(November 17th 1979) Black inc flew across a small square yellow paper in a line. It covered a word that read 'Canned Food.' And just above it were more crossed off words but below it remained uncrossed. Then the figure holding it looked up from the sheet of paper to Dale who laid down on the top bunk of a bunk bed, facing the ceiling with a comic book in hand and legs crossed. "Dale, are you're sure you don't want to go. The view is nice, I can't imagine being up that high and seeing the world. Plus it's something you can put on your long list of stuff you've done in your life." Chip asked. "I'm not interested in some dumb ol' mountain. And it's dangerous up there, so I'm stayin' right here where it's safe." Dale declined with certainty. Chip sighed and shook his head. "Alright, your loss." He said putting the next thing on his list in a backpack. Once Dale finished turning a page he looked down to Chip who was hunched over trying to fit stuff into the backpack in neatly. Chip's neat and OCD like behavior was puzzling to Dale, he thought he had never needed to be organized to certain things and it was a waste of time. "What's all that stuff for anyway. Aren't ya going to be gone for only a week? Plus i'm sure your parents will have almost everythin' ya need." Dale asked inquisitively. Chip zipped up the bag and straightened his back. "Because I don't want to go there unprepared. You don't know what it's like and neither do I, so it's best to prepare for the worst." Chip lectured. Dale only rolled his eyes and went back to reading the comic book. Then a voice called out from the living room. "Hey are you done packing up yet buddy?" Mark yelled. Chip picked up the bag and put it on his back and held onto the straps like a hitchhiker and ran downstairs to the living room where his parents waited.
Mark was standing in front of the couch looking at a map and tracing a path with his finger. Heather sat on the couch just beside him and was pointing a few things out. Then their attention turned to Chip who just came down the stairs. "Alright, seems like your ready. We've already loaded the prop plane so all that's left is to climb aboard and head to colorado." Mark stated while folding up the map and putting it in a jacket that the police department he worked for gave to him. Heather leaned forward to get eye-contact around Mark and to Chip, then she asked: "Did you convince Dale to come along?" Chip shook his head. Heather in return sighed and accepted the fact that Dale wasn't coming. With that she stood up and went outside to start up the little plane they owned. Mark on the other hand grabbed a sword off the couch and held it in his left hand. "What's that for?" Chip asked. Mark looked to Chip and smiled. "Oh, it's for any animals that we encounter that would, well. Eat us. It's great isn't it? Made it myself." Mark bragged slightly and handed the sword to Chip to let him hold it. Chip accepted the offer and held with one hand. "Huh, I thought this thing would be a lot heavier." Chip commented. "Yeah, It is if it's not made right. Good weight balance is key in a good sword buddy, not just the cutting. Which it can also do, I've gotten that thing to be a razor blade practically." Mark replied with a little laughter. Chip then handed the sword which was still in its scabbard. Mark patted Chip on the shoulder before heading outside and Chip followed suit naturally.
Once they were outside he was greeted with the plane his parents rented for the time being. It was a scaled down cessna 172 with only a carrying capacity of 4 to 6 people and had a small space in the back for cargo. But notably it was on some sort of catapult. "What's the catapult for?" Chip asked out of curiosity. Heather turned around from fiddling with the catapult and answered: "We don't have the necessary room to take off, but when we come back we'll be landing in where we got it since they have an airfield there. So I made this catapult to help us get to 60 knots to take off." Heather then went back to setting up the catapult. Chip shrugged and walked over to the plane. "I'm allowed to board right?" Heather nodded. Without much more time Chip opened the passenger door and threw his backpack in the back before sitting down and putting a seat belt on. After a few minutes Heather and Mark also boarded with Mark being in the pilots seat. "You do know what your doing right?" Heather asked Mark. Mark wave a hand of dismissal. "Of course I do, just takes some getting used to." Heather rolled her eyes and put her seatbelt on. Then Mark started up the engine. After a minute or so going through the flight checklist Mark flipped the tow rope release switch to release the lock on the catapult to let it do its job. The catapult launched the plane with a woosh and sent the plane flying at around 60 knots, and the plane did the rest of getting them to a airspeed of 80 nots, once they got well above stall speed Mark set the heading to colorado and prepared for a long flight. Chip enjoyed the first 2 hours of flight looking down below him to see from a new perspective, he saw everything from the gray concrete to the blue of lakes to the green of the trees and the tan and brown boxes that were the fields used for farming. He had never seen half of this stuff from above before and it was anything but boring. However after the 4 hour mark it was all starting to get really boring. But that quickly changed when they flew into a wind storm and their little plane was going through some medium turbulence winds. During the whole ordeal Chip thought the plane would crash but his parents knew better and explained to him that turbulence has almost never caused crashes in mid flight, as much as he wanted to believe them he couldn't overthrow his instincts. The event lasted a good 35 minutes and they came out of there alive and fine. Then finally after 7 hours or so of flying they made it to an area close to the Twin Lakes and at the base of Mt Elbert.
