Not much to say until the end. Enjoy the second half of the story!
~*~Part 2~*~
"Hi and welcome to Bargain Roof," the unwitting clerk said apathetically as the boys walked into the store.
"Wow, looks like I'm not the only one that's having a sour holiday," Alvin commented as he walked by.
"And it looks like you're not the only one who self inflicted that problem either..." Simon commented as he followed Alvin into the giant chain department store.
Alvin stopped and spun around. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing," Simon said as he walked past Alvin, a makeshift smirk rested on his face as he needed something to lighten up his already miserable day.
Alvin growled and waved a fist at Simon as Theodore walked by, then ran to keep up with the other two.
As the boys headed deeper into the store, another figure entered the store not too long afterwards. A woman with long and distinctly red hair walked by the apathetic store greeter, putting on a blue beanie and putting all of her hair under it. She then set her sights on the boys as they walked further into the store.
Theodore looked behind him and glanced at the woman briefly and got a slight uneasy feeling as he turned back around. He glanced again, but the woman was nowhere in sight. Shrugging, he continued to follow his two older brothers without further mention.
"Okay, now that we're here, now what?" Alvin said sternly, ready for a course of action on how to tackle this.
"Alright, the three of us will split up and get one gift for each other, and one gift for Dave," Simon instructed.
"Why do we have to split up Simon?" Theodore asked, slightly worried about the whole thing.
"Well, since we're doing the Christmas shopping this year, there wouldn't be any element of surprise if all three of us went together in a pack. So we should split up so that there's at least some surprise to what we get each other," Simon explained. Theodore giggled to himself.
"Oh, okay!" Theodore said with a grin. Alvin rubbed his hands together.
"We'll all meet back in the junk food area, wait for us there when you're done okay?"
"Sounds like a plan, lets do it," Alvin said coolly, slinging his cap on backwards and heading in one direction.
A grin managed to surface on Simon's face. Perhaps this little shopping spree wouldn't be so bad after all. He headed off to a different corner of the store.
Theodore, unsure of what direction of where to go since his brothers went to opposite ends of the store, he decided to see if he could scrounge up anything in the middle.
He walked into the clothes section in front of him. Sure was some nifty stuff in there. But then he thought to himself, who would want clothes for Christmas? Maybe Dave could get them new clothes or something after Christmas.
As he walked through the various aisles of clothes just to look around, he accidentally walked into a rack of plain white shirts, knocking a few to the floor. As he put them back, he couldn't help but be reminded of Simon somehow.
"I need a few new lab coats Dave, I only have one left, and it's starting to get very thin," Simon said to Dave as he was cooking dinner.
"Alright Simon, if I can remember I'll get you some soon, I promise," Dave replied, stirring the rice in the frying pan.
"Hmm..." Theodore thought to himself. The shirts seemed a little big for a chipmunk, and they technically weren't lab coats. But the heavy flannel material made it look rather tough, and since humans were bigger than chipmunks, the regular white shirt would make a good lab coat for Simon. He'd just have to roll up the sleeves until Dave or Miss Miller got to sewing them.
Excited to find something he cool to make Simon happy, he took two shirts off the hangers and cast them over his shoulder.
In fact, he was so excited, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and he walked into somebody, and both of them fell to the floor.
Theodore picked himself up and began rubbing his head, while the figure he walked into made a quick motion as if she dropped something behind him.
"Aw, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" the voice asked. Sounded female. Theodore stopped rubbing his head and opened his eyes. A woman with a blue beanie was kneeling before him as she put something in her pocket.
"I think so," Theodore said as he got up. He picked the two shirts off the floor and put them back on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she said politely, but then noticed that a little bit of her flaming red hair was sticking out from underneath her beanie and quickly did what she could to get all of her hair back under. "Be careful hun, okay?" she said as she began to briskly walk the other direction.
"Wait a second!" Theodore called out as he strained his eyes to see where the lady was leaving to, but the woman was already gone and a swarm of other people passed by adding to the confusion. Shrugging, he went off in the other direction to go gather more stuff for his brothers and father, but he couldn't help but think that he saw the woman somewhere else before.
Simon walked over to the towering glass case of video games that stood before him, carrying a handful of books he picked out for Dave. If Alvin or Theodore were here, they'd be gawking about the spectacle. And with Dave not there with them, they could stare at it as long as they wanted until they became bored. And since they had money, it would be hard not to try to take everything out of the case.
But Simon knew better than that, and knowing that a game would probably be the best gift for Alvin, he had a hard time choosing what kind of game for him. Since there wasn't an adult around, he could only ask for a game with an "E" rating on it.
