Chapter 7: Gadget And The Amazing Pastel-Colored Evening Dress, Part II

A bit farther away from the busy and glamorous streets of downtown Manhattan, Gadget arrived in front of a fashion store. When a human saw it, he could hardly believe that he was still in the same part of the same city that was rather known for the ridiculously overpriced, but still heavily frequented designer stores on Fifth Avenue which targeted at those who could afford living like they saw it on television. This store was different. It offered rather normal fashion for reasonable prices, and no-one asked which actress wore it or had recently quit wearing it. Its owners obviously didn't even mind having a rodent shop hidden in its walls, or they simply didn't even know.

This shop was one of several shops in the city providing rodents with clothing. As usual, this clothing was tailor-made out of many kinds of materials. Gadget knew this shop very well. It was here where her father used to take her when she still was a little mouse girl, so it was no wonder that she was on a first name base with the owner, Tricia Taylor. Tricia grew up and met her husband Brian in the glamorous surroundings of the Lower East Side. They discovered one day that they had something in common—they were tired of all the glitter, but they were interested in robust and useful working clothes. Some decades later, Tricia still ran her shop. Her husband had left her long ago, he was said to live somewhere in New England, but she didn't care. However, she wasn't alone in her shop, her daughter Tanya—whose name was suggested by one of Tricia's grandmothers who was a Russian immigrant—had learned her crafts and was ready to take over the shop once she would retire.

It was here where Gadget had her overalls made. It was here, too, where Geegaw got his aviator attire, and what Gadget still didn't know was that Tricia Taylor had made Chip's bomber jacket as well. Even today, she could make the same overalls she had designed more than 20 years ago for Gadget. So could Tanya, just as well as her mother, but Tanya had another skill, and that was evening gowns. Tricia could create a dress, too, if it was requested, but Tanya could almost do magic if requested, and Gadget hadn't requested much less from her.

"Ah, hello Miss Hackwrench! It's always nice to see you!" Tricia greeted Gadget who just stepped inside. She was a mouse with a two-tone brown fur whose once brown, now gray hair was tied up in a ponytail. Her white blouse reminded Gadget a bit of the lab coat her mother wore at NIMH, and she combined it with a knee-long purple skirt.

"C'mon, Tricia, drop that Miss Hackwrench," Gadget said as she shook Tricia's hand. She was about to ask if Tanya was there, but the noise coming from one of the sewing-machines she had built herself told her what she needed to know.

"I take it you want to see Tanya, right?"

"Right. She has made something, well, special for me, and she has promised that I can have it today."

"And I kept my promise." Tanya came in from the rooms in the back. She was a few years younger than Gadget. She had a certain resemblance to her mother, and they both wore similar white blouses, but Tanya's brown hair was cut rather short, and she wore a pair of blue jeans and a red belt to tighten the blouse around her waist. "Hi Gadget!"

Gadget was as delighted to see Tanya as she was to see her mother. Thinking back to her past, she could remember playing with Tanya who was still a toddler back then when she was there together with her father. "Hi Tanya! Is it ready?"

"You can bet. Come here and have a look if you like it." Tanya motioned her to accompany her into the back of the shop where she was working. Gadget followed, and soon they stood at Tanya's working-place. On the sewing-machine was something that looked like working clothes for a restaurant waitress, but next to it lay a matchbox. Tanya tapped her hand onto it. "It's in here. Wanna see it?"

"Yes, please. That's why I've come here. I can't wait to see it."

Tanya made a ceremony out of opening the matchbox and getting a mostly white but partly pastel pink gown out of it, but it was worth the ceremony. "Voilà!"

"Golly..." Gadget stared in amazement at a perfect replica of the gown Rebecca Cunningham wore in two TaleSpin episodes. She had seen this dress on TV, it was beautiful. She had seen it in her dream, she had even worn it in her dream, that was when she realized how beautiful it was. But now that she saw it right before her in real life, beautiful wasn't closely enough to describe it. "Tanya, this is incredible! If I didn't know better, I'd say you can really do magic. I can't believe that you've made something so awesome from a few TV screenshots."

"Actually, I didn't even need your screenshots, Gadget. Up in this house, there's a boy who has all TaleSpin episodes on video tapes, and I've been up there very often and sneaked a peek when he was watching. When I saw this dress, I kinda fell in love with it. I studied it, yes, I learned it by heart. I always wanted to remake it, but I couldn't imagine that any mouse here in New York City would ever want to wear it until you came. It was so fulfilling for me to make one for you, even if it took me almost half a year to get the materials. C'mon, Gadget, put it on and have a look at yourself!"

