1The solitude of Jeanette's treedome is shattered by a sudden blast of wind, a chipmunk lands on her feet after flying here at supersonic speed, cradling the body of the treedome's occupant.
Brittany rushes inside the treedome, her every thought and movement going at flank speed. Holly rushes in behind her, squeaking in pleas to see her master wake up again.
She lays Jeanette's lifeless body on the metal floor and begun rushing in and out of the treedome to find some bandages. She searches frantically, already suppressing her tears for the time being. She has no time to cry she had to act fast.
With the quick-heal bandages Jeanette's parents began using after not being allowed to call the ambulance, Brittany took them and got to work.
She drops to her knees by her side and opens the bandage box she brought.
It's a small box made entirely out of wool. An ad about this said the material was for safety, so you wouldn't cut yourself with the box. Brittany knew that when Jeanette was wearing her suit and helmet, she didn't have to worry about cutting herself at all.
Brittany takes out one of these bandages and applies one around Jeanette's torso. The bandage feels soft and will heal the hurt lickity split. She takes another bandage and puts it on her foot. She takes another bandage and puts it on her arm. Jeanette was wearing her helmet when she was trying to lift the holo detector, so there were no injuries on her head. What Brittany did was clean off the stains with a special blood removal. Then, she put a bandage on Jeanette's chest. She lifted her dress and shot the roof of the tree. She would patch it up later, but this was important.
Brittany holds her breath for every passing second…
...she waited…
...and waited…
...and waited...
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
…thump thump…
..thump thump…
A very faint heartbeat echoes in Brittany's ears loud as music.
Jeanette stirs, her eyes open slowly and she remained on the floor unmoving, starring at her.
Brittany remained wide-eyed seeing her practical child suddenly awake. She couldn't believe she actually resurrected her. She let out all the air she held, her whole world fell back into place and back to normal. All her pain disappeared seeing her alive and well again.
Now she could give her the thing to make everything complete, to hold her paw.
"We can hold paws now if you like," she sweetly speaks, cleaning the blood from her dress with the blood removal.
"No, we can't," Jeanette bitterly speaks.
"What? Why not?" Brittany asks with a concern look in her eyes. "Are you ok?"
"You know what, Brittany? You were right," Jeanette said with a shrug. "When there's work to do, there's no time for love."
Brittany thought about this. Had she taught Jeanette a lesson the way her parents would? Suddenly it came to her.
She lost whatever calmness she had left as she approached Jeanette with an accusing finger pointed at her. Jeanette shrunk down as Brittany yelled and stepped closer to her with her pointed finger until she poked her every accusing finger into Jeanette's nose, which added to the pain of her braking heart.
"YOU STOLE AND LOST THE PLANT! GOT ME COURT-MARSHALED! SENT ME TO THE WARD! YOU BROKE IN AND SAW ME NAKED! YOU MADE OTHER CHIPMUNKS ALLOWED EVERY CLINICALLY INSANE CONVICT ON THE SHIP TO ESCAPE! CAUSED A RIOT! ALMOST KILLED SOMEONE! AND WORST OF ALL: YOU TOOK AWAY MY CHANCE TO BRING THIS SHIP BACK TO EARTH! REDUCED ME INTO A WANTED CRIMINAL AND A LAUGHING STALK! WHEN THERE'S WORK TO DO, THERE'S NO TIME FOR LOVE!"
It bitterly hits here, that terrible lesson taught to Jeanette a whole hour ago.
"What? That was an hour ago," she says. "You were right about love, Jeanette and I wasn't."
Jeanette crosses her arms and huffs, just as her parents would.
Working with that theory, she looks around. Maybe something could refresh her
memory."Oh," she picks up the Rubik's cube and the light bulb, the bulb shined as she touched it. She puts the trinkets in her paws. Hopefully she remembers how much she liked finding these things.
She barely turns her head to look at the unknown objects in her paw. She had no idea what they are. Brittany gets the lighter from one shelf, maybe she will remember the night she was with her in her house part of the dome, one of her greatest memories she had of sheltering and sharing her treasures with her.
She flicks the lighter on in front of her, yet Jeanette doesn't seem to acknowledge the tiny little flame. She doesn't even register the soft glow of heat.
"Jeanette, it's ok. I won't throw it out," Brittany says lovingly.
Brittany slowly became worried. Why didn't she recognize things the way she should after she restored her? Something's missing…
"Oh! I know!" Of course, something was missing. Brittany rushes over to the VCR, pushing the play button to Combination.
As 'Sputtering' played its cheerful tunes, Brittany looks back at Jeanette expecting to see her be herself again. Brittany's eyes shot wide open in shock and confusion instead.
Jeanette took the paper where she wrote her lines, scrunched it into a ball and threw it in the garbage can.
"Jeanette, you don't have to do that." Brittany said.
WHAT IN FORTHRIGHT'S NAME IS WRONG WITH HER?
Holly sniffs her revived master, squeaks at her stipulating she didn't know the chipmunk at all, not the master she knew.
Why is this happening? Paralysis? No cognitive senses? No memory…
"Oh no…"
A dark realization came over Brittany. Jeanette must not be herself because of the rules her parents have set seven hundred years ago. And also the shock applied to her by Alvin.
