Chapter 36: Home
Todd stepped closer to the cage and, as if to convince himself it was all real, touched the hands of the female white mouse. She identified him as her son, now that he was close enough, and took his hands in hers. "Todd," she said, "you came back?"
"Apparently," he replied and looked around to make sure he really was where he thought he was.
"But why? And how? I see these strange... flying... things and these..."
"Rescue Rangers." Clarice left the crowd of mostly rodents outside the cage and came to meet the parents of her keyboardist. "A famous team of crime-fighters, and good friends of mine. They came all the way from New York City to Las Vegas to solve a criminal case, to return fourteen stolen gemstones. Your son made it possible to retrieve the gems from a high-security vault, and later this night, he saved the Hoover Dam from being destroyed and helped the police arrest the man behind all this. We brought him back here as a reward, we thought he'd like to see his parents again after all these years."
Todd's father gasped and failed to say more than, "Our son..."
"Your son is a hero," Melissa said as she joined Todd and Clarice, "and you can be proud of him." Todd laid an arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "He's a wonderful, wonderful guy. A guy with so many qualities and so many talents. And I love him dearly."
Quiet sobbing and sniffling sounded through the shop. The Rangers and their friends looked at each other first until Foxglove identified the hamsters in the cage on the opposite side as the source. "Don't mind us," one of them said when they noticed they had been discovered, "we're just the audience."
Todd's mother smiled at her son and the girl by his side. "Todd, you've got a girlfriend?"
"Since tonight, yes," Todd answered.
Melissa smiled back. "And I'm pleased to meet you, his parents, Mrs..."
"Linda," the female white mouse replied. "And it's Miss Linda."
"There's little of a possibility to get married in here," Todd's father explained. He offered his hand and introduced himself, "Hugo."
"Melissa, Melissa Mayfield." The half-Japanese mouse shook Hugo's hand. "You don't have last names?" Her question was justified, but she didn't want to tell the reasons yet.
Sparky told her, "It's common for lab animals not to have last names. I haven't got one either."
"You mean you forgot it," LaWahini supposed with a wink.
"No, I really haven't got one. Buzz told me a couple of times. I guess I must have told him before."
"I see," LaWahini said and smiled. 'He can have mine if need be.' "Hey Gadget," she addressed to her sister, "what about letting Todd's parents out of their cage?"
"Consider it done, LaWahini!" Gadget went straight to the cage door and inserted her tail into the keyhole of the lock. "You're born with certain tools," she commented. "Golly, this is one simple lock. They clearly didn't expect us to come."
A few seconds later, the lock snapped open, and Gadget removed it from the cage. She opened the door and motioned Hugo and Linda to come out of the cage, accompanied by applause from the hamsters. Linda was the first to leave the cage. She took the chance and her son into her arms. Hugo followed her and gave Todd a manly hug.
"I need to get used to that shirt you're wearing," Hugo said. Having spent all their life inside the pet shop, he and his wife had never worn any clothes, so it was unusual to see their son in that blue shirt.
"You should see him in a tuxedo," Melissa recommended. "He was born to wear a tuxedo."
"Todd," Linda said, "it's a downright miracle to have you here with us tonight. I wish you could stay here, but... I'm sure you've got a life somewhere else now that you'd like to return to."
"Well, I can't stay here, that's true," Todd said.
"You don't have to stay here either," Chip told her and Hugo. "You're free now, and we can take you anywhere as easily as we came in here."
"But where shall we go?" Hugo asked.
"Why, Las Vegas, of course!" LaWahini answered. "I've totally fallen in love with this city tonight, and I promise you'll like it, too."
"Have you seen my show, The Chipmunk Divine?" Clarice asked. "No, you haven't. Come see my show as soon as you can! Your son plays in my orchestra, one more reason for you to see it."
"That sounds fantastic, but we've never been away from here," Hugo expressed his doubts. "It'll be a pretty big step, and a step towards something we don't know."
"That's life, Dad," Todd said, "that's what they call life. I had to get used to having a life of my own out there, too, after meeting a human who had none to speak of." He began to walk up and down while he spoke. "You'll often have your great and little challenges out there, but beating them is part of what makes life interesting. And you'll get a lot of rewards. There's so much out there for you to discover." He stopped and turned to his parents. "I mean, if you insist, we can leave you here, Gadget will lock up the cage door, I'll fly back to Las Vegas with the Rangers, and everything will return to its usual way. Yes, you are still here after all these years. And yes, I was pretty lucky with the guy who bought me. But that doesn't mean that you'll stay here forever, or that someone will come and buy the two of you to keep you as their pets. The next time that front door over there opens, and it's not the shop owner, it might be someone who's new in town and looking for a living mouse to feed their anaconda on, and that might mean either of you."
