Chapter 11
Congratulatory Diagnosis: It's Love
* 1 *
January 28th
Preparations for Chip's discharge day started long before Doctor Stone officially informed him and other Rangers that examination results were the most positive so there was no real need for him to stay here any longer and he would soon be able to leave the hospital. But, he added, not before complying with all needed formalities, both bureaucratic and organizational. While there were no questions about the former, the old doctor didn't speak much about the latter, in Chip's presence at least. But it was clear something grandiose was being prepared, for the Small Central Hospital had never discharged such heroic patients in its short but already rich history.
Not very long time had passed since the winter festivities and decorations were already there for the most part, but SCH personnel still worked industriously. Everybody prepared for this day very responsibly, but even the most hard-working ones didn't prepare for it as hard as the hero of the occasion himself. For him it was not just the discharge day but the start of the entirely new life.
Owing to medicamental treatment program designed by hospital's leading pharmacologists and Mildred, whose idea of using stimulators proved very effective, all functions of Chip's poisoned organism restored completely. That's why on January 18th, three days after him coming out of coma, he was transferred to the ward no. 6 which remained assigned to him through all this time. After almost three weeks he spent there it started to seem as familiar as his room in the Headquarters, thus gaining truly symbolic significance. Now it was the embodiment and the last stand of his old way of life parting with which was inevitable as plaster removal but still very and very painful.
What will she think about it? What will say…?
Chip took his hat off the peg and looked around. After breakfast he started to do the room. First he just couldn't leave it untidy. Second, he felt that if he didn't find something to do, they would have to put him into another ward for a different kind of patients. That's why he did his best and now the room was in immaculate order. Not a single tuck on the blanket and the plaid; the crutches stuck out of the holder under perfectly right angle and the wheelchair's metal parts shone. Yesterday his friends took home the last of the books and the letters, and the bedside table and the chair were empty. In short, the ward was ready to welcome its next patient.
But was the current one ready to leave it?
Will she believe? Understand? Forgive…?
Chip pressed his paw to his breast. Through the jacket he felt a photograph in the inner pocket. He didn't need to take it out. He remembered every single dot and line by heart. Everyday, as soon as he was alone after his friends' leaving, he took it out, sighed and promised himself to talk to her tomorrow.
Slowly but steadily 'tomorrow' became replaced with 'the discharge day' which seemed distant and thus very convenient then. Today it was part of reality, just like his hat, jacket and the photograph. And the white door which could be opened by a single turn of the knob. On other days, that is. Today it wasn't that easy, since today it lead not into a corridor but into that brand new life…
It's time! Chip told himself. He slapped his hat on and headed to the door. Sitting in the room won't do anything good! Everything is decided! Not to mention that this door is the only one and only I can open it…
He was wrong.
"Good morning, Chip!" Mildred welcomed him.
"Good…" Chip answered in dull voice, unable to look away from her. She was even more beautiful than usually. Her chestnut-colored hair was rising up from her forehead in two high wave crests which joined in the middle and fell down on her shoulders, twirling forward like water at the bottom of the waterfall. Dark-grey dress with white polka-dots and thin white belt matched her eyes perfectly. They were brighter than ever thanks to long charcoal-black lashes which made them shining and warm like only the sun ray piercing the rain clouds can be…
"Is our hero ready?" Millie asked playfully.
"More than… that…" words didn't come easy for Chip. He didn't felt as confused as before, for now, after two weeks worth of thoughts and worries, he knew the exact reason for all these emotions, as well as all the consequences. The nature of his confusion was different.
Just like before, after many days of planning he knew each and every of his steps beforehand, starting with opening the door and stepping out into the corridor. Now Mildred's sudden coming crossed the first three stages of his plan out, making the entire construction shake. As a result, the walls of the corridor he chose as his path started cracking and lots of other paths opened, allowing for freedom of choice. Sham freedom, to be precise, as all the variants required studying and didn't help getting to his objective but mislead him, like several perfectly identical doors in the circular room.
Should I tell her now? Tell everything like it is?
"But you wanted to do it later, remember?"
I do. But this is such a great occasion! We're alone, the corridor's empty, the personnel's getting ready for the meeting so no one will interrupt us…
"But what about her? You're still not sure how she'll meet it…"
But if I say everything now, I won't need to talk to her…
"Don't fool yourself!"
"Chip, are you alright?" Mildred asked anxiously. "You seem worried…"
Chip could hardly keep himself from telling her about all his worries not omitting a single syndrome.
"No, Millie, everything's great!" he said aloud instead. "Just a little nervous, that's all. Spent so much time here and, well…"
The nurse nodded. "I see. Anyway, let's go! They'll start soon!"
Chip grew alarmed. "Oh… By the way, is everybody there already? And my friends on stage, too?" Rescue Ranger felt like another pillar of his plan's building started shaking, proving to be not ferroconcrete but clay.
"No, they are waiting for you in the reception hall. Said they won't go anywhere without you."
"Oh, that's great! I mean, you are right, we shouldn't make them wait!"
Despite his confident tone, Chip didn't felt so sure.
"You have one last chance of setting everything once and for all…"
No, it won't set everything in any case!
"But this way you'll feel more confident while talking with her, knowing that there's no looking back…"
No, I can't that to her. To both of them…
"Look's like you are totally confused…"
NO!
"What 'no', Chip?" Mildred grew startled. "You won't go? But―"
Chip laughed hoping his joy didn't look too forced. "Oh boy, Millie! Sure I'll go! Just, erhm, thinking aloud! Don't pay attention!"
She smiled. "Already thinking of some case?"
"Well, it's time to go back on track!" Chip nodded, once again amazed by Mildred's ability to suggest the most suitable explanation which allowed him to find a way out without losing his face. But even she couldn't solve the dilemma facing him now.
"If she goes out into the corridor that will be it…"
Right! According to plan! Just like I expected!
"Are you coming?"
"Yes, Millie, let's go!"
They passed the distance to the hall in silence. Mildred didn't want to break Chip's concentration on problems undoubtedly important for the whole society while he was enjoying the final respite to polish his future speech. The grim experience told him that too meticulous planning is very sensible to external objective and subjective factors, in other words, collapses like a house of playing cards from the faintest draft or sneezing respectively. So he just determined the preliminary scheme of the dialog hoping for everything else to come in the process…
"And here comes the hero!" Doctor Stone announced when the couple entered the hall. "It took you too long, we've started to worry! You decided against coming, Chip?"
Mildred giggled. "I thought the same at first. But as you can see, we're here and it's time to move out! Agreed, Chip?"
"Yes, probably…" he answered, looking at his friends. Broadly smiling Dale in his Hawaiian sweater. Monterey Jack brushed and trimmed his moustache for the ceremony. He was wearing his ordinary clothes but a package under his arm with black tails of a coat hanging out of it showed it's only temporary. Zipper's suite was most probably there, too.
As for Gadget, she dressed up beforehand. The only familiar piece of attire were her goggles which, to tell the truth, suited any dress she wore. In this particular case they constituted a harmonic combination with dark turquoise blue dress and a bomber jacket with fur collar. It was almost identical to Chip's but thicker and darker, almost black against her blonde hair.
"In that case, follow me, please!" Stone motioned the Rescue Rangers towards the corridor leading to the north wing. But then Chip coughed loudly and raised his hand urging them to stop.
"Doctor, wait! Gadget, I need to talk to you."
"But Chip!" Stone objected. "We've got little time left…"
Chip nodded. "I understand, but please, forgive me. It's really important."
"But―"
"It's okay, doctor!" Gadget interrupted him. "You go ahead, we'll be right behind you!"
"But Gadget! We can't start without you!" frightened Dale chattered. "Better wait until…"
"Golly, what will extra five or ten minutes do? And we don't leave anywhere but stay in the hospital! Right, Chip?"
"Yes-yes, we'll be here… There!" Chipmunk pointed at the nearest glass doors leading to the therapy section. "It won't be long, I promise!"
Stone could do nothing but make a helpless gesture. "Very well, then, if you say so… Others, please, follow me!"
He led everybody but Chip and Gadget out of the hall. Dale was the last to leave, his joy gone without a trace. It was obvious he didn't want to go, and he constantly looked back at the couple left in the middle of the hall. Reaching the corridor he stopped altogether and watched them, unable to make another step. Only when Stone called him he dropped his head and disappeared behind the corner.
"Let's go, Gadget," Chip said taking the mouse by her paw. His choice of theurapeutic section wasn't accidental. There were no wards, only cabinets of doctors who left to the celebratory meeting. But most important, there were benches along the walls. He saw them many times while driving here en route to the garage and thought they would be perfect place for this talk. It would be safer for Gadget to listen to his words while sitting.
"Maybe we should take a seat…" Chip said something between a question and an offer, and Gadget sat down. Chipmunk did the same and for a minute just looked at her, amazed with what he was seeing.
On the very next day after his recovery her tiredness and exhaustion vanished and now she fully recovered from her sleepless four weeks long vigil. Now she radiated the freshness and beauty that literary crashed him back hen, during their first meeting, and, as it seemed, once and for all…
Comes the morning and the headlights fade in rain
Hundred thousand changes...everything's the same
At this moment, at this final second Chip felt the urge not to change anything. Say nothing. Do nothing. Just sit next to her for a while holding her paw, say a couple of meaningless phrases and go to the assembly hall. Then take his usual seat of the Ranger Wing's co-pilot, fly to the HQ he hadn't seen for centuries and just live the way it was before.
But the point was, things would never be the way they were before. Nothing passes without a trace, especially feelings. Your appearance can stay the same, you can play, pretend, wear a mask… But no matter how you'll call it, it won't be it. For it will be not you yourself but somebody else. Because the most important thing is not who you seem to be, but who you really are…
Chip looked at Gadget again. She was sitting silently, patiently waiting for him to start talking. She didn't urge him with word or gesture, she didn't even shot a glance at the clock on the nearest wall. She could sit like this till the evening, till tomorrow, till― In short, as long as needed. Chip knew it. He also knew he had no moral right to make her waiting. He already made her waiting for almost four weeks. So he braced himself and spoke.
"Nice jacket. Didn't know you have it. Why didn't you wear it before?"
Gadget lowered her eyes for a moment.
"It's my father's. The only thing I have which he wore himself. I never put it on, there were no suitable occasion. It's his dress jacket. He wore it on holidays and various ceremonies like the Award Ceremony for the winners of Rodent Overseas Air Racing in the 10 and 15 cc categories. The engine size is meant here. The Screaming Eagle's design allowed engine interchange without hindering her characteristics so dad could participate on her in different categories. He would have won the race in 20 cc category, too, but he wasn't allowed to start since the Eagle's wingspan wasn't large enough and she was considered too dangerous to fly at those speeds… Oh, sorry, I got too carried away! I asked me to come here not to discuss my jacket, my dad's piloting skills or rules of air racing in 20 cc category, did you?"
"Yes," Chip confirmed. "I wanted to… to thank you. For everything. For your smile, your laughter, your― your light which illuminated my way during all these years, and your warmth which comforted me no matter what I was doing. You know, when I saw you there, in the bomber, I… I became someone else. My life changed so much it's impossible to imagine. I felt something I had never felt before. I didn't understand it right away, far from it. But as time passed I realized that it wasn't just momentary craziness. It was… something beautiful. Something grand. Something that never repeats itself. At least I thought so. No, not like that, I KNEW it, you understand?"
Gadget nodded. "I do."
"Oh yes, sure, you always understood me, even when I myself didn't…"
"Wlachally, I can't really say that…"
"Don't, Gadget. You… All these years you were the best part of my life, and I was absolutely sure that there could be nothing better, and that the best of what could happen to me already happened. I mean meeting you and living close to you all this time. We survived so much, we went through so much. I know how you treat me, know that you are willing to do anything for my sake. You did so much for me already and I know you are ready to do even more than that. That's why I feel myself… I don't know, a traitor, maybe…"
"Gosh, Chip!" Gadget exclaimed and grabbed his paw nervously clutching the edge of the bench. "What are you talking about?! What treachery?!"
"I'm sorry, I must have chosen a word badly, but… You see, with all the feelings you have towards me, I… I just have no idea how you'd react to… In short, like I said, I never thought I could feel something like that towards anyone else, but…" Chip covered her hands with his palm and gulped, hesitant to say these terrible words. "But it happened. I mean―"
"Millie," Gadget finished for him.
Chip shook and looked down. "So you know…"
The mouse laughed. "Golly, Chip! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand it! The way you looked at each other talked, waited for another meeting. We talked much while you were unconscious, she didn't leave your ward for a second, just like me. She was simply the first to fall asleep that day, or she would be the first to charge into the room, you know…"
"Oh, I see… Wait, and… What did you talk about?"
"You, mostly. I told her about your heroic deeds, and she about your investigation here."
"And… is that it?"
"Surely no! She also told me about your walks, you teaching her to concentrate, figuring out her home address, asking her forgiveness so loud some car's alarm went off…"
"Yes, it's true… And about that accident in my ward…"
"About it, too, yes."
"About it, too…" Chip blushed heavily. "You see, I… I don't know how it happened, what came over me…"
"Golly, Chip!" Gadget smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "What are you talking about? You know exactly what it was!"
"Some momentary weakness, most probably… Well…"
Chipmunk looked away avoiding seeing her eyes but she cupped his face in her hands and gently turned him to herself.
"Don't be a fool, Chip! It was love!"
"You… you think so?"
"I'm sure, Chip. Listen, I know you are very strong and very proud. That you value your honor and that most of all you are afraid of losing your face or showing weakness. So hear me out, Chip. It's not weakness. It's love. And love isn't a weakness. It's the greatest strength in the world."
"Really…?"
"Really."
Chip lowered his head and Gadget felt a tear running down her paw.
"Golly!" she bent forward and looked into his face. "Chip, why? What are these tears for? Please, don't!"
"Sorry…" chipmunk wiped his eyes with his hand and looked at her again. "It's… You see, it's… I just… was scared that… You know I'm afraid of not many things but this… I was afraid of this conversation so much I was quacking…"
"Why, Chip?"
"I was afraid you wouldn't understand. Grow angry, offended, I dunno… Start yelling at me or… or even worse, start crying. Yes, that scared me the most. You see I've already driven you to tears once when I insulted that little swallow and after that I… I thought about it and… and I swore to myself I won't let it happen again. I… I can't stand when you're crying… Can't stand it…"
"Chip…" she caressed his cheek, straightening out his furs glued together by moisture. "Why should I become angry? Why must I cry?"
