trex841: Bingo
DISCLAIMER
Bagdasarian Productions owns the rights to The Chipettes.
Formally Bagdasarian Film Corporations, Bagdasarian Productions owns the rights to The Chipmunks.
DISCLAIMER
The Chipettes rightfully belongs to Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman.
The Chipmunks rightfully belongs to Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. as well as Janice Karman.
Originally voiced by June Foray in the 1985 animated special produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprise "A Chipmunk Reunion," Vinny is Alvin's, Simon's, and Theodore's birth mother from the Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon series who later appeared in an sixth season episode "Vinny's Visit," only to be voiced by Janice Karman.
Come morning, twilight crept over the eastern horizon, the sandstorm calmed down overnight but Jeanette hasn't. Wide-awake and worry sick since Simon put himself into hibernation, thoughts of him being hurt or she did something wrong that made him shut himself off from her ran through her mind. Since then she tried arousing him to no avail. Jeanette still tries, not willing to give up on her only friend despite the fact Simon was chronically frozen in place and clinically dead, unresponsive to Jeanette's cries.
She sat there staring at his pod in the truck for hours after countless attempts of pounding on it to awake him. She kept thinking of how to get him out, to bring him out of the freezing shell and back to life. She did not know how though…
"Aha!" She snaps her fingers.
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The sun now above the horizon, Jeanette moved, or better yet, labored Simon's cryogenic tube outside, to where she would get her pacemaker recharged at the same time. His pod, though not bulky, but very heavy around three hundred fifty pounds because of the density of the great cytogenetic residual ice inside the pod combined with the density of Simon's frozen solid body. It took her an hour or two of pushing the pod out of the truck, down the ramp and into the sunlight. Manual laboring didn't help Jeanette take her mind off Simon but she at least got him in the sun's warm rays in the expectation for him to awake.
All she could do was wait and see if the sun could melt through the pod's -100̊° C chassis. She stood by his side on the bridge, staring at the frozen figure of Simon, waiting for the ice to thaw out and let him go so she could see him warm open eyes and hear his voice again.
She lets those happy results run through her head as she waits patiently….
…And waits… …and waits… …and waits…
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By now, the heat of midday's sun beats down on the surface as hot as it will irradiate, almost unbearable, even for Jeanette. Though she grew up here, it's the hottest summer on Earth she's ever experienced. She sat down on the sizzling concrete of the broken bridge. Her work suit and fur soaked with sweat and her mouth crisp dry from dehydration. Jeanette doesn't care for she's more concerned on Simon waking up any moment now, the same thought that's been running through her for the past few hours.
She looks back up at the pod where the frozen Simon laid since this morning. Air temperatures hit 50˚C or 122̊°F outside and not a single drop of condensation dripped from his pod. Jeanette drops her head down in disappointment, nothing, after hours of waiting, has happened.
Patience, she told herself, reassured he would eventually thaw.
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It's almost sundown, Jeanette only slightly bored and Simon is where he was at, motionlessly frozen in his pod where she put it, its green light still pulsating. She fiddles around with her tools on the sizzling ground, wondering if she could work her way through the pod to release him. Sorting through what she could use, she hears rumbling sounds in the distance.
She looks up to see darkness spread across the horizon. It wasn't a sandstorm, for the air did not kick up dust. These columns of clouds all dark gray and towered high in the sky, flashes of light visible in the blackness where the soft earthshaking sounds came from.
"Uh oh," she realizes it's a storm.
Seems it will be over them by nightfall, which is not long. Though not as powerful or deadly as a thunderstorm, it is still serious to find shelter because of flooding and lightning, witnessing some of her comrades suffer those fates, nowhere to hide from Mother Nature and died in the rain.
Jeanette had no idea how durable Simon's pod against the weather but just because it's hi-tech doesn't mean it can last out here. She won't have time to move Simon back into the truck, his pod too heavy to move and because of the slope of the ramp, it might fall on her if she tries to move it up. Worse, she might hurt Simon inside it.
Jeanette remembers having a single ancient canopy designed to protect against rain or sunlight in the truck.
Considering the situation, she could use it to protect Simon herself. It's very rare for a storm to pass by these times, mostly in dry heat or cold. Jeanette has forgotten what it felt like for rain to pour on her skin and she never bathed as much as she could remembered, not enough clean water to do so if there were any. The rain could be good since being out in the heat all day and felt like she could use a small bathing in the rain…
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Later that night, Jeanette's sleep-deprived eyes shot wide open in total shock as another lightning bolt stuck and missed her by a few meters, frying the ground it touched. The ungodly sound of electricity crashing down is painfully deafening to her ears. It's the tenth time in the night she was almost electrocuted, but she kept her spot next to Simon's pod, holding an umbrella over it as she stood in the downpour.