Unsure of what to pick for Alvin, since Alvin was the kind of person- erm, chipmunk, to play T rated games, it was a tough choice on what to pick, and he glanced over the titles.
In his travels, he came across the most recent title of the Harvest Moon series.
"Harvest Moon, eh?" Simon thought to himself out loud. "I know Alvin's not the type for this kind of game, but I bet that Theodore would love something other than cookbooks and baking utensils for a change!"
Simon spun around to see another store employee goofing off nearby. "Excuse me, sir?"
"Huh?" the man asked, looking around at his eye level for somebody he just couldn't find. Simon groaned to himself. What is society coming to?
"Down here?" Simon muttered half sarcastically. The man looked down and immediately felt stupid.
"Oh, sorry kiddo. What'cha need?" the man, who was clearly a teenager, said in a polite yet skittish tone.
"Would it be alright if I could get that Harvest Moon game off the shelf for me? I think it would make a great present for my little brother," Simon said politely.
"Uh, sure!" the clerk said, opening up the case and handing Simon the game. "Here you go buddy. Hope your brother enjoys it!"
"Thank you! I'm sure he will!" Simon said as he waved, heading along the back of the store to quickly get to his next objective point, the toy aisle, to get something for Alvin that would probably be easier to pick out than a game.
He quickly got distracted though as he passed the other electronics in the store. There were so many gadgets that he would love to get, but he knew he couldn't afford it, nor could he get them without parent supervision. And just like Theodore before him, he too, walked into somebody, and his glasses clattered to the floor.
"Wow, what's with today?" the voice muttered to itself. It was a woman with a brown vest, faded pair of blue jeans, and a blue beanie. "You okay hun?"
"Uh... I think so," Simon grumbled as he lied on the floor.
"Here, let me help you up," she said kindly, picking Simon up off the floor with one hand under his arm, the other one around his waist.
"Thank you- uh, my glasses. I can't see without them," Simon commented, straining to look around on the floor for where he glasses could have gone.
"I'm sorry dear," she said as Simon could barely make out the lady putting something she may have dropped in her pocket before bending down to pick up Simon's glasses. Simon gladly accepted the glasses and put them back on, then picked up the games and books he dropped on the floor.
"Thank you, I'll be more careful next tim-" Simon said, but cut himself off because as he glanced to acknowledge the woman, she was already gone. Something seemed suspicious, and he put that into his mind as he finished picking up the books and game and continued his rounds throughout the store.
Alvin gazed longingly into the wall to wall of sheer pleasure that was in front of him.
"Oh my gosh I could live here!" Alvin blurted out obnoxiously as he stood in a clearing in between four walls of toys, and lots of bigger toys that were in front of him that had no place to fit on the shelves.
It brought a tear to his eye. He wanted them all. He didn't care how or why, but he wanted them all. And he quickly forgot that he was supposed to be getting gifts for his family as well.
He began picking up toys on the shelves, looking at them and seeing if they were right for him. But they all seemed right for him. But when he realized he was going to go over the two hundred that he had left, he was picking up toys then putting down other ones that he selected more than Theodore in a candy store.
After picking things up and putting them back down for ten minutes, it suddenly occurred to him that there were also video games in the store, and he promptly put the toys he had in his hand down in a heap and ran to the electronics on impulse.
At a different entrance, Simon entered the toy arena just seconds after Alvin left, and noticed the clearly visible mess that was left behind.
"Alvin was here I see," Simon muttered as he looked around, trying to find something that Alvin might at least somewhat enjoy. Of course, knowing his brother, nothing would probably satisfy him enough, so it came down to what could he possibly get to make Alvin rant the least.
Then, as if it was shimmering in a golden glow, Simon locked on to his target. A four set of walkie-talkies, and they appeared to be good quality for it's price. Nothing a little tinkering wouldn't fix so that they could be able to pick on any air traffic going on in the entire city. Alvin wouldn't be disappointed in that. He took it off the shelf, and then pondered what he should get himself. He headed back out the way he came towards the electronics to see if he could find something he could buy.
And almost as if it were preplanned, Alvin returned to the toy aisle seconds after Simon left, and neither brother knew that they missed each other. Alvin began to furiously claw his way through the toys again, disgusted that he could only get E rated games. Those were so boring.
Alvin made his way out of the toy aisle with an armful of assorted action figures and other junk as he headed over to the junk food and bargain bin area towards the cashiers.
"Where have you been?" Simon admonished, Alvin nearly dropping the armful of toys he had in shock.
"Uh, I couldn't decide," Alvin said, trying to come up with a reason why he was gone so long.
