After the Matterhorn - Chapter Five
by Cre8iveWriterX yahoo .com
This was written and uploaded together with chapter four.
You can see that one for comments and such
I have started writing chapter six, it shouldn't take more than a week.
And the reviews are great, they let me know what you think of the story so far.
.
.
.
.
Eleanor buried her head in her hands.
"Oh Brittany, please tell me that's not what this is about."
The three girls had been talking for only a couple of minutes but enough had been said for Eleanor and Jeanette to get the main picture.
Unlike the Chipmunk trio sitting in the next aisle, the girls had no 'Dave' to manage their group nor parent figure to fall back on. And while all three of the Chipettes worked together, it had always been Brittany who took charge. It was her nature. Selfish and self-centered some may prematurely judge her, but it was this initiative that pushed the Chipettes on as a group.
Why, if it hadn't been for Brittany on that cold New York night, if it hadn't been for her urging her sisters to travel 2,000 miles to the opposite side of the country to make that audition in California, 'The Chipettes' would have never been born. It was Brittany who kept up the spirit, it was in her nature to be pushy and take charge. Naturally the the position of 'Manager of The Chipettes" became hers.
As did the feelings of discouragement and failure when the life that the Chipettes led became less than ideal, less than expected, less than hoped for. Even Brittany, brave and hard soul that she is could only take so much. And it broke her. When Alvin asked her, during her moment of upset in the Matterhorn Hotel who their manager was, it was she – the lead sister of the Chipettes that made the contracts and met the agents. Living on their own it was actually quite hard to have all three of them at every meeting with publicity agents. Eleanor and Jeanette 'kept house' and provided a place for them all to live, while Brittany met the right people who gave them the money with which to live.
This latest contract was perhaps the best thing to happen to them. Unfinalised as it was, it could be the first real tour of the Chipettes! Unfortunately for Brittany, in face of the success of the Chipmunks, it was not good enough. The Chipmunks were a household name in many countries, whereas the Chipettes were merely known as 'counterparts to' and 'friends of' the Chipmunks. They had a long way to go to be recognised as a talented group of their own steam and Brittany blamed herself for this failure. That is, what she considered to be a failure.
Meanwhile Alvin watched the three of them talk and despite being unable to hear the conversation, pieced together enough from his own conversation with Brittany the previous day, the letter that was unexpectedly brought to light, and that short talk with Eleanor and Jeanette to realise what the problem was. Alvin felt like saying Dave's favourite word to himself at this point.
"Alviiinnnn!!" he thought to himself, "Couldn't you have seen this happening? You know they are on their own, living in a house built up in a tree. Why did you not think of seeing the other side to their freedom? They have no one else in their lives to hold them down, but there is no one else in their lives to pick them up."
Alvin put his head down and his hand over his face.
"You have Dave, Alvin!" he continued thinking to himself, "You aswell as Simon and Theodore. How many times has Dave phoned to say he is going to be home late while you and your brothers watched TV? Who do Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette have? That 'no grown-ups' treehouse life sure looks like a great source of fun now, doesn't it?"
Looking at his uneaten meal but not feeling hungry, Alvin felt sheepish. A little guilty even, when he considered how relatively easy he and his brothers had life. Just like Brittany, Alvin knew he was the lead one and the responsibility of carrying the guts of the Chipmunks image was borne by him – a pleasurable responsibility, he enjoyed it all – but it really was only the fun parts that he had to deal with. That is what Dave was for.
"The girls need a Dave." Alvin thought, "No wonder Brittany got so excited at the idea when I told her she was 'going to have the best manager in the business'. She had been so upset in her room at the hotel. Playing manager is not a game – you have no idea how the girls live their collective life, do you Alvin Seville?"
A nudge was felt in his side. It was Simon.
"Alvin?" he asked.
"What is it?" responded Alvin. He looked up only to see who spoke to him, then hung his head back down.
"It looks to me like you are taking this a little to hard, there's nothing wrong you did to Brittany, or to Eleanor or Jeanette for that matter." Simon carefully stated.
"That's the problem Simon." Alvin responded with the same flat tone, "There is nothing I did do. To hurt or help." He stretched out in his seat and continued. "We all knew how the Chipettes lived, and we all thought it was great. No parents, living in a tree... living in a tree! Remember how excited we were when Dave built that treehouse in the backyard? The girls had the life! Funny how they didn't really answer when I told them that.... I guess having more freedom and fun has another side to it after all."
Simon responded truthfully. "We always asked them if they were ok. Each of them always said they were used to this life and it brought out the best in them. And you know as well as I do they had fun."
"Yeah, remember that time when they were painting the inside of their house?"
Alvin and Simon looked at the left-most seat in their aisle where Theodore was exuberantly nodding his head.
Then with smiles and chuckles, unforgettable images flowed through their minds.
Theodore continued, "They came to school with every colour you could imagine through their hair, over their hands and faces.... even their homework they handed in was covered in paint splatters!"
Who could forget that? The weekend the girls decided to repaint the interior of their cosy treehouse and the subsequent week where they could be mistaken for walking, rainbow coloured fruit lollies....
.
.
"Okay girls, if we are going to do this, let's be methodical."