The rain came down hard in every direction carried by the wind. Jeanette doesn't mind shivering in the frozen rain, being drenched right through her attire from head to toe. Although she regrets underestimating the terrible conditions of the storm, she'd given her other arm for some heat. The temperature dropped rapidly and had only then realized she had to stay awake and hold an umbrella over Simon's pod until the rain stopped, her arms outstretched for holding it all night. Jeanette didn't know how to find a way to get it back into the truck or to a safer place.
All she knows is that it will be dawn in a couple of hours and the storm will be gone by then.
Just as she finished that though, Jeannette screamed and jumped in surprise as the eleventh near-miss lightning bolt struck the streetlight next to her.
IF we make it to dawn, thought Jeanette as she looked in terror at the molten metal of the struck light post.
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The rain had passed but the cold has not a few hours later.
A dark overcast hung over Sector NA-001, preventing sunlight from warming the surface that morning, it's now below freezing.
Why of all times of the year for weather on this planet to go from extreme to extreme? Jeanette wondered to herself, shivering in the freezing air.
Since the Earth's protective atmosphere long been chemically tainted and eaten away, the climates became volatile to temperature changes from very hot to very cold if there was sunlight or not over non-clouded or darkened regions of Earth.
It's getting way too cold now, Jeanette's teeth sore from uncontrollable shivering, clothes wet from the downpour but she has no other forms of clothing to change into or dry off in. Standing out in the windy open air, the wet clothing stung her skin like needles, adding more misery on top of sleep deprivation, shell shock and a common cold she got in the storm. She was thankfully astonished she made it through thirty-three lightning bolts that came within a few feet of her, almost frying her on the spot and she hasn't succumbed to hypothermia from the freezing rain.
Jeanette looks at the source of her misery and endurance, the hibernating form of Simon. He was all right, far as she could tell. No water droplets or electric bolts have touched his pod. She stood by his side all night, with an umbrella in her biologic hand because of the lightning. Besides the annotation of her mechanical arm is a huge metallic attraction for electricity, Jeanette wonders why she hasn't succumbed to exhaustion from keeping her prosthetic arm holding an umbrella for hours.
His pod hadn't changed since going into slumber, no more or less frozen.
But must be kept safe regardless, she thought to herself.
She went back into the truck and came back out with her blanket.
Sure Simon is cryogenically frozen but Jeanette couldn't be sure. His pod hollow and not very thick, he probably felt what happened outside hence cryogenic pod preserves him from aging, not from external harm.
Jeanette drapes the blanket around his pod, shielding him from the dropping temperature, imagining what it would be like to embrace him if he wasn't frozen, to shield him from the cold and feel the warm of his presence in her arms, protecting and letting Simon know how much she really cares for him.
Oh did she want him so bad.
She finishes tying up the blanket ends, satisfied she is willing to look after his well-being. The rush of the wind against her damp attire reminded her of her own, shivering again. She doesn't have anything else to spare to keep herself warm but even if she did, she would be more than content to give it to Simon.
HShe was safe and it was all that mattered to her.
She stares at Simon as she sits in front of his pod, curled up on the ground, holding her firmly woven cotton of her hammock around her torso with her arms trying not to freeze. She imagined Simon holding her and not herself to stay warm. She will stay there until he wakes up, no matter how long it took until then. Jeanette turns to her only sources of warmth: her bundled up hammock wrapped around her body facing away from the wind and Simon in her thoughts.
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The winds kicked up the following day, a sandstorm coming by nightfall. Jeanette anticipated a storm would happen but won't be able to move Simon's pod in time, thus having to find a way to protect him and survive from a storm out in the open.
All she could do was cover his pod with anything to protect him from the sand. He still had her blanket so she added a trashcan over the top, container boxes concealed the sides and she weighed everything down to be sure he was anchored. She just used the fabric of her hammock to cover herself up since she can't fit in the shelter she made for him.
She stayed out there to be sure he wasn't blown away or hit by flying debris.
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Seventeen hours of watching through the darkened clouds of sand and powerful gusts later, the sandstorm ended.
Sand covered the bridge and the winds seemed to blow hard still but the dust has settled.
Something stirs in one of the dunes of sand. Jeanette digs herself out, getting much sand out of her hair and off her clothes, completely unfazed by the idea of surviving premature burial as she has done for hundreds of times, unlike her fellow workers. Jeanette immediately checks up on the most important thing.
She digs out the trash can/boxed up cocoon out of the sand and there he was, right where she left him. Jeanette seems satisfied when no sand seeped into the pod. Despite having sand in her mouth, hair and attire, Simon is still safe.