"And what did you get us?" Simon asked, pointing a finger at Alvin accusingly as he walked towards him.
"Huh, you guys?" Alvin asked, thinking out loud, then it clicked, "Oh, right!" Alvin force-handed the toys to Simon as he grabbed a bag of party mix and a deck of cards. "Here you go!"
"A bag of party mix, and a deck of cards?" Simon asked, almost dumbfounded by the gesture.
No, just the deck of cards, the party mix is for Theodore," Alvin stated plainly.
"Can't argue with that!" Theodore said, running to grab the party mix out of Alvin's hands.
"Theodore! Alvin got himself a hundred and eighty dollars worth of toys and all he got us was a bag of party mix and a deck of cards!" Simon admonished Theodore.
"I like party mix though..." Theodore complained. Simon slapped himself in the forehead and glared at Theodore. Then, it hit Theodore like a ton of bricks. "Hey, wait a second!"
"You see?" Simon accused Alvin. "And what did you get Dave?"
"Oh, right. I'll go get him a bottle of Pepto Bismol," Alvin volunteered, heading towards the pharmacy. "Nausea, heartburn, indigestion- upset stomach, diarrhea!"
"Alvin!" Simon yelled out.
"What?! Dave could use it!" Alvin said, trying to defend himself.
"You know what?! That's it, I've had it with you!" Simon dropped what he had in his hands and went over to strangle Alvin. "You've done nothing but ruined Christmas for everyone this year! Theodore and I found it in ourselves that even though we were mad at you, we still got you something this year. But you know what? No! Theodore and I are going to return the cool stuff that we bought you and that's that!"
"What?" Alvin said, taken aback by what just happened? "Why would you mess with the spirit of giving?"
"Spirit of giving? Spirit of giving?!?! All you've did was take others advantage and get yourself what you wanted. With you, there is no giving! It's all you!" In his almost fully enraged state, he jammed his hand into his pocket to get the money out of his pocket. "And don't think that when I'm done paying for these that this is over... oh no! This fight as really just begun!" a little confused to why there was no money in his pocket, he reached his hand into his other pocket, just to find that was empty as well.
"Okay, I get it Simon, I'll put some of this stuff bac-"
"No way. Why you little!" Simon began going through Alvin's pockets, but Alvin pushed Simon back before he could do much.
"What are you doing?!" Alvin accused Simon.
"Guys, cut it out, you're gonna draw a crowd!" Theodore called over to his brothers, as a few onlookers started to watch.
"This isn't funny Alvin, where's the money! I know you have it!" Simon growled. His pockets were empty, except for the nearly empty water bottle he used for the trek to the store.
"Where's what money? I gave you and Theodore equal shares, remember?" Alvin said almost in shock. Theodore instinctively went through his pockets as well, and a look of horror flooded over his face.
"It's gone!" Theodore said in pure shock. "Alvin I don't have it!"
"Give it back Alvin!" Simon warned, willing to take the scene further if he did have it.
"I don't have it Simon, see!" Alvin said, in fear now. He pulled the two hundred out of his pocket, folded his pockets inside out, and even went so far as to take his shoes and hat off. "I'm not that greedy!"
"Could have fooled me," Simon managed to work in before the shock began to overwhelm him as well. "Oh no!"
"Simon, what do we do?" Theodore asked.
Alvin took notice of the growing crowd. "Hey, mind you own business! Go watch some soap operas or something if you like this kind of crap!"
The crowd dispersed a bit, and the three brothers closed in on each other to talk this over more quietly.
"I- I don't know! How could we have lost the money Dave gave us? That's four hundred!" Simon said, his voice lacing with panic as the situation appeared to be spiraling out of control. Both Simon and Theodore looked at Alvin.
"D-don't look at me! I don't know anything about it!" Alvin blurted, he too in a panic. If Dave found out about this, all three of them were grounded for a year. Theodore began rubbing his head in frustration.
"Oh man, Dave's gonna kill us!" Theodore whined. Simon looked at his brother worriedly, then noticed a small bruise on Theodore's head.
"Theodore, what happened?" Simon asked worriedly, examining Theodore's head closer. Yes, definitely a bruise.
"Huh?" Theodore asked, genuinely confused.
"You got a bruise on your head, what happened?"
"Uh, when I was getting your present some lady ran into me," Theodore said, holding back an upwelling of tears. It was just about too much for him to handle.
"Someone ran into you?" Alvin said, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmm, that's strange," Simon commented almost to himself.
"What's strange?" Alvin asked. Simon made a strange face to himself.
"I some lady ran in to me as well, when I was looking at the electronics. She ran off in a hurry though after she helped me up."
