken of very often.
"Well, Alvin, myself and the rest of us, wanted to ask you if you are up to going to see Dave tomorrow. We know that you always go with us to visit him in the cemetery. But in the past, you weren't up to wanting to go, but went anyway. Tomorrow is his birthday after all." Theodore asked Simon.
Simon looked thoughtful for a moment. "This is the first time in my life that I want to go. And can we also see our parents, or what we think could have been our parents' grave site as well?"
Theodore then places his paw on his brother's arm. "We'd be delighted to take you there as well. Oh! Here is a very old letter from Dave that he wrote when he was very sick. Dave made us promise not to give it to you, or open it, until you finally forgave yourself for what had happened. Dave even put tinfoil on the inside of the letter, just so that no one else could look through to read it. Obviously, he didn't want to take any chances. We know that you'll want some private time with Dave when you visit him."
Simon gazed at the letter solemnly for a moment before coming to a decision. "I'll read the letter at the grave site tomorrow. Dave must have had a reason why he asked you to hold the letter. Thank you both for helping me again."
Alvin used sign-language and Theodore speaks for him. "Both of us knew that you were very close to Dave and he also knew that we don't break promises. Well… mostly." They laughed at that, before Simon resumed.
"Well, he knows how you two are; I still can hear him yelling 'Alvinnnnn! Theodooorre!' when the two of you got into trouble." Simon said with a chuckle. Alvin had a wry smile as he shrugged as if he was innocent. They all laughed at that.
"Yeah, we kind of drove him crazy at times." Theodore said to Simon as well as speaking for his brother. "Although it was mostly Alvin's fault." They all laughed again at this, save for Alvin who merely pouted in wry humor.
"Do both of you still have nightmares from what happened so long ago?" His two brothers' nodded nod their heads indicating a "yes", and remained quiet for a bit, long enough for Arthur to want to break the silence.
"For the song that Grandpa Theo just sang, is that what Grandpa Al sounded like before he lost his voice?"
All three brothers nodded their heads.
Simon scratched his head sheepishly. "Theodore, even though I can finally understand sign language, can you, well, um..." He trailed off, unsure of how to voice what he wanted without sounding too awkward.
The green-clad hooded chipmunk grinned as he realized what his brother was trying to say. "Of course I will! Besides, I have gotten so used to talking for Alvin that it would feel uncomfortable for me if I didn't talk for him. Also, yes, I can speak in Alvin's voice just around you when he uses sign language. That's what you wanted to ask me, isn't it?"
Simon replied with a nod, before Theodore went on. "So that you know, I learned how to mimic Alvin's voice decades ago. I always talk for him in his voice when he asks me a question, and I answer him back in my voice. I'm just not allowed to do it in front of our wives; it freaks them out too much." Theodore mumbled mostly to himself. "Besides, that's not the only voice I can copy."
Simon laughed in amusement at his younger brother's rambling. "Well, some things never change."
"Good to hear that you are now at peace with yourself, Simon." Theodore said to Simon.
Alvin laughed in mute before using sign-language to Theodore: "Why don't we all go to our place for chipmunk treats, I know little sister always has some in stock in our kitchen. This applies to you too, Simon; you, big, pink, hairless rat."
Theodore used sign language to discretely answer his brother, momentarily forgetting that Simon could now understand what he was 'saying'. "Hey, you forgot to add 'diaper boy'."
"Hey! Have both of you been calling me that for the last sixty-three years?! I resent being made fun of for something that happened over 60 years ago! How was I supposed to know that the experiment was going to remove my fur?! It grew back, didn't it?" Simon raised his voice, in complete disbelief.
Alvin nods his head as well as Theodore, but Theodore's the only one to laugh audibly after hearing Simon's outburst.
