Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers: Old Flame, Old Habits

Chapter 4

Dale found the feedback session to be slow moving, and rather unproductive. He was keen to identify any kinks in the first performance, but sitting in a circle and taking turns to talk whilst holding a pebble was not his idea of a morning well spent. On the plus side, his feedback from fellow cast members was generally positive. It seemed that everyone had enjoyed his performance, and his female impersonation was particularly popular. Only one real issue with him came up during the session, and it was from the mouth of the actor who played Millie.

'Where are you from, Dale?' he asked.

'Here,' said Dale.

'Well then, use your real voice. Don't use that weird accent you always put on.'

Dale stared at him for a moment, bewildered. Then he said, 'This is how I talk.'

Though he had gone to the meeting prepared to take criticism, he was shaken by this exchange. He'd had no idea that his voice might sound in any way strange. After the session, he walked away contemplating this, and Clarice was quick to take advantage of his unusually solemn state. She followed Dale a short way, via the trees, then dropped down in front of him and said, 'I think you have a wonderful voice.'

'Thank you,' said Dale. 'But it's not like I ever plan on acting again after this, except for cases, so I guess I'd better not worry about it too much.'

'It could have been worse,' said Clarice. 'Theatre critics can be very harsh.'

'Yeah? Taken your share of criticism, have you?'

'You could say that. I've been called all kinds of things. Throwback to the fifties; pathetic Monroe wannabe; the Chipettes' less talented older sister…'

'Wow, that's tough,' said Dale. 'And totally untrue. What do critics know, anyway? Everyone says they're just wannabe actors and singers who couldn't make it.'

'Only actors and singers with bad reviews say that.'

'Yeah, well, they have every right. It takes guts to put yourself out there.'

As he spoke, Dale put his arm around Clarice, moved by her hangdog expression. He was about to remind her that her feedback from the group circle had been overwhelmingly positive, when once again she reached down and squeezed his tail.

'You're really sweet, Dale,' she said.

'Oh, well, I… I was just trying to… to…'

'Cheer me up? I know, honey. But let me show you what would really cheer me up.'

The next few seconds were a blur to Dale. At the end of them he found himself pushed up against a jutting tree root, and Clarice was sniffing him and squeezing him like never before. For a moment, Dale was stunned. Then he began to object, but Clarice silenced him by kissing him. Finally, he was able to grab her wrists and push her away.

'Clarice!' he said, leaning as far back against the tree root as possible, and holding her at arms' length. 'I'm saying no.'

'You're saying no?' said Clarice. She stepped back, so that he let go of her wrists, and glared at him. 'What are you saying no for?'

'Because I don't feel that way about you anymore. I'm sorry.'

'This doesn't make any sense. I never, in a million years, thought that you would turn me down. What is the matter with you?'

'That was all such a long time ago,' said Dale.

'So? You haven't changed.'

'Of course I have.'

'Well, you seem the same to me,' said Clarice. 'I guess I just thought you still liked me. Obviously I made a mistake.' She turned and began to walk away.

'Clarice, wait,' said Dale.

She stopped, and turned to face him. Dale wasn't sure what else to say. Finally he settled on, 'What about Chip?'

Clarice snorted. 'What about Chip? I barely even recognise the guy!'

'Well, you couldn't expect us both to be exactly the same,' said Dale. 'Is that what you wanted? To see us fighting over you again? And then you settled on me because I reminded you of the old days?'

'Well… yes,' said Clarice. 'I guess that's about it. Gosh, Dale, it sounds terrible when you put it like that.'

'You were always terrible, Clarice,' said Dale, not unkindly, and she gave him a weak smile. 'But look… what does this mean? Aren't you happy? What about the show? What about this agent of yours? You should be looking forward, not back. Everyone loved you last night. You've worked for this your whole life, and now it's paying off.'

'Not everyone loved me,' said Clarice. 'What about that bat friend of yours?'

'Who, Liddy? You don't want to listen to her. She has lots of crazy opinions, and she was determined not to like you anyway.'

'Determined not to like me?Why?'

'Never mind. Look, Clarice… I will always be your friend, and so will Chip. And if you ever need us to help you with anything, we will. Okay?'

'Oh, Dale,' said Clarice. 'You're nice, but you can't help me.'

'Of course I can,' said Dale. 'I mean, we can. We help everyone. Are you in some kind of trouble? If you are, you have to tell me!'