"Well, I thought… You… You were so worried about me, and I don't mean just this your vigil… So…"
"Yes, Chip, you're right. I was worried. For you, for Dale, for Monty, for Zipper, for all of oyu. You are the most precious I have, and most of all I want you to be happy. That's why I tell you: go to Millie, and be happy. You both will be happy, Chip, trust me. She's beautiful, clever and kind girl. And she loves you, and you love her. You love her, don't you?"
"Yes," Chip answered in low voice. "I love her, Gadget."
"See? Isn't it enough? Is anything else needed?"
Chip said nothing. Because it was the right answer, and because no words were needed now. So he just hugged Gadget closely and dug his muzzle into her coat's collar. She did the same and they sat there for some time, enjoying these moments of intimacy which will never be the same again.
"You know, Gadget," Chip finally spoke. "I understood it long ago but was never really brave enough to say it, afraid of confusing something, saying something wrong… In short, you are pure gold. A wonder. THE wonder. The real wonder. Thank you for everything, for all these years. If it hadn't been for you, I― I don't know where I would've been know and whether my life would've had any meaning at all. I don't know if I could endure all this… Probably not. I would've probably abandoned it, or broke down or… or grew cruel and embittered, who knows…"
I know… Gadget thought remembering Chip-Vader's cold eyes.
"I'm sure you'd have made it," she said instead. "You are strong, brave and firm of purpose. But most important, you are kind, Chip. Very kind. "
"No, Gadget," Chip weakened his hug and looked into her eyes. "I know I can be intolerable at times, and sometimes so much it scares me myself. But these your words, this treatment of yours allowed me to overcome everything. Thank you for this. Thanks for being my support and delight. Thanks for― for life."
Gadget smiled heartily. "Oh, Chip, please… It's me who must thank you. In Bottlebottom you were ready to stay and perish but insisted on me flying away. You asked, you begged, even ordered. Even yelled at me… I know it was hard but you did it for my sake, and I'm grateful for this. You saved my life so many times I lost count long ago. You risked your life and health to save me so often that it's worth several lives. But that's not what's important. You and Dale brought me back into the world, rescued me from loneliness and filled my life with absolutely new and unexpected meaning! Who would I have been without you? A half-insane hermit crazy about sprockets and traps, seeing nothing but the old broken plane! That's why you are more than friends to me, much more and much closer. Closer than brothers I don't have but if I did I'd wish them to be like you two. But you mean much more to me. You are my happiness. Happiness, Chip. No more, no less."
"Oh boy…" Chip was so moved he could barely speak. "I… I never imagined…"
"Me too, Chip. I didn't know it for a very long time. For too long."
"But Gadget… How then… What now then?"
"What now, Chip? You are still…" Gadget stuttered and when she went on, there was a distinct alarm in her voice. "You are staying, right? You aren't going to leave the Rangers, are you?"
"What are you talking about, Gadget?" Chip exclaimed. "Surely not! How can I leave? Do you know what Dale will turn our room into? Our former room, that is."
"Yeah, sure…" the inventor muttered. Chip's words brought back some very unpleasant memories. But they were gone forever, this time everything was different, so she gladdened.
"So, Millie will…" she paused significantly.
"Move to us, yes," Chip confirmed. "I haven't talked to her yet, though, but I think she'll agree. Besides, I want to offer her to become our team's full member. Sure she'll have to learn much but she's very apt and grasps everything on the fly so there won't be any prob― I mean, everything will be alright! I don't know if she's able to combine her Ranger duty with working here but since the new hospital in San-Angeles will inevitably decrease the SCH's role and she deserves much more than a dull life of a simple nurse I'm sure I'll convince her."
"If you talk to her like you are talking to me now, you'll certainly will!"
"Really? Thanks! You are right; I became too weak lately…"
"Golly, why 'weak'?" Gadget clasped his shoulders. "Not 'weak' at all! Quite the opposite, you made the one and only right decision! And very brave, mind you, for it's much easier to say the words of hatred than those of love!"
"Oh, yeah," chipmunk nodded, remembering how easy it was for him to taunt and insult his enemies and how hard ― to speak of gentle feelings. But now the incoming talk with Millie no longer seemed like an attempt to break a stone wall with his head. He knew what he had to say and knew everything will turn out the best way possible. "Thank you again. You are the wonder indeed! I'd never make it without you!"
"You are the wonder, Chip!"
"Well," Chip squeezed her paw for the last time and stood up. "In that case…"
"Go to her! Tell her what you told me and be happy!" Gadget encouraged him and frowned jokingly. "Remember, I'll grow very angry if you aren't happy! And I'm scary when I'm angry, you know that!"
Chip smiled. "I know! I'll never forget that Baby Thaddeus! And this funeral case... Doctor Stone told me you almost killed Spivey and Mouise with that... What was it, by the way?"
"That? Oh, that was semi-automatic electric hair styler with straightening and drying functions! That is, it should have been semi-automatic electric hair styler with straightening and drying functions but during the testing I found out I installed too powerful engine and didn't take into account static charge accumulating on the rods due to self-induction. So I put the thingy away and when we were flying to the hospital I took it with me. Thought that if even Monty grew scared when I turned it on for the first time, the criminals would be scared, too…"
"Oh, you scared them, that's for sure!"
"I tried!" Gadget smiled. "Okay, Chip, time for you to go!"
"Yes, you are right! It's time!"
Chip turned to the doors but froze without making a step.
"Almost forgot," he said, turning back and fetching the photograph from his pocket.
"What's that?" Gadget asked. Chipmunk handed her the photo without a word, and Gadget was stunned to see herself there.
"It's me! Where did you get that?"
"You see," Chip said, nervously pinching his collar, "I copied it out of our group photo quite some time ago and since that time I always carried it with me, everywhere, and kept reprinting it when it became too worn so that you always stayed as fresh and beautiful on it as you were in life. It helped me in hard times and owing to it I always knew you are close. But now I want to give it back to you. Hope you understand…"
"Sure, Chip! You are right. Hope you don't mind if I hang it on the wall in the workshop?"
"Sure I won't!" Chip waved his hands. "I'll be… happy! Yes, happy!"
"Good!"
"So, I…" Chip made a step towards the door, and Gadget nodded.
"Go, Chip! You deserved it, deserved your happiness like nobody else! Go to her!"
"Thanks, I'm on my way then…! Wait, aren't you coming?"
"Go, Chip! You are the hero of the day, after all, it's you they are waiting for!"
"No, Gadget , I won't go without you…"
"Go, Chip, I'll be right behind you! Everything is alright, really! See you at the meeting!"
"Yeah, right, sure… Okay, I'm going… Running!"
Chip waved his paw one last time and disappeared behind the corner. Gadget leant back on the wall and closed her eyes. She was filled with emotions but just like in the morning on June 14th she was unable to move. So she just sat there, smiling happily and peacefully.
Gadget was sincere when she thanked Chip for the life he gave her. On that day in the old 'Mitchell' Chip, Dale, Monty and Zipper went through all the traps she built trying to fence herself from the cruel world that snatched her father away from her. And although in a year and a half since her father's death she calmed down and recovered somewhat, she drove herself into this prison too hard and persistently to broke free right away.
Back then her friends passed all the traps she built on the outside. But they weren't able to breach the ones she built inside herself. The walls she erected around her heart proved very strong and stood for a very long, impermissibly long time. And only the hull of the fallen Boeing finally breached them.
On that monstrously long June day she realized and learned much. She realized how important her friends were to her, and how important she was to them. She learned to see in their words and deeds those subtle things which evaded her all these years, smashing against the blind wall.
Gadget looked at the photo Chip gave back to her. Gave back… Yes, that's what he said: I want to give it back to you… But you can give back only something you were given, and she didn't give him this photo. And no other photo, too, neither him nor Dale. She couldn't even imagine that her friends could need her photograph. And not to hang it on the wall and glance over it from time to time, but to carry everywhere and take out secretly to make sure that the paper was intact and the paint hadn't fade, then quickly hide it back before she could see it…
Was that secrecy really needed?
"Would anything have changed otherwise?"
Nothing… Gadget had to admit. Nothing. Or became even worse…
Once again she recalled the episode with the fan, the flower and the picnic. What would she have told Chip if, say, on June 12th she had caught him with this photo in his paws?
"Golly, what a great photo! It's from our group shot, yes? Did it yourself, yes? Not bad, not bad at all! Though the choice of the background color is strange and the graininess is too high, in short, there's much room for the progress! Sorry, can't talk anymore, my magnet resonator works with problems, needs checking…"
I deserved it all… Gadget thought clasping the photo to her breast and remembering Ice-Dome, Vader's cruel words and the empty HQ filled with the viscid silence and musty calmness of the crypt locked until the next funeral. That day on the SCH's threshold she swore she'd never allow her passion for technology to shove her friends to the background.
She kept her promise, and from the very truly next day she tried to spend most of her free time with them. And when she was short of spare time, for instance, during building new medical equipment, she tried to get Chip and Dale involved, too, and slowly they became as avid workshop goers as she was. And although many things they built needed modifying or rebuilding, her friend's happy faces made her forget of all the problems. Except one, for some walls even airliner can't breach…
---
"Gadget, listen to us! You mustn't sacrifice your future for us. You deserve much more. You are a genius, a great engineer! You know and can make so much. And, besides, we … we are so … different. Too different. And I'm absolutely sure that some day, early or late, you'll meet someone who'll become a firm support and rejoice for you. And a great and loving father for your children…"
"You should listen to Chip. He's right, you know…"
---
Chip and Dale. Small Central Hospital. The 'third' and every other Saturday but the last which for everyone else in this world was the only one that ever was. For her, though, there were so much of them it was unimaginable, and of those conversations in the waiting room, too. The same words by her friends, the same facial expressions and the same reaction to her saying that she would never leave them and she needed nobody but them. Each time there was sincere joy, smiles and happy laughter which seemed out of place in the middle of the hospital full of injured and dying.
But even these bright emotions didn't make her answer any more correct. That is, it was correct, but far from full. Every time she answered for herself. But Chip's words applied not only to her but to him and Dale, too. And no matter how much time she spent with them, how many sport events, concerts and movies they watched and visited, she couldn't give him something that no entertainment can substitute and that they both deserved long time ago.
The family.
Gadget knew Chip and Dale needed her. That's why she politely but firmly rejected all courting attempts by male mice working in SCH and tenaciously declined invitations from Sparky and other rodent scientists from the large and famous research centers. Nothing interested her, for she had made her choice already, and her friends' happiness was a proof of it. But at the same time she realized it clearer and clearer that this attitude of hers cut their wings. That she was giving them the present while depriving them of the future.
Upon realizing this she endeavored to talk to them about it a couple of times, but every time she abandoned it. It was too dangerous. Gadget remembered her initial reaction to their words too well, as well as that overwhelming feeling of emptiness and unneedingness that filled her while walking down the corridor. She also recalled how Chip left the Headquarters, feeling rejected by her, and even her kisses couldn't keep him from falling into the abyss of cynicism and heartlessness. They were nothing but a parachute which slowed down his descent somewhat, but no parachute will ever make for the safety rope, even if it is some invisible thread. She cut this thread with her own paws that day, once and for all. Almost, that is, for the temporal loop brought everything back. But it won't happen again…
Once again Monty's words came to her help. He had never really spoke them, but it didn't make them any less wise and important.
---
"…But the point is that this can only be your choice. Only yours and nobody else's. They understood it and, I assure ya, will accept it whatever it'll be…"
---
She made her choice. Now it was up to Chip and Dale to make theirs. To find their way on their own, without any prompts that are so easy to misinterpret tragically. Gadget could do nothing but wait for it to happen while tying to make everything she could for her friends to feel happy. At times this solution looked self-contradictory to her, though. How will her friends find their way if they feel happy already? But Chip's example undeniably proved that she was right. That she did it. And now she was infinitely happy with it.
"See, Gadget Hackwrench, everything's alright!" she said to herself carefully shoving the photograph into the pocket. "Everything's as it should be! Chip met the girl of his species which will be his faithful life partner, loving wife and great mother for their children. Your turn, Dale!"
"Your thinking of him wasn't accidental, was it?"
Gadget screwed up her eyes and shook her head. The feeling was similar to the one she had in the hospital workshop when Sparky offered her to move to MIT. This time the voice sounded louder and more distinct, either by contrast with the silence reigning in the facility, or because there were no other thoughts…
She pulled herself up.
Surely it wasn't! Quite the contrary, it was very logical! Now when Chip has everything settled, it's time to―
"Think of yourself…"
No, not of myself! Of Dale!
"The former doesn't contradict the latter…"
Okay, enough of that…! Golly, I need to go! Everybody must have―
"Gadget! Are you here?!"
The mouse gave a start and turned to Dale standing in the door frame. He was rumpled and breathing heavily after running headlong through the maze of the corridors.
"Everything's alright, Dale!" Gadget smiled. "I'm coming already! Am I too late?"
Chipmunk shook his head. "No-no-no! Everything is under control there! They are still waiting for someone to come and Doctor Stone said that the agenda item number first is half-year's summary so that will take long… But that's not what I wanted…"
"What, Dale? Something happened?"
"Nope… That is, of course! You… I don't know how to put it, in short, Chip and Millie… They…"
"Yes, Dale!" Gadget's smile broadened. "They love each other and plan to marry! I hope everything's alright there?"
"More than that! That's why I… Wait! You knew it?!"
"Chip told me…"
Dale's sigh of relief was loud and prolonged as an air-raid alarm.
"So… That's what he asked you to stay back for?!"
"Yes, for this… Aren't you glad?"
"Who, me?! Oh boy, Gadget! You― You can't imagine how glad I am! It's… It's incredible! It's―" Dale whirled off and made two laps around the corridor on his four to spend the energy overwhelming him somewhere, and then sat down on the bench next to Gadget. "It's a holiday!"
"You are right! Okay, we should go…"
"Wait!" Dale grabbed the inventor started to rise by her hand and made her sit down. His grip was slightly stronger and his movement a bit harsher than needed but Gadget didn't try to break her hand free.
"I'm listening, Dale."
"Gadget, you know…" chipmunk nervously shrugged his shoulders, adjusted his collar and scratched his nose. Usually Gadget, whose fussiness always had a distinct purpose, was jarred by Dale's chaotic movements when he tried to do ten things at once, even more so when he was nearby. But now his twitching didn't irritate her but seemed very proper and harmonic, like a whirlwind of furious hurricane seen from the circumterrestrial orbit…
"Nice jacket, by the way! Why didn't you wear it before! It suits you perfectly!"
"It's my father's dress jacket," Gadget answered without hint of displeasure, although Dale already asked her about it in the morning. But after this phrase his nervousness became as logical as the sequence of Fibonacci numbers. Him starting the conversation in the same way as Chip wasn't merely a coincidence. He wanted to tell her the same, and every word he was saying next was more telling than the previous one.