Simon slapped himself on his forehead in exasperation. 'I can't believe those two have been calling me that in sign language for the last sixty-three years and I didn't even know it.' "One of these days the four of you are going to have to tell me your secret of looking so good and young. The four of you even live in one household! Which I still can't believe you haven't tried to kill each other since you're mingling all the time. And don't you mean doggie treats? They're not chipmunk treats… although they are delicious. Color me hypocritical for trying them too."
"How did Grandpa Al get the three long scars across his chest? Why does Grandpa Chip, Grandpa AL, Grandpa Theo and Grandma Ash have those weird-looking silver things in their ears?" Anais asked.
Simon replied; "I will tell you about that later today and about those weird-looking silver things, those are ear tags from long ago."
"What are ear tags?" Selena asked innocently. Although her question was more-or-less ignored, it was done purposefully as Alvin realized that there was far more ignorance in the village than he could have imagined. Generations upon generations have grown, unknowing of what had transpired, leaves unaware of their roots.
Alvin quickly verbalized in sign-language, which Theodore translated. "I think it's time that we tell everyone everything that happened so long ago. Let's swing by at Talbot's House as well, just so he that he can fill in some of the parts that he knows best. He does enjoy chipmunk treats, too. Should be fun, right?"
"They're dog biscuits," Simon corrected again. "But you're right about that. It is time that we tell them everything. The entire village." Alvin and Theodore nodded their heads in response. "Let's all go to the center of the village."
Simon prepared to address everyone who had gathered in the in the center of the village, which was a surprising amount given the short period in which the six children had informed them to come. He had brilliant oratory skills, and he was about to put them to good use. "To the chipmunk clan and friends, all of you have been asking a lot of questions, and now I'm going to tell you the truth… the truth that has been long overdue. All of your questions will be answered in this story that I'll tell with the help of my brothers, friends and wives to all of you. It starts sixty-three years ago in the year 2017 when there were just the six of us. The original six chipmunks."
Author's notes:
*'Walk the Line' is sung and owned by Johnny Cash. Last I checked my Birth Certificate, it didn't say that my name is Johnny Cash; therefore, I don't own the song.
-The (Original) chipmunks are at age 72.
-The chipmunk clan and friends have over 100 members each side and now they are currently in the 4th generation along with there friends as well.
-The village leaders are Alvin, Theodore, Brittany, and Eleanor.
-The pairs are: Alvin & Brittany, Theodore & Eleanor, Simon & Jeanette, Ashley and Chip, Ian Hawke and Gadget.
Each pair of chipmunks has 4 pups (AKA kids).
Each pair of chipmunk friends also have 4 Wokling each (AKA kids) and there are 5 pairs.
-The ear tags (earlier mentioned) are in both ears.
-Alvin, Theodore, Ashley and Chip are the only ones that got ear tags that can never be removed. Just like there friends ear tags.
-The 10 elderly chipmunks are the last of their kind. At the risk of giving spoilers, no more shall be said about this topic at this time.
-All the Chipmunks live in a village, along with friends. You will read about their friends later in the story as well as the village.
-The Chipmunks and the friends are 12 inches tall
-It is mandatory that everyone in the village learns sign language, due to Alvin's circumstances and a few friends.
-The village is very well hidden on earth from people.
-The chipmunks' village a long with friends has its own rules and laws that they live by.
-Talbot is now the village guardian. He keeps the village safe from most people. He also sees the whole village as his family.
Beta's Note: Hello. To the previous Beta's (and/or co-writer) before me, I thank you for helping out an aspiring writer on this site. I hope to do my best and carry on the torch in your stead. It is my sincerest wish that you will all be successful in your separate endeavors. Of this family that shares a love of fanfiction, I pray that I'll amend this story to ensure that the work is fluid, easy to follow and worthy of being added to your 'favorites' list. Even if this does not become the case, it shan't discourage SpyroDragonTime, nor shall it discourage me, as this is done mostly for our own enjoyment and our desires to share it with you.
While I can not promise that my editing will be perfect, I shall try my best. That, I can promise.
-Vos Mos Amplio.