Funny story, I got the whim to do another Alvin and the chipmunks story. Probably because the person I'm being a Beta Reader for only does Alvin and the Chipmunks stories, yes is a shout out for you Simon wanna be. For this, I thought I'd write something a little different than a romance, so experimental beam, start! XD
It's funny how finding out something can alternate your entire future, most would think Simon Seville would end up as a world famous scientist, or win a Nobel Peace Prize at least. Alas, that isn't what happened. I got a view of the future and it was glorious, that isn't what happened. My life is very different indeed. But not really in a bad way.
~Break Break Break~
"Simon! Have you finished it yet!" Alvin squealed , I was making him a 'portal to the future'. It was to show all of us, Alvin, Brittany, Theodore, Eleanor, Jeanette, and I what would happen to us in the future. I have tried to do this before but that was in 6th grade and the wring was impaired, also known as, the futures weren't quite right. Now that I am a senior in high school, I knew I could get the wiring right after many months of classes in physics and mechanical classes. This should give us a accurate view of the future.
"I'm almost finished Alvin." I sighed, he was so impatient, something he never quite grew out of, much to Dave and I's dismay.
"How much longer?" He whined.
"Yea, how much longer?" Brittany asked, standing beside him with Alvin's arm around her waist. She had recently gotten into the new fad of Jersey accents despite the fact we were still in Illinois. The odd thing is, Alvin loved it. Gracious, I often wonder what goes through that boy's head.
" Hmm, give it an our, Jeanette and I will set it up outside and call you out when it's ready." Jeanette smiled at me though her thick glasses. This was a labor of love for both of us. Probably in more ways than one.
"Fine, whatever." Brittany said as she popped her bright pink bubble gum, one thing that hadn't changed about Brittany was her love of pink. Everything else about her had... shall we say, matured?
"Come on babe, let's go, I thought Simon was a genius but it turns out he isn't, if he was, he would have had it done by now." He smirked at me with an evil grin. A pang of anger rippled through out my body, I WAS a genius, why did I need Alvin's approval? Wasn't I the independent Smion Seville?
Jeanette put an hand on my quivering shoulders and pulled me into a hug. She knew I got these spells every once in a while, especially is a project meant a lot to me.
"Simon," She whispered to me "What's the matter, I know Alvin's approval means a lot to you, but it's getting a little insane." I clenched my teeth. She was going to talk about my feelings again, why does she do this to me? Then again, scratch that, why do all my girl friends do this to me.
"I don't quite know, it's just a problem I've had since 8th, something about Alvin warning me that a project of mine wasn't going to work, and it didn't, it was a real blow to my courage in the field of science."
"I see... Well let's get to work on this portal, if you do this you might get your courage back and not have to rely on Alvin's praise!" She beamed, that's what I loved about her, ever the optimist.
I screwed in the last screw and cleaned off my work table. Jeanette got to work on painting the rim a light shade of purple. Since 9th, Jeanette had gotten in to painting, she loved science too, but found her 'people' to be the artsy type. Most shy, all creative, just her type of people.
After painting the rim with spray paint she motioned for me to sit. "It might take a little while for the paint to dray, give it about 15 minutes." Her large indigo eyes looked up at me, how did I get so lucky as to have Jeanette for a girlfriend?
15 minutes later we took the portal out into the yard along with it's own power generator, I wasn't about to blow up the house for an experiment. At least not after Dave had to buy a new house because of it. I whistled to the rest of the house that the Portal was done. Alvin and Brittany were obviously the first ones out but Eleanor and Theodore were right after them.
Since we had entered High school Theodore and Eleanor had changed quite a bit. Theodore decided to start swimming with Ellie in her attempt to loose the baby fat so they were both pictures of model health compared to middle school where they were teased constantly. Ellie explained it as their 'High School Debut'. And indeed they both became quite popular, especially with Theodore's and Eleanor's cooking skills, they were a 'must have' at parties.
"Ladies and gentleman, here is a view of our futures!" I exclaimed proudly.
"We worked very hard on it." Jeanette added quietly.
"So if all of you will kindly surround the mirror," I motioned as I flipped the on-switch. "Now you all may notice the dial on the bottom, this is your year choice, choose the year and it will show you where you will be on this very date, March 30th in the year you choose." Jeannette nodded to me, "The painting job was done by our lovely friend Jeanette." I motioned to her, light clapping ensued. "Finally the names on the dials is all of you, select your name on the dial and choose your year, that should be about it."