"See, Gadget, I… I wanted to tell it long time ago, but was never brave enough… I have no idea how you'll react…"
Well, everything's turning out better than I thought! Gadget surmised listening to her friend's syncopated speech and feeling him squeezing her hand tighter and tighter. Dale met some girl, too, and he'll be happy living with her! Who could it be? And, most important, when and where did they meet?
"Don't you know it already?"
"…I know how you treat me but still… this is, I don't know, too sudden, to extraordinary…"
No, really, who is it? Someone from the hospital personnel? Nope, I'd notice it… Someone he met on Java? Nope, we went together everywhere and he showed no particular interest to anybody… Some earlier acquaintance of his, maybe?
"Yes, earlier… Much, much earlier…"
"Sure you can say it's strange. Unnatural. That it's just not done this way and plainly impossible…"
What does he mean? Strange, unnatural, not done… Unnatural… What if… It's someone different! Someome from other species, maybe, but… Golly, sure! Foxglove!
"And if you think better?"
What's there to think better? Everything's logical! They parted for some reason back then but now became close, see each other…
"And when do you think they do it?"
When? Wmidunno… Sure! At nights! She must have heard about Chip's injury and returned to the city! But she's nocturnal, that's why we didn't meet her! But Dale is a night owl, that is, munk, so they met! That's it!
"Are you sure about that?"
Sure I'm sure…!
"I know it looks strange but… But you know, I… I don't give a darn what they'll say about me, if they consider me crazy or worse… I… In short, I love you, Gadget, and I want you to become my wife."
Gadget froze, unable not only to speak but to breathe as well.
"You…" she babbled finally. "You… You really want it, Dale?"
"No!" Dale objected ardently. "Not really! But very-very-very much! More than anything in this world! Honestly!"
"Golly, Dale… This… You… Golly… Golly…"
"Sure, you say?"
But… But it's… It's impossible…
"Why? Didn't you want to hear it from him all this time?"
Wlachally… Actually…
"Actually what? What else do you need? Do you mean it wasn't enough?"
What 'it'?
"Everything you remembered that night and everything you didn't…"
I don't get it… I don't remember…
"So remember! Start with that flight on the carpet or spy games, for instance. What was that?"
Well… That… That's just…
"Really? By the way, you never kissed anyone like that!"
Actually, I did…
"You mean Chip's leaving? And how many times did you kiss him then?"
Two…
"Wlatchally, to tell the truth, the second his was entirely his idea, but okay, accepted. And now remember Rangermobile…"
What's there to remember? A skateboard with two rows of seats, steering mechanism made of the winder put into the bottle cork, powered by…
"Drop it! You know what's meant here!"
Indeed, Gadget knew it better than anyone else in the world, and her timid attempt to hide from this knowledge in her habitual world of engineering solutions implemented in Rangermobile's design was another proof of that episode's significance. It was quickly buried underneath the realization of how monstrous Chip-Vader's deed had been and that real Chip was gone. Then came a feeling of unexplainable relief when she found out that nothing of it 'happened', followed by the events of all 'other days' which covered it like new records made onto the same magnetic tape.
But now it emerged from the depth of her memory as though it was for real and only yesterday. A second later she was sitting on the Rangermobile's front seat and Dale's hands didn't squeezed her hand but ran over her shoulders and her back, enveloping and screening off the world around them where they had no wish to return at all…
"Remember how it was? What you felt then?"
---
"Dale…you know, I think we're being watched," Gadget whispered, noticing a few curious onlookers with a corner of her eye.
"Really? Look at me."
"Looking."
"Who do you see?"
"Only you."
"And I don't see anyone…but you…"
---
Yes, I do remember…
"Do you remember how many times you kissed him?"
No, I can't…
"It's hard to count the uncountable, isn't it?"
Yes, but… But that doesn't count! I mean, it's different! It can't be… can't be that…
"What was it, then? Pity? Compassion? Amending your guilt?"
Maybe… A bit of each…
"You are mixing thing up. That was in Chip's case…"
Sure it was! I love him, too, after all!
"Yes, you do. But not that way. Differently. Remember what you felt up on the tree and what ― in the garage. And think. Think very well…"
Well, in the garage it was… just some delusion, confusion, stress… I― I don't know what it was!
"Don't lie to me, Gadget! Don't lie to yourself! You know what it was! You explained it to Chip just some minutes ago! He too thought it was… How did he put it? 'Some momentary weakness'? And what did you tell him?"
That… That it was love…
"Well, you answered yourself. No answer him. He's waiting."
But… But I have no idea what to say to him…
"In that case, let's start proofing by contradiction. Do you want to say 'no' to him?"
No, I don't want to…
"What's left, then?"
Well, for instance, say nothing…
"And lose everything? Lose him? And you'll lose him. You are losing him already…"
Lose? Why lose?
"You are losing him…"
No, I don't! He's sitting next to me, holding my hand and… GOSH!
Gadget gave a start and opened her eyes. She was sitting in the same white corridor on the same bench with the same clock on the wall. Everything was the same. Except one thing. Dale held her hand no longer. He didn't leave; he was still sitting right next to her. But now his hands were resting on his knees, his fists clutched, and he was looking not on her but into the corridor's opposite end.
Gadget grabbed him by his sleeve. "Dale!"
Chipmunk slowly turned to her and a sigh of relief stuck in the mouse's throat. Dale's face was flabby and his eyes were empty. Just like in the hospital underground garage after losing Morgan. That is, according to the laws of temporal logic, like never before.
"Dale…" Gadget muttered, unable to say anything else.
"Gadget…" He responded after some pause. "I understand. I understand everything…"
"Wait, Dale! Please, I… I wanted…"
Gadget couldn't finish the phrase. She sobbed once, then once again, and finally burst into tears.
What is this?! She scolded herself. How can it be?! What a kind of mouse am I?! How many times do I need to lose everything to realize it?! To tell it?! How many?!
"Oh boy, Gadget!" Dale shouted. He interpreted her long silence and these tears in an absolutely different way. "I'm sorry, I… I mustn't have! I didn't know! Forgive me! It's my fault! Please, don't cry! Forget it! Forget it, please! Okay, I… See, I'm leaving! I'm leaving! Don't cry, I'm leaving…"
"NO!!!"
Gadget's scream seemed to shake the foundations of entire hospital and Dale who started to rise suddenly found himself gripped in a vice. Surely he'd never been gripped in a vice before to tell exactly, but he was absolutely sure he'd have felt the same. He could neither move not inhale normally. The only thing he was capable of was to sit half-turned with bulging eyes and opened mouth and listen to supplications of the mouse inventor who pressed herself to him.
"Don't, Dale…! Please, don't go…! Please… I beg you… Don't go… I… I… I love you, Dale! Please… I love you-u-u-u…"
"Really…?" Dale asked in hoarse voice, tears welling up in his eyes because of feelings overflow and her tight grip.
"Yes, Dale! Please, believe me! It's… It's true! Don't go! Don't go-o-o-o…"
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…" Dale muttered. He could nothing but swallow tears rolling down his cheeks and lips. Now he was in the same condition as Chip soon after regaining his consciousness. But if Chip was regaining the ability to move with each passing seconds, Dale was losing it steadily, because after each of his careful movements mouse's embrace grew tighter and her pleadings ― more compassionate.
"Please, Dale, stay… Don't leave me… Don't leave me… Forgive… Forgive me-e-e-e…"
"But Gadget… Let me just…" Dale tried to move his shoulders but Gadget considered it an attempt to break free and clasped him even tighter.
"Don't, Dale! Don't go! I love you, Dale! Please, believe me! Don't go-o-o…!"
"I… I won't go…" Dale whispered lacking air for more clear and loud speech. "I won't go, Gadget… I won't go anywhere…"
"Promise?" the mouse asked lifting her tearful face.
"Swear…" chipmunk exhaled the last air from his lungs into her ear. Gadget sobbed a couple more times and warily loosened her grip, and screamed when Dale's freed hands shot out sideways. She wanted to cry and stop him but she couldn't make a sound, because now Dale pressed her to himself tightly taking her breath away and make tears splash from her eyes. This time it was another kind of tears, the one and only you can shed while embracing the dearest and closets being on earth. And they both shed them very generously…
"Gosh, Gadget…" chipmunk whispered as soon as he regained the ability to talk. "I… You can't imagine how long I dreamt of hearing these words from you… For entirety, maybe… For my whole life…"
"Forgive me, Dale… Forgive me for― for not telling them earlier… I didn't knew, didn't understand, didn't noticed… Golly-y-y…"
"What, Gadget? What is this for? It's okay… Everything's okay…"
"I know… I know, Dale… I knew it back then… Back then already… Golly…"
The chipmunk didn't quite get it. "When 'then'?"
"When you caught me during our hunt for the flying carpets."
Dale smiled, flabbergasted. He didn't expect to hear anything like that. "Seriously? I couldn't think that moment is as important for you as it is for me. And it's very important for me…"
"Really?"
"Unreally! Every time I thought about you, in other words, very often, I recalled that moment! Remembered everything to the tiniest detail! How you climbed down and started falling, and I was running around praying to happen in the right place…"
Gadget waved him to stop. "Wlatchally, I was talking about other moment, when we were falling together after I shut the carpet down with a magnet. You held me with your hand during entire fall and when the plunger caught you, even with both of them. And you were smiling. But all that time your eyes were so… serious. Full of joy, but at the same time very serious. Just the way dad looked at me while spinning me around in the air or flying with me in our plane. Even if something went wrong, even in the most critical situation he remained calm and smiled, even joked. But his eyes were serious, as if saying 'trust me, I know what I'm doing and I promise everything will be okay'. And I believed him and calmed down instantly, certain that nothing bad could ever happen to me. Just couldn't happen, you understand?"
"I do."
"That's what I saw in your eyes then. That's how I felt. For the first time since my father's death I felt it… Back then… No traps, even the deadliest of them, could bring that feeling of safety back to me. And you did it…"
"Wovie…" Dale said thoughtfully. "I didn't know that… But I remember another moment better. I still remember catching you, how you fell into my arms, gazed at me with your sparkling eyes with every single star on the sky reflecting in them and said 'Thank you, Dale'. Then put your arms around my neck and pressed your cheek to my shoulder. And I just stood there, unable to move or to say anything, anything at all. I just stood there, holding you and knowing that I could stand like that for hours without feeling tired. Because of you. You were with me and so— so close, like never before and never after… Though no, there was once… One time when you… Well…"
Gadget lowered her eyes. "I think I know what you mean. You're talking about me…"
"…smooching me," Dale finished for her. "Well, I didn't know it was you but… but I wished it had been you and when I found out it was you I… I just didn't know what to think or do, for it was… Well, it was difficult so I doubted and…"
"No, Dale. It wasn't a part of the script," Gadget answered without waiting for a question.
"Wow, wow, wow…" Dale repeated several times. "I― I wanted to ask you about that smoochorama many times, wanted to make sure what it was. I told myself that any your answer would do, even if you said that it was nothing more than a game trick to lure me in. But each time I… Well, I realized that I was afraid of your answer, afraid of hearing that it… that it meant nothing…"
Gadget rubbed her face and looked at him. "You know, Dale, it's good you didn't ask. Earlier, I mean."
"You mean, you'd have…"
"I don't know what I would've said," she confessed. "I just don't know. I… Only recently I realized I have feelings for you, and before that I'd probably have said the same I said to Chip, that all spies do it and the like… Not that I lied, I didn't know what it was myself and decided to think it over later but so much happened that it went further and further down my memory lane and… and I almost forgot about it entirely… Golly, Dale, I'm so sorry… I mustn't have forgotten it, it was cruel, no, felonious on my side…"
"Don't say that, Gadget!" Dale caressed Gadget's cheek to keep her from crying again. "It's not your fault! It's me who should feel ashamed for his cowardice. It's me, not you, who must have been first to ask about it. But I grew scared, scared of truth. That is, possible truth. To be honest, I always thought you liked Chip more than me. After all, he's the leader, he's stronger and smarter than me. That's why I wanted to tell you I love you many times but… I was afraid of hearing 'no' which would be a death sentence for me. For my dream… For my dream and my love, my one and only love which I'll never feel to anyone else…"
"Golly, Dale…" Gadget passed her fingers over his cheeks soaked with tears. "You say such beautiful things! These your words about your true love, your dream… they are beautiful! As beautiful as unexpected, and because they are so unexpected they are so beautiful, unexpectedly beautiful! And I used to consider your words and deeds…"
"Silly?" Dale finished. "Well, I must admit…"
"No, Dale!" the inventor hastily objected. "I wouldn't say that! Rather, not very serious… Though… On the other hand… Golly-y-y-y…"
"OH BOY! GADGET!" Dale yelled when her words changed into deafened sobs. He tried to take her by her hand but she pressed them too tightly to her face, so he started hitting himself in the forehead with his fists. "Forgive me! Excuse me! I don't know how it escaped me! I didn't mean that! I didn't want to say anything bad about you! I'm fool! Fool! Gadget, love! Forgive me! FORGIVE ME, PLEASE!!!"
"No, Dale!" Gadget stopped him by grabbing his hand raised for another blow. "It's not your fault! I must apologize! All this time I used to treat you as a comic books, action films and heavy music fan! But after these your words, after everything you said I realized that I was blind like a mole, now, like a hundred of moles taken together! Golly, do you remember how we went to the sewers after Rat Capone, how you played a girl? I told you to go and get help… A medical, psychiatric help, Dale! But… But your plan was ingenious! Really ingenious and it worked with no problems! And I… I didn't even apologize to you… Please, Dale, forgive me if you can… Please…"
Dale laughed. "What are you talking about, Gadget? I forgot about it long ago! So many years have passed, so many things happened… And you still remember it?"
"Like it was yesterday…" Gadget answered and dug her nose into the fur on his neck. Chipmunk embraced her and carefully scratched tender skin at the base of her ear, covered by thick hair. Gadget answered by rubbing his neck with her nose, making him giggle.
"Gadget, stop! It tickles!"
"You started it!" Gadget answered looking at him, and Dale was relieved to finally see a smile on her face. That shiny smile he used to see all these years and could live no longer without it.
"Trust me, Gadget, you have nothing to scold yourself for," he said softly. "Like you said, I'm comic books, action films and heavy music fan. The point is that for a very long time I perceive them differently… Absolutely differently…"
"I bet it has something to do with one certain bat girl…" Gadget said jokingly, remembering about Dale's long nights of movie marathons with Foxglove. But Dale's reaction was absolutely unexpected. He shook and glanced at her, as if expecting sudden stab, then looked aside.