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Two days later, Jeanette still anticipates for Simon to wake, however her patience being put to the test. After putting much thought on it, Jeanette came up with another way to help Simon wake up by trying to unfreeze him. Remembering he froze when the pod encased him, she will have to reverse what it did by deactivating the pod. Though she knew absolutely nothing about the inner workings of a cryogenic pod, she is willing to give it her best shot. She examines Simon's pod for any access point.
The surface a flawless transparent metallic cylinder with no power source, internal lines, systems, or controls, the pod just a symmetrically designed tube. Jeanette had to admit it's very interesting technology, save for she mentally cursed it for keeping her from Simon.
All there is to access the pod is the pulsating beacon, the outlines of an opening can be seen.
Hmm, it'll have to do, Jeanette thinks to herself as she grabs a crowbar and pries it open.
Inside is a battery cell, a circular disc with a green light flashing on and off for the beacon, frosted dry ice lines linked with it.
This must be the pod's cryogenic supply keeping him frozen in place. She pulls out her pacemaker's charge cable from her belt.
My best chance would be to short-circuit the pod. She links the cable to her artificial pacemaker.
Its alternator unit should provide enough charge to deactivate the device . . . She contemplates her thoughts for a moment before continuing, thinking of finally getting to awaken Simon.
She thinks what to say to him, how he will react. Will he chew her out for awakening him? Will he kill her? On the other hand, will he embrace her for saving him from becoming frozen for no reason? The last thought caught her attention, maybe he was unintentionally frozen and unfreezing him seemed like having being so grateful and he will thank her with hugs and kisses, happily ever after. That warmed Jeanette's mind, giving her the motivation to go ahead and see what happens.
ZAP!
Jeanette is instantaneously confused on the ground a yard away, her entire body especially her chest jerked, stinging like hell and smelled of smoke.
What the hell just happened?
She looked up, her questions answered along with her idea and fantasies backfiring. The pod's automated defenses knocked Jeanette off her feet by electrocuting her. A hundred volts being too much to overpower her pacemaker, it's a wonder it wasn't fried, otherwise her heart wouldn't beat properly and die of both cardiac arrest and electric shock.
Let's not do that again. She sighs in relief, slightly disappointed.
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Later that afternoon, the sounds of creaking wheels filled the streets of the polluted city as a figure tugs on a cylindrical object.
Jeanette pulls Simon's pod, standing vertically on an ancient red wagon wrapped up in Christmas lights, all shining but not plugged into any power source.
Jeanette decided on one last way of somehow getting Simon or his pod to let him awake by persuasion. After some serious thinking, while remembering scenes from Hello Dolly, Jeanette learned the man takes the woman on a special social engagement, which involved taking the woman out to certain places in the city when he wishes to convey his romantic emotions to the woman. However, in this process, it's reversed.
What are those called again? she wondered.
A deep? Dent? Dat? D-Date? Yeah that's it, a date! She decided to take Simon out on a date to wake him up and let him know how she feels about him! It'll be a challenge since he's still in his pod but she's too determined.
Jeanette managed on sliding his pod onto a wagon from a ramp she made after taking a while figuring out how to pull it off. After an hour or two of laboring, he was on the wagon, the wagon buckling while trying to support the pod's weight.
Jeanette also remembered it being customary for the couple to express how they felt around each other by certain things they held important or at least to one of them. She draped some Christmas lights over his pod, shining as soon as they touched. She wished to show him he brought light to long dead objects like the light bulb he lit up. All the colors imaginable on his handsome form best fitted on how she wanted to express him in her mind.
She went about treating Simon for a date, following the way the movie showed her, almost exactly to the lines used and the activities they done.
From a nice brisk walk down the streets to rowing down the sludge river after laboring his pod into a raft, to an improvised fancy dinner with a picnic blanket she found, draped atop a crate with the lighters used as candles. She even had her canned survival food prepped from her truck, worried he might starve in his pod so she kept offering most of her survival provisions to him, setting canned food and water in front of him, probably to draw him out of hunger. However that effort also failed, though he can't eat when he's frozen and perfectly preserved, she just goes along with it, eating sparingly and speaking politely, awaiting eagerly for him to wake up any second.
After a rather one-sided and uneventful dinner, Jeanette carries Simon to the final place for the most crucial and romantic to any male-female outing: the sunset.
Jeanette finished engraving JEANETTE+SIMON onto the side of a trashcan with her laser, she and the frozen Simon sat side by side on a secluded bench overlooking the dried up valley of the Hudson Bay. Through the polluted atmosphere, it's a beautiful sunset created by the chemicals in the air altering the color spectrum of light in the sky. Rays of purple, crimson red and orange shining through clouds and smog on the horizon bathed Jeanette and Simon in a warm and intimate light.
