Chapter 6
Out to Lunch, part one
Saturday, June 7th, 1947
"Alvin, ALVINNNN," Simon said in a hurry.
"You're starting to sound like Captain Dave," Alvin said.
Simon rushed into the kitchen. He was holding up two ties. "Which one?"
"Simon, they're both blue," Alvin said from the table in their apartment. A newspaper and a cup of coffee were laid out in front of him. "Just like every one of your ties."
"C'mon, what comes across as I'm smart?"
"What about I'm fun?"
"Isn't that the same thing?"
Alvin opened his mouth to reply but decided that as far as Simon and that scientist went, yeah it was the same thing. "The first one," he said finally.
"What are you going to do while I'm meeting with Dr. Miller?" Simon asked, putting the tie on.
"Meeting with Dr. Miller? It's a date, Si." Alvin couldn't help but see Simon blush. "Admit it, you asked the girl of your dreams out on a date and she said yes."
"We'll see if she sees it as a date," Simon replied.
"Si, she was eager to go out with you. C'mon, you're a genius and a detective. Don't tell me you didn't pick up on that?" Alvin was smiling now. He couldn't help but tease his brother.
"You think so?" Simon said.
"Absolutely, Simon," Alvin answered. "Though I'm still wondering how you used hypnosis on her."
"Shut up," Simon said, laughing.
Theodore walked into the room, still in his pajamas and slippers. He yawned as he poured himself a glass of orange juice (he didn't drink coffee). Then he took out a pan, and a bowl, and flour, eggs, bacon, milk, and a few other ingredients.
"What's the matter, Theodore, you feeling sick?" Alvin asked.
"Wha?" Theo asked blearily.
"Well it looks like you don't have an appetite," Alvin said sarcastically.
Theodore looked down at all the ingredients, almost as though wondering if he had forgotten something.
"He's messing with you, Theodore," Simon said.
Then it sunk in and Theodore chuckled. "Sorry, I had a late night."
"Couldn't sleep?" Alvin asked.
Theodore hesitated.
"You can tell us," Alvin said.
"I'm nervous about my lunch with Eleanor today," Theodore said.
"Ah," Simon and Alvin both chorused.
"Go ahead and laugh," Theodore said.
"We're not laughing. We totally understand," Simon said.
"Sure we do. You've got a date," Alvin added. "What are you nervous about?"
"Well she's a really sweet girl, and look at me…" Theodore said.
"What about you?"
"Well I'm not exactly a ladies' man."
"Theodore, you are a catch for any girl. You're kind and funny and a great cook, not to mention you're a police officer in the LAPD. All the gals love a munk in uniform. What's not to like in a guy like you?"
"You really think so?" Theodore asked, brightening.
"Of course, little brother," Simon said, pushing up his glasses. "Calculating the odds, I think that Eleanor is lucky to get the chance to dine with a guy like you."
Theodore smiled even more brightly. "Thanks, guys!" He poured ingredients into the bowl with more spring in his step. "So Simon has a date today. What about you, Alvin?"
"I was asking him the same thing," Simon said.
"What about me?" Alvin asked.
"What are you going to do today?"
"I don't know. I'll probably review those case notes from the Captain. They should be in today."
Simon nodded, but Theo said, "When are you going to go out on a date?"
Alvin nearly choked on his coffee. When he regained his composure, he said, "I don't know."
"Come on, Alvin," Theodore said hopefully, mixing pancake batter. "I bet you could get lots of gals."
"You're always the flirter on our cases," Simon said.
"Hey, speak for yourself," Alvin said. "Remember when you asked a girl out during an interview yesterday? Besides, I've dated lots of girls."
"Au contraire," Simon said. "You've been out with girls, but when was the last time you went on a real date?"
"Trust me, both of you," Alvin said, getting up to pour out some of the dregs of his coffee. "I'm not the dating type. And I'm not the type of guy girls want to date."
"What do you mean?" Theodore asked. "You're a detective…"
"See? That means long nights and lots of danger."