Melissa slipped between Hugo and Linda and laid her arms around them. "Whereas out there, no-one will ever consider you reptile food again. Nor will you be the only mice around or locked away in a cage. There'll be lots of mice and lots of other rodents who'll be there for you if you need help. Whatever problems may occur for you out in the free, we'll gladly help you in whichever way necessary, Mr. and Mrs... oh, right, no last names. We'll take care of this, too, of course."
"Not without a proper wedding," Clarice remarked. "You say you couldn't get married in here? Heh, there's no better place in the States for a wedding than Las Vegas. You think today is the best day in your life because your son is back? You think today is the best day in your life because you're finally free? Wait 'til you're at your own wedding!"
Linda blushed slightly under her white facial fur, a blush which remained invisible in the darkness of the shop. "Wow, all this goes so fast..."
"Don't worry," Clarice replied, "I won't send you to one of those drive-in wedding chapels. No, for the parents of my synthesizer player—and the kinda parents-in-law of my solo violinist—the best is just good enough, and I'll be glad to arrange for you a wedding with all you can imagine and then some."
Hugo looked from his son and those who had come with him to the cage and on to the big shop window and the world outside. He had spent so many decades in this pet shop together with Linda. He was used to this place. It had given him a feeling of home, a feeling of safety. Humans were there to feed him and Linda, to give them fresh water, and to take care of them and their cage. Yes, he had gotten used to this feeling of safety. The only white mouse who left the shop in many years was Todd, and Hugo had known already back then that the guy who had bought him didn't have anything cruel in mind.
But things used to be different. There used to be a much larger population of white mice in the shop, and in those times, the mice had more or less arranged themselves with meeting their doom in a laboratory or even inside a reptile one day. They couldn't do much against it, and mere luck was the reason why it was him and Linda who remained in the end. Now he began to understand. The mice of his sort would have been easy prey for a snake or a lizard because they wouldn't have known what to do, because nobody could have taught them. Wild mice, a bunch of whom had miraculously just broken into the pet shop together with a number of other animals, would know how to fight or escape, simply because they know the world on the other side of that giant window-pane. Even Todd must have learned a lot in his life in freedom. But he and Linda had only ever seen the pet shop, nothing more, nothing less. What they knew about the world outside, they had heard from people who came to the shop and happened to have a talk with the shop owner or any of the few clerks. Las Vegas had changed a lot in those past decades, it had grown into an awesome place, at least, that was what he had heard, but nevertheless, he didn't know what it really was like.
It wasn't only about fighting for life against reptiles a few dozen times the own weight, he realized. It was more. It was about living a real life, experiencing the world with one's own eyes instead of by the tales from someone else. Last but not least, it was about going where one wanted to go and doing what one wanted to do. He didn't know what he wanted yet, but that was because he didn't really know what was there to desire in the first place. Todd had made it. He had left the pet shop only eight years ago, and he would otherwise have ended up like his father. He had spent some time with a human, and these eight years later, he came back as a musician, probably a famous and celebrated one, as the love interest of a beautiful mousette who most certainly did not grow up in a pet shop, and first and foremost, as a hero. Becoming a hero was a giant step, and compared with it, being flown out of the old pet shop by a group of small animals who surely knew what they did and starting a life of one's own was only a tiny step, but one that would pay back greatly. He wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't take this once-in-a-lifetime chance and accept this challenge.
He looked at the now empty cage again. He didn't want to be held back by that bit of plastic and steel anymore. It had never been particularly comfortable or beautiful to start with. What would a human know about what a mouse likes or not if mice weren't to speak to humans? And why didn't he ever see a mouse who'd look into the pet shop and wish to live in such a cage?
"Miss," he spoke to Gadget, "lock up that cage. I'm not going back in there again in this life." He then turned to the rest of the group. "Do you have a seat or two for us?"
"Sure," Chip said, "that can be arranged. It'll be a bit crowded, but we'll find some space for the two of you."
"You've got all your belongings?" Gadget wanted to make sure.
Hugo took Linda's hand, and Linda smiled at him in excitement. "Yep," he replied.
"So we're leaving tonight?" Linda asked.
"We're leaving for our new life right now," Hugo said, "but before, there's something I think that needs to be done."
Linda got even more curious. "What's that, Hugo?"
"Well, I don't want to travel with the mother of my son. I want to travel with my future wife. Most of it will be arranged for us, but this I have to do myself." He knelt down in front of Linda. "Will you marry me?"