"Jeanette, we are painting, this is art! Not a science book illustration."
"Yes Ellie, but but we can start at one end and work our way around, like the door..."
"Like my corner of the room!"
"Brittany, you're going to close yourself in, painting that way."
"Oh Jeanette, just pass me the pastel pink, and while you are still there, get the...."
"Hey! That's the main part of the room you are painting!! We are not painting this entire room with your choice of colours."
"Ellie's right Brittany, we're coming over with the right paint."
"Oh? is that so...."
Before the girls realised, they had started an indoor paint war. When their brushes became too thick and dark with mixed paint, they used their hands to scoop out paint and throw it. And when their hands became too slippery to hold onto the paint cans, they just grabbed each other and like a wild west cowboy being slid across a saloon bar, they flung each other over the plastic drop sheets covering the beds and the floor.
Who would have guessed that Jeanette could be so artistic in her use of her sisters' flapping bodies to paint the floor? Or Brittany so carefree about her hair & the myriad of pigmentation in it? Or Eleanor so elegant in her moves to twist and avoid paint brushes in mid-flight like a ninja master dodging flying knives? No one really had any idea. As for Monday morning at school – needless to say, hearing all three sisters say, "We tripped." didn't really explain the paint streaked school bags and smeared homework papers.
.
.
"Remember how annoyed Dave got when I accidentally spilled paint on his piano?... When I was drawing that poster for the circus we all went to?" Theodore prompted once again.
Dave didn't exactly get mad, he just made it known that messy activities require special care and precautions. He then made Theodore a plastic apron to keep himself clean.
"The girls had more fun with their painting time." Theodore finished.
"I suppose it goes both ways Theodore." Simon solemnly admitted, "How many times has Dave just happened to be there for us and we were glad he was?"
All three boys sat there for a second or two. The number of times when they had fallen back on Dave for support far exceeded the number of times when they wished they could just muck about and not be told what to do.
Alvin looked over to the girls and broke the silence.
"I wonder how they're going.... At least Brittany doesn't look rainy eyed anymore."
"They're talking Alvin, what's there to say?" interjected Simon, "It's personal to them."
"Well I'm going over."
And with an action as swift and decisive as the tone he just spoke in, Alvin unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way into the walk lane beside Eleanor's seat. If he heard the short protests from his brothers, he made no acknowledgement of the fact.
Eleanor and Jeanette both had their backs turned to the walkway, as Brittany had the left window seat. Brittany, of course, was facing away from the window towards her sisters and in the general direction of the boys' seats. She noticed Alvin just as he half-crouched in the walkway with his hand on Eleanor's seat. She stopped talking, prompting Eleanor and Jeanette to turn around.
Alvin did his best to be cautious and smooth.
"Soooo... then...." he began, "I have some untouched juice and spaghetti bolognaise up for grabs!"
Neither of the girls gave so much as a twitch of the cheek.
"Best manager in the business, huh Alvin?" Eleanor asked. "It's a lot harder than you think."
Lowering his head slightly in a gesture of sincerity, Alvin admitted, "Yes. I know.... I'm sorry."
Brittany opened her mouth to speak, but her words were placed on hold when Alvin continued by saying, "But I have an idea! A better idea! But it's really up to you this time."
His eyed moved to each of the girls as he spoke, but rested on Brittany when he said, "It's your idea actually."
The faces of Brittany's two sisters returned to her.
"You mean, Dave?..." Brittany slowly and unassumingly began, then... "Dave?!" she remarked with a tone somewhere between disbelief and elation.
Hearing his voice, Dave moved forward in his seat and looked over, despite being seated at the far end of their row.
"Well," Alvin said matter-of-factly, "We haven't said anything to Dave yet, maybe we could all talk with him later. That is, of course, if Brittany is ok with sharing 'Manager'...."
Brittany's mouth never closed. Her mind was not quite there to tell her face to show an emotional response nor tell her lips what to say – it was still churning her thoughts around. With a little awkwardness in her voice, it was Jeanette who thanked Alvin and dismissed him, mentioning that they should probably talk about this later. Alvin feeling quite proud and accomplished turned back to an onlooking Simon, Theodore and now Dave.
"Only Alvin would be so bold." Simon thought to himself when Alvin seated himself and told them what just happened. "Bold enough to suggest something like this without asking, or would that be 'informing' Dave first. Well it has certainly given them something to talk about."
And talking away they were. He wondered what Dave would think as he watched Alvin explain everything to him. Suddenly Simon's ears pricked up and a shiver went down his spine as he overheard Dave's voice, giving him exactly what he wished for.
"Well that is just awful! To think that Brittany feels this responsibility is hers to bear. I'm going to have a word with their parent-guardian. What did the girls say her name was? Olivia? I don't believe this Olivia phoned even once while we were in Europe. As soon as we get home, I'm going to go to their apartment building and have a talk with this guardian of theirs, parent to parent.
"Uh, oh." So that is what they told Dave. They lived with a legal guardian named Olivia. And they lived in a block of apartments, not a house in a tree. No wonder Dave seemed fine with them tagging along on our tour unaccompanied. Not to mention being okay with the girls living alone.
"This will be.... interesting."