"You're handsome," Simon offered.
"Well that's a given," Alvin replied.
"You fought in the war," Theodore said.
That made Alvin stop in his tracks. The war wasn't brought up much. Neither Theo nor Simon served. Theodore was too young at the time, and Simon stayed stateside as a police officer. But Alvin had been in the Pacific theater, serving as an officer.
"Trust me, that's not a conversation I want to have on a first date…" Alvin eventually said. Besides, neither Simon nor Theodore could understand what that had been like.
Theodore ladled some batter into a pan. Almost immediately, the smell of cooking pancakes filled the kitchen.
"Hey, don't fill up," Alvin said, changing the subject and offering a wry smile. "You've got a lunch date, remember?"
"Of course, I need to warm up my stomach!" Theodore said.
Alvin and Simon exchanged a look and laughed.
# # #
It was nearly noon. Simon looked down at his watch for the umpteenth time. He was precisely on schedule to meet Jeanette on the steps of the library at 12 o'clock exactly. That had been her idea. He liked that about her — smart and efficient. And Simon hoped that by showing he was punctual, that would impress her as well.
As he stepped out on the street, the sun was warm, the sky was blue and cloudless, everything felt incredibly light and happy.
Eventually, he was only a block from the library and there she was: Dr. Jeanette Miller. She wore a purple dress with matching sweater and black shoes. Her hair was curled, though just enough that she had not overdone it. From behind her purple-rimmed glasses, her blue eyes gazed wonderingly at the sky. It was obvious she was contemplating something, no doubt trying to figure out the secrets of the universe.
Simon approached, but stopped short. Suddenly his hands were sweaty and he was lost for words. What could he possibly say that would convey a greeting worthy of the brilliant scientists they both were? Hi? Hello? Good Morning?
In preparation he cleared his throat, but that was all it took because Jeanette jumped and dropped her purple purse.
"Oh no! I'm sorry, Dr. Miller!" Simon said, hurrying to help her gather the scattered items.
"Oh no, it's - it's - it's fine. I drop it all the time," Jeanette said rapidly.
She began to stand up, but didn't realize the corner of her sweater had ended up under her foot, and she stumbled… right into Simon's arms.
For a moment both stood there, frozen, with Simon's arms still wrapped around her. Their eyes met. Then immediately they broke away, blushing.
"Sorry about that," Jeanette said.
"It was nothing," Simon said, though his voice already betrayed the fact that he had really enjoyed that. "Shall we… uh, go?"
"Of course, lead the way," Jeanette said, and she hoped that it wasn't too obvious how much she wanted to smile.
Later on, they found themselves in a small restaurant that Simon knew. It was comfortable, with candlelit tables and a live band. Nothing too fancy, but also not too casual, Simon had made sure of that. He had done all the calculations to make sure that the setting would be just right for a first date… and hopefully would lead to more dates.
"So, I hope you know that my partner and I are hard at work trying to find the crook that took your necklaces," Simon began as they sat down. "We already brought in two people for questioning and…"
But his voice died off.
"You idiot, she's going to think this is just a business meeting!" inwardly he berated himself.
"You know what, we don't need to talk about the case right now." He paused. The band was playing a great song right now. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Jeanette was… bobbing her head?
An idea suddenly sprang to Simon's mind. "Do you want to dance?"
At first Jeanette seemed surprised. "Who me?"
Simon nodded.
"Oh, I don't know. I have two left feet. You saw me outside the library."
"It's ok," Simon said, standing up and offering her his hand. "I'll hold on to you the whole time… or, I mean…"
But before he could amend his statement, he felt her hand in his and together they wended their way to the dance floor. She didn't have two left feet at all! She was an amazing dancer! And somehow they fell into a perfect rhythm.
Suddenly, Simon felt music rising up within him and he began to sing. And before he knew it, Jeanette was joining him!