The family landed the plane in a field a distance away from the lake incase of rain increasing the height of the lake, but didn't land to far away from it or else they would have to land in forestry or a town. Upon touchdown Chip handed out the necessary bags to his parents before taking the bag he packed for the trip out of the storage compartment. Chip then pushed open the rear left passenger door and jumped out. He saw that his parents had laid out all of their packed equipment to do a checklist. Chip on the other hand took a moment to observe the terrain around them. And surprisingly in this cold weather were still green trees. He had never seen such a tree where he lived as the trees by now where a nice warm spectrum of red, yellow, and orange or brown. He then moved to the sky to see the sun a bit higher in the sky than back at home. However what didn't surprise him was the fact the grass had started sucking nutrients in the roots for a long winter along with practically dead shrubbery and less humid air, although everything looked a bit clearer.
"Enjoying the scenery a bit too much Chipper?" Mark called out from behind Chip. The surprised rodent turned around and looked at his father with a slight blush. "Ha, wait till you see the view up on the mountain. It's a good 5,000 feet up from the ground, even though they say it's 14,000 feet high." Mark commented with a smile. Heather shook her head with her own smile before returning to going through the bags to check everything. "What, I was just getting him excited for the trip." Mark attempted to defend himself with an I-don't-know gesture. "Oh please, you're just doing it for attention." Heather said with an eye roll. "I'm pretty sure I give you plenty of attention back at home." Mark smugly said. Heather rose an eyebrow and grew a smirk, then the couple gazed at eachother for a few seconds. Then Chip decided to say something before the conversation got too dirty. "Get a room you two. I'm not going to have this vacation ruined by any of that." Chip jokingly said. Because of this Heather elbowed Mark and pointed a finger. "Hah, even your son knows better." Heather teased while still keeping a smile on her face. Mark then held up open hands in front of him. "Alright, alright, I surrender." Heather only playfully stuck her tongue back at Mark. Mark decided to ignore it for now and get back to the task at hand.
After sorting everything out Mark looked up to see where Chip was. Chip was busy looking at the lake on the west side of the little land bridge they were on. Mark put two fingers in his mouth and blew to whistle. Chip swiveled his head to his 4 o'clock and saw his father gesturing to come over. Without much thought Chip ran over to his father, which gave him some instructions: "Alright buddy, since I don't have enough room on my back and neither does Heather. You can carry the food bag and the sword, but I expect you to be careful with it. And remember it's not a weapon until you use it like one, so if you get caught in rope and cant get a knife, use that, alright?" Chip only nodded. Mark then handed Chip a backpack half full of food and then the sword which was still in its scabbard. Chip in turn slung the backpack on his back so it shared the space with his other bag, then he decided that putting the sword in his jacket via a little cut out strap which was inside. "You good? It's going to be a 9 mile hike so be sure you can carry all of that." Mark asked out of concern. "I'll be just fine, nothing wrong with a little workout." Chip stated in confidence. Mark then patted his son on the shoulder before pulling out a map and compass.
"According to this colored slice of tree with stuff on it, and this metal cylinder with a spinny pointer. The mountain is that-a-way." As Mark pointed to the North and began walking. Chip followed just behind him and Heather in last. It was only now that Chip realised how much he actually put on his back, and he knew this was partially going to suck. But step by step he carried on and observed the scenery while paying attention to where he stepped once and a while.