"Same too! What did she look like? Did she have a blue hat?" Theodore asked, stunned about it.
Simon blinked. "Why yes, yes she did. Brown vest, faded and ripped blue jeans?"
Theodore jumped up. "Yeah! That's the same lady who ran into me!"
"It couldn't have been coincidence... could it?" Alvin asked. The three of them looked at the ceiling, then all three of them looked at each other and shook their head. "No, couldn't have."
"I have an idea, Alvin, give me the money real fast," Simon said, outstretching his hand.
"And give me one good reason why I should?" Alvin said, folding his arms.
"I could give you about three dozen right now," Simon said bluntly. Alvin sighed.
"Okay, okay, I get the point," he replied, handing Simon the money. "Now what?"
"I want you to take ten paces back, then walk in to me full force," Simon said as he put the money in his pocket.
"Why?" Theodore asked. "Wouldn't that hurt?"
"We'll see Theodore. Now Alvin," Simon said as he walked a little more casually towards Alvin.
Alvin walked at a more brisk pace, keeping the intent on ramming Simon one about all the smart remarks he said today, even if he deserved them.
"Now, Alvin, don't hold back," Simon said, pretending to be distracted. A radiantly evil smile washed over Alvin's face, and he walked slightly faster before impacting Simon hard in the side. Simon almost fell over backwards, and Alvin tripped over Simon.
"Ow, not that hard!" Simon complained, rolling on his side and rubbing his shoulders.
"You said don't hold back!" Alvin retorted, getting on his knees to get up to see something green behind Simon. He crawled over to see what it was.
Two hundred dollars.
"Hey, Simon? Check your pockets..."
Simon blinked, a little stunned about just how hard Alvin actually hit him, but then followed orders, and sure enough, his pockets were empty.
"The money, it's gone!" Simon said in shock. Alvin picked Simon's glasses up and put them on his face, then held the money in front of Simon's nose.
"Is this the answer you were looking for?" Alvin said with a grin. Theodore's jaw hit the floor.
"She stole it?!" Theodore squeaked, not happy with what he heard.
"Apparently," Simon said, a little struggle in his voice as Alvin helped him up off the floor.
"Well, you know what this means now, right?" Alvin said.
"Yeah, call the authorities," Simon said plainly. Alvin instead grabbed Simon by the turtleneck and shook him back and forth like Simon said something stupid.
"No, we can't do that! We don't know what she really looks like, they won't help us!" Alvin said in between shakes. Simon grabbed Alvin's hands to get him to stop.
"Okay, okay, I get it! Stop shaking me like I'm an idiot!" Simon said loudly, and Alvin slowed the shaking to a stop. "What do we do then? Find her?"
"Exactly!" Alvin said, running over to Theodore. "Lets split up and see if we can find her real fast. If we do this fast enough, we can get back here before they put our stuff away!"
"Right," Simon said.
"Right!" Theodore chimed in.
"Lets kick tail," Alvin said, stealthfully running in one direction while his other two brothers scattered to search the store.
Ten minutes later, the boys all met back up in the spot that they left, and with a stroke of luck, the stuff they picked out was still there.
"Boy, the people that work here must be really careless to just let a pile of presents stay in one spot..." Simon commented. "Not surprised though."
"Either of you guys find her?" Alvin asked with a worried look on his face.
"No," Simon and Theodore replied, both with a look of despair on their faces.
Alvin, frustrated with what happened today, finally reached his breaking point and sat down curling himself up into a ball.
"Well... I guess we have to return some of the stuff and hope that Dave doesn't get too mad at us. Not our fault someone stole that from us," Simon concluded, resting on the shelf and rubbing his eyes.
"Maybe we should have had Miss Miller take us after all," Theodore said, his face souring to a glum state.
"Yeah, maybe we should have," Simon admitted. "We would at least have been safe, even if her driving is like walking across a freeway."
"How come you guys always say no to what I think up?" Theodore said, his eyes welling up.
Both Simon and Alvin were at a loss for what to say. They had been dismissing Theodore the whole day when it came to suggestions.
Simon sighed. "I don't know why Theodore, I'm sorry. Maybe we should start listening to you instead of just dismissing you like that." He looked over to Alvin so see Alvin remaining silent, looking down in the floor.
"And I'm sorry I got all of us into this mess..." Alvin said, almost too quiet to hear.
Simon's face lightened a little bit, but not by much. At least Alvin finally came down to earth, but it still doesn't change the mess they were in.
"Well," Simon concluded, looking over at the pile of their should be gifts, "I guess we better pick out the best stuff for each of us, and something for Dave, and pay for what little we have left I guess."
