ALVINNN! and The Chipmunks: Tamian Mysteries

Season 1, Episode 1: The Mystery Begins

It was a regular day in the Seville House as Alvin sat on the living room couch playing a video game. As Alvin continued to be distracted by the game, Dave approached him from behind.

"Alvin, I need you to help your brothers." Alvin didn't respond. "Alvin?", Dave asked a little louder.

Alvin paused the game and looked up towards Dave. "Huh? Oh, hi Dave. Whatever it is, can it wait two or three minutes? I'm almost done fighting off this boss so I can escape with a piece of treasure."

"No Alvin, right now.", Dave asserted.

"But Dave, this is going to be over and done with, just like that.", Alvin said as he snapped his fingers.

"Well if you stop and do what I want you to do it will be over and done with, just like that.", Dave replied as he also snapped his fingers.

"Fine." Alvin said, disappointed.

Alvin saved his game and turned off the television.

"Alright. What do you need me to help Simon and Theodore with?"

"I need you to help them spray the edges of the basement with roach poison. All the edges.", instructed Dave.

"What?! That's not going to be over and done with in a snap! You just said that just so I would turn off my game didn't you?", Alvin complained.

"Yes. Sorry Alvin. That needs to get done soon."

"And what will you be doing that's so important you can't help them spray?", Alvin asked.

"A lot of paperwork. Besides, I think this is a life experience you need. Unless you want to be living with roaches.", Dave said persuasively.

"Absolutely not." Alvin replied with haste.

Alvin went downstairs to the basement to meet up with his brothers who were spraying roach poison at opposite ends of the basement. Simon and Theodore are both wearing protective masks, goggles, and blue latex gloves.

"Hey guys. Dave told me to help you both. Now what do I do?"

Simon and Theodore stopped spraying and looked towards Alvin.

"Go ahead and put on some face protection and gloves from the workbench. Then grab that last bottle of poison and spray behind the washer and dryer.", Simon informed his brother.

"Okay." Alvin put on the protective items and began spraying behind the laundry machines.

"Hey can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure.", said Theodore.

"Do you think Dave isn't supervising us working because it's better to learn this life skill for when we're older?", Alvin asked timidly.

"I can see your point Alvin. But Dave seems to trust us using chemicals like these. He knows we're going to use them safely.", answered Simon.

"Besides, by letting us learn by ourselves, he's being less of a smother mother.", Theodore added.

"Oh. I never thought of it that way before.", said Alvin.

Several minutes later, Theodore lifted up a wooden panel next to the water heater with the intent to spray roach poison in the space behind it. He spotted a book laying back-side down on the floor. Then he put down the spray bottle of roach poison, rested his goggles on his forehead, and lowered his mask under his chin.

"Guys, look what I found!", Theodore exclaimed in discovery. He picked up the book and held it out to show Alvin and Simon.

"Wow. The cover on that book looks really old.", Simon commented.

"Guys, shouldn't we finish up this roach spraying job first?," Alvin said, anxiously wanting to get back to his video game.

"Alvin, what if this book is important to something?", Theodore asked his brother sensibly.

Alvin and Simon both rested their goggles on their foreheads and pulled their masks under their chins as well.

"Indeed. That book has got to be more than a hundred years old. Maybe two hundred." said Simon.

"Who could possibly be interested in a book that old?", Alvin asked with doubt.

"You'd be surprised Alvin. Older and rarer books can sell for quite a lot of money."

"Really? How much are we talkin'?", Alvin asked with raised attention.

"Well it depends on a number of other factors. Like who wrote the book, who published it, its current condition, and the cultural or historical significance if its contents."

"See? You should never judge a book by its cover.", Theodore told Alvin.

"I get it.", he said annoyed.

"Theodore, hand me that book please."

Theodore handed the book to Simon, who then opened it and flipped through the pages.

"Oh…okay...this is odd.", Simon muttered to himself.

"What is it Simon?", Theodore asked.

"This book is some kind of English to… whatever-this-language-is dictionary."

"So how much do you think it's worth?", Alvin asked ambitiously.

"I don't think that matters anymore. The language this book is about doesn't look like any I've seen before. And there's no title on the cover, so who knows what language this is."

"What about the author?", Alvin asked.

"It doesn't say that either. It looks like we could use Jeanette's help with this. But let's finish spraying the basement first."

About half an hour later, the Seville Brothers were sitting on the couch in the living room of the Chipettes' treehouse, waiting as Jeanette looked over some of the pages.

"Well you stumped me. This must be some completely extinct language.", Jeanette said in surprise.

"Extinct? How does a language get killed?", Theodore asked in perplexment.

"No Theodore, language extinction means that there are few to no people who speak it anymore, and it just gets forgotten. It's a serious issue in our world today.", Simon informed.

"How many languages are left?", Theodore asked with concern.

"There are still thousands but most of them are spoken only by tribes in very small areas of the world."

"At least we have this book if we ever want to learn it ourselves.", Jeanette added.

"What do we have to gain by learning the language in this book if no one else is going to speak it?", Alvin asked.