Once they were in a forest still at the base of the mountain, Chip began to think about things other than the trip, or the plane, or nature. Instead he pondered on what he has been trying to conclude for an entire year now. Because over this year Chip had slowly goten more and more suspicious of his parents. They had always told them they worked as the police and a detective, however ever since last year when Dale was attacked. Chip had been trying to snoop his nose around to find and solve the biggest case he had ever done. And that was to find out what his parents really did. But he didn't know what, and the evidence of them being who they say they are is quite heavy. Mark did bring Chip to his workplace once and showed him his colleagues and everything, and Heather had shown him one of the cases she worked on which included fingerprints and all of the cool forensics associated with the job. While he had suspicions, there was no concrete evidence of them lying to him, even if they had been lying to him they could be at worse not as good as they say or doing a different job but with the same environment. But one thing was certain in Chip's mind, he was going to follow in the footsteps of his parents and become somebody who fought for the greater good of others. He did have a particular bias towards Heather's job as it required a lot of skilled planning and thought and was something that interested him more than Mark's job.
Chip then put his mind back to reality and suddenly found himself a the edge of the forest along with his parents. Mark stopped for a moment and with an extended arm and open hand pointing, presented the mountain slope. "Well crew, this is Mt Elbert, tallest mountain in the Rockies. Now as you can see, we've got quite a ways. I'd say maybe 4,000 feet to climb. But this shouldn't be a problem for the Maplewoods, we can probably scale this down and back in 2 days." He said with high hopes. Heather then folded her arms over her chest. "I wouldn't be to sure about that. I've had my experiences of nature somehow screwing everything up, and to be cocky like that is only going to get your behind slapped hard when something bad happens." She suggested. Mark only waved a hand of dismissal. "Nahhh, we've got this." Mark said in a cocky tone once more. "Well, we're only wasting time don't you think?" Chip asked with a raised eyebrow. Mark paused for a second before quickly nodding his head once. "Right. We should be going. Alright team let's get moving again. We'll take a break once it gets dark." Mark gestured with his arm to follow once more. And not too long before they started going up the mountain slope. Halfway to the top they came across a cliff which Mark gladly packed a high power grappling hook launcher. And began to try and get it to the top of the cliff.
"Alright, let's try a 87.4 degree tilt instead. What do you think Heather?" Mark asked while un-tightening a knob and manually moving the tube till the angle meter read 87.4. "Well you did put it almost flush against the darn thing. So yea, I think it will." Heather started with a little confidence. Then before Chip could give his input mark pulled the lever to release the compressed air which made a loud poof sound and launched the grappling hook upwards. As the family watched it go into the air, they saw the hook go over the edge of the cliff and then a wave made moved from the top down to the bottom, ground signifying it got caught on something was in a good spot. Taking the proper safety precautions Mark took a hold of the rope and pulled it as hard as he could down. With no luck of pulling it down, Mark let go and turned back to his family members. "Well, we're in business. I'll start climbing first, then Chip and then you Heather." Mark instructed as he once again took a hold of the rope and began to climb. Chip followed in second and Heather in last. After 10 minutes of climbing to the top. Chip Looked back down over the edge and became a little dizzy and nauseous, so in response he toppled backwards onto his rump. Mark then looked back at first in concern but then noticed what happened and laughed. "Yeah, that's a long way down Chip. Maybe 300 feet or so." Mark said while pulling Heather up the last stretch of rope and then took the hook from between two rocks and started to wrap it back up and put it in his bag. Chip then stood back up and looked around the place, then back to the sun. "I think this is a good place to stop, we've got a flat area here and It is getting dark." Chip commented. Mark looked over his left shoulder and saw the area Chip was talking about. "Yeah, actually, that isn't a bad idea buddy. Plus I'm a bit tired after all of that. But good thing is that was one of the hardest parts of the mountain. Its a general 50 ish degree slope from here to the summit, and we've only got what, 1,800 feet or so left. So I agree, that can wait till tomorrow." Mark agreed while dropping the bag just behind him and sat on a rock a few feet from him. Chip walked a little aways from the cliff edge before he also dropped the two backpacks on his back. And the moment he did it he began to rub his shoulders as the backpacks had made his shoulders all tender and sore. Then Chip took a plastic water bottle from the food backpack and opened it before drinking half the bottle. As Chip closed the water bottle and looked up, he saw that Mark had already pulled out the tent and the supports for it. Then he asked for everybody to come help secure it down, which they did in a short time and put all of their stuff in the tent and rested for the night. But only after a few jokes were told and a few books were read, and then of course refreshments and a canned dinner.