Alvin and Brittany ran toward the mirror first, Theodore and Ellie staying behind in the common courtesy way.
"I'm going first!" Alvin proclaimed.
"No, it's got to be me, MY sister Jean did just as much work as your dork-ish brother Simon, also I want to go first!"
"But it was MY brother Simon's ideas in the first place!" Alvin yelled back at Brittany.
I lightly pushed them out of the way to make room for Theodore and Ellie who they had already decided would let Theodore go first.
He turned the nobs to Theodore, 2030, he would be roughly 29, almost 30. Due to the fact was currently 2017 and he was 17 years old, a young senior, but one none the less. Then again we were all young, we would be turning 18 in a week or so, which guess made us a normal age.
An image appeared on the screen, even Alvin and Brittany stopped fighting to see what Theodore and Eleanor's future was.
A picture appeared on the screen of Eleanor rolling out dough in a yellow kitchen surrounded by flowers of all kinds. And a very pregnant Ellie being 'helped' by Theodore. A ring came from the background as Theodore left Ellie asnd walked over to the door to greet in a customer. Or at least that's what I presumed. Theodore stationed him self behind a cash register "How can I help you today Mr. Stevens?" He asked grinning.
"The usual Theo, this time can I also have some of those lovely flowers you grow in the green house? I know you don't usually give them out but Sally's birthday is today and I don't know anywhere else that has as beautiful flowers as your green house." He smiled. "I'll pay you too! I know that..."
"Don't worry about it , you can have them for free." Ellie smiled wiping some sweat off her brow, Sally deserves some flowers after all you have been through with loosing your house and all." She smiled sweetly. He ran over to Ellie and promptly hugged her,
"Thank you, thank you so much." He whispered.
"Just don't tell anyone where that came from," She winked at him, "I don't want this place swarmed." She laughed. "Now what type of flowers do you want?"
"Do you have any white Lilies?" He asked.
"Yes, we do." A little girl's head popped out from behind the counter holding a package of white lilies mixed with some baby's breath, and 3 red roses.
He rubbed the little girls head, "I see Margie still has an eye for flower decorating." He laughed. Another little boy promptly grabbed him around the leg. "Martin!" I knew you would be around here!" He laughed. The little boy released the man's leg. He looked up at Ellie, "When is the next one due?" He asked.
"Any day now," Ellie smiled.
"Do you have a name picked out?"
"Names, she corrected, their triplets." She smiled.
"Oh! You didn't tell me!"
"I know, I'm sorry, I wanted it to be a surprise! "She laughed.
"ARG! SNOOZE FEST!" Alvin yelled next to the portal. He grabbed the dial and twisted it to his name. Brittany then turned it to her name.
"Hey what did you do that for!" Alvin yelled.
"Relax Alvin, you'll be next." I sighed, the screen was black for a few seconds before changing to a bar scene, a drastic contrast to the calm life of Theo and Ellie.
Brittany was shown standing with her hands on her hips,
"Alvin, you REALLY need to teach these drunkards how to clean, I've been up since 6 cleaning these freaking tables!"
"Idiot, you can't teach drunkards how to clean." Alvin and Brittany looked exhausted. The dark atmosphere of the bar almost reeked of smoke and alcohol.
"Not tell me again how we got here?" Brittany asked Alvin who looked like a businessman who was stuck working the night shift at work.
"Bad life choices, too confident, pretty much how everybody ends up working a bar." Alvin sighed.
A man walked in, professional looking holding a briefcase. He sat down at one of the tables Brittany had just cleaned. He placed his briefcase on the table.
"Coffee please." He said to Brittany.
"Coming right up Sarge, anything else we can interest you in?" Brittany said to him, he back facing the man as she poured a cup of coffee.
"Hmm, how about those new poppy seed bagels you just got in." He asked.
"Well there's only one or 2 left, they might be a little stale." She said, her back still facing him.
The man laughed heartily. "What isn't stale around here?" She laughed. "Black as usual I guess?"
"Yep, and I'll take those 'stale' poppy seed bagels."
Brittany turned to him as he pulled out a newspaper.
"Woah! Where did you get that?" Brittany asked pointing at his newspaper.
"Haha, I knew you'd comment on it, I watched an old movie last night and the guy was reading a newspaper, so I went to an antique store and bought one, thought it sounded like a cool idea.
"Man you are quite the antique enthusiast." Brittany laughed a tired laugh.
