The night grew on, and under the cover of darkness, a lone, bespecticaled chipmunk moaned, softly, as he found himself casing a pharmacy in a small, rural town in the middle of nowhere. Once around back, Simon used the quill from a cactus to pick the lock of the back employees' entrance, silently hoping that it wouldn't trip an alarm. Simon, finally managed to get the door open, and was relieved to hear absolutely nothing afterwards. He quietly stepped inside, and searched for a fuse box, until he found it, just before the pharmacists' office. He opened the hatch, and observed the different numbered switches, unsure of which one the cameras were hooked up to. At that time, Alvin also slipped into the building, and into the office, where he saw the monitors, ready to let Simon know when they've been disconnected. One, by one, Simon flipped the switches in the fuse box, waiting for Alvin to say something, until the sixth switch Simon flipped knocked out the monitors.
"That did it!" Alvin said into the hallway, as Simon closed the fuse box.
"I don't know about this, Alvin..." Simon groaned.
"Don't worry about a thing, Simon," Alvin said, "everything's going smoothly, so far."
Alvin stepped back outside, and signalled for the others to come in.
"Are all the cameras out?" Eleanor asked.
"Out like a light!" Alvin said. "Speaking of which..."
Alvin flipped on the lights inside the store front.
"Are you crazy?!" Simon asked, as he turned the lights back off.
"Hey, what'd you do that for?" Alvin asked.
"The windows are open!" Simon said. "Unless we want some passer-by to catch us in the act, we need to cover the windows!"
"Simon," Alvin said, placing his hand on Simon's shoulder, "you're finally coming around!"
Alvin went to look for anything he could to cover the windows while they work, meanwhile, Simon's sickening feeling in his gut just got sicker. Alvin grabbed a stack of hospital blankets, and nailed them over the windows.
"That should do it!" Alvin said, as he turned the lights on again.
"Let's just get this over with..." Brittany barked, "we wanna make it out of here before the place opens, and get back to those jerks' hide out as soon as possible... I'd hate to think what Jeanette must be going through right now... all alone... without protection... waiting for us to return..."
"Well, what are we doing wasting our time talking about it for?" Eleanor asked. "Let's get to work."
The chipmunks, remaining chipettes, and the dealers' former middle man went to work gathering the various prescription drugs that was written on a 'shopping list' for them.
"Hey, check it..." Alvin said, as he observed a plastic bottle of pills, "ecstacy!"
"Can't go a minute without having your mind in the gutter, huh Alvin?" Brittany asked.
Alvin shrugged it off, and dropped the bottle into the plastic shopping basket he was carrying.
"Hey, this one's an anti-depressant drug..." Alvin said, as he looked at the bottle.
"Do you have to stand there like an idiot and awe over each drug we have to steal?!" Brittany asked, annoyed.
"Ooh, better save these for you!" Alvin said, jokingly.
"Alvin," Eleanor began, "this isn't the time, nor place to crack wise..."
"I wonder what the actual, scientific name for crack is...?" Alvin wondered.
"Oh, please..." both Brittany, and Eleanor, said at the same time.
"Hey, it could be worse," Alvin said, "we could be a part of some remote animal testing facility, having this stuff crammed down our throats day in, and day out..."
"Alvin..." Brittany, and Eleanor went again.
"On the other hand," Alvin stated, "we'd be getting paid to get stoned..."
"Alvin!" Brittany, and Eleanor yelled.
"Careful, or I'll have to swipe some of these aspirins for headaches!" Alvin joked.
The entire building was filled with the sounds of moans, and groans at Alvin's childish behavior. Simon placed his hand on his head, let out a loud sigh, and slowly walked back out the back entrance. Theodore saw this, and wondered what was wrong with Simon, so he followed after him. Theodore watched as Simon sat atop some old crates next to the delivery depository, burying his face into his hands.
"Simon?" Theodore asked, as he approached his brother. "Are you alright?"
Simon sighed, before facing Theodore, "I've been better."