(Next morning at 8:00 AM) Chip awoke to a bright white tint outside of the tent. And just as he pulled himself out of his sleeping bag he noticed how cold it had gotten, and just yesterday it was in the 60 degree Fahrenheit range. Then Chip noticed that both of his parents were still sound asleep. So being the adventurous Chipmunk he was, Chip got out of his white knight gown and into his bomber jacket and then slowly unzipped the tent door open and took a step outside. As he looked around there was nothing but snow, and in the middle of November. Sure it was only 2 inches deep or so, but it was still only fall. Chip not knowing what else to do headed back into the tent and awoke his parents. "Hey, it snowed outside. And it's about 8 am right now." Chip said shaking both of the sleeping adult chipmunks. They both slowly opened their eyes and looked around. Mark in particular cleared his eyes of eye crust and then nodded. "Alright, can you wait outside for a second Chipper, me and your mother have to get dressed. Also, you should grab a scarf since you didn't bring along any winter jacket." Mark asked of his son. Chip then grabbed the scarf out of his bag and left the tent. But as Chip looked back at the sky to the north west he could see a large cloud formation, it seemed to reach outwards endlessly, and judging by the wind momentarily blowing into his face it was heading their way. As Chip pondered on what those clouds were there for and why they were there, Mark and Heather emerged from the tent with winter clothing. "Mind if you help us pack everything up buddy?" Mark asked while bringing the bags inside to outside. Chip said nothing but went over and started pulling the support nails out of the ground and handed them to Heather.
It took 5 minutes to pack everything up and then the family was back on their way up the mountain. As minutes rolled by the clouds only got closer and closer, but the family also got closer to the summit. And just as Mark said, it was a much easier time than the first half. But the most rewarding part about this whole thing was when they reached the summit 4 hours after they left their tents. It was a sight to behold for any chipmunk. The view of the mountain landscape was almost endless, and what seemed like the horizon reached on forever. It was only more satisfying when Chip looked back from where they came, to know he scaled this mountain was another thing. But to see the trees and the area they started at so small was so satisfying. And unlike what he first thought the summit wasn't one point, but rather a little plateau. But all in all Chip enjoyed every moment knowing that he was more than likely up higher than any other chipmunk in the world. So high in fact he felt like he could touch the clouds, which were 10,000 feet or so above him. But then he was reminded once more of the clouds to the north west. And as he looked to check back on them he knew something was up, it seemed as they were only minutes away from him and they had only grown more ominous than before. Then suddenly Chip heard the sound of a shutter opening and closing from a camera. As he looked to the source he found that his father took a picture of him looking at the sky in awe. "I think this one you can keep. But I want a family photo, so crew let's take a group photo so I can put it on the fridge." Mark said while pulling Heather to his side and held the camera out in front of him and slightly above, looking to the valley behind them and down the mountain. Chip join in the fray and posed with a smile and both hands behind his back. Once Mark to the picture everybody broke the composure and huddled around the camera to see what it looked like. The image then slid out of a slot on the camera and at first it was a black image, but as a second went by it lightened up and became a visible image. It was a great image, and a memorable one if that. "Well, only one thing left to do. Get off this rock." Mark commented while putting the camera back in his backpack, but gave the photo to Chip. Then the family started heading back down the mountain.
(20 minutes later) As Chip stepped on a rock and then another, making sure not to lose balance. A sudden white flake came from nowhere in front of him. He watched it majestically fall onto the ground right before his feet. Then less then a second later came another one. And the next second there was even more. Chip paused and then realised what the cloud was. "Guys… I think we're going to be in a blizzard." Chip called out to his parents just feet before him. They looked back and looked at the sky. Then a single freezing cold breeze brushed past the family. Chip could then only hear Mark curse under his breath. "Alright. We need to get off this mountain, this snow is picking up by the minute and the faster we get off this rock the better chances we have of finding some natural shelter, because these tents won't protect us from a storm like that." The worried father stated with great concern for the future. "We should pick up the pace Mark, it would get us off of here faster." "That's what I was thinking dear." Mark quickly said, and he began to jog down the slope of the mountain. Chip followed suit without having to many issues. But they could only go so fast and a minute later the snow had picked up to a normal snowfall pace. Which the family picked up the pace still in attempts to atleast get to where they were last night. However after only 2 minutes the blizzard set in and the family was slowed to a crawl pace as it was hard to see a few feet in front of them. Chip in particular was freezing his butt off and had to use his scarf as more of a balaclava than anything. After searching for a safe place in the blizzard for a good 20 minutes, Mark managed to find a rocky dugout that would shield them for the most part from the wind. Once they reached the outcrop Mark immediately tried to start a fire while Heather attended to Chip who was uncontrollable shivering.