(Author's Note: Due to copyright reasons, I can't post song lyrics in this story nor copy and paste links. So the song is "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" by Irving Berlin. Feel free to look up the version from the movie "White Christmas," including the original dance number!)
They hardly noticed that the song had ended. Simon could have kept dancing forever!
"So have you always lived here in LA?"
"Oh, my sisters and I are from Australia originally," Jeanette said.
"Is that so? You don't have much of an accent."
Jeanette actually laughed! It was beautiful.
"One of the many mysteries of our lives," she said.
"So you have sisters? I met Eleanor," Simon continued.
Jeanette nodded. "Eleanor is the youngest. She became a reporter. And then there's Brittany. She's the oldest."
"What does she do?" Simon asked.
"She's a performer. She sings and dances."
"Oh, so the talent runs in the family?" Simon could practically feel Alvin nodding in approval at that one.
Jeanette blushed. "The three of us always loved singing and dancing together. Like the Andrews Sisters. But science is my true passion."
"And your true talent!" Simon said. "You're brilliant!"
Jeanette blushed even deeper. "Oh I don't know…"
"Of course you are! The potato chip discovery —"
"Oh that was nothing."
"Americans everywhere would disagree."
"But there's something bigger I'm working on," Jeanette said. She paused. "Would you like to see?"
# # #
Later…
The laboratory was impressive. More than impressive, it was like a candy store to Simon. If he had even half of this equipment, he would be able to solve mysteries without even setting foot at a crime scene. Beakers, test tubes, chemicals, stacks of papers and files, writing-adorned chalkboards, all of it glued a smile onto Simon's face.
"Welcome to my home away from home!" Jeanette said.
"It's spectacular!" Simon replied.
"And over here is where I developed the crunchiest potato chips ever." Jeanette motioned to an area of the lab where microscopes, notebooks, and a bag of potatoes were all within easy reach.
"I am still amazed by that invention," Simon answered.
"It was a cinch once I went down on the molecular level," Jeanette said. "Come here, Simon."
Simon smiled like a fool at the sound of his name in her voice. Lunch, dancing, and now time in the lab — there was no such thing as a better date.
"Here is my newest project," Jeanette said, motioning to a chalkboard, on which were scrawled a series of equations as well as diagrams.
Simon took it all in, and felt his jaw drop. He took off his glasses and cleaned them to make sure he was reading everything correctly.
"What do you think?" Jeanette asked timidly.
"Jeanette, this is a design for a car that runs on…"
"On vegetables," Jeanette said with an approving nod. "The car will break them down and use the energy to get over 150 miles more than a tank of gas."
"That's ingenious!"
"Do you really think so?" Jeanette asked.
"Of course! Jeanette, you're going to be known as one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, perhaps even of all time!" Simon took her hand in his excitement.
"Most people have thought I was crazy," Jeanette said, squeezing his hand in return.
"This isn't crazy at all." He took a step closer to her. "This is genius."
She responded in kind. "I'm so happy you think so, Detective Simon."
They were so close that he could se his reflection in her glasses. "I couldn't think any other way, Dr. Jeanette."
"That's why I really need your help," Jeanette said, and there was a touch of emotion in her voice.
"Whatever you need."
"Simon, if this is going to work, I need my necklace. It's connected, I promise."
"We'll get it back," Simon said. "I promise you that, Jeanette."
And suddenly, amazingly, sweetly, she was hugging him, her arms around his neck and her head resting against him. He felt her warmth, and never wanted to be apart from it.
I really hope you guys know how enjoyable it is getting to share writing with you all! It feels so good getting to share stories and hear what you think of it, and hopefully you are finding stories that you'll carry with you and will make you happy.
Hopefully you enjoyed getting to see some Simonette, and prepare yourselves for some Theanore and Alvittany in the coming chapters! Don't worry, we'll get the mystery really moving too!
Question: Do you enjoy seeing songs featured in the Alvin and the Chipmunks stories?
Be on the look out because I'm planning other stories as well across a range of genres. I'm super excited to share them with you.