"We'll be out of this mess soon enough..." Theodore said.
"That's not it, that's not it..." Simon said.
"What is it?" Theodore asked.
"Theodore..." Simon began, "do you realize that we're pretty much heading two steps back?"
"Huh?" Theodore asked.
"If it wasn't for Alvin, we'd all already be on our way home," Simon said, "but no... he insisted we steal a bunch of medication for these guys... and for what? Just to contribute to the ever-lingering drug war!"
"Well..." Theodore began, "war is such a noble adventure...?"
"Oh, Theodore," Simon responded, "don't talk like that... there's nothing noble about war... it just gets people killed... innocent people..."
"Then what's the point in having that whole war in Iraq?" Theodore asked.
"Oh, probably so they can make a sitcom about it twenty years after it ends..." Simon remarked, sarcastically.
Theodore paused. "Was that a joke, Simon?"
"Yes, Theodore, that was a joke..." Simon said.
"Oh." Theodore responded. "But, even if we didn't get these drugs, we wouldn't all be going home..."
"Of course we would, Theodore," Simon said, "don't you remember, they said they were finished with us?"
"Yeah," Theodore agreed, "but don't you remember them saying they were going to have to keep Jeanette since she said she was going to work off the debt?"
Simon looked up. "I can't believe I just forgot all about Jeanette! And after we were talking about her not even ten minutes ago!"
"We get this stuff, and they let her go..." Theodore reminded Simon.
"But how low is that?" Simon asked. "Resorting to theft to bail a friend out? That's not right..."
"I doesn't seem right, does it?" Theodore asked.
"And what happens to people out there who really need these drugs?" Simon asked. "People who are in pain? People who are suffering? Instead, they're going to senseless people, who are looking to get high, and stoned..."
"I always wonder why they would want to do that anyway?" Theodore asked.
"Who knows?" Simon asked. "Probably the same reason alcoholics go on drinking binges, just to get drunk."
"I thought they did that so they could spend the weekend sleeping in jail?" Theodore asked.
"No, that's that Otis Campbell character from the old Andy Griffith show," Simon said, "real alcoholics aren't like that."
Miss Miller couldn't sleep. She kept worrying about her missing girls. Worrying about where they could be. Worrying about what could've happened to them. Worrying about somebody kidnapping them. Miss Miller laid awake in her bed, silently. She hoped that she would suddenly hear the sounds of the front door opening, and closing, followed by the chipettes calling out for her. She waited for hours for those sounds, still hoping she would hear them, but they were never to be heard. Finally, Miss Miller got out of bed, slipped on her slippers, grabbed her house coat, and strolled downstairs to the front door. She peered outside, to see if maybe the girls were on their way down the sidewalk. From either direction. Feeling helpless, Miss Miller randomly left the house, and started looking for her girls again, in the dead of night. With still no sign of them, Miss Miller went into the park, where she happened to find Dave sitting on a bench.
"David?" Miss Miller asked.
"Oh, Miss Miller..." Dave said, not really facing, "couldn't sleep?"
"No, I couldn't..." Miss Miller said, sitting next to Dave, "I kept lying awake in bed, just hoping I'd eventually hear them coming through the front door, letting me know they're okay."
"I know..." Dave said, "I kept waiting to hear Alvin's harmonica hum up a tune in the middle of the night... doesn't look like that's going to happen."
Miss Miller sighed, sadly.
"Look, try not to worry too much, Miss Miller," Dave said, "after all, look at what the kids have been through before?"
"Well..." Miss Miller began.
"I'm sure the kids are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves..." Dave said, somberly.
"Well..." Miss Miller said, again.
"But, boy, I just wish I knew where they were, and what they're up to..." Dave finished.
"Me too, David," Miss Miller agreed, "me too."
Inside the pharmacy, everyone else continued to gather all the drugs they could on their list.
"What exactly do these guys do with all these drugs?!" Brittany aSked.
"Well," the hostage began, "sometimes they keep some for themselves, though most of the time, they just re-sell them again..."