Alvin got up and reached into his pocket to get a drink of water, but was disappointed to realize he drank it all on the way to the store. He didn't even realize it, he was just off in his own little world. He jammed the bottle back in his pocket without another word.
Simon began looking through the pile of stuff while Theodore stared out the doors of the store. He didn't want to go home. He was too afraid of what would happen. Saddened by the whole situation, he stared longingly at the people at the cashiers, watching the happier families paying for their Christmas gifts and getting ready for an enjoyable couple of days. Two kids playing with each other as their parents were putting up various items. And older gentleman talking with a cashier in good cheer. A woman on her cell phone, with the most beautiful red hair he had ever seen.
Wait... red hair? Theodore blinked and rubbed his eyes, as he walked up to the low shelves of various junk in front of him. Stepping on to it, he peered over to get a closer look.
A woman with long red hair, a yellow shirt and tight new jeans was on her cell phone, gabbing away about something he couldn't recognize, and a large assortment of attire on her in bags. A blue beanie was tucked in carelessly in her back pocket.
"Yes, I'm fine," she said politely, but then noticed that a little bit of her flaming red hair was sticking out from underneath her beanie and quickly did what she could to get all of her hair back under. "Be careful hun, okay?" she said as she began to briskly walk the other direction.
And then it just clicked. It was her, it had to be her. Theodore jumped off the shelf and shook his brothers' arms vigorously.
"Guys! Guys! She's still here!" Theodore exclaimed excitedly. Simon dropped the game he had picked out earlier for Theodore and ran over to where Theodore was pointing at. He peered over the shelf, but didn't see anything that resembled who Theodore was talking about.
"What are you talking about-"
"The red head! It's her!" Theodore interrupted, almost dancing to himself to keep himself from doing something dramatic with the sudden adrenaline rush.
Simon looked at the redhead, then back at Theodore. "What are you talking about, the woman who walked into us didn't have red hair."
"Yes she did! I saw it! Her hair fell out of her hat when she ran into me and I saw it! Look, her hat's in her back pocket!"
Simon strained his eyes to see. Sure enough, Theodore was right, there was no mistake about it. He got down off the shelf and looked at Alvin. "Well I'll be damned."
"Quickly Alvin, think up a plan!" Theodore said impatiently. "There's almost no time left!"
"You two think of something, I'm going to go get something," Alvin said, running off towards the front of the store.
"Alright that... wait a second. Did he just say?" Simon said, not sure what just happened.
"Alvin knows what he's doing, what should we do?" Theodore said impatiently.
"I think we give her a little payback. Follow me, we're chasing Alvin," Simon said, grabbing Theodore by the arm and running around through the bargain bin.
"Wait, what?" Theodore said, wriggling himself free to run along real fast after Simon.
The two boys ran towards the cashier area, where the redhead was still on her cell phone. Alvin turned the corner on the far side of the cashier bay, and Simon ran to 'try to keep up.'
"Alvin, wait up!" Simon called out, loud enough for people close by to hear, but not loud enough for Alvin to hear. Actually, if anything, it sounded like Simon was loosing his voice.
"Simon! Wait!" Theodore said, hot on Simon's heels.
"I got to get Alvin-"
Crash! Simon ran full force right into the redhead right in front of a crowd of people, and skidded few feet sliding on his back. Somehow, his glasses were still on his head.
Theodore skidded to a stop just short of tripping right over the redhead, as her clothes were spilled across the floor. His eyes widened.
"You're the lady that crashed into me before!" Theodore called out. The woman winced at the accusation.
Simon crouched to get up. His shoulder was bothering him, and his pocket seemed wet, but it didn't seem to phase him for the time being. "And you crashed into me before. Deliberately."
"What? I did no such thing!" the lady said as if her feelings were hurt.
"Then explain why you have old clothes in a bag!" Simon accused, pointing at the ground.
A bag was ripped open, revealing a brown vest and a torn and faded pair of jeans. The woman blinked in shock.
"And why you took our Christmas money!" Theodore cried out, tears rolling down his cheeks at the whole thing.
"What?! Why would, what?!" the woman said in confusion.
"When you ran into me earlier, my father's Christmas money disappeared. And my little brother said the same thing happened to him!"
"Alright, everybody calm down right now!" a security guard called out stopping all activity in the store. Alvin was right next to the man with a grin. "Now, it's come to my attention by this boy here, and obviously the commotion, that this woman here supposedly mugged these two kids of their Christmas money. I'm going to have to bring all four of you to the security office.
Theodore sulked his way over to the officer, and Simon doing the same, reaching into his pocket to reveal that his water bottle opened up in his pocket on impact.