'I have to go. I'm supposed to tell my agent how this morning went.'

With that, Clarice turned and fled before Dale could stop her. He stared for a good two minutes at the spot where she had stood, thinking frantically. He didn't know what sort of trouble Clarice was in, but he knew more or less what he had to do about it. He had to tell the other Rangers, and then they had to help her.

At the end of these two minutes, Dale was surprised to see the Ranger Wing landing a short way in front of him.

By the time the Rangers were walking - or flying - through their front door, all five of them had the same information. Chip and Dale both looked sick with worry. Then, as soon as Dale caught sight of the sofa, he said, 'Oh, Foxglove's gone.'

'So,' said Gadget, 'Clarice is in some kind of trouble that she wouldn't tell Dale about, and Fat Cat knows about their show and is clearly planning something. Do we think the two things are connected?'

'It's a distinct possibility, love,' said Monty.

'She left me a cryptic note,' said Dale.

'Who?' asked Monty.

'Foxglove.'

Dale was standing by the sofa, holding his own note to Foxglove that explained where he'd gone, and frowning at the other side of the paper.

'What does it say?' asked Gadget.

' "Thanks for letting me know, cutie'," Dale read. ' "Anyone who doesn't say you were fabulous must be a nut. You're the greatest actor and singer ever, and you know I think you're wonderful. I'm sorry I…' Then it stops.'

'Golly,' said Gadget, 'I wonder what that means.'

'I guess it doesn't really matter,' said Chip. 'It's only Foxglove - she says weird things sometimes. Unless she's in league with the bad guys again.'

Dale frowned. 'Of course she's not.'

'Just a thought, Dale.'

'Let's have lunch,' said Monty.

'Good idea, Monty,' said Gadget. 'We'll never figure all this out on empty stomachs. Come on, guys - not eating anything won't do you any good.'

'I wasn't planning on not eating anything,' said Dale.

Monty cooked up something quick and easy, and they discussed their next move round the table, or rather they tried to. It was impossible to come to any definite decision. Gadget, Monty and Zipper all expressed concern for Dale's upcoming second performance, which would take place on the afternoon after next, while Chip and Dale could only focus on their determination to help Clarice. They kept bringing the conversation back round to how they could get her secret out of her.

'That's if she really has a secret,' said Monty, 'and she's not just playing games.'

Chip and Dale both glared at him. Then Dale's expression cleared, and he said, 'Y'know, Chipper, he has a point.'

'Whatever,' said Chip. 'I'll wash, Dale, if you dry. And try not to break anything.'

When Chip and Dale were in position at the sink, Gadget came up behind them and gave them each a one-armed hug.

'You guys are really sweet to care so much about Clarice,' she said. 'I'm really glad I'm on your team.'

'So are we, Gadget,' said Chip.

'Right,' said Dale. 'And you know, Gadget, we care just as much about you as we ever have about her.'

'Aww, you guys are the greatest.'

Gadget squeezed them both on the shoulder, then left them to it. The two chipmunks exchanged a loaded look before starting on the dishes. Then there came a knock at the door, and a moment later Gadget came back in, saying, 'Dale, visitors.'

'You will not believe this!'

Liddy's voice cut right through them, and Dale dropped the dish he was holding. Chip muttered curses under his breath, and stooped to clean up the mess. Dale turned to face his visitors. He expected to see Foxglove with Liddy, which he did, but he could not have predicted the contrast in their demeanours. Foxglove was downcast and clearly on edge, whereas Liddy was beaming all over her face.

'What won't I believe?' asked Dale.

'Clarice!' said Liddy. 'She's actually evil!'

Chip stood up abruptly, and hit his head on the edge of the sink. 'Ow! What?'

'See,' said Liddy, 'Foxglove and I were flying around, and we happened to come across Clarice, and then we happened to notice that she went into that Lucky Dick plant food factory, or whatever it is.'

'The Happy Tom cat food factory?' said Gadget. Monty and Zipper were both behind her by this point, eager to hear what was going on.

'Whatever,' said Liddy. 'The point is, Clarice went in there. You've been watching that place for crime, haven't you? Your arch-nemesis lives there or something.'

'Hang on a minute,' said Chip. 'Let me see if I've got this right. You two were flying around, in the middle of the day, and you just happened to pick up Clarice on your bat radar thing and recognise her and see… um… hear where she went?'

'Hey,' said Liddy. 'Don't start getting all up in my face, man.'