"So you're a middle man for middle men?" Eleanor asked.
"I was..." the hostage said, "I'm definitely not doing this anymore... it's too dangerous..."
"Then why would you do it in the first place?" Brittany asked.
"War is such a noble adventure..." the hostage said.
"Calling for the most noble of people!" Alvin said, proudly, as the others groaned.
"The drug war?" Eleanor asked.
"Precisely," the hostage said, "but damn, the drug war's probably even deadly than the war in Iraq!"
"Where in the world are Simon and Theodore?" Brittany asked.
"Uh oh..." Alvin said, "they're probably doing something brave and noble!"
"Well, war's such a noble adventure..." Brittany said, sarcastically.
Alvin dropped what he was doing, and searched the entire building for his brothers, until finally, he stepped out back to see if they gave them the slip, but saw them off to the side among some wooden crates next to the loading dock.
"What's the matter?" Alvin asked, approaching his brothers.
"I think Simon's having... um... an... 'identity crisis'?" Theodore said.
"Well, I know his identity..." Alvin said, "he's Simon Seville, younger brother of Alvin Seville, older brother of Theodore Seville, middle son of David Seville, who knows a barber in Seville."
"Dave knows a barber in Seville?" Theodore asked.
"No!" Alvin said. "Look Simon, what's the beef? How can you just goof off when we've got work to do?"
"Look, Alvin," Simon said, "in all honesty, I refuse to be a party to your little scheme here."
"There's no party, Simon," Alvin said, "nobody brought no chips or coke or anything!"
"What I mean is, I refuse to participate in this theft of drugs." Simon said.
"Fine, be that way." Alvin shrugged. "Well, what about you, Theodore?"
"What about me, what?" Theodore asked.
"You gonna come back in and help, or are you going to party poop out here with Simon?" Alvin asked.
Theodore wasn't sure what he should do, but he looked over at Simon for another opinion.
Simon sighed, "go ahead Theodore, I need some time to think to myself, anyway..."
"Come on, Theodore!" Alvin said, as he grabbed his youngest brother by the elbow, and yanked him into the building, as Simon continued to sit on the crates outside, looking at his watch, and realizing they only have an hour and a half left before sunrise. "How are we doing?" Alvin asked, once back inside.
"We're two-thirds of a way done with the list..." Eleanor said.
"So if they couldn't buy all of this with fifty thousand dollars," Alvin began, "then how much does all of this cost?"
"In drug dealing?" The hostage asked. "Nowadays, roughly five million dollars."
"Is there even enough trees in the country to make that much money?" Brittany asked.
"They get 'em." The hostage said. "One way, or another, they get 'em."
"Well, no wonder we're in such an economical crisis right now..." Eleanor said. "All that money being wasted on drugs?"
"It's sad, but it's true..." the hostage said.
After several more minutes, the job was finally done.
"Great," Alvin said, "now all we have to do is get this stuff back to those guys, and we're all free to go! By the way, is there a gas station on this street?"
"Two blocks down," the hostage said, "why?"
"Just thinking about lifting some gas," Alvin said, "fill up that little four wheeler we found, that'd save us a lot of time!"
Without anything else being said, Alvin raced out the back door.
"Where are you going?" Simon called out to him.
"To get some gas for the four wheeler, we're all done here!" Alvin called back.
Simon sighed, as he slipped off the crates, and walked back into the building.
"Thanks for the help, Simon," Brittany said, sarcastically, "we're all finished."
"Don't worry about a thing," Simon said, "I'll take care of the clean-up, you guys just go ahead, and I'll catch up."
The rest of the crew walked out of the building, while Simon went back inside, and straightened up the store front. Afterwards, he turned off the lights, folded up the blankets nailed over the windows, and put them back where Alvin found them. When that was finished, Simon went back to the fuse box, and flipped the swtich for the security cameras again, making sure the monitors were reconnected, in the office. When they came back on, Simon prepared to leave the building as well, until something up on the wall caught his eyes. A phone.