"No wonder she's upset!" Brittany now understood what was wrong with Jeanette: She needed comfort. She needed to know that Brittany would never set such rules. The reason Jeanette lost her memory was because she was grounded. Of course! Jeanette had been grounded for seven hundred years. She didn't want to be grounded anymore. Now Brittany knew what to do.
She rushes over to Jeanette, but puts her helmet on first. Jeanette is wearing hers as Brittany finally came up.
"Listen, Jeanette. You are not grounded anymore. You're not alone. Apples will not rot your teeth and you can definitely say 'trick or treat' on Halloween. On Christmas, you can ask Santa for as many gifts as you want. And I'll take you on subway trips anytime you wish. Nothing is going to tear us apart. I will never set rules on you and you can definitely use forks and knives at mealtimes. I know you can be careful with them and you can chew slowly. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise. You can play outside as long as you want. You can watch Combination with me anytime you want. Alvin is very, very sorry he shocked you and Theodore is too. They only did this to us because they thought Earth was unsustainable. But now that they know the Earth is sustainable, they won't do it anymore. When we go shopping, you can pick up any items you want, no matter what the price is. I won't throw it away. So remember, you'll always have me. You can always go outside and you will not get a cavity from eating an apple."
Brittany finished her comforting words with a kiss. She was about to leave, but Jeanette's fingers were caught in hers. Brittany tried to shake it off, but they were stuck.
Brittany's words, after the kiss, gave Jeanette some times to think. Brittany was saying the true fact about apples. She would let Jeanette eat anything she wanted. She would let her say "trick or treat" on Halloween. She would let her ask Santa for as many gifts as she wanted. She would take her on subway trips anytime she wanted, and it wouldn't matter how excited she would get. Nothing would tear them apart. Brittany would never set rules on her and she could use forks and knives at mealtimes. Jeanette can be careful with them and she can chew slowly. Nothing bad was ever going to happen. She could play outside for as long as she wanted. She could watch Combination with Brittany anytime she wanted. She decided to forgive Alvin and Theodore for what they did to her and Brittany. Whenever they went shopping, she could always buy an extra item no matter the price. Brittany would never throw it away. Then it hit her. She would always have this angel. She could always go outside and she would not get a cavity from eating an apple.
There was only one angel who would let her do all that stuff.
Her angel.
"Brittany? Is all that true what you're saying?"
Brittany's heart almost stops when she heard her say her name.
"Oh, Jeanette. It's all true," she says joyfully. At this point, Alvin, Simon and Theodore came up. Everyone got onto the treedome's roof and began to sing.
We are family
Oh
Everyone can see we're together
As we we walk on by
And
And we fly just like birds of a feather
I won't tell no lie
Just want to state for the record
We're giving love in a family dose
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing
The rejects were dancing from below, happy to have their hero back while the crowd cheered.
Jeanette was grounded no more.
"Ladies and gentlemen," announced Stella over the microphone. "Earth is proud to present Jeanette with her new family!" Then everyone cheered as Jeanette and her mother, father, grandfather brother and sister began singing again.
Shake your groove thing
Shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah
Show 'em how you do it now
Yeah, shake your groove thing.
"Jeanette, you're all better," Alvin said joyfully. "We're sorry we shocked you."
"So, do you forgive us?" asked Theodore hopefully. Jeanette smiled.
"Of course I do," she replied. "You're my family."
"Cool," said Simon.
"And Jeanette," said Alvin. "I only shocked you 'cause I thought the Earth was inhabitable."
"Oh, really?" said Jeanette.
"Yeah," said Alvin. At first I thought the Earth wasn't sustainable anymore, but now that I know the Earth is sustainable, we won't do this anymore."
"Alvin, I'm glad to hear it," said Jeanette.
"Ok, this one's for my new daughter," said Alvin. "Everybody shake what your momma gave ya. Whoo!"
Then they broke back into song.
Shake your groove thing
Shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah
Show 'em how you do it now
Get up and shake it
Get up and shake it
Get up and shake it
Come on, come on
Get up and shake it
Get up and shake it
Get up and shake it
Come on, come on
Get up and shake it
Get up and shake it
Get up and shake it
Come on, come on
The crowd cheered.
Later that day, Brittany and Jeanette held paws. The boys went back to the Axiom to show the children how to grow plants. Jeanette's romantic song played from inside her domed house.
Betcha he reads, betcha she sews
Brittany and Jeanette were walking close to each other, holding paws.
Maybe she's made me a closet of clothes
They looked deeply into each other's eyes.
Maybe they're strict, as straight a line.
They leaned close to each other, preparing to kiss once more.
Don't really care as long as their mine.
"Aw," said the rejects and Eleanor in pure joy. Up near the Axiom, Simon was teaching about farming. "This is called farming," he said. "You kids are going to grow all kinds of plants. Vegetable plants, pizza plants! Ha-ha, just kidding. Oh, it's good to be home.
So maybe now this prayer's
Simon's voice echos in the distance.
The last one of it's kind
Brittany and Jeanette are still holding paws, surrounded by their new friends: The reject-munks!
Won't you please come get your baby
On a distant hill, more plants are growing.
Maybe
The Earth floats silently.
The end.