"Yes, I…"
Golly… Gadget thought. They must have parted in an unpleasant way… And I reminded him… She pressed her fingers to his lips, trying to amend the situation. "Dale, I'm sorry! I didn't want to! If it's hard for you, please, forget about it! Let's not talk about it, okay?"
Dale shook his head. "No, Gadget. You have the right to know. You must know. Please, let me tell you."
His voice trembled, but his black eyes radiated unshakeable determination. He felt he must say what he was carrying for all these years. Say it now or never. Gadget knew it, so she gently touched Dale's face with her paw showing her understanding and nodded.
"Sure Dale. If you say so, I'm listening."
"Thanks, Gadget. You remember how we met? How she treated me?"
"Yes."
"She became attached to me very quickly, almost from the start. She often visited us and we talked about things…" Dale shrugged. "I felt, well, uneasy, you know… Good but at the same time uneasy. I wasn't used to girls throwing themselves at me. But then I thought that it's just temporary, well, crush, like Tammy had on Chip. After all, we saved her from the hands of that wicked witch so it wasn't strange she felt affection for us and me in particular. Quite natural, or so I thought. But I was sure that, like in Tammy's case, it will pass. No, I enjoyed our friendship, her joyful greetings, her laughing to my jokes, her flying with me… that is, me with her… Whatever… But I never though it could be serious, so serious."
Dale swallowed a limp in his throat. Introduction was over. It was time for culmination.
"You know, after three― yes, three months she… I remember it very well, it was autumn. The leaves were yellow and we ran around the park gathering bunches of yellow and red leaves, then flew up, she's on her own wings, I'm on the glider, and threw them down from above. Our private little leaf falls…"
He went into the tiniest, sometimes excessive details for a reason, trying to postpone the unpleasant matters but at the same time whipping himself up to remember everything, without omissions, and to discourage himself beforehand from concealing something.
"One of those days, that is, it was late evening, we were sitting on the branch above our hangar, and she was telling me what's going on in the darkness below us. You know, bats can do it, they have this… thingy…"
"Sonar," Gadget helped him.
"Yes-yes, sonar! And so she's telling me that a squirrel ran in the grass below us, a sparrow landed on a branch, a leaf darted past driven by the wind… So interesting! And then… Then she said 'There, on that bench, just under that burned out lamp post, two people are sitting. A guy and a girl. Just like you and me…' I asked 'Really? Like we? They're listening the darkness, too? But they don't have…' She laughed and said 'No, cutie, they're listening not the darkness but each other.' 'Do you hear them?' 'Sure, just like you!' 'And what are they talking about?' 'Oh, many things. Though they speak very little. Just two, three words at a time.' 'What time?' 'Time between…' And suddenly she―"
Dale shook tangibly and Gadget had to squeeze his paw tightly to calm him down and let him continue.
"Turned out, she was moving closer all this time, and I didn't noticed how she was right next to me. And after these words she suddenly clasped me with her wings and kissed me. Just like you during that spy games.
"I was embarrassed, I asked her what it meant, and she said 'I love you, silly-billy! Haven't you understood it yet?' I― I didn't know what to say, giggled nervously, then said I can't, I dunno, and I must drink something for my dry throat…
"I ran down and to the kitchen, barely managed to pour myself a cup of water, spilled a half on the floor, almost slipped on the puddle… Almost choked myself while drinking… Fortunately, you were sleeping already, or watching something… Yes, sure! You watched 'Titanic', and Monty came to the kitchen to get some ice and found me and her there… Oh, she flew in soon after me, and when Monty left, she asked what happened. And I said I love― another girl. You. Yes, I said it like that. 'I love Gadget' I said. It was the first time I said it out loud. Even startled myself with that… No, I mean, back in that bomber I felt I changed forever, but I couldn't really describe that feeling before that. And then I did it. At once.
"Foxglove, though, said I must be joking. If I loved you, she said, I wouldn't spend so much time with her and all that… And on the whole, she said, that she, that is, you, that you didn't love me as much as I, that is, she, loved you, that is, me…"
Dale grew so nervous he started to confuse words. He constantly corrected himself and that made him even more nervous, for each self-correction was another obstacle appearing from nowhere. As a result, the chipmunk felt like an athlete seeing the finish line but still running into new barriers growing right in front of him.
"I had no idea what else to say so I repeated 'Foxglove, I'm sorry, you are a nice girl, I feel good with you, but I love Gadget.' And then she… She―"
This time the pause was significantly longer than usual and Gadget wanted to say something, encourage him somehow, help him overcome this barrier. But then she realized she'd only make worse, for some barriers you must overcome by yourself, without any help.
"And then she started to say… She started… Gadget, I'm sorry… I can't…"
"It's okay, Dale!" the mouse grabbed his paw, interknitting her and his fingers. "Go on, please!"
"Okay… So like I said, she started saying… horrible things. That I'd be unhappy with you. That you didn't love me, that you loved nobody at all because your true love was mechanisms and tools. That you considered me nothing but a funny and dumb-witted fool. That you didn't notice even Chip's clear courting attempts, not to mention those subtle hints of mine. That you were incapable of true feelings. That you didn't value us. That you didn't need us. That you needed no one at all. That you… That you were a soulless and heartless mechanism yourself…"
All this time Dale's paw held by Gadget's hands was shaking, but when he said the final phrase it grew stiff like a stone, and his fingers, crooked and cramped, stuck into skin on the back of her palm. It was painful but Gadget braced herself and didn't let her scream out, even pressed her lips tightly not to give up her pain which was nothing compared to what Dale was experiencing now.
"And then… After these her words, I… I just… You know, I suddenly remembered an episode from Dirk Suave movie and his conversation with the girl who turned out a double agent. Throughout the film they acted together uncovering another of Dr. So-So's schemes, but then everything turned out one big hoax, evasive action, cover for another, much more terrifying crime. Sure, Suave understood everything and prevented it but… But that scene, that dialogue… I liked him so much in that scene. So calm, cold, reserved. Forbidding like a rock and unbreakable like a tank, gyrotank. Yes, like a gyrotank. And I― I became him, for after these words she was nobody else but― but a double agent to me. So I― I braced myself, clenched my teeth, crossed my hands, looked at her with the coldest stare I ever had and― and I answered her…"
Now Dale was outwardly feverish. His voice stayed resolute as before, though sometimes he stuttered and repeated some word for two or three times. But his body rocked under his sweater, and though his fingers were dug into Gadget's hand, she still had to apply efforts to hold his palm in her paws.
"I told her― told her that she understood nothing. That she didn't know what she's talking about. That she didn't know what a true feeling and a true love was. That she had no right to say those things about the most beautiful girl in the world. That she… Here I assumed the role of Dirk Suave completely… That she wormed herself into our confidence to ruin our team from inside, to instill hostility, to make us hate one another…
"She started crying, tried to say something but I didn't hear and didn't listen. I just went on talking, answering each her phrase and each her accusation with one of my own. And finally― finally I said that― that I didn't want to see her― again. Than I turned around and left. And the next morning we found her note. And it was over."
Chipmunk didn't understand why his right hand felt so wet. He looked down and saw it wasn't just water. Gadget dug her face into his shoulder and was crying silently, and his sweater's sleeve was dark-crimson with her tears.
"Gadget!" Dale called bowing down and looking in her face. "Gosh, sorry, I… I mustn't have repeated those things but― but you asked and I… I'm sorry… Don't… Please… Don't cry! Don't you cry, please…"
It took Gadget quite some time to start talking again.
"Forgive me, Dale! I didn't realized, didn't understood… I simply didn't notice anything at all!"
"No, Gadget, it's not your fault! Nobody noticed and understood anything, including me. I―" Dale sobbed heavily and was able to continue only after Gadget soothingly caressed his head. "I― I mustn't have said what I said about her. I must have restrained myself, explain her maybe… I'm sure she'd have understood, just like Tammy did, and stayed with us, became a Rescue Ranger… She would have felt good here, or… At least, we could have parted as friends and not… Gosh, if only I could― If only I could see her, ask her for forgiveness, understanding… But I don't know where she is…"
Gadget looked at him, and Dale saw tenderness, sadness and cold determination in her eyes, all at once. "Everything will be okay, Dale. We'll find her, we'll surely find her and you'll explain everything… Golly, we could have done it long time ago if… Why, Dale? Why didn't you say it before? Why kept it inside yourself for so long? Why didn't you tell us? None of us?"
Dale sobbed deeply and shook his head.
"I couldn't, Gadget. Just couldn't. And didn't want. At first I just didn't want to touch this topic. But later, when I realized everything, I didn't want― didn't want you to think badly of Foxglove. Yes, she said many foul things but― You know, she didn't really mean anything like that about you, she didn't want to alienate us, to corrupt us from the inside or to make something equally horrible. It wasn't rudeness or hatred on her part but desperation and― and care. Offensive, with a bit of 'you catch it, you keep it' attitude, yes, but still care.
"She was doing it for me, because― because she really loved me and wanted me to be happy. Happy, Gadget. She saw what I felt, how I suffer, saw me competing with Chip and thought I would lose eventually and would suffer even greater. So it was desperate way to show me, to make me realize what she was feeling and that she could give me something that, as she thought, I'd never get from you. Give here and now, without need to wait or fight anyone. Give realization that there's a living soul in the world that understood me, and she's here, right next to me, ready to give me love and care and…"
Dale blotted his face with his sweater and went on. "And I… If only I realized it back then. Oh boy… She didn't deserve those words. I hope she's alright, that she found some nice guy and they are happy. I hope it so. It's my only hope… Hope that she forgave me. Though after everything I told her… She… Oh boy, what have I done? I am a monster…"
"Don't say that, Dale! I'm sure she'll understand it when you explain it to her! You aren't a monster, you didn't say it to insult or humiliate her! You were protecting my name and honor, and I'm grateful to you for this! And though it's painful for me to say that but…" Gadget made a deep sigh. "She was mostly right…"
"No, Gadget!" Dale objected heatedly and shook his head so strongly that salty splashes flew everywhere. "It's not true! You are an ideal, an angel! You are the best in the world!"
"Thanks for these words, Dale, but for a very long time I didn't paid to you and Chip attention that you both deserved and that I must have paid you. And I paid for this… almost…" Gadget screwed her eyes to drive away the visions of the past which existed for her alone. "Trust me, we all make deeds for which we later become very sorry, but everything can be corrected. That is, almost everything, but… You know, sometimes something like that just must happen in order to… I dunno… To open our eyes, maybe…"
"You…" Dale whispered, visibly brightening. "You really think so? Are you sure?"
"I know," the mouse answered and her soft and confident tone dispersed the last, the heaviest and most oppressing clouds.
"Yes, sure," Dale agreed. "You are a prophet, you know everything… And I really changed. Take those comic books for instance. Before that I was interested in fights and monsters only, but now it's different. After that evening, after the realization that I love you, I started to find the things there I never noticed before! Yes, there are horrible monsters and villains on their covers, but there is much more than that inside. The real friendship, real self-sacrifice, real bravery and the real love…"
"Really?"
"Yes! Sure there's only little of it, just maybe a dozen panels in the whole book, but it makes finding of them even more rewarding, like finding a tiny gold nugget after sifting through a mountain of sand. The same's with action movies and rock music. So deep things can be found sometimes… If it wasn't for that episode, I'd never see anything of it, would never realized that you are my only real love. Only you, Gadget. Only you alone."
Dale fell silent. Gadget said nothing, too, and they sat there in complete silence, holding each other's hands and seeing only one another. Gadget was looking into chipmunk's eyes sparkling with moisture, astonished by her own ability to overlook the obvious. She was waiting for her friends to find their way and make the most important choice of their lives and she couldn't even think that one of them did it long ago, especially that it was Dale. Though everything was in front of her, she need only look closer and see it. Moreover, she has seen it already.
It was on the very first of those 'other Saturdays'. After having listened to A-Kha disc she found in his collection, she saw his quirks with hockey stick and pads not as manifestation of his real character but as extravagant carnival dress covering sensitive and vulnerable heart. She knew it while kissing him in the Rangermobile, knowing that he needed her like never before. Not because he was weak and lost his heart in the face of catastrophe but because he took Morgan's death as a personal tragedy despite seeing him for the first time in his life. That's why he turned out stronger than Chip who, unlike Dale, her love couldn't return.
It was on the 'second' of Saturdays, 13th. Other Saturdays filled with running and hasty searching for a way to save the plane, like any truly grand technological project, made her forget about it. And when she found out Dale hadn't really listened to them, it seemed to cross everything out.
But it wasn't like that. It could never be like that because the disks are props, not the essence which the fact of listening to the disks could never change. Just like it couldn't deny Dale's inborn curiosity and irresistible thirst for knowledge and skills which, given the motivation was right, allowed him to achieve astonishing success like his spy-suit and the model of 'Condor' aircraft decorating the corner table in her room.
It could deny nothing. Neither his easily carried away nature constantly opened for new impressions which was so close to Gadget's whose fondness often excelled all reasonable and unreasonable limits. Nor his kindness and ability to empathize with not only close friends but also strangers like Morgan and even artificial creatures like electric cat Tom. Nor the choice he had made once and for all which allowed him to see the stories of love hidden by comic books violent covers and the starlit sky instead of Bobbie's room's ceiling. And surely it couldn't deny that overwhelming feeling that encompasses everything mentioned above and much more which can't be described even with a million of words. For who needs a million when three are enough…
"I love you, Dale," Gadget said.
"I love you too, honey," Dale answered.
"Honey…" she repeated and looked down on his paw caressing the fingers of her left hand, obviously paying more attention to the ring one.
"Well…" Dale knew she guessed his maneuver and became red as his Hawaiian shirt after washing. "I know I rush the things but… But I've been waiting it for so long and thought so much about it that… No, I'll understand if you say that you need more time… Oh! I forgot! There's one more thing! I―"
"No, Dale!" the blonde inventor stopped him. "Nothing's needed! Neither time nor additional arguments nor other words! Nothing, Dale! Nothing at all!"
"You mean…"
"I love you and it's more than enough. I'll marry you."
"Oh boy, oh boy…" chipmunk muttered. Letting Gadget's hands go, he put his paws on her shoulders and stopped, hesitating. This time Gadget helped him, taking her goggles off and putting them on the bench next to her.
"Oh…" Dale reacted, running his hand over her hair and straightening few unruly locks. "I wanted to do exactly that!"
"I know," Gadget answered, putting her hands around her promised husband's neck. He followed suit, their faces came closer and they turned their heads sideways to avoid colliding with noses.