Gadget hesitated for a moment, then she agreed. Finding something that didn't fit would be better here and now than back at the Headquarters. She changed from her overalls into the dress, and Tanya led her to a mirror that was salvaged from a discarded human powder compact. "Now what do you say, is that a sight or not?"

Gadget was unable to say a word at first. It was as if she was back to Darren's store, only that she wasn't dreaming now. So it was no wonder that she felt even greater seeing herself in that dress than she did in the dream six months ago. She turned around and let the skirt swing. She couldn't remember when she wore a skirt that could swing for the last time. This dress did something to her that she would never have expected a dress to do—it made her feel wonderful. She didn't feel like an inventor who just happened to be female by chance anymore. No, she felt like a woman. And she felt beautiful, because she realized she was beautiful.

"Oh Tanya!" Gadget tackle-hugged the tailor mouse. "This is so... I'm so..."

"Is beautiful the word you're searching for? Then yes, you are. Gadget, I've never seen you so excited. What's up with you?"

"Tanya, this dress means a lot to me. I'm gonna wear it tonight. I'm going out with Chip."

"Again, like so many times?"

"No, this time I want it to be very special."

"Right, you're gonna wear a dress for a change. Don't get me wrong, Gadget, I'm proud of you and your change of mind. Working overalls aren't exactly what the guys wanna see a girl in." Though Gadget looked cute in about everything as Tanya had to admit to herself.

"Not only because of the dress. Tanya, I finally know what I feel for Chip. And tonight, I want to tell him. I want this pointless dating craziness to come to an end."

"Gadget, the date on which you tell a guy that you love him isn't necessarily your last date. You can go on dating as long as you want. Even when you should be married one day." What Gadget didn't know was that Chip befriended Tanya, too. While her mother still made Gadget's overalls, it was herself who had taken over the aviator jackets, and whenever she had to repair one of Chip's jackets or make him a new one after one got damaged beyond repair on a case, he would tell her about the Rangers' adventures. And he also told her about his secretly burning love for Gadget when he felt that he couldn't keep it all to himself anymore. So Tanya knew that it would only take one of them to take the next step and confess his or her feelings to make them a most probably everlasting loving couple. They would have to overcome some difficulties, but once that's done, they could expect a bright future together.

Gadget carefully took off the dress again. "You mean I... we..."

"Dating is not all about getting him. Once you've got him, it's even better, because you know that you love each other then, and you can live that love."

"Anyway, when it doesn't work tonight, I'll quit dating Chip. It has made me crazy throughout the past 16 years. In that case it's gonna be my last date."

"Gadget, don't say that." Tanya was one of the few who knew about her and Chip's mutual love. "What made you crazy was not the dating. It was the love for him that came with the dating. Do you really believe that it'll go, just simply vanish, once you've quit dating? You're still workmates, you two. You're still living in the same tree. You're still spending more time with than without each other. And when you don't even go on dates with him anymore, it'll make you even crazier."

Tanya actually reminded Gadget of her sleepless nights wet of tears. Not those when she cried for her father which had ended a month ago when her father returned. "You want me to go on, no matter what happens?"

"That's the best you can do. No matter what happens." Tanya offered Gadget her help with the overalls. "Don't give up. I'm sure that when you reveal your feelings to him, he won't reject you." She even knew that. After all, she knew how Chip felt for Gadget.

"Really?"

"Really. Why do you think should he reject you? You're beautiful, you're intelligent, you're good-hearted, you're one of the nicest persons I've ever met, he'll never find someone who outdoes you." While she carefully laid the dress back into the matchbox, she fought the urge to tell Gadget right away that Chip loves her as that would spoil everything. None of the two knew that Chip had just found out about Gadget's feelings.

Gadget hugged Tanya once more. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome, Gadget." She gave her the matchbox. "Now go and enjoy the evening." She spotted a jacket she had made for Chip, but she decided to wait for him to collect it himself. Gadget shouldn't know yet that Chip is one of her customers, too. It would be too awkward for both of them.

"See you, Tanya!" Gadget waved as she stepped through the curtains that served as a door with the matchbox under one arm.

Tricia stopped her as she walked past. "Wait a minute, Gadget. I've got something for you."

"What is it?"

She handed her a brand-new pair of lavender overalls. "I haven't seen you for a while, so I figured you may need another pair. Especially one that doesn't smell like machine oil."

"Aw, Tricia, you didn't have to. I'm working on a way of washing oil out of these fabrics."

"I know. When you started, you came here and ordered four new pairs because of what you called unusually strong wear. Now take them. And try not to wear them in your workshop for a while."

"I'll try to remember. Thank you, Tricia." Gadget put the new overalls under the same arm that held the matchbox and headed for the door. "Bye!"