"Too much?" I asked Alvin and Dave, after they read my story about them.

"Extremely," said Alvin. "I don't know who was worse. Me or Dave."

"I'd say it was a tie," Dave said sadly.

"I can re-write it," I said. "It's been a while since I wrote about Alvin and the Chipmunks."

"Only if you promise to tone things down," said Dave.

"Deal," I said, getting right to work.

"Oh, and one more thing," said Dave.

"Yeah?"

"For the record, I did so liked the song, 'I Ain't No Dang Cartoon'. In fact, I wrote that for Alvin."

"Oh, you did?"

"Dave is not a bad guy," said Alvin. "Stop making him unlikable."

"I, uh, wasn't trying to," I said. "I always thought Dave is a good dad figure."

"A good father would never kick a child out of their family," said Dave.

"I know, I know. I regret having you do that to Alvin. I'm sorry. But you'll forgive me when I

fix this, right?"

"We already forgave you," said Dave and Alvin in unison.

"Thanks," I said.

Alvin & Dave: Father & Son

(rewrite!)

November, 1992

The Chipmunks and Chipettes recently released their latest album, "Chipmunks in Low Places". The album had charted in the music magazines and gained positive reviews from critics.

But recording the album was stressful for everyone. On this night in the fall of '92, Alvin and Dave were having what seemed to be their typical arguments. But little did they know this one would affect them as father and son.

"Just because you're a star, Alvin, doesn't give you the right to treat your friends and family like dirt!" Dave said in anger.

"I'm treating you like dirt?" Alvin reacted. "What about you? You took away my SEGA Genesis! You wouldn't let me do a duet with Madonna! And you've grounded me for the third time this month!"

"Well, I wasn't the one breaking all the rules, making long-distance calls, never gets along with his brothers or father," said Dave.

"That hurt, Dave," said Alvin.

Dave groaned in anger. "You know what? Just go to bed, Alvin. Leave me alone. I don't want to see or talk to you for the rest of the night."

"Fine," said Alvin, going upstairs.

The next day, at school, Alvin met Brittany in the school hallways.

"Hey, Britt," said Alvin.

"Gee, you look down," said Brittany. "What happened?"

"My life is what's wrong," said Alvin. "Recording that album was a nightmare, I had another argument with Dave, and you broke up with me."

"Alvin, I told you," said Brittany. "I only dumped you in the album. We're still together and I love you."

"Well, still," said Alvin. "What you said about me in the track were true. Especially my feet. After all that, you still love me?"

"Yeah, I do. No matter what."

"Thanks, Brittany."

Finally, Simon and Theodore catch up with Alvin.

"Hey, there you are, Alvin," said Simon. "We lost you in the parking lot."

"I just needed some space," said Alvin. "My life stinks."

"Cheer up, Alvin," said Theodore. "Hey, I have to help Eleanor after school today for her birthday party next Saturday. You guys wanna come help?"

"Nah," said Alvin. "I have a therapy appointment today."

"Oh, okay," said Theodore. "Well, never hurt to ask, right?"

After school, Alvin arrived at the doctor's office and sat in the waiting room. He picked up a magazine and found an article about him and the group. There was a rumor in there about Brittany actually breaking up with him because of the album. Alvin groaned. This was not going to be a good day.

"Alvin Seville?"

"That's me," said Alvin.

"Dr. Broderick will see you now."

"Thanks."

"So, how you've been, Alvin?" asked Dr. Broderick.

"I dunno," said Alvin. "My relationship with my family is still a mess."

"Would you mind telling me what recently happened?"

"Sure. Well, a few nights ago, I ALMOST pulled a trick on my brothers and Dave after reading a scary book.

Wednesday before bed, on a stormy night, was reading a scary book to his brothers out loud.

"Alvin, enough!" said Theodore. "Stop reading!"

"Why?" asked Alvin. "It's only a horror story."

"You should stop because it's scaring Theodore," said Simon.

"Come on, it's not THAT scary," said Alvin.

"Considering it's about a haunted hotel, terrible hallucinations, and a mad-driven father and husband who is also a man trying to give up drinking, no. It's not scary," said Simon, trying to reason with his brother.

Suddenly, a combination of lightning and thunder occurred.

"WOAH!" the three of them yelled in horror.

"Alright, fellas," said Dave, opening the door. "Sleep time."

"Okay, Dave," said the three brothers, going to their beds.

Dave picked up the book Alvin was reading.

"Alvin," said Dave. "Were you reading horror stories again?"

"Yeah," said Alvin. "But this one's educational. It was teaching you to conquer your fears." Alvin knew this wasn't true, of course.

"This needs to stop, Alvin," said Dave.

"It's just a story, Dave."

"You watch almost all of the Hideous Harold movies, and you keep watching Dawn of the Dead, and you're reading Stephen King books."

"So, I'm a big fan," said Alvin. "That book isn't at all that scary. It's kid-friendly." Again, not exactly true.

"'The Shining'!? Kid friendly?" Dave reacted. "I've read this and seen the movie and I couldn't sleep for weeks!"

"Yikes," said Alvin.

Dave exhaled in annoyance. "Okay, just go to sleep, fellas. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, Dave."

The chipmunks fell asleep as Dave turned out the light and closed the door.

Theodore starts having a nightmare. He's at The Overlook Hotel like in The Shining. He started to see scary visions.

The wind blows. Windows and doors open and close. Theodore starts hearing voices."

"Alvin? Simon? Dave? Eleanor?" Theodore called out. No answer.

"Come play with us, Theodore," said the voices. "Forever... and ever..."

"Who's there?" he asked. "Who said that?" Theodore starts following the voices. "Alvin, if this is you, this is NOT FUNNY!"

Suddenly, he sees blood written on the walls. It reads: "Playtime is Scare-Time!"

Then Theodore sees a corpse of Dave, with a knife stabbed in the middle of his chest.

"No! No, no, no! Dave!" Theodore shouted in horror.

Next, Theodore hears Simon's voice.

"Run, Theodore!" Simon's voice said. "Get out of here!"

Theodore did what Simon's disembodied voice said.

Suddenly, Alvin appeared, holding a sledgehammer, wearing an evil and cruel face, similar to Jack Torrance.

"I'm gonna find you, Teddy...!" Alvin sang.

"No..." was all Theodore could whisper, quietly trying to get away from the evil Alvin.

He ran as fast as he could. Now, Theodore was trapped in a tight space. Alvin comes near Theodore, swings the sledge hammer and...

"NO!" Theodore screamed, waking up from his nightmare. Then he fell out of bed.

"Theodore?"

"Go away, Alvin!" said Theodore.

"What happened? Bad dream?" asked Alvin.

"Yeah," said Theodore. "I blame you. Stupid book gave me a nightmare. Hey, what are you doing out of bed?"

Alvin found no way out of this. "Alright, you caught me. I was gonna pull a trick on you when you woke up from your nightmare. But after seeing how traumatized you were waking up... I changed my mind."

"Alvin, that's not cool!"

"I'm sorry. I'll understand if you don't wanna talk to me for a while. I'm going back to sleep. Night."

"Alvin, wait."

"Huh?"

"Thanks for being honest. But please, no more scary stories, okay?"

"Alright, Ted. I promise. Good night."

Well, I've wanted to revisit this story for a while now. I felt the original version was a little intense and extreme, like Alvin and Dave said. So, I figured now was the time to do a new version.

By the way, notice how Alvin had remorse for Theodore after he had that nightmare compared to the first version. That's a change in the right direction.

I hope you'll enjoy this version of Father & Son better. Stay tuned for more.