"Aw," Jeanette coos at the sight.
Throughout the years, she's never seen the sunset in this whole new light before. She regarded it as an indication of the end of a workday, a relaxing reminder but knowing it'll be the same thing the next day, another day of meaningless labor. Now, with Simon in her life, and learning about love, the sunset reflected everything she longed forever since she watched 'It Only Takes A Moment.' Something very safe, precious, everything she could want or need and giving her light for the events of her life to her in order for him to exist and for her to meet him, maybe, if possibly, sharing a future with him.
She looks to Simon on her left, the most wonderful source of warmth and love in the universe, more than she ever dreamed of right next to her but felt unreachable all because of the cursed cryogenic abomination encasing him from her.
Jeanette places her left hand on the pod, over where his right hand is, the closest she'd get to hold his hand, that magical gesture could instantly fill the void of her lonely heart. It could tell each other everything they needed to know about love, a simple way for her to feel where her life belonged. She looks into the closed eyes of Simon silently begging him at least let her know that he can hear what she wants to tell him so badly.
"I love you." Though frozen, she breathlessly pours her heart out to his stasis form, her puppy dog eyes reflecting the longing she felt.
If only he were awake…
A dreadful stinging sensation in her left hand snaps Jeanette out her thoughts when she learned she can't pull her hand off his pod.
"AAAAHHG!" she screams as razor-sharp pain stings her palm.
"Crap! Forgot to put on my gloves-" She tries pulling harder, her bare skin froze to the surface of -100˚C cryogenic frost.
"-whenever moving the pod around!" Her hand hurt and stung even more, stuck to the frost on the pod's surface.
"Ah!" She gives a hard tug, still nothing but pain.
She gives it one harder tug. Some of her hand's skin peels off as her hand comes free.
Tears formed in her eyes at the appalling pain and Jeanette drops to the ground, clasping her hand. She nearly loses her dinner at the sight of bloody tissue layer in her hand and the bloody handprint of skin on Simon's pod.
She misses the sun disappearing below the horizon as she passes out.
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Nighttime has fallen later that evening over the sector. A very peaceful one too with light winds, and a cool air outside as soothing a polluted place could ever get.
Outside of Jeanette's truck, she has set up the old TV screen and Simon's pod so they could enjoy the night and the rest of their 'date.' She's playing a match of Pong on the TV, the broken down game console still workable. The score: Jeanette=8000 and Simon=0. Though frozen, she placed another controller in front of Simon to make it seem he was at least there, just not participating in the match. Jeanette flows with it, only anticipating his revival.
Her mind nags her about getting back to work tomorrow and it's getting late for a strange reason, but it's a routine that's imprinted into her . . . must complete your directive.
She won't give up on Simon, for she can still…
Jeanette tries thinking of another alternative to get him out but she has done everything from waiting, jumpstarting, short-circuiting and courtship, only to realize the date was the best idea. She ran fresh out of ideas.
Nothing worked but like in Hello Dolly, the characters always brought out their emotions on a date. She reassured herself the film was the universal method of how dates turn out guaranteed. She thinks about the evening, how things went, following every scene to the way the date goes and on her part, was exactly what happened in the movie, she thought, it should work. Right?
She glances over to Simon one last time to see if any of her outing's efforts worked.
Nothing just his beacon humming.
She slumps to the ground, sighing in defeat, finally giving up.
"All for nothing..." she said to herself, almost on the brink of tears.
As a rare, peaceful night like this on Earth, the dark and calm chill reflected hopelessness of getting a response from him. Nothing happened and she felt it was the worst night of her life, feeling that lonely feeling again all through the night.
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The next morning, Jeanette decided since there is no need to waste any more effort to wake Simon up, she will return to her original duties of garbage collecting. If she can't wake him, the only choice would be to wait but that could be a very, very long time. There isn't much else to do but pass the time with a routine until then.
She finishes packing her usual things as she heads off to work, not before taking one last look at Simon, still mentally clinging to a fading light he will somehow be there to greet her the moment he's in her sight.
Same as always, out on the ramp near the truck, still frozen solid, nothing else. He isn't going anywhere or doing anything.
It shattered whatever hopes Jeanette had left in her as she slowly continues to work with Luxor close behind, defeated. A look of pure gloom on Jeanette's face, her eyes blood-shot reddish pink from a week without sleep, energy drained from exhaustion and lastly, her tears.
Something I wish to point out about the title of this particular chapter . . . it's a song by B.J. Thomas that Andrew Stanton wanted to be the track for when WALL· E takes care of EVE. Thomas Newman instead wanted to make something more original instead.
I also wouldn't mind having a little more reviews.