"I love you," Dale whispered.
"I love you, too," the answer came.
They drew towards one another slowly, not fully believing everything was happening for real and preparing to hit another, this time really impenetrable wall appearing between them. That's why they were surprised to fell their lips touching. They half-opened their eyes and looked at one another, as if making sure everything's alright, then synchronously inhaled deeply and joined in kiss, the first and the most important for every loving couple, which forever separates their lives into 'before' and 'after'. Which is similar for all the couples and at the same time absolutely different, for every couple puts their own content in it, and their own road they passed on a way to this moment. And this particular chipmunk and this particular field mouse had what to put into this kiss. They came through everything. Through death traps and enemies' schemes; through parting which is worse than the most vicious intentions; and through misunderstanding which is far more dangerous than everything else combined.
Making a short break to inhale a new portion of air, they kissed again, consolidating their achievement. Then did it again, and then again, stopping for a short time only, enough to breathe in and say two or three words.
"I love you, Gadget…"
"I love you, Dale…"
"My dear…"
"My love…"
"Gadget…"
"Dale…"
"Gadget, listen…"
"Later…"
"No, Gadget, I…"
"Remember what you said in the airport?'
"Yeah, but…"
"Shut up and drive…"
"Absolutely, but I'd like…"
"Dale, if you're talking… about time, you said… we've got… plenty of it…"
"It's not about time…"
"The rest is not important…"
"Important, Gadget, very imp…"
"Later…"
"Dear, I'm not joking…"
"Me neither…"
"Gadget, I… I'm serious…!"
"Okay… I'm listening… Go on…"
"Gadget…" Dale finally managed to squeeze her paw between their faces and gently move away from her. "It's important!"
"How?"
"Very! Very much!"
"It's something pleasant, I hope?"
"Very, Gadget! I just need to take one thing out of my pocket…"
"Out of your pocket?" Gadget wondered. "On your sweater?"
Dale smiled broadly. "Yeah! Where do you think I carry my bubble gum in winter?"
"If it turns out you did it to get yourself a bubble gum," Gadget purred moving on him, "I'll take my semi-automatic electric hair styler with straightening and drying functions back from Mister Nutson and start making an outrage…"
"Gadget, even a joke lover like me wouldn't dare to―"
"Then here's my advice: don't waste time. My patience has its limits, you know…"
"I do, I do!" Dale nodded quickly shoving his hand into his bosom and fetching a slightly crumpled piece of paper from the inner pocket.
"What's that?" Gadget asked.
"Read it," Dale said. He was smiling but his pose was strained and the paper's slight trembling showed he was very agitated. Gadget shrugged and took it, and when she unfolded it she immediately recognized the blank issued by multifunctional analyzer, the form of which she personally programmed.
It was comparative blood analysis used to determine whether the blood of a patient who needed transfusion matched the samples from the blood bank. But this particular analysis wasn't limited to comparing groups and Rhesus factors and included comparison of all known parameters. The table was divided into two graphs labeled by donor's nine digits code. The first code was hers while the other, according to the first digit, belonged not to a constant donor like her but a one-time one who donated blood not too long ago. The values of all the parameters differed greatly as is always the case when the blood of representatives of two different species is analyzed.
The data in the last group, 'Genetic compatibility', were puzzling though. These parameters matched almost entirely! They were so close that if one tore the top part away, he would think that these samples belonged to very close relatives.
"Where did you get it? Whose blood you compared mine with? What does it mean?" she asked in rapid succession upon finishing reading.
"We can have children. With mine. Ordered in the lab," Dale answered in the opposite order because she remembered the last things the best.
"You ordered it? But… WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!" Gadget scanned the pivot table again. Dale was right. Analyzer determined mutual genetic compatibility with effective crossing probability of 98.878451%.
"Golly, Dale…" Gadget was on the verge of losing her consciousness. "I can't believe it… Can't believe it…"
"I didn't believe it, too. And the lab assistant who did the analysis believed it neither. We ran the test for two more times and both times results were the same. It's true, Gadget. The machine doesn't lie."
"But… But why? How? How can it be?"
"I dunno, I'm not a specialist. But… Remember that story with Chip's blood?"
"Yes, you were the only suitable donor…"
"And so I thought, how can it be? Sure I could say anything I want about us being as close as brothers but jokes are jokes and I'm not his relative at all, but I was the only chipmunk known to this analyzer whose blood was suitable and with best results possible! And then I remembered your words about Bottlebottom, I wasn't in the reactor room with you, so it couldn't be explained by radiation effects. But this idea made me remembering every strange occurrences we went through together which could lead to this anormality…"
"Anomaly."
"Yeah, anomaly! And I recalled the modemizer…"
---
"Hey, Dale, why do I have your shirt?"
"You've got more of me than just my shirt!"
---
"Golly…" Gadget had to lean against the wall and grab the seat with both hands in order not to fall down. "You want to say that that body switching made us… exchange our genes?!"
"Something like that, yes. And not only us. Remember…"
"Chip and Monty…"
Dale nodded. "Exactly! That's the point! I exchanged genes with you while Chip ― with Monty! We're chipmunks, you are mice! That's why only my blood suits him! Because we're not quite chipmunks!"
"So, you are half-mice?"
"No, half is too much! Two tenth maximum. But that's quite enough! That's why no clear chipmunk blood suits him, only the blood of chipmunk who exchanged bodies with a mouse! And that's why my blood suits the mouse who exchanged bodies with the chipmunk! That is, you, Gadget."
"Golly, Dale… You… You determined all of it? Calculated probabilities? Predicted all the compatibilities? You… You're a genius!"
Dale thoughtfully scratched his nose. "Actually, it was Stewart, the lab assistant, who explained it to me after we got the results. And I just… The moment I thought about the modemizer I ran straight to your laboratory to order that analysis. I remembered you were the honorary donor and your blood was in the database already, just like mine, so neither of us had to give any additional blood. Yes, it was that's easy. Though while the machine was working I was running around it repeating to myself 'If only it worked! If only it worked!' I'm not a specialist, so I couldn't really base it firmly on some theory. I could only dream. And I began to dream. Dared to dream. And it worked, as you can see… GADGET! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"Nothing…" Gadget answered wiping the flowing tears with her collar. "Everything is okay… Everything is just great…"
"But why are you crying then?"
"It's… It's because of happiness, Dale! You― you don't know what it means to me."
"I know it, Gadget," Dale objected, embracing her. "It means the same for me, but… But there's no need to cry. Tears don't suit you, you know…"
"They suit you even less, Dale."
"In that case," chipmunk said brushing off the moisture from his eye-lids, "let's both stop crying. What do you think of it?"
"I'm positive!" the mouse answered, hugging and kissing him. Dale did the same, and the time stopped for them. The kissed and caressed one another, trying to remove every single trace of tears they shed this day with their lips and hands. So that later, already without them and free from burden of past troubles and hardships, they could step on the long and happy road of family life and travel along it, hand in hand, knowing for sure that no little problems, no imprudent words and deeds will shatter their union and keep them from being always together. And they knew they would do everything, both possible and impossible, to preserve their love and their happiness, for they both knew what price they had paid in order to be here today next to each other. But nothing stopped them, and they overcame every barrier built by destiny and the Nature itself, and now, in each other's embrace, they knew it was worth it. Dale tenderly stroked Gadget's hair and behind her ears, and she twined her tail around him to make sure he wouldn't disappear. That wasn't needed, though, for no force in the world could tear him away from the dearest creature in the world, from the love of his life now…
"Guys! Where are you?! Everybody's waiting for ya… OH!" Monty who came running searching for them froze in the doors and blushed. "Sorry, I…"
"It's okay, Monty!" Gadget said putting the precious paper with the test results in her pocket and putting her goggles back on. "We're coming! Right, Dale?"
"Sure!" he confirmed, getting up and helping her up.
"Erhm, would you be so kind to explain what's going here?" Monty asked. "That is, I know how it's called and what usually means but…"
"We'll surely explain everything, Monty!" Gadget promised, and Dale added "Certainly, Uncle Monty! But later! Right, dear?"
Gadget giggled. "Darn right!" And they left, their arms linked.
"'Uncle Monty', 'dear'…" the Aussie repeated thoughtfully following them with his eyes. Then he winded his moustache on his finger valiantly and smiled. "Too-rah-loo! And I was sure I won't live long enough to see that…"
* 2 *
"…And in conclusion of the daily part of our meeting so to say, I'd like to thank all of you one more time, for without you this hospital wouldn't have lasted even for a week! For, as Mister Harold correctly said in his speech, the true enthusiasm and sincere devotion to the common cause are capable of things no money in the world can do!"
Dr. Harvey Stone's voice, magnified by desktop speakers hanging in the corners of the hall, gradually spread about the room filled with workers and patients of the Small Central Hospital. Such meetings always demanded coming full dressed but this occasion was even more special so everybody did their best to fit it. The roomscape was dominated by white color of nursemen's shirts and nurses' gowns, and separate clusters of orderlies' grey uniforms, patients' blue pajamas and technical stuff's dark-blue jackets made the hall look like a festive table cloth covered with multicolored patches. Sure, it wasn't as tackily colorful as the crowd of Coo-Coo Cola cultists after mass soda showering, but the strictness of its tones made the meeting not insolent but staidly ceremonial.
Still, there was no lack of brilliance either; after all, this celebration had been prepared for more than a week for a reason. The vivid (in all senses of this word) evidence of it were gules, azure and golden ribbons that flowed over the walls and the ceiling, coming together at the large Rescue Rangers symbol hanging above the stage. The outlines of the oval, letters and lightning bolt were laid with the lamps of appropriate colors ready to light up at the signal eagerly anticipated by the audience and the Rangers who gathered behind the curtain.
"Where are they?! Where?!" Dale kept repeating nervously glancing at the doors to the backstage area and then at the audience bored by the formal prelude and eagerly waiting for the main part of the event. Unfortunately, it had to be delayed because of Monty's and Zipper's absence.
"It's unbelievable!" Dale went on. "I knew we had to take our vibro-transceivers with us!"
Gadget touched his shoulder. "Don't worry, Dale! They are changing themselves, that's all!"
"Changing… By that time they could fly to the HQ and back! I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Monty is chasing some cheese truck passing by and they are somewhere near Bridgewater Milk Factory now!"
"Come on, Dale! I don't see any problems!"
Dale shook. "But I see! Poor Harvey is running out of words already!"
Chip couldn't pass up the opportunity to egg on his friend. "It's good he's the emcee and not you! You would've started repeating yourself after five minutes already!"
"I wouldn't!"
"Would too!"
"I wouldn't!"
"Would too!"
"I wouldn't…"
Their argument was interrupted by the door behind them opening and their friends coming in, dressed to kill. Their matte black tail coats, shining white shirts and high shining top hats matched the best suits of Dr. Stone and even Harold Bucksup III and Perry Nutson who were sitting at the table near the podium.
It didn't save them from Dale's fiery criticism, though. "What took you so long?! Couldn't you change faster?"
Zipper buzzed something negative. Monty supported him. "Surely not, kid!" he said tapping the brims of his hat with his finger. "Ya must be fully armed on the days like this! After all, our Chip's only rarely gets discharged from the hospital…"
Gadget gave him one of her famous grim looks and he quickly corrected himself. "I mean, that's very good! But ya won't argue he deserved this celebration, so we oughtta match!"
Dale suddenly found himself the only one dressed not good enough for an occasion and started to feel uneasy.
"Erhm, I just thought…" he mumbled plucking at his sweater. "Monty, don't you have a spare coat by chance? I'm looking like…"
"A scarecrow?" Chip prompted caustically.
"What? I'll show you!" Dale exclaimed but then Gadget interjected.
"Here, Dale, take it!" she said and took her bomber jacket off. Dale extended his hand to take it and froze with dumfounded smile, looking at her dress now fully visible. It was blue with a very low neck and large sand-colored buttons, and it suited her so much it was really hard to look away…
"You're looking into a wrong direction, dear…" Mildred cooed into Chip's ear and painfully pinched his paw making him stop gazing at the inventor and turn his attention back to her.
"You are jealous," the chipmunk stated.
"If only a little, maybe."
Chip looked straight into her eyes. "A little? No, Millie, not little. And don't argue, because I'm a pro at this particular feeling."
"Okay, okay, you got me…" the nurse surrendered. "Yes, I'm jealous. After all, I know she means much to you, that you are old friends and, well, she's beautiful, which means…"
"Nothing, honey," Chip interrupted her and smiled. "Yes, she's my old friend. They both are my old and closest friends in the world. That's why you have nothing to worry about, trust me."
"I do if you say so…" Mildred put her head on his shoulder and giggled when Chip's warm nose touched her crown. "What are you doing now?"
"I have no idea," the answer came, deafened by her dense hair, and the nose was joined by the lips.
"Chip, don't! You'll ruin my hairdo and I am to enter the stage!"
"As you say…" Chip grumbled taking his head back with obvious displeasure. Mildred immediately proceeded to remove the aftermath of this intrusion which caused the amount of destruction comparable with that of nomadic invasion.
"Gosh, gosh, gosh…" she lamented. "How can I appear in everybody's presence now?"
"Come on, Millie, what are you talking about? You look great! By the way, those eddies give you additional charm, some touch of mystery…"
"Stop it!" Millie kicked Chip's ankle slightly. "I worked so hard arranging them, and you…"
"If you don't like it, you can take my hat!"
"What? It doesn't suit the dress in case you didn't notice!"
Chip leant to her and whispered significantly. "Well, just between you and me, that jacket doesn't suit Dale either so you'd better think…"
Mildred sighed. "Either you know nothing about clothing, or you're trying to cheer me up."
Chip didn't argue. "It's both. But I'm serious about the hat…"
"Oh, stop it. It would only make worse." Millie waved off. She defeated her unruly hair and everything was back on its track. "Though I must say that the jacket suits your friend very well! It makes him looking like a real pilot!"
Chip shook his head violently. "No-no-no! Gadget is our pilot!"
Mildred winked slyly. "I know. So who's jealous now?"
"Erhm…" Chip blushed slightly. "If only a little, a very-very little… Years of competition leave the scars, you know."
"Oh, yes, I forgot I'm dealing with an old soldier who doesn't know words of love here."
"Well, I'd say that's overstatement," Chip said after some thinking. "After all, I found the words, and Dale is one hundred times older soldier than me! He held it out while I fell before you, defeated outright…"
"Regret it?"
"No, Millie, not at all," Chip assured her, embracing tightly. "It's the sweetest, even Pyrrhic surrender in my life, and I'm infinitely happy with it!"