"Rough night?" He asked her.
"Yea," Brittany said as she rubbed the back of her head. "They started a bar fight again."
"Oh Britt, do you need help?"
"Alvie's doing the best he can in the back, the replacement cook doesn't know anything about where everything goes. Now the spoons are in with the scoops and the..."
"Shh," he wrapped Brittany into a hug. "Calm down." Brittany began to sob.
"You guys DO NOT need to see this she said, covering up the screen with her body."Don't you have something else to do besides watch 30 year old me cry her eyes out!"
She shooed everyone away as she began to cry and Alvin wrapped his arm around her. I heard him whisper to her" This won't happen, we WILL change our future." Every one began to leave.
I stepped forward, "Let's look at ours."
"Okay." Jeanette whispered.
I turned the dial to me in 2030. On the screen appeared Me sitting reading a book, Jeanette with her arms wrapped around my shoulders. I could see in the background awards, and even the Nobel Peace Prize. My dream comes true! The house was large, and I looked happy, that's all I knew. I was happy.
"Jeanette, it looks like we know how we turn out." I smiled. I tuned off the viewer. "Looks like everything turns out okay for us. "I hugged Jeanette."
"Yea." She she said quietly.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"Something doesn't seem right." She sighed,
"You saw the viewer, nothings going to happen." I said to her, relax.
"Okay, I trust you." She said quietly. "I trust you."
17 years later
"Simon, are you sure you want to give up being a scientist, it's always been your dream!" Jeanette protested.
"I know, but the viewer was wrong, I'm no scientist, I needed Alvin's backing, so I think we should just give up and try something else."
"Simon, is that you? The Simon I know would never give up that easily."
"I've been beaten, Jean. The real world is hard."
"I know, but that doesn't mean you should give up!" She cried. "I married you because your Simon Seville, the amazing scientist, my best friend since, forever. What happened?"
"Okay, here's what happened, you remember when we made that invention that shows the future?"
"Yes."
"After Theodore and Eleanor saw their future, Brittany bumped the dial, it broke something in it, it became the opposite of what really is to happen. I just found this out last week. Alvin and Brittany are some of the most famous singer duet in America, and very popular in other countries, what we saw, is the opposite of what is to happen to us. I thought something was up when after the viewer broke I couldn't create any other inventions, it's like I was locked out of that side of my brain."
"Simon! What are you talking about! Sure your experiments have been failures as of late but that doesn't mean you should give up!"
"I know, Jeanette, I'll give it one more week, I'll try to invent something, we'll leave the rest up to fate." I sighed, it wasn't like me to give up so easily but life had been the opposite of what the viewer had shown. Our house was foreclosed on a mere year after Jeanette and I got married and moved into it, we had been in and out of homeless shelters, finally we bought an apartment and got simple jobs, minimum wadge. What had happened to us?
1 week later
I walked by an old carnival, it had been here since I was a child, now it was being torn down, the demo was tomorrow.
I walked up to the gate "May I ride the carousel?" I asked the tired looking man behind he booth.
"suppose so, it's getting torn down tomorrow, help your self." I started up the old carousel and rode until the time limit ran out. I sat on my favorite character, a white horse. I sat there and looked around at where I had spent so much of my youth, so many ideas came from this place. Even the idea for the viewer came from the house of mirrors. I sat and simply broke down, why was life going to way it was. A pair of arms slipped around me and hugged me tight. I didn't even have to look up, I knew it was Jeanette form the smell of her perfume.
"You know, different isn't necessarily bad..." She said
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I think we should buy this." She patted the side of the carousel.
"Well that's an odd and very questionable purchase Jeanette." I said, thinking about the national economy.
"Look, here's how I see it, kid's love carousels, teens love carousels, you love carousels and your an adult. It seems smart to me, just price it like they do at zoos, 1 dollar per person per ride, for adults and teens 2 dollars."
"Isn't that a little expensive?" I asked.
"Yes, but that's how they do it at zoo's you can make reasonable money. Buy this and we can buy a plot of land in central park, move this there and start charging."
"Isn't it expensive to do all that?" I asked.
""Yes, but we have the money." She smiled.
"last time I checked..."
"No, we have the money." She hesitated, as she pulled out her locket that was the only thing she had left of her mother after they were given up for adoption.
"Jeanette no you can't..."
"It's pure gold Simon." She looked up at me with those beautiful Indigo eyes. "We need to do this." She sighed.