The woman with the clothes, instead, tried to run away, and two more security personnel came and handcuffed the woman, forcing her to go to the security office near the cashier's office as the officer Alvin grabbed gently whisked the three brothers in with him as well.
Once they were safely in the bay, the officer crouched down and looked almost coldly into Simon and Theodore's eyes. Theodore, sensitive to the eye contact, backed up and fell on his rear, scared of what was about to happen.
The officer's face loosened up. "Sorry kid, don't mean to scare you. You two managed to start up a big scene."
"She took our dad's Christmas money, I know she did!" Simon defended.
"Alright kids, explain to me what happened."
"And when we figured out that she took it, and figured out who she really was, and so we kind of just... ran into her," Simon explained.
"Alright kids, I get what you're saying. But you guys are crazy to try to take matters into your own hands. You should have alerted us and we would have done something about it," the officer said sternly. "In fact, the three of you shouldn't have came in here shopping by yourselves with so much money. There's worse things that could have happened to you! This is a dangerous world, especially now since the start of the recession, people will do anything to get their hands on money."
"Brian, get a load of this," another officer said as he entered the room. The officer in front of the boys looked behind him to see the pair of ripped pants in his arms.
"Okay, it's a pair of pants. What's so special about it?" Brian jabbed sarcastically at the other officer, and the officer revealed four hundred dollars and a lollipop.
"Oh, my lollipop!" Theodore said, running up to the other officer before Brian could snatch him. "I was saving that for later! I didn't know it was gone!"
Simon and Alvin started laughing to themselves, and even Brian had to crack a little smirk.
"The woman admitted to following the boys from their neighborhood to our store after overhearing that the kids had money. She didn't realize she snagged so much money, but when she found out the first one did, she sought out the other two," the other officer explained.
"Well, I guess that's enough proof right there, let the kid have it," Brian instructed, and the other officer handed Theodore the money and the sucker.
"Oh, and Brian, we also have the woman's identity confirmed. Her name's Laura Banks. She's a wanted mugger. Been on the wanted lists for eight months," the officer added.
"Oh, you don't say?" Brian asked, a little irked about it.
"We alerted the Los Angeles police department, we're going to be bringing her into custody very shortly."
"Alright Rick, job well done," Brian commented, and Rick nodded before going back into the room behind.
Theodore handed the four hundred dollars to Alvin before sitting down on the bench next to Simon. Now that the money was there and safe, now came the biggest part to worry of it all; Dave was going to find out one way or another about their whole escapade.
Alvin tugged at the collar of his sweater nervously. "So eh, our dad ain't going to find out about this, is he?"
Brian glared at Alvin. "I could lose my job if I don't."
"It's Christmas! Surely you could find it as some kind of Christmas gift to-"
"No kid. Absolutely not," Brian interrupted. Alvin sighed and sat down, resting his head on his knees.
"Can we at least finish our Christmas shopping before you take us home?" Alvin asked, giving it one final effort to at least not come home empty handed.
The officer thought to himself. He sighed.
"Well, I'd hate to see you three went through all this effort to just come home empty handed, so I think I could at least grant that."
All three of them shot up. "Really?" They all chorused.
"Really."
"So let me get this straight," Dave said as he hung out the door, "...the boys were mugged and were able to stop the mugger themselves?"
"So it's been told to me," Brian replied, watching as the boys unloaded various things from the patrol car.
Dave blinked, watching Alvin carry a giant wrapped box in, before shaking his head in confusion. "What a day," was the only thing Dave could mutter.
"Yeah, really. Listen. Next time, don't let your boys go out to the store with so much money on them by themselves. It's a crazy world we live in," Brian said as Alvin once again walked back outside to get more things.
"Uh, okay officer. And I'm truly sorry the boys caused you guys trouble," Dave muttered, unsure of what to do with the boys.
"Heh, all in a day's work," Brian replied, as he started walking out to the car. Alvin had the last item they bought in his hands.
"Thanks for uh, letting us get the presents," Alvin said awkwardly. Brian bent down and pulled something out of his pocket.
"I believe this is yours," Brian said, handing Alvin a slip of paper. Alvin read what it said.
It was a check. Twenty five hundred dollars. Alvin's eyes dilated.
"Whoa, I can't take this!" Alvin said, forgetting about being in character for a brief moment.
"You technically found the mugger after all, the reward is yours by law," Brian said, surprised he was actually saying this to a kid.
Alvin looked at the check then looked at Brian. Pushing all dignity aside, he hugged the man. "Thank you!"
"No problem, take it easy," he said after a brief hug, and went back to the patrol car to take off.