"Me, too!" Mildred whispered. "And your friends, too, it seems! They are nice couple, don't you think?"
"Yes, very. Surprisingly so," her fiancé agreed, turning back to Dale and Gadget. They talked about something in low voices, time and again laughing quietly. It looked like the red-nosed chipmunk was retelling his partner some horror movie as he made frightening and terrified faces in turn and even zipped his jacket completely so that only his muzzle stuck out of the collar.
Gadget laughed and helped him lower it back, and when Dale's head was finally released from the cotton prison, he placed a smooch of gratitude on his savior's lips.
Previously this scene would have insulted Chip deeply, but now his heart was full of joy for his friends' joint happiness, and his mind was still trying to digest all the reverses of fortune and functioning of Nimnuls telephone-porting device.
Surely, Gadget immediately presented her own theory, and not just a single one, panted out in a rapid succession so her calculations didn't really clarify anything. Not to mention that Chip didn't really listened, terrified with the possibility that the irreversible changes mad to his organism would impair his family life with Millie. But Dale calmed him down and explained that the very first of Chip's blood test showed that while he could accept blood from the other 'victims' of the modemizer only, in terms of donorship he was an ordinary chipmunk. Mildred immediately pointed out that this didn't make him any less special and even unique, supporting her claim with equally unique kiss, after which only two options remained: to die or to repeat it. Obviously, Chip chose the latter…
"…And now the moment we all have been long waiting for!" Dr. Stone announced pointing at the curtain. "The time has come to invite here, on this stage, those without whom this meeting would have had not festive but funeral mood, and the history of our hospital could have ended without really beginning! I want you, dear colleagues, to welcome our heroic friends! Meet the Rescue Rangers!"
The loud knock of the power switch turning on the stage lights and the Rangers emblem's illumination vanished in the thunder of applause. It lasted all the time while our heroes were crossing the scene, heading towards the rostrum where Dr. Stone stood and the long table where Mister Harold and Mister Nutson sat. Mildred hesitated a bit, not sure if the doctor's words applied to her. But Chip's reassuring nod eliminated all the doubts and she joined the others. The team greeted the emcees and lined up near the table while Mister Harold exchanged places with Doctor Stone. He adjusted the mike, coughed and spoke.
"Well, as they say, it didn't take me a half an hour to be back at this podium and address you once again. The occasion is different this time, though. All this time we spoke about our future projects and we all agreed that the brave and resolute can do everything. Especially when their bravery is pecuniary supported. But sometimes even that is not enough, since money and determination is nothing without the most important thing. A purpose."
Harold Bucksup regained consciousness before Chip, but his organism weakened by age still hadn't recovered completely. The motor functions were restoring very slowly and despite the doctors' efforts some muscles still didn't obey him. It was especially evident when he was speaking, with his mouth looking like separate video fragment dubbed over static image. The resulting sight wasn't pleasant but no one pulled a face or smiled in his or her sleeve. Everybody knew firsthand what he endured, so even in his current condition he was an example of limitless will to live, proving once again that there's nothing impossible in this world for those with brave heart.
"That's what a good share of my life was dedicated to. I'm speaking of searching for purpose. Real, high purpose which is worth spending the fortune amassed by your ancestors and which is so ephemeral it's very hard to catch, and it's even more harder to avoid mistakes while doing it.
"You all know the story of the Cola Cult so there's no need for me to retell it. I want to say just one thing ― it was a mistake. I made a mistake because I chose a very easy purpose. The fizzing of all my money and cheese didn't require any wisdom or hard work, and that's what won me over. I'm ashamed to confess it, but I was led to the Cult by the ostentatious easiness of getting rid of all my money along with the burden of searching for the best use for them.
"And you know what? I felt much better after that. Everything became much simpler and easier. But at the same time, though I realized it much later, very primitive. At that time I was happy, feeling free like never before. I'm sorry for being repetitive, but it was primitive, non-committal freedom. But it suited me so much I'd never have escaped from this sweet slavery. But the help came, and I was saved. You all know by whom."
He fell silent making way to another uproar of applause dedicated to Rescue Rangers. The heroes smiled in embarrassment and made unanimous low bows earning another portion of ovations.
"This episode became a breaking point for me," Harold Bucksup continued. "I realized that there are no simple ways, and those who seem so lead nowhere but to the mousetrap…"
I can second that… Chip thought, wincing with mental pain. Despite being a huge fan of Sureluck Jones and his talent's dedicated admirer, he fell into the trap the genius detective warned his fellow Blotson many times about ― often simple solutions are investigator's false friends…
"…I also realized that you must find your purpose by yourself, and only this purpose can be the real one, and only the way towards it and reaching it can bring you true happiness. Hard, suffered out happiness.
"Now, my friends, when I look back at the road behind me, I know I'm happy. Really happy. And now I realize clearer than ever that I have some unpaid debts which I want to pay right here and now, in your presence. Dear Rescue Rangers, please, come here!"
The team did it and stopped at the edge of the stage, shooting curious glances at the patron and his attorney who was taking parcels wrapped in fancy red paper from under the table.
"Mister Harold, it's unneeded…" Chip began pointing at the presents but Bucksup stopped him with a move of his hand.
"Quite the contrary, Mister Chip! I spoke about the way to happiness and the debts unpaid for a reason. I didn't thank you after the Cola Cult affair because at that time I knew nothing of it. And when I finally realized, I wanted to meet you and say it all, but, to my great regret, I couldn't because of lack of time or your absence from the city. But now, after you saved my life not only figuratively but literary, too, I'll do my best to make up for it."
"But…"
"Mister Chip, I'm perfectly aware that you and your team work gratis. That's why I ask you to consider these modest gifts not as payment for the good you did which just can't be measured in money equivalent, but as presents for Christmas we both slept through so to say, and the token of goodwill from our whole community for uncovering those bandits…"
He almost shot out the last word and paused to calm down a bit. His paralyzed face couldn't fully reflect his feelings, but the fire in his eyes was more substantial that the richest facial expressions.
"Yes, bandits, that's the right word… They wanted not just to rob our community, but to deprive it from the future! You didn't allow it happen, and we all are forever indebted to you, all of you. But most of all to you, Mister Chip! You are a true hero and worthy successor of the great rodent detectives of the past! That's why I think this small souvenir will come handy in your work and serve you well! Perry, would you please…"
"With pleasure, Mister Bucksup!" the squirrel-attorney said. He took the first parcel on the right and handed it to his client who then presented it to the Rangers leader. Chip untied the ribbon and removed the wrapper to discover a square box covered with black varnish with a looking glass drawn with golden paint on its lid.
"Golly!" Gadget exclaimed looking over his shoulder. "It's the trademark of Carlmouse Zoiss, the greatest rodent optics master!"
"Oh my…" Chip muttered. "Zoiss optics… It's… It's a whole fortune! Mister Harold, I can't accept it!"
"Yes, you can, Mister Chip, and you will!" the patron pushed the box back to Chip and winked as cunningly as he could. "Or I'll get very offended! Besides, you don't even know what you are refusing to take! Please, open the box; be nice to the old mouse!"
Chip looked at his friends seeking for advice. They exchanged glances and nodded. Reassured by their silent approval, chipmunk turned the gold latch around… And almost dropped the present down at the sight of the magnifying glass lying on the velvet bedding. It had a folding handle and a wheel on its frame to adjust the distance between lenses which shone in the surrounding light with all the shades of noble violet.
"Ohmigosh!" Gadget gasped. "It's 'Private Eye 5000' with accent lights, plotting scale projected on the lenses and integrated laser range finder!"
Chip gulped. "'Private Eye 5000'… I… I just…"
Harold Bucksup smiled. "Glad you liked it, Mister Chip! I won't say stand-offish phrases like 'own and use wisely' because in your case this reminder is unneeded! Let me thank you and your team again for everything you did for me and all the rodents of this city!"
He shook Chip's paw to the thunderous applause and chipmunk stepped back to his friends, still in prostration. Harold took another parcel from Nutson and spoke to Dale gazing at his friend's gift.
"Now you, Mister Dale!"
"Me?! Really?!" the large-nosed chipmunk jumped up and leaped to the podium. "It's for me, yes?!"
"For you, Mister Dale!"
"Wow-wow-wow!" the excited Ranger tore the parcel to pieces and found a similar looking box inside. "Wow! It's Master Zoiss' signature here, too! I'll have a magnifying glass, too! Now I'll be able to burn out everything I want on our tree's trunk!"
Harold made a helpless gesture. "Well, I don't know how to put it but it's not quite the magnifying glass there… Though I think you'll like it even more!"
The chipmunk who already envisioned himself the Super-Tree-Burner was skeptic but unsealing revealed that Mister Bucksup had a very keen eye. Both of them, even, because there were glasses in the box. Very stylish and very dark glasses with fashioned rim specially designed for chipmunk head with multi-colored LED's inserted along it.
"Oh boy, oh boy oh boy…" Dale could barely hold the gift box while he shook Harold's paw. "A 'Saturday Night Fever' variant of 'Club-Munk' with colored light set! AAAA!!! Thank you! Thank you!!! I've dreamt about it for my whole life! Gadget, do you know what it means?! I have real club glasses with light music show!!!"
"As far as I know they don't have music in it," Gadget said thoughtfully. "But if merged with your headphones… Installing the plug socket on the rim to transfer the current to the LEDs making them switching with the same frequency as the music rhythm has…"
Dale almost swooned right there. "You mean they'll blink in rhythm with the music, yes?!! You can do that?!"
"Sure she can!" Harold Bucksup answered instead of her. "She's called the Master for a reason! Please welcome the beautiful and brilliant Master Gadget Hackwrench!"
He didn't have to ask because the audience met her with ovation which deafened all the previous ones.
"How do you think, Master, this applause is accidental or not?" the old mouse asked the mouse purple with embarrassment and answered immediately. "I don't think so, too! Your bravery put an end to Bubbles dirty schemes and your technical genius made this hospital a full-fledged medical center and allowed us to save years of work and the patients that didn't have a single chance in the past! Every one saved by our surgeons and reanimatologists is actually saved by you, Miss Hackwrench!"
"Born Hackwrench," the mouse corrected him. "You see, me and my old friend and colleague Dale, well, we plan to marry soon, so…"
The applause and congratulations sounded anew making the inventor drop her eyes. Her future husband smiled broadly and proudly, answering not only Gadget's words and greetings from the audience but also the sigh of disappointment distinctly heard in the common uproar ― the unanimous reaction of many mouse males present there.
"In that case accept my sincere congratulations, my dear!" Bucksup said. "I'm happy for your fiancé who was lucky enough to find the real treasure! The girl like you deserves the best only, so it was really hard to choose an appropriate present. But I think me and Mr. Zoiss managed to do it. Still, you are a judge here! Please, Master!"
Little could surprise Gadget after 'Private Eye 5000' and 'Club-Munk', but Harold Bucksup was right by one hundred percent. Even one hundred and thirty two, with one additional percent for each optical configuration variant provided by the design of engineering goggles given to her. They closely resembled her flight goggles, having identical strap and big eyepieces. But these eyepieces weren't solid but consisted of five lenses strung on side spindle which could be rotated around it letting to choose the magnification needed for the particular job.
"Golly, it's beautiful!" the inventor exclaimed. "It's much more handy than the heavy helmet and lenses are far better than mine! Mister Harold, you are a wizard!"
"No, Master, if there is a wizard in this room, it's you! Hope they'll help you built the musical goggles for your husband and many other great and useful things!"
"Sure, Mister Harold!" Gadget assured him and everybody else. "In a jiffy, trust me!"
"I surely do!" the patron said, then turned to Nutson picking up the next parcel. "No, Perry, give me another one the smaller! Mister Zipper, please, come here!"
Zipper was surprised to be called out before Monterey but complied, took his hat off and made a bow in full accordance with the rules winning another round of applause. Then he flew up to Harold and squeaked inquiringly.
"No, Mister Zipper!" Harold slowly shook his head. "I didn't forget about your old comrade who's really hard to miss! I just thought it would be handier and your present will fit the theme better! Then again, who said the smallest must be last?"
Zipper didn't object and Harold handed him a small parcel barely visible in his broad paw, but for a fly it was the same size as those handed out before. That was natural for it contained the goggles, too. They were unique not by its size only, but also by design and functioning. Their ball-like lenses weren't solid; they consisted of numerous glass threads used in optical fiber cables. They were melted together and their outer ends were shaped like convex hexagons by special laser. Their other ends were inserted into the conic prism which focused the light coming through them into one big image. There were lots of fibers, so the resulting image was blurred somewhat. But this shortcoming was fully compensated by significant increase of viewing angle and ability to notice even the faintest movement for even the slightest change of the picture on one of the threads changed the general image greatly.
"Yes-yes, I know!" the patron smiled answering the fly's loud and excited buzzing. "From what I heard about your team's adventure I concluded that your primary role is recon and observation, so I thought these goggles would fit you very well! Now when someone asks you to have an eye out for something you can seriously ask him 'how many?' Agreed, Mister Zipper?"
The fly squeaked happily and flew back to his friends.
"Okay, Mister Jack, it's your turn now!" Harold turned to the last of the core team members.
"Thank you, Mister Harold!" Just like Zipper, Monty greeted everybody by full procedure earning even louder ovation since his constitution was more movement denying than that of his insect friend. "If I gotcha ya right, ya came up with something totally different for me, yes?"
"True!"
"Good!" Monty smiled. "My eyes serve me well enough without glasses, and my ears, too…"
"What about your appetite?" Bucksup asked.
"Appetite especially― Oh!" the Aussie shot a glance at the parcel Nutson was holding. "Don't say it's CH-E-E-E-S-S-E…"
"I won't," Harold said when Monty's sight cleared. "Because it's not cheese in the common sense of this word! It's… On the other hand, I think you'd want to find it out for yourself!"
"Too right!" Monty confirmed and took the heavy parcel. He sniffed but sensed nothing despite being able too feel cheese from half a mile away. Not cheese indeed… he thought sadly and untied the ribbon. There wasn't cheese under the wrapper but thick glass of which high cover with rounded angles was made. It stuck to the oval tray hermetically so Monty didn't fell the scent of cheese lying on it. But a single glance was quite enough to make his moustache and tail stick out.
"B-B-BRIE-E-E-E!" he exhaled so loud and strong that the wrapping paper flew to the opposite end of the stage.
"So it is cheese there after all," Chip observed.
"CHEESE?! You said 'cheese'?!" Never before had Monty said the name of his favorite food with such anger and even slight disgust. "It's not cheese! Its… It's more than cheese!!! It's vintage Brie '86 from the Golden Yield collection label!!!"