'Dale,' said Foxglove. 'We've been stalking you.'

No one had expected this. The announcement was greeted with a stunned silence.

'Foxglove!' Liddy said at length. 'You don't tell the guy that!'

'I'm sorry, Liddy,' Foxglove said pathetically. 'I had to.'

'Oh, for the love of Pete,' said Liddy. 'All right, look.' She put a wing around Foxglove's shoulders, and fixed the open-mouthed Dale with a steady look. 'Dale, it was all my idea, okay? I'm a total bunny boiler. I made her do it, and I mean I actually made her do it. She didn't even want to. Only she didn't tell me that.'

'I just want to be a good friend,' said Foxglove.

'So do I!' Liddy turned Foxglove towards her and took her into a full embrace. 'Listen, sweetie, you don't have to do everything I tell you. Do you understand that?'

'I guess,' said Foxglove, who was nearly in tears by this point. 'I'm so sorry, Dale.'

'It's all right, Foxy,' said Dale.

Foxglove and Liddy both stared at him in amazement.

'Really?' said Foxglove.

'Well,' said Liddy, 'that's the best any man has ever reacted to being stalked by me.'

'Can I please use your bathroom?' Foxglove asked quietly.

'Of course you can use their bathroom,' said Liddy, and she passed her friend into the hands of Gadget, who put her arm around Foxglove and led her off. Then Liddy turned to Dale, looking suddenly panicked, and said, 'Oh my gosh! I swear, I had no idea she was so messed up! It's like she's scared of me or something!'

'She's not messed up,' said Dale.

'No, you're right, she's not messed up. Sorry. You know me and my crazy opinions, Dale - I'm always saying the wrong thing.'

Dale looked uncomfortable.

'Anyway,' Liddy went on, 'I want to help her. I really do. I'm just not used to having friends because… well, never mind why. Anyway, you've known her longer than I have, so just… can you tell me if I'm doing the right things with her?'

'Oh.' Dale seemed surprised by this. 'Yeah, you're doing great. Well, apart from stalking me, but we all make mistakes. She just needs you to be supportive. Y'know, her previous experience with what she called friends isn't that great. But I guess she's told you all about that, huh?'

'Yeah, she has,' said Liddy. 'Okay, well… thanks. Now shush - she's coming back.'

Gadget brought Foxglove back into the kitchen, and Liddy put her wing around her once again.

'Okay,' said Chip, 'if we've all quite finished baring our souls… what exactly have we found out here? I don't get why you two were following Clarice in the first place.'

'Because we had been following Dale,' said Liddy, 'and when Clarice ran off and left him, she'd just very much implied that she was in some kind of trouble, so I suggested we find out what. There was no need to watch Dale anymore, and I thought following Clarice might help. Did you think so too, Foxglove, or were you just saying that?'

'I don't know,' Foxglove said miserably. Dale crossed the room and gave her a hug.

'Can we please stay focused?' said Chip. 'So, Clarice went into the factory. That doesn't prove she's evil. She doesn't know anything about Fat Cat.'

'I listened through the window and everything,' said Liddy. 'She was talking to some guy about that stupid thing you had to go to, Dale - saying how much everybody liked her acting and her singing and her hot chipmunk buns and all that stuff. She wasn't saying anything useful. So… doesn't this mean this Fat Cat person, or whoever it was, is actually her agent?'

'You really did pay attention, didn't you?' said Dale. 'Well, I guess he is, if she was telling me the truth about going to see her agent.'

'Well,' said Liddy, 'she sure talked to him like he was an agent.'

'None of this means she's evil, love,' said Monty. 'Just misguided.'

'Yeah, I guess,' said Liddy. 'It was just wishful thinking, I guess. Mind you, we know Dale definitely doesn't feel that way about her now, don't we?'

'How do we know that?' asked Chip.

'Chip, please,' said Dale, still hugging Foxglove, who didn't seem to have cheered up at all. 'Focus. Who was she talking to, Liddy? What kind of animal was it?'

'I couldn't see him clearly,' said Liddy. 'I could only hear him.'

'It would have been either a cat, a mole or a lizard,' said Gadget. 'Oh! Or Snout!'

'A rat,' Dale said to Liddy. 'That makes sense. I said myself that the theatre only smelt of rodents, didn't I? Okay, so that's clear. Now what do we do about it?'

'I still think she's evil,' said Liddy. 'She knows she's in trouble, and she wouldn't tell you, Dale. She probably knows she's working with your enemy.'