Alvin stood there with the check in his hand. Whoa that was a lot of money. Of all the possibilities he could spend the money on... he could get that go kart he wanted. Hell, he could get two of them! Wouldn't that be something.
He pocketed the check and picked up the hibachi the boys bought for Dave, but a nagging thought crossed through Alvin's mind. He did mess the whole holiday season up this year. Maybe he should do something that he wouldn't do in a normal year.
He walked into the door and set the box with the hibachi in it on the floor next to the door. Simon and Theodore were talking to Dave about what happened.
"I still can't believe that you, of the three of you Simon, would actually do something so reckless as to collide with someone on purpose!" Dave admonished Simon. Simon just hung his head. "This is the second time this year you did something without thinking about it beforehand.
"Well if I didn't, we wouldn't be coming back with presents," Simon said quietly.
"We wanted to get you some presents this year. We wouldn't have been able to get you much if we didn't,"
"Oh boys, I don't need any presents. You three are enough to keep me happy. I appreciate the kind gesture, but I probably would have felt better if you three just let it go and come home safely instead," Dave said, hugging Simon and Theodore.
"Hey, uh, Dave?" Alvin asked quietly. Dave got up from the embrace and walked over to Alvin.
"Yes, Alvin?"
"It's kind of my fault that all of this stuff happened today. I-" Alvin stammered, then gulped, fighting his own dignity trying to utter the lines, "I'm sorry. I didn't want it to be this way."
"Aw, Alvin. It's not your fault," Dave said reassuringly, bending down to give Alvin a hug as well.
"I got you another present," Alvin said, reaching into his pocket and pulling the check out. This caught Simon and Theodore's attention.
Dave took the check out of Alvin's hands. "Twenty five... twenty five hundred dollars?!"
"What?!" Simon and Theodore, astonished, came running over to see what Dave was going crazy over.
"Al- Alvin, where did you get this!?" Dave said in absolute astonishment.
"Well, I kinda did stop a mugger. The police officer gave it to me," Alvin said quietly, his face was much softer than it usually is.
"She had a twenty-five hundred dollar reward!?" Dave was bewildered, and both Simon and Theodore's jaws hit the floor.
"I guess so," Alvin said with a careless shrug.
"Well, I don't know what to say... I wasn't expecting this," Dave said, a wave of nausea began to wash over him, as it had several times before today.
"Are we grounded?" Alvin asked. Simon smacked his forehead, while Theodore just stood there and blinked.
"Oh Alvin..." Dave admonished, then sighed. "No, I can't ground you three. Not this time."
Simon fainted from the sound of this, while Alvin and Theodore started giggling stupidly. Dave couldn't help but laugh either, but a stronger wave of nausea overcame him and cut it short, as he ran back upstairs in a huff.
"Well, I guess it somehow worked out after all," Simon said, coming out of his catatonic state.
"You guys forgive me?" Alvin asked, fidgeting his hands nervously as he looked at the floor.
Simon got up and both he and Theodore looked at each other, then nodded and went over to give Alvin a group hug.
"It's Christmas. Of course we forgive you," the both said, and all three of them grinned to themselves in satisfaction.
Christmas morning was just another morning in the Seville household. The boys were sleeping peacefully amongst themselves, completely unaware of what the day was.
Surprisingly, Alvin was the first to rise. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. Seven thirty? Darn it, too early, must go back to bed.
Wait a second, today's Christmas! Alvin halfway scrambled out of bed as an adrenaline rush overcame him, but before he could bolt out of bed, the adrenaline rush left as quickly as it came.
Wait a second, they already bought Christmas gifts two days ago. Why would there be more gifts. He sighed in sadness and crawled back into bed without making any sound since he woke up and did not stir again for a couple more hours.
After another hour went by, Dave went upstairs to check on the boys, a mug of coffee in hand. He felt better Christmas eve, and dropped the boys off at Miss Miller's house to let the boys see the Chipettes for Christmas while he went out for the day.
To his surprise, neither of the three were up. He was sure that at least one of them should have gotten up by now, especially since it's Christmas, but all three of them were still sleeping. Obviously, none of them even left the room if they did get up, and Dave grinned to himself and quietly closed the door.
The click of the door shutting managed to wake Theodore up. He too, rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock before groaning and getting ready to go to sleep. And just like Alvin did an hour before, he too realized what day it was.
"Oh wow, today's Christmas!" Theodore said quietly to himself. He looked over at Alvin. "Oh wow, he's still asleep?" Theodore was a bit aghast to why Alvin would still be sleeping. Normally, Christmas would be the only day of the year Alvin would be awake first, but not this year. Then it occurred to Theodore. "Oh yeah, we already got our 'presents' two days ago..."