"Must be uncommon…" Dale surmised.
"Uncommon," Harold Bucksup confirmed. "There are only five pieces of this in the world. And, if I understand it right, only four will remain soon."
"Oh dontcha doubt! I'll put it to the best possible use! I think the cheese cake 'Brie a la Monterey' will do nicely!" the Aussie said. He started rotating the tray searching for the cover lock but was interrupted by polite five-voiced cough.
"Yes, friends," he agreed. "It better stay sealed or it'll be a mess!" So he handed the box to the most responsible. "Watch it, Chippah! There only five of those in the world!"
"Very well," the patron summed up, waving his paw which grew numb after Monty's mighty handshake. "It was the heroic team of Rescue Rangers! But the list of our heroes is far from over! The importance of what the Rangers did can't be overestimated, but, as they themselves say, nothing of what we are honoring them for would have been possible without the person whose name is very well known to all of you! I ask the audience to greet our heroic colleague, Miss Mildred Munkched!"
The applause roar shook the walls. As usual, the loudest for those who eagerly retold the news of her dismissal, adding more and more picturesque details on the fly. Some repented it, some didn't, and some grew even angrier with her story's successful outcome. But everyone applauded for her deed deserved respect only.
"Thank you for your warm words, Mister Harold!" Mildred spoke when the noise subsided. "Thank you, Doctor Stone, and everybody here for your applause and for the opportunity to be here today! It― It means much to me! This whole hospital means much to me and I'm grateful to you, Mister Harold, for convincing Doctor Stone to let me work here. Thank you for everything you've done for as all and for me personally!"
Harold Bucksup III bowed politely.
"Thank you, Miss Munkched! It's owing to you I'm standing here now, the Bucksup Foundation hadn't died prematurely and who knows what troubled didn't happen to the SCH. That's why I'm ashamed to have no gift for you like those I presented the Rangers with…"
Mildred laughed. "Gosh, Mister Harold! Nothing is needed! You and your hospital gave me everything I could only dream of, I mean the sense of living, the ability to help the others and…" she hesitated and looked aside shyly. "And Chip, my husband-to-be…"
"Good heavens!" the patron shouted, He had to raise his voice to make himself heard in the storm of happy voices and ovations. "Congratulations to both of you!" he addressed Chip and Millie who blushing like two lobsters. "I― I don't know what's more to add here! After your words one really starts wondering if there is anything in this world this happy couple needs for they seem to have everything you can wish for already! But I'm not the one who seeks easy ways anymore, so I proudly accept this unique challenge and dare to hope I won't fail again! What do you think?"
Millie became confused. "Well, after everything you've done already I'm absolutely sure there's nothing impossible for you!"
"You flatter me, Miss Munkched, but there's nothing left for me but try not to disappoint you! Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I know you are on indefinite leave now…"
"It's true! Doctor Stone arranged it for me to look after Chip."
"Well, I see it's not needed anymore. But, Miss Munkched, you see, I don't know how to put it…" Harold Bucksup made a helpless and guilty gesture. "You know, Mister Chip's recovery took just a bit too long, and there were not enough working hands in the rehabilitation section so Doctor Stone had no choice but to hire another nurse."
"Really?" Millie asked, dumbfounded. "But… But you know, Mister Harold, it's… It's even better…"
"But there's something else to it," the patron interrupted her and pointed his finger upwards. "As you very well know, because of the latest events there are three vacancies to be filled in the hospital. Unfortunately, as Doctor Stone himself explained me, he can't take you back as an ambulance nurseman because you lack the skills needed nor as an orderly because of your insufficient physical conditions…"
"Mister Harold, I know, but…" Millie tried to interject but Harold went on without listening to her.
"But he also complained he's too old already to manage the hospital on his own, and he'd like to have a young and vigorous assistant who could became his deputy and take some of his responsibilities, in particular the pharmacology and rehabilitation sections. I asked him whether he had someone in view and he instantly told me a name. Your name, Miss Munkched. What do you think of it?"
The hall became so silent you might have heard cheese growing thicker. Everybody looked at Mildred, frozen with bulging eyes and half-opened mouth. She wasn't moving for several long seconds, then brought her visibly shaking paw to her mouth and uttered something with her lips only, then looked at Harold Bucksup III.
"Mister Harold… Doctor Stone… It's… But… It's incredible…"
"If you aren't sure you'll make it," the head of the SCH quickly said, "I want to assure you that with your substantial knowledge of pharmacology and rich experience of working in rehabilitation section you won't have any problems working on this position! Then again, I'll be happy to provide you any help needed and answer any questions!"
"Maybe… Possibly… But doctor, you see, Chip offered me to become a member of Rescue Rangers and I must… I have to…"
She turned to Chip who instantly handed Dale the presents he was holding, quickly approached her and took her paws in his.
"Agree," he said shortly but firmly.
"Are― Are you sure?" Millie asked. "What about Ranger duty?"
"We'll do fine!" the chipmunk said confidently. "Trust me, you'll be of much more use here than creeping through dirty attics and basements with us! And if someone we rescue needs medical attention, we'll bring him here for treatment!"
"But what if it happens while you are far away? You said you often had to travel all over the world!"
"Don't worry, my dear!" Harold Bucksup made himself heard. "I'm sure Doctor Stone will understand your need for periodic business trips! Am I right, Harvey?"
"Absolutely right, Harold!"
"So, Miss Munkched, as you can see, you have nothing to worry about! Your word!"
"You should agree, Millie," Chip repeated. "It's a chance of a lifetime! Please, agree!"
"Listen to your husband, Miss Munkched!" Stone shouted. "He talks sense!"
"Well then," Mildred said and looked at three men persuading her and other Rangers nodding actively, "looks like I have no other choice but to accept this offer!"
"Good girl!" Chip said and kissed her hard while the audience cheered. "I'm proud of you, sweetheart!"
"And I'm proud of you!" the newly-fledged deputy head of the SCH whispered into his ear and kissed him back. After that she went to the podium, shook hands with Bucksup, Stone and Nutson in her new status, then addressed her numerous subordinates.
"Dear friends and colleagues! I can't describe what I'm feeling right now! I never dared to dream of it, and no words can truly reflect my emotions, so I'll try to speak shortly and quickly so as not to forget anything or anyone.
"I want to heartily thank the Founding Father of our hospital, Mister Harold Bucksup the Third, and its head, Doctor Harvey Stone, for trusting me with a job here and now with this responsible position. I want to thank all rehabilitation section personnel with whom I worked side by side for more than half a year, and especially my good friend Sarah Cotton who often asked me to substitute her thus giving me opportunity to learn this profession better and also to develop my own coffee recipe without which I'd never have held for so long!"
She waited for laughter and applause to quiet down and went on.
"Sure, I'd like to thank the Rescue Rangers without whom this would have never happened and especially their unchallenged leader Chip who turned out not just a very interesting patient but also master detective and fearless hero and saved both my life and honor, though stealing my heart and my second name in the process…"
She made another pause for the same reason as before, then looked around the hall and continued, but this time in quiet and cheerless tone.
"And I also would like to apologize for touching this topic on a bright day like this. But I'm sure that today's celebration dedicated to glorifying the heroes who saved Harold Bucksup the Third and the Small Central Hospital can't be considered completed without mentioning the name which is worth carving in marble and will live forever despite his owner no longer being among us. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Washington Chibbit, widely known as Washy and to some of you ― as Wash-It."
At these words many spectators, mostly orderlies and nursemen, looked down and some even covered their faces with paws to hide from their neighbors' condemning glances.
"I know that many of you thought of him as harmless madmunk or even nature's mistake. Looked at him with scorn and disgust, humbled and taunted him, didn't even consider him a rodent. So I want you to know that you are not a patch on him! Weren't, that is… Excuse me…"
Millie took out a handkerchief and blotted her eyes and looked up again to find out that many followed her example.
"If it hadn't been for him, his bravery, selflessness and love, I, Chip and Mister Harold would have been long dead. He saved us all. He saved me and gave me his keys which helped me find Chip who was captured by the criminals, and stayed at the bus stop near my house to keep one of them, former orderly Turkle, from catching me. He paid for it. As you know, the next morning he was found in the gutter at the same bus stop, viciously beaten and unconscious. He was brought here in critical condition and put into intensive care ward. For eleven days the medics led by Doctor Sterham fought for his life. But his injuries turned out incompatible with life, and on December 30th, at 12:43 PM, he died. He never regained consciousness…"
"Gosh, gosh, gosh…"Chip whispered. "I didn't even know his real name… I sent him to death without knowing his real name…"
"It's not your fault, Chip!" Gadget said. She stood close enough to him to hear it and squeezed his paw. "You couldn't have known!"
"Gadget, you don't understand! I made a mistake! I had to realize he's got the key to the room I was in! I should have simply asked him to unlock it and free me! By that time the effect of Mouise's injection had worn off completely, so I would have no problems dealing with Mitchell! I'd force him to tell everything, including the names of all the gang members, raised the alarm…"
"Maybe, Chip," Gadget said quietly. "But I doubt you would've stopped Turkle sent to kill Millie this way…"
"I don't know… I… I had to… My stupidity killed him…"
Now Dale joined their conversation. "No, Chip!" he said unusually firmly. "It's not true! Turkle killed him, not you! You aren't guilty! Millie told us that he himself chose to stay there and stop Turkle!"
"Too right, lad!" Monty made himself heard, and Zipper also squeaked the words of consolation. "You didn't kill him, Chip!"
"You…" chipmunk sobbed and looked at his friends. "You really think so?"
"We know it, Chip!" Gadget answered for everybody. "You did well! You are hero, not a murderer, and will always be a hero!"
"It's hard, lad," Monterey added, "but it's not your fault! So don't blame yourself for what you didn't do!"
It was Dale's turn now. "Yes! Think about Millie! Only Washy could have saved her! You… You were right to have sent him to her! You saved her!"
Chip nodded and covered his face with his hat to hide his tears. He replayed their last conversation in the library in his mind, scolding himself for yelling at Washy, for cursing him mentally and thinking he was one of the criminals… It was so wrong… It was so hard…
"…Taking into account Washy's great services to our hospital and our entire community, I, Mildred Munkched, the deputy head of the Small Central Hospital, want to make a suggestion about naming our hospital Washington Chibbit Memorial. And now I want to ask you not as my subordinates but as my colleagues and friends, to honor his memory with a moment of silence…"
The tapping of tip-up seats was heard as all present in the room got up and lowered their heads. Chip also looked down and stood, fiddling with his faithful hat and remembering every moment from the very first 'fighting' night to his last words, by an irony of fate also spoken from behind the wall. Here he and Millie defend Washy from Turkle and because of janitor he realizes he has feelings towards her for the first time, that he is jealous about her. And here Washy overthrows the bucket just a second before their first kiss. Who knows how it would have turned out had he spilled the water just two seconds later…
I had to realize I love her and she loves me back then! Chip scolded himself mentally. Already back then! And I considered her a threat to my piece and quiet instead! That's why I was blinded by Mouise's trickery and believed that it was Millie who stole my letters… And everything because of two little seconds…
"Thank you… Thank you all…" Mildred said and turned to the first people of the SCH. "I'm sorry to end the ceremony like that but― but I had to…"
She covered her face with handkerchief and stepped aside. Chip quickly approached her and hugged tightly to comfort her, and Harold Bucksup returned to the microphone.
"You mustn't feel sorry, Miss Munkched. You did the right thing. This deed required real bravery and for me it's another proof that I was right interceding for you. For my part I fully support your suggestion and ask my attorney, Mister Nutson, to arrange everything."
"Consider it done, sir," Nutson nodded.
"Thanks, Perry. But you are right, Miss Munkched, that it doesn't befit to finish the celebration on a minor note. So I'd like to cheer things up a bit. Please, don't consider it an act of disrespect to your friend's memory."
"Oh please, Mister Harold!" Millie objected. "I'm sure Washy wouldn't wish his memory to spoil our celebration for he paid his life to make it happen. Please, go on!"
"Thank you. Well, friends! I'm sure every one of us met Miss Munkched's suggestion with understanding and approval. As you can see, today is not only day of honors but also a day of memories. A day to thank those around us and apologize to those no longer here.
"Words of apology are always hard to say, just like it's hard to accept your defeat. But apologies are necessary if only to avoid the pain of knowing that you forever missed the opportunity to do it. Unfortunately, too often we remember about it when it's already too late. Too bad we often start appreciate those around us only after losing them…"
"Indeed…" Gadget muttered.
"Did you say something?" Dale asked in whisper.
"No, Dale, it's okay. It's okay now…"
The patron went on. "As much as I regret to say it, I'm guilty of it, too. But I'm lucky to still have the chance if not to be forgiven than at least to ask for it. I want to do it now, in this hall and in your presence. Dear friends! Allow me to introduce my former wife, Miss Barbara Swissand!"
Everybody looked at tall grey-haired female mouse that rose from her seat in the front row. She wore white jacket and could be easily mistook for one of the nurses. But the noble features and majestic posture of her slender figure greatly preserved despite her age told everybody unambiguously that she was coming from very old, very noble and very rich family.
"Good day, Barbara," Harold greeted her in a low voice.
"Good day, Harold," Barbara answered. "Will we keep standing like this or will you be so kind…"
"Oh, sure!" Harold bustled, instantly turning from sedate old gentlemouse into a young greenhorn. "Can you come up here? I would have come down to you myself but there's microphone here and everything else…"
"I know, Harold," Barbara smiled shortly and went to the stairs. Nutson darted towards her and helped her up.
"Well, hello, Harold," the former Mrs. Bucksup said when the attorney led her to the podium. "We haven't met in quite a while."
"Yes, quite a while indeed," the patron nodded. "Too long, to tell the truth. I wrote you, but Mouise…"
"I know. Mister Nutson and Miss Munkched told me everything."
"Miss Munkched?" the patron was very surprised. "Perry, I thought…"
"Sorry to hush it up, sir," the squirrel said bowing slightly, "but my conversation with you about this was Miss Munkched's idea. She told me about your letters being intercepted and that now it's a perfect opportunity for you to meet again. She asked me not to tell about it, though, so I didn't…"
"So it's you I must thank for this?" Bucksup turned to purple-red Mildred.
"Looks that way. You know, many years ago Mister Nutson discussed your divorce with my grandfather…"
"WHAT?" the rich mouse looked back at his attorney. "Perry, is it true?!"
"True, sir. I know I broke the promise given to you but I hope you'll understand me for Miss Munkched's grandfather was Alvin Acornwood himself."
"Alwin Acornwood…" Harold repeated slowly. "I heard about him. So he's your grandfather, Miss Munkched?"