"It's about the preservation of culture. Although, we have no idea what kinds of art and beliefs went along with this one.", Jeanette responded.

"Maybe Dave speaks it. Why else would he have had the book?", Theodore suggested.

"Wait a minute Theodore, you're onto something. This just doesn't seem like something I would expect Dave to own or have any need for.", noted Simon.

"Are you saying we should just get rid of the book? I thought you said learning new languages is important."

"It is.", Simon told Alvin. "But if this book has something to do with Dave, maybe we weren't supposed to find it."

"I don't wanna get in trouble for learning new words.", said Theodore.

"Only if they're the kind that need to be bleeped on TV, Theo.", Alvin said humorously. "Wait, do you think the book has translations for those?"

"I don't even want to willingly find that translation. Hopefully this culture didn't have a need for such harsh words.", Jeanette stated.

"Normally I'm all one for telling the truth, but maybe we should just put this book back in the basement and forget about it.", proposed Simon.

"Come on. You worry too much." Alvin tried to assure Simon. "Besides, maybe Dave won't even care. We don't even tell him about half the adventures we go on anyway."

"Did we ever tell him about that time we almost died in a collapsing mine?", Theodore asked Alvin.

"No, and that's exactly my point!", Alvin emphasized. "Okay, so maybe we should have, but that example was far more dangerous than just a translation book."

"Knowledge can be power. Not that I think you have the wrong hands for something like this.", Jeanette said eloquently.

"We'll never know unless we ask Dave.", added Theodore.

"Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?", Alvin said optimistically.

"Fine, we'll ask him. We can just act like we haven't read anything or know anything about it yet.", Simon said with caution.

"My lips are sealed until we know it's safe to talk about.", replied Jeanette.

"Then let's do it.", Alvin proclaimed.

When the Chipmunks got back home shortly after, Dave was in his office sorting through paperwork on his desk. Alvin then hopped onto the desk with the book in his hands, as Simon and Theodore entered the office as well.

"Hey Dave. Check out what we found while working in the basement.", Alvin said with pretend excitement as he handed the book to Dave.

"Do you have any idea where it came from?", Simon asked Dave.

"Oh, this? I-uh, don't actually know what it is. It was just something passed down from... relatives… over the years. It-it's nothing important.", Dave said with slight nervousness.

"Uh-huh. Did those relatives speak some long forgotten foreign language?", Alvin asked with skepticism.

"I-I don't know. I'll just keep this safe.", Dave said as he got up from his chair.

"You seem nervous. Are you hiding something?"

"What? No. It's just a family item that should be put away some place where it'll last longer." Dave left his desk and started walking out of his office. Alvin followed.

"Come on Dave. It's just a language dictionary, how much do you need to hide about it?

"It's no one's concern Alvin. Please stop asking.", Dave stopped and told Alvin.

"Of course I'll stop asking, I know you understood my question. But I just don't see how there's anything to-"

"Enough Alvin. Stop following me.", Dave ordered as he continued his way down the hall.

"Dave, you said it was nothing important anyway, so it's okay to share it, right?"

Dave stopped again. This time, right at the base of the stairs. "Alvinnn!", he yelled.

"What?", Alvin asked.

"Just because this book may seem unimportant doesn't mean you should know about it.", Dave said sternly.

"But languages are important. Simon, tell Dave about the whole language extinction thing you told me."

"I don't think the language is the problem here Alvin. The book just means something else very personal to Dave. We should respect that.", Simon advised his brother.

"Theodore, can you respect that too?", Dave asked.

"Yes Dave.", the youngest chipmunk said.

"I can too. But you know you just admitted to being personally defensive over something that means nothing to you. You should go see a psychiatrist about that.", Alvin wisecracked.

I'm perfectly fine Alvin. You wouldn't understand unless you were a parent like me. Is this conversation over now?"

"I… uh…", Alvin struggled to decide what to say next.

"Just let it go Alvin. Maybe we'll learn one day.", said Theodore.

"Fine. Yes, I respect that."

"Good.", Dave said as the conversation concluded and he walked upstairs. Once he was passed the top, Alvin, returned to speculating about the book with his brothers.

"Well, you were somehow right Simon. That book is a mystery that Dave didn't want us to find."

"Look, I'm just as disappointed as you, but perhaps he's right. Whatever this personal reason is to him, we should probably keep our minds off it."

"Or he just thinks we're all not mature enough to handle it.", Alvin added.

"Even me?", Simon said in disbelief.

"Think about it Simon. If Dave told you, he would just expect Alvin to bother the answer out of you. No offense Alvin.", said Theodore.

"Somewhat taken. But we're all a unit. We all have a legit reason to know.", Alvin tried to motivate his brothers.

"Sure. But I don't know how I would feel if Dave told me and I gave up the answer to you two. He already puts a lot of trust in me. I don't want to disappoint him and lose that. Even for the sake of one good thing we all agree on."

"Do you think he would be disappointed that we brought Jeanette into this earlier?", asked Alvin.

"Well, I wouldn't say "brought her in". She doesn't know for sure that Dave feels this way about the book. Although in hindsight I wish I had been more truthful with Dave."

Theodore