Disappointed, he curled back up into a ball to go to sleep, but unlike the oldest of his brothers, he couldn't. He was too hungry. Giving up after ten minutes of trying to fall back asleep, Theodore got up and went downstairs to see if Dave made any breakfast.
As he walked down the stairs, he noticed the lights were unusually dim for this time of morning. Not really caring much, he walked into the living room and noticed the living room, absolutely... full... of presents. Even then, it didn't register.
"You're dreaming, Theodore," he said to himself, almost Simon-like as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cupcake and three cookies that were placed preciously on the table and took a bite. He then carried the food upstairs, again walking past the presents, and going back up to his room.
Dave, in the room right next to the boys, was half surprised about what just happened, but the metaphorical stopwatch was going in his head.
Theodore sat down on his bed and finished the cupcake he took before taking a bite out of the first cookie he snagged.
Then he just dropped it. Dropped the other two cookies he had in his hand right on his bed, and all but ran to the bedroom door, and slug the door open so fast that his other two brothers woke up. Theodore then jumped on the banister of the stairs, and slid down it for the first time in almost a year, making a three point landing into the living room.
There were presents. Everywhere. He touched one of them. It looked real. It felt real. He picked the box up and shook it and it sounded real. Then he ran back up the stairs and started dancing in one spot completely unable to talk. Alvin and Simon just stared stupidly at their youngest brother.
"What do you think gotten into him?" Alvin asked Simon with a dumb look on his face. Theodore motioned a box like figure with his fingers.
"I think he's in denial," Simon said dryly, rolling over to go back to sleep. Theodore made a disgruntled noise and ran down the stairs again, running back up within a few seconds with a present that was bigger than he was.
"Hey Simon," Alvin asked. The presents weren't registering in his mind either.
"What?" Simon asked bitterly, sitting back up and looking right at the dancing present near the bedroom door.
"Doesn't this remind you of Courage the Cowardly Dog?" Alvin asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" Simon asked in confusion. Even for Simon, the fact that there were presents didn't sink in either.
"You know, the show about that weird purple dog that has to save this old lady from these weird creatures, and often does these weird charade things when he's too shocked to speak?" Alvin explained.
"I know what the show is Alvin, what I'm saying is how does this apply to the current situation," Simon asked.
"It looks like there's a giant present dancing in front of-" Alvin now lost his ability to speak and looked wide eyed at Simon. Simon blinked stupidly then looked at the present again, which was on the floor now, with Theodore grinning over the top of the box. Then he went wide eyed.
"No way..." Simon said in disbelief.
"Uh-huh! Look!" Theodore said, pointing down the stairs before carrying the gigantic present out of the room down the stairs. Alvin and Simon both ran behind Theodore, Simon turning the light as he got to the bottom of the stairs.
Alvin stood still for a moment in absolute disbelief. So many presents. Just... full of presents! Where did it all come from?! But he thought... the confusion made Alvin fall over.
"Too much thinking, so early in the morning, brain hurts!" Alvin complained.
Dave, unable to keep himself upstairs any longer, came downstairs. "Merry Christmas fellas!" he said as the reached the bottom.
Before he could even react, he was on the floor, a heap of chipmunks were on top of him.
"Thank you Dave!" the three chorused out.
"I put that reward money to good use, and even Santa came and brought a few things for you this year!"
"Awesome!" Simon and Theodore said, hi-fiving each other.
"So does this mean you aren't mad about the laxative I accidentally put in your muffin two days ago?" Alvin asked innocently.
"You did what?" Dave asked.
"Huh, oh, nothing. I'm still asleep!" Alvin said stupidly, hitting himself over the head. "See? I'm awake now!"
"AAAAAALLLLLLVVVIIIIIINNNNNNN!" Dave yelled out, the yell being heard as far as the end of the block.
And that's a wrap!
...hahaha, okay, laughing from such a bad pun aside, I had a blast writing this story. Generally, it's unprofessional of the trade to laugh at your own story, but I just couldn't help it. Perhaps the jokes were a bit excessive. But the point is, I made the story to entertain you guys, and that's all that matters.
Feel I could have done something a little better? Did you lose a kidney from laughing too hard? Did you find some kind of moral from the story that I seem to be missing? I'd love to know what you think about this story! Please leave me a review. Reviews are what writers use to improve as well as use for motivation, and I certainly need tons of motivation for other stories that I would like to work on after I get done with some backlogged artwork requests, including The Small and the Forlorn, or as I should call it now, "Purging the Injustice."
Happy holidays!
-Narf