Only a few minutes later, Rangerplane and Rangerwing hovered outside the pet shop with Hugo and Linda on board. They waited for Zipper to leave the building, he had to close the office window again which was easier than unjamming and opening it. After he came flying out of the air duct, he put the electric fan back into place, much to the amazement of Todd's parents who had never seen a housefly that strong before. He flew back to the Rangerwing and asked if Todd and his family had decided on a name yet, and Gadget translated for them.
"I like Melissa's suggestion," Todd said, "'White.'"
Melissa smiled. "Your parents have got the same beautiful white fur as you, Todd, so I thought it'd be appropriate."
"I like it, too," Hugo said.
Linda sighed. "It's a nice name, sure, but honestly, what choice do I have? I'll have whatever last name my husband has." Everyone else aboard the Rangerwing laughed heartily.
When the two Ranger aircraft flew out of the small town, they left the pet shop behind as if they had never been there. The only difference was that two white mice were missing, Hugo White and his fiancée Linda, liberated by their son Todd White and his friends.
The evening of the same day saw the Rangers back in their hometown, New York City. The first thing they did after unloading at the Headquarters was see the Metropolitan Squirrel Squad, Chief Derek Chesnutt in particular, and report the successful completion of the case.
"Yes," Chief Chesnutt said, "all fourteen gemstones were returned to New York City on an overnight flight and handed over to Mr. Clutchcoin a few hours ago. I shouldn't have doubted your capabilities and had any second thoughts about your sudden disappearance yesterday, now that I know you had to track them down in Las Vegas. Well done, Rescue Rangers! And Tammy..."
The red-haired squirrelmaid looked up to her father. "Yes, Dad?"
"Well done to you, too. I'm proud to be the father of a Rescue Ranger."
"Aw, thank you, Daddy!" Tammy said and gave her father a hug.
"You're welcome, Tammy." For the first time that they knew him, Chip, Dale, Monty, Zipper, and Gadget saw Chief Derek Chesnutt with a smile on his face that truly came from the heart.
"Speakin' of 'welcome,'" Monty said, "Chip, d'ya know what 'appened to those rat brothers?"
"They might still be in Las Vegas," Chip speculated, "unless they caught a flight back."
At the same time, but a few hours earlier in the day, four rats wandered through Las Vegas. Two of them looked almost the same, they only wore different clothes, and they were engaged in a heated discussion.
"Great," Allan said, "I don't even wanna think about how many flights back to New York we've missed so far."
"Yeah, right," Francis said, "go on complaining, Mr. 'I ruined the coup of the century!'"
"What? Excuse me, but who was it who suddenly came running into the vault as if there wasn't any security at all?"
"It had to be shut down if you were already in there!"
"At least I had ways to shut it down. You would hardly even found a way in, Mr. Super Spy, if I hadn't been!"
"And it was your folks who turned the system on again while I was still in there! It's all your fault!"
"It's not my fault, it's your fault!"
"So it's my fault by default if it's not your fault, right? It's not my fault either!"
"Then tell me, Mr. 'Angel in a Trench Coat,' whose fault it is! Again, mine it is not!"
Moe threw in, "Is it perhaps... Fat Cat's fault?"
Allan exchanged glances with his brother. "Y'know," he said, "sometimes your henchmen aren't as dumb as they look. Fat Cat, yeah, he wanted to steal the gems for himself! He ruined everything in the end with his greed!"
Francis rubbed his hands. "And he's so gonna pay back for this! For this and more!"
"So how shall we find him then?" Allan asked. "You think he's still in town?"
"C'mon, Las Vegas is a casino-running kingpin's dream come true! You'd have to drag him out of town by his tail!"
"But Las Vegas is big. It'll need some detective work to find him."
"Detective work?"
"Detective work. Like that Chip Maplewood said. Capone & Capone."
"Only if I'm the first Capone in the name."
"Excuse me?" The four rats were stopped by a female mouse. "I noticed you were talking about detective work, and... well, I'm looking for some private investigators."
"Private investigators?" Francis repeated.
"My husband's gone missing. I haven't seen him once in four days, and we're traveling back to Chicago next week. Can you find him?"
Allan and Francis looked at the mouse, at each other, back at the mouse.
"Please?" she begged.
"Okay," Allan agreed, "a bit of training might come in handy."
"Wait a minute," Francis said, "I haven't agreed yet."
"And do you agree?"
"This might surprise you, but yes, I do, because it gives us a chance to snoop around and try to find Fat Cat's trail. So, lady, we'll look out for your hubby."
The mouse's face brightened up with a smile. "Oh, thank you, gentlemen! Come, I'll tell you all details you need to know." She went ahead, and the rats followed. "See, the last time I saw him was at the hotel. He said he'd go down to the bar and have another drink, and since then, I didn't see him anymore. There are rumors that he's been spotted in other places, bars or casinos. Here's a photograph of him..."
The End