"Does he have hypothermia?" Mark asked with great concern. Heather shook her head but then responded with: "No, but he's definitely got something wrong with him. Are you done with that fire yet?" Mark grunted in annoyance and went back to lighting the fire. "Ok Chip, are you feeling sick or dizzy at all?" Heather asked while still examining his fingers or toes for frostbite. "N-n-no. I-I don't t-think so." Chip said in a very shaky voice. Heather sighed in relief to know Chip didn't have frostbite, but she grabbed a thermometer from her bag and stuck it in Chip's mouth. "Hold it under your tongue while I go help your father with the fire. If you feel anything abnormal don't be afraid to call out for help." Heather said before going to help Mark with the fire. As he watched his parents get the fire going, he could see their stress got the better of them as they started to argue to the point which he could hear. "What do you mean I don't know how to start a fire!? Not my fault some stupid snow melted in my bag and made the firewood wet!" Mark yelled while still trying to light the wood with a lighter. Heather then flipped one of the wood pieces over and tried drying it with a cloth. "Well we wouldn't be in this crap if you took it slower, and I don't know payed attention to the weather of the state we're going to!?" Heather argued. Mark then kicked a rock next to him in anger. "You need to find a way to get this damn fire going or he's going to end up dead! And don't you blame me for something you didn't do either princess!" Heather set down the log and attempted lighting it on fire. But with no avail. "One don't call me a princess. And two, you were the one responsible for checking out this kind of stuff, but you never do anything like that unless it's for stupid money!" Heather said while pointing a finger at Mark. Mark slapped Heather's hand out of the way and pointed at her himself. "It's not my fault the police department crapped on my paycheck! Neither is it yours for your own paycheck. You know we take what we need, it's not like the bank is going to notice 50,000 was stolen when it's run by millionaire bureaucrats!" Mark shouted. Heather then slapped Mark in the face to get it through to him. "You don't do it for the family you prick, you only do it for saving your hide when the boss asks for money we've taken! You don't even lie to him how much you take, and none of it goes to the family! You're just concerned about how much butt sucking you can do to get your way!" Heather yelled back. Mark paused and remained quiet knowing very well Heather was right, so he went back to lighting the fire. Meanwhile Heather stomped her way back over to Chip to check his temperature. "Ok, you're not doing too bad. Just hold on there Chip, we'll get you warmed up sometime soon. Worst case we'll have to momentarily give you our coats." And just as Heather said that the fire was lit on the stack of logs just feet away. Heather then took a rag out of her bag and a metal bucket and a water bottle, she then walked over to the fire and poured the water into the metal bucket and put the rag in there. Meanwhile Mark walked over to Chip and sat next to him.
"You doing alright buddy?" Mark asked. Chip was busy thinking to himself, thinking about what he just heard. Was this really what the lie was, they were doppelgangers? People who worked for the police and did crime themselves? "Chipper, buddy, cmon talk to me." Mark was starting to get concerned. But then Chip blinked once and looked up this father who sat just next to him. "Y-yeah I'm fine…" Chip said in a little depressed tone. He was in a state of emotional distraught, not only had he been actually lied to, but they did it in the sneakiest and most cruel way ever, like they where a bunch of rats. Chip could only wonder what they had done, but he could only ever find out if he asked. "You don't seem alright. Something upsetting you?" Mark asked with curiosity. Chip then looked away from his father then asked the question: "I don't know what's more upsetting. Being lied to for 13 years, or almost freezing to death. So why did you guys lie to me for all of this time?" Mark froze and realised what Chip was talking about. He didn't know Chip had overheard their little conversation, and they had maybe gotten to carried away by the stress of ending up in a blizzard during their supposed vacation. "So, you heard about the stealing. Didn't you?" Mark asked in a soft and quiet voice. Chip only remained quiet since he wasn't in the mood to talk to them right now. "Look, buddy. We're still your parents, and we'll take care of your and love you, even if we do all of these bad things. We're still your parents, this is just another part of our lives." Mark tried explained wholeheartedly. Chip was disgusted by the fact they would use an excuse and refused to listen to them. "For my entire life you guys told me how bad those types of people are. And how much you hated them. Why should I be dragged into your crap!? Did Dale deserve to be attacked? What about me being stabbed? What about if tomorrow the police showed up and took us away from you guys, do we deserve to be punished for your actions?" Chip asked with a hint of anger. Mark remained quiet, knowing he was deeply wrong about the whole thing. "And I asked a question. Dad. What else are you keeping in the dark from me? How much have you lied?" Chip asked once more. Mark then looked to his angered son and sighed. "We can talk about this once I tell Heather about it. Since we're both in this." He said getting up and walking over to Heather.