"But it's foolish!"
"No, it's not." She paused looking up at the darkening sky. "It's slightly selfish of me but since I was little I have wanted to make kids happy, see their smiles when they do something fun. This carousel is 200 years old, did you know that?" She subbed the side of the old carousel, "I can't let it be destroyed, like you I have grown up on this, I've always felt like a princess riding the royal looking horses, the wind whipping through my hair and the music playing, I felt special. I remember being so disappointed when my turn ran out, and these machines, their so uncommon these days, so many children who will never get to experience the joys of a carousel, this carousel. So Simon, will you aid me in my selfish wish to save this carousel?"
She smiled a glowing smile, like me, this place meant a lot to her. I couldn't take away something from her she loved. I looked over at her, she rubbed her locket.
"You've given a lot of thought to this." I sighed.
"Yes, mother would have wanted this too, I've been told I'm like her." She smiled. "Will you allow me ?" She asked, extending her hand out to me.
"Yes." I smiled. She jumped off the horse next to mine and grabbed my hand as we walked through the cool spring night air. The stars beginning to appear above our heads as silhouettes extended along the grounds from the dim lights that lit the park at a certain time of night. As we walked out of the park we walked over to the man in the booth who was ready asleep. Jeanette tapped on the window as he his eyes opened sleepily.
"Y..yes?" He asked.
"Are you the owner of this land?" She asked.
"Yes, for the rest of today, so until midnight." He said rubbing his eyes.
"Can we buy the carousel?" She asked.
"Uh sure if you can get it out before demo..."
"How much do you want for it?" She asked.
"Um, hows about 500 dollars?" He asked.
"I'll do it, if you can wait a few minutes I'll get you ash for it."
"Okay." He said sleepily. "Just get it out before midnight." With that he promptly fell back asleep.
Jeanette ran off to a gold pawn store nearby. She entered the small sleepy room, dimply lit with the only light flickering off every few seconds. The bell rang behind us, signaling that we were coming in. A older man hobbled into the room. "How can I help you?" He asked.
"We would like to sell this." She said quietly. The old man's kind eyes met with Jeanette's who was holding back tears.
"Dear, this obviously means a lot to you, are you sure you want to sell it?" He asked.
"Yes... I'm achieving my dream." She said.
A smile drifted across his face. "You know there's not many people like you left in this world, willing to give up something they live to achieve a dream.
"I know." She smiled, "How much is it worth?"
"Well in this economy, about 3 thousand. If you waited a few months for the price of gold to go up you would get a lot more money."
"I know, but I need to buy this before midnight, so three thousand is fine." The man wandered over to the cash register and pulled out 3 thousand dollars in hundreds, it was as if he knew we would need hundreds.
"Here." He handed over the money to Jeanette, he gave a weary smile to her. "Thank you for your business."
"Have a great rest of the day!" She called over her shoulder to the man, but he was gone.
1 month later
It was opening day of the Carousel which we had affectionately restored and called the 'Carousel of Dreams' in honor of Jeanette, and the dream she had of owning a carousel which I didn't know she had until last month. She sat on her favorite white and gray carousel horse which was next to my white one, Little did any one know, we had written our names on the bottoms of the horses we loved so much during the restoration.
We sat there, enjoying the last few minutes of blessed silence before the opening. She hugged me tightly as the crowd began to form around us. As it turned out the park granted us the space for the carousel for free after finding out about Jeanette's dream to make people happy, particularly the kids. The park curators were already planning on finding something to put in that area of the park and the Carousel was perfect. We had more space than we needed so with the remaining money we bought a large screen to show movies on like in those drive through theaters and a small amount of playground equipment. It was designed for families, especially at night where they could play and watch a movie. The park agreed to let us have the land for free provided we took care of it and it remained geared towards family's. It was a real miracle, and as much as I hated to say it, I was the happiest I had been in a long time.
"It's time Simon." She said, rubbing my back."
"I know." I whispered to her as I grabbed the bull horn from her. I looked at my watch, 8 o'clock, it's show time. I walked out onto the edge of the carousel with Jeanette next to me.
"Greetings everyone, on this day of March 30th we have decided to open this new part of central park for the families out there, the lovers of good old fashioned play, so with out further ado, my lovely wife Jeanette will cut the rope, with this being her dream, I hope all of you will enjoy the "Carousel of Dreams"! And with that, Jeanette cut the rope as people of all ages entered the 'Carousel of Dreams'.