"Yes, maternal."
"I see… Well, you live on Harris street, I should have guessed it… On the other hand, I didn't guess a darn about my second wife… Enough of that. Barbara!"
"I'm here, Harold."
"Forgive me, Barbara. Forgive me for not listening to you when you reasoned me out of joining the Cult. You always wished me only good and gave only the best and kindest of advice. But I didn't listen though I must have, just like I must have taken your words about divorce seriously for you never gave up your word and never abandoned your principles. Forgive me for doubting your sincerity and forgive me for being too stubborn to admit my mistake earlier. I'm very sorry that my pride and arrogance kept me from being the first to stretch my hand to you, from traveling to your city and even from writing to you. Before my wedding with Mouise, I mean. I started writing later but Mouise interrupted them all, and I was stupid enough to think that you ignored them or burnt without reading and I stopped it. Forgive me for giving up that easily without saying that I still love you like in those distant days of our youth. Forgive me, please."
Barbara Swissand stepped up to her former husband and gently touched his shaking hand. "I forgive you, Harold. And ask you to forgive me, too. I was too stubborn to give up the divorce idea and too haughty to seek the conciliation earlier, for not coming here and not writing letters. The Swissands never give up first but… but I must have done it. Please, forgive me… Forgive me for not having done it."
Harold nodded. "I forgive you, Barbara. But that's not all."
He hastily browsed through his pockets and took out a little purple box. He opened it, and the diamond ring inside it illumed the stage with all the colors of the rainbow.
"He came prepared much better than me…" Dale mumbled, upset.
"No, honey," Gadget whispered in his ear and patted her paw against the jacket making their family relic, the paper with the test results, rustle. "I assure you, your present is googol times more precious!"
Harold Bucksup loudly cleared his throat. "Dear Barbara Swissand, o the light of my eyes! I, Harold Bucksup the Third, call everybody present here to witness me saying with all the responsibility possible that you are the prettiest, cleverest and kindest woman in the world!" He shot a quick glance at Chip and Dale, then continued. "And although some rodents in this hall may have their own opinion on the matter, for me you'll always be the best, the one and the only. I love you and want to ask you one question…"
Harold slowly sat down on one knee and handed the ring to Barbara.
"Will you marry me, Barbara?"
Swissand frowned.
"You old scoundrel! So that's what it was for? And after so many years, after everything we came through you really expect me to say…" Her voice trembled and she quickly covered her mouth, but still couldn't hold her happy smile. "…expect me to say 'no'?! That won't happen! Sure I'll marry you!"
"Barbie…" Harold was too overwhelmed with feelings to say anything else.
"Hal…" she mumbled helping him to stand up and kissing him hard as everybody around them cheered and applauded.
"Everybody gets married! That must mean something!" Doctor Stone shouted joyfully, and it was hard to come up with more appropriate closure for this ceremony.
* 3 *
After saying goodbye to everybody the tired but happy Rescue Rangers left the stage and went to the rooftop lift accompanied by Doctor Stone, Perry Nutson and as yet divorced Bucksups. Chip carried the precious Brie saving Monterey from temptation and allowing him to gesture actively. He did just that, colorfully describing the wedding ceremony of Madagascar lemurs which he had a chance to observe and only barely avoided taking an active part. This captivating and thrilling story made the trip down the corridors shorter and the farewells warmer and more unconstrained. Even the January wind which met them on the roof didn't feel that cold.
"I haven't seen her for a long time…" Chip observed, looking at the Ranger Wing. "And didn't even hope to see again…"
Dale patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Chip! You'll even fly her now! You didn't forget this thing can fly, did you? See those orange pieces? They are called wings…"
He coughed and massaged his belly hit by Chip's elbow.
"Well, dear friends," Stone said. "Good luck to you! Thanks again for everything! We'll be happy to see you again! As guests, I mean!" he added quickly.
Gadget laughed. "Sure, Doctor Stone! And you visit us some time, too! And you, Mister and Mrs. Bucksup! Consider it an official wedding invitation! We haven't set a date yet, but…"
"Don't worry, dear!" Barbara smiled. "It's a very important day and you should prepare thoroughly and with no rush to it. Invite us when everything is set. Besides, me and Hal we'll be busy doing the same at the nearest future. Right, dear?"
"Yes, Barbie! Though to tell the truth I'd very much like to skip all the formalities…"
"Ya know, Harold," Monty joined in, "if time presses, I know one very good minister, Father Scott! He's fast as lightning! You'll be a husband and a wife before ya have time to look around!"
Everybody laughed and the patron wagged his finger at the mighty Ranger.
"You have a ready tongue, Mister Jack! We'll consider your advice, that's for sure! Well, we won't hold you for long! Thanks for everything and good luck with everything!"
The handshakes were exchanged, then Nutson approached Chip and coughed delicately.
"I'm sorry, Mister Chip, for being harsh and rude to you. It was inexcusable neglect on my part."
"No, Mister Nutson," the Ranger answered in the same tone. "I should apologize for all those mistakes I made. I must have guessed it much earlier."
"For pity's sake, Mister Chip! Even I didn't guess it despite living under the same roof with Mouise Stretcher for many years! You have nothing to blame yourself for!"
"There is one thing," Chip objected, thinking about Washy. "Unfortunately, there is…"
The squirrel nodded with understanding and went away. Chip squared his shoulders and breathed deeply and turned to his friends.
"Okay, gang, are we flying?"
"We are, Chip!" they shouted and ran to the Wing.
"Why aren't you going, Millie?" Chip asked his fiancée who stayed back.
"Just a minute, Chip," she answered and went towards Doctor Stone. Chip followed her with his eyes anxiously but then his attention was drawn to Dale who sneaked up from behind.
"BOO!"
Chip shook but didn't let the parcels go. "Stop it!" He waved his friend off still looking at Mildred and Stone. But Dale wasn't that easy to rid of, especially now when he was wearing Club-Munk glasses and felt himself invincible.
"By the way, Chipper, Tammy sends you her best regards!"
Chip almost choked over suddenness and impudence.
"You call me 'Chipper' one more time, and I…"
"But I didn't!" Dale waved his hands. "It was quote! What can I do if Tammy asked me 'Dale, don't forget to give Chipper my regards!' So I couldn't call you any other way except 'Chipper' because she asked me to give her regards to Chipper! If she hadn't asked me to give her regards to Chipper, then I wouldn't have called you 'Chipper' because I know how badly you feel when they call you 'Chipper'…"
"Either you stop it," Chip said through set teeth, "or you'll fly to the HQ tied to the Wing's propeller! So how's Tammy? I didn't see her coming here…"
"Yes, she's in San-Angeles, acting. But their entire family came here on holidays and she met the New Year in your ward with us. She was constantly turning to see whether you came back to your senses, you know. We all did the same, actually, and our necks ached so much we had to ask those physicists to look at it…"
"Physicians."
"Yes, them! But that's not the coolest! Just imagine, she was given a role in 'Of Munks and Malice' movie! Their whole project almost got closed because of the situation with Mouise Stretcher! But they quickly changed her with another actress who already played the role of nurse and they couldn't find another chipmunk actress to play the now vacant role. Then they noticed Tammy and the screen-tests went so great they even changed the scenario to make the nurse not chipmunk but a squirrel! Cool, huh? She promised to come to see her dear Chipper as soon as shooting ends… Ouch!" Dale scratched his aching ear. "Why are you fighting?!"
"For some unknown reason… Well, I'm glad about Tammy! She deserved it!" Chip said and looked back at Stone and Millie. "They are talking for too long already…"
Dale smiled significantly. "You are jealous!"
Chip shrugged. "If only a little, maybe…"
"A little?"
"A little! After all, I got so used to feel jealous about Gadget that I seem to miss something. Some adrenaline rush, maybe…"
"You regret it?! That's the news…"
"No, Dale, I regret nothing! This must be the effects of your blood, for I have never been an extreme sports fan…"
Dale frowned. "Oh yeah, my fault again!"
"Sure!" Chip smiled and changed into a significant whisper. "But you know what, there's something fun in it. After all, Gadget is astonishingly beautiful, and now, after the transfusion, me and her have much more, so I think if I should develop a crush on her, for old sake's sake as they say…"
"Know what, Chip?" Dale smiled sugary. "I've been waiting long for a chance to tell you… ZIP IT!"
He abruptly jerked Chip's zipper upwards to the very end of it so that only his hat and ears remained visible.
"HEY! What was that for?!" Millie demanded coming up to them.
"I'd have told you…" Dale began but then his friend managed to free his head from under the jacket using his free hand and his teeth. "I'll tell you later!" Chip promised. "What did you and Stone talk about?"
"I asked when I must start working and he said that the moving from one house to another is very troublesome and responsible deed so he allowed me to not come here until the next Monday!"
"Really?! Thanks, Harvey!" Chip shouted. Stone waved back and winked at them.
"Let's go or what?" Chip asked embracing his beloved with his free hand.
"Yes, Chip, let's go!" Mildred agreed. She put her head on his shoulder, and they joined the others waiting at the plane's boarding ramp. Yes, a real boarding ramp fastened under the right wing. It was made of the human comb and its teeth were filed to form a very neat ladder.
"Wow!" Chip exclaimed. "That's something new!"
As always, Gadget was eager to explain. "This is telescopic multi-stepped ramp with advanced aerodynamic profile! I've been thinking about something like that for quite some time but never actually found the time to do it and there were no real need, too. But now after your injury…"
"If you are talking about my leg, don't worry, it's fully healed! Monty, hold my 'Private Eye' and your cheese…"
"CH-E-E-E-E-SE!!!"
"Oh-oh, no-no!" Chip quickly hid the parcels behind his back and when Monty's cheese attack subsided handed them over to Dale. "Better you hold the Eye and… well, you know."
"And what should I do with it?"
"Wait, Dale!" Chip said shortly over his shoulder. He approached the plane but stopped, hesitating and wondering why the wing was located so high. He was about to ask Gadget why she replaced the landing legs with higher ones but then compared their height with diameter of the hinges and realized the Wing was the same. Some other thing changed though…
"So what, Chip?" Dale asked impatiently moving the boxes from one hand to the other. "They are heavy, by the way!"
"Looks like our Chippah's got a problem," Monterey observed knowingly. "I told we'll need the ramp at first!"
"No-no, Monty, I'm fine!" Chip objected. "I just― just a minute, okay?"
He looked up at the edge of the wing, spat on his paws and waved them sideways. Then he spat on his paws again and moved his shoulders up and down. Then spat again…
"Chip, maybe you shouldn't?" Millie asked, openly worried. "If you aren't sure…"
"Looks like we'll spend the whole day here!" Dale grumbled. "Monty, could you help him up a bit?"
"Sure!" The Aussie stepped forward but Gadget interjected.
"No, Monty! He must do it himself! Come on, Chip! You can do it!"
She seems to know what I need better than me… Chip thought. He braced himself and jumped up, purposely putting all his weight on his right foot. The broken limb reacted with slight pricking but worked normally. The other parts of his body automatically made all the movements perfected by years of practice and chipmunk reached the top of the wing in a blink of an eye.
"What do you think?" he proudly asked his audience.
"Bravo, Chip!" Dale said handing him the boxes. "Just little more training and you will deserve showing in circus!"
"I'll show you in circus myself if you don't stop it!" Chip joyfully threatened his friend. He put the presents into the luggage compartment, jumped down nimbly and bowed to applauding friends. "Here we go!"
"Yes, the modern medicine fixes everybody these days!" Monty laughed.
"Or knocks him off his feet!" Chip added looking at blushing Mildred.
"Then everything is fine indeed!" Gadget smiled. "Too bad the ramp turned out unneeded but I have built so many useless things in my life that another ramp or two don't make any difference…"
"No, Gadget!" Chip objected stepping up to Millie. "Quite the contrary! It's perfect for something I plan to do now!"
"And what will it… OH!" Mildred screamed in surprise when Chip took her in his arms. "Aren't you going to…"
Chipmunk bowed politely "Welcome aboard, ma'am!" He turned to the plane but didn't make a step when Gadget's scream came from behind. He turned around ready to fight but she was screaming not because of enemies attack or aliens invasion but because Dale followed his friend's example. Chip looked at him grimly for stealing his ideas and Dale responded by showing his tongue. Millie and Gadget exchanged knowing glances and ended the conflict by synchronously kissing their beloved ones.
"Besides," Chip observed heading to the ramp, "taking into account the increase of our team's size, one ramp won't be enough, don't you think?"
"I do!" the mouse responded. "And for quite some time since that little engine accident! Unfortunately I spent all the details for Ranger Foxbat to build the ARK but the more I think of it the more convinced I become that Wing's design has many hidden reserves to be used! I think she'll handle the hull lengthening to fit one or even two rows of seats! Sure I'll need to recalculate the balance, increase the engine power and probably add the fin and stabilizers but general performance characteristics will stay the same while controllability and stability will increase dramatically…"
"Sorry to interrupt you," Millie said looking at the ramp before them, "but I've got a question. Will this comb hold the two of us?"
"I should!" Gadget answered.
Chip froze with his leg in the air. Dale gulped nervously and asked.
"Gadget, may I ask you a favor?"
"Sure, Dale! Anything you want!"
"Don't say the word 'should' on our wedding day, please!"
"Sure, no prob―"
"And don't say 'no problems', too!" Dale quickly added.
Gadget shrugged. "Okay, if you say so!"
"Good!" Dale laughed in relief and shouted at Chip. "What are you waiting for? Christmas? It was already!"
"Mind yourself, Dale!" Chip snarled but went up the ramp and occupied his usual seat. Dale and Gadget sat behind them and Monty and Zipper settled near them. The team sat in that manner for some time, as if in stupor, then the girls sitting on boys' knees giggled, then the boys laughed quietly and finally all of them roared in laughter so loud it seemed the Wing would fall apart.
"Yeah…" Monterey said rubbing of his teary eyes. "It's classic… Well, looks like it's time for me to remember my piloting youth!"
"You'll oblige us greatly, Uncle Monty!" Dale agreed and the Aussie climbed into the pilot's seat. He cracked his knuckles, lowered his goggles down and started the engine. Then he looked at two loving and soon-to-be-family couples.
"So, guys? Like in good ol' times? Rescue Rangers…"
"Rescue Rangers…" Zipper, Gadget and Dale repeated after him and looked at Chip. He for his part looked in Mildred's eyes, grey as the sky above their heads.
"Home?" he asked.
"Home, Chip," Millie confirmed, and all the Ranger Wing's passengers raised their hands and announced:
"RESCUE RANGERS, HOME!"
THE END