Chip suddenly became frightened as there were a lot of things going through his head at that moment. He was even considering the fact his parents might try to kill him and tell Dale he was killed in the blizzard by hypothermia. Then keep his death a secret like they do so often with their lies. But if that was the case, there was nothing Chip could do. He wasn't in the position to defend himself nor run. But those questions would shortly be answered once Chip's parents approached with not anger nor fear, but sorrow plastered on their faces. Heather was the first to talk once she kneeled down in front of Chip to speak to him eye to eye. "We're really sorry for keeping you in the dark like this Chip. We should've known this was going to happen. But we did this to ensure you had a good life, so you didn't have to worry about money, or crime. But keep in mind that our first jobs were in fact what we say we do. And this whole criminal thing only began when you were born and our boss of this organisation reached out to us and guaranteed good pay if we joined. And since we've been screwed over by our departments, we had no other choice..." At this point Chip didn't care whatever worthless excuses they had, he couldn't forgive them. Heather spoke up once more: "Sure in the short run we did some bad things. We've had to steal, kidnap and even kill. But it was for the long run knowing we would never have financial problems again, and we knew no criminal would do harm to you or us since we're in the business. But this is all the rule of nature, survival ofthe fittest and we decided to put ourselves at the top. So, don't hate us for what we've done. We did it out of a good will, and we do save people in our actual jobs. However I understand your not going to like this. But now that you know about this and you are of age, we will have to get you involved. Which means we'll sign you up for possible recruitment once we get back." Chip was now in shock, he couldn't believe they were going to force him into this. He refused to let himself become them, there was no way he would end up like them. Then Mark spoke up: "Don't question what you're doing when we get you in there, just do what's necessary and carry on. As for Dale we might just finish the job we started with 7 years ago." Mark finished saying in a sort of dark tone. Chip looked up from his lap with only one question left. "What do you mean 'finish the job?'" Heather didn't dare to respond but Mark took a deep breath and answered: "We were supposed to kill the entire Oakmont family. But we felt bad for Dale since he looked so innocent and not like his parents. So and we brought him into the family, and then he made all of us suffer. He was no good was he? All he ever did was read stupid comic books, so he had his chance to prove to us that he was different than the Oakmonts, and he failed. So we'll also dispose of him when we get back. Now, don't worry, this might seem really bad at first buddy, but everything will fix itself as time goes on." Mark said patting Chip's shoulder. Chip didn't know what to say. But he sure as hell knew what he had to do. He had made it clear at this point that his parents while they raised him well, and were nice, and they had their reasons for all of this. He concluded that they were just broken and evil inside. They even openly admitted they were willing to go to the point of killing a integrated family member for their stupid criminal organisation. And if they were willing to go that far, what's to say they won't 'dispose' of him later, as if he and Dale are tissues. So there was only one thing left to do, and that was to 'dispose' of his parents like they are going to do to Dale. But he had to let them get away with it until he got better.
"Alright. I'll be with you guys every step of the way. Go Maplewoods right?" Chip said in a very exhausted and quiet way. Both of his parents in turn smiled back with glee that they had Chip's side. Atleast that's what they thought. "I knew you'd see our way Chipper. We'll talk more about what it's like working there so you can prepare yourself." Mark said with a bit of excitement. Then Heather walked a foot or two to the fire before pulling the rag out of the pot and giving it to Chip to warm up his hands. As Mark spoke to Chip. Chip however, ignored most of everything and only responded when he needed to. Because no matter what they said at this point. There was only one path for the last name of Maplewood, and that was to be erased from existence.