'Why would she do that?' asked Monty. 'She's a manipulative, attention seeking little tease, fine, but that's a long way from deliberately teaming up with Fat Cat.'

'Fat Cat and his gang have been collecting all that theatre stuff,' said Gadget. 'That must be to do with making Clarice believe Snout's a real agent.'

'A real agent in a cat food factory?' said Liddy. 'Well, if she's really that stupid…'

'All right, so we've figured some of this out,' said Chip. 'Now we have two questions to answer. What exactly is Fat Cat up to, and what can we do about it?'

'The first thing we should do is talk to Clarice,' said Dale. 'If we just explain to her about Fat Cat, surely she'll stop seeing Snout - assuming we're right about him - and then we can deal with it without her getting caught in the crossfire.'

'I don't know, Dale,' said Liddy. 'I heard her talking to him, and she sounded really keen to carry on with him. He did actually find her a part, don't forget.'

'All right,' said Monty, 'enough chit-chat. Let's get on and do something. First things first. You boys need to find Clarice and get her to fill in the gaps.'

The rest of the day was spent in searching for Clarice, but she was nowhere to be found. The following morning, Dale took Zipper along to a run-through of the show, so that he could fly home with whatever information they got out of her there. But she didn't turn up. Dale went straight to the director.

'Steve,' he said. 'Where's Clarice?'

'She sent a message with her agent to say she's sick,' said Steve. 'Her understudy will be filling in for her today.'

'Is Clarice's agent here?'

'No, he left a few minutes ago.'

'Figures,' said Dale. 'What about tomorrow's performance? Is Alice doing that, or can we expect Clarice back?'

'Darling,' said Steve, 'I really don't know. But listen, I'd prefer any budding romances to wait until after we're no longer working together, all right?'

Zipper flew off with the news, and Dale stayed to rehearse the show. He found it hard to concentrate at first, but then managed to focus his energies on Alice (also a chipmunk) when he saw that she needed a lot of support and encouragement, which she didn't seem to be getting from Steve and the other actors. It was bad of them to be so impatient with her, Dale thought, especially as the situation was beyond her control. The understudies just hadn't been given many opportunities to rehearse.

Dale ate lunch with the rest of the cast, and took the opportunity to enquire casually whether anyone knew any more about where Clarice was. No one did, so he went home and found the place empty. A note penned by Gadget told him that they were out looking for Clarice. Dale supposed that if she was really unwell, she'd be in her tulip tree. He went there to look, not knowing that Chip had learnt she was living there, but he didn't find her. He came to the conclusion that she wasn't ill at all, but just avoiding them. He voiced this opinion when his friends came home in the early evening.

'She's got to show up some time,' said Chip, 'either at Fat Cat's or at one of your shows, Dale. But what about the performance tomorrow? Should we go to that, or should we try the factory again first?'

'The factory,' said Dale. 'What's really going to happen during the first act if you're not there?'

Dale had to be at the theatre at eleven o'clock the next morning. He ate an early lunch with most of the cast and stagehands, but a few were missing, including Clarice. After the meal, the actors started to get into their costumes, going over their lines and singing scales, and things of that nature. Clarice didn't arrive, but nor did Alice. Eventually, when most of the audience was seated, Dale went to find Steve.

'Who's playing Katie today?' he asked.

'Clarice,' said Steve. 'She's going to be a little late, but she should be here any moment. If she doesn't make it… we'll have to use one of the extras, I guess, if I can't track Alice down in the next twenty minutes. Or maybe an extra could step in as Francis. You'd make a convincing enough Katie.'

'Are you being serious?'

'I don't know. Hopefully we won't have to find out, because if we do, Clarice is off the cast list! Oh… Dale, since I've got you, would you mind reading this out?'

'Right now?' Dale asked, as Steve handed him a scrap of paper with something barely legible scribbled onto it.

'Yes,' said Steve. 'We're almost ready to start. Thank you, Dale.'

Dale walked towards the stage, trying to decipher the note as he went. By the time he was standing in front of the audience, he had most of it figured out, and began to read.

' "Ladies and gentlemen, for this afternoon's performance the part of Henry Miller will be played by…" '

He stared at the last part, thinking he must have made a mistake. Then he sensed a presence amongst the trees behind him, and he knew it was true. Well then, he thought, saying the last two words wasn't going to make it any worse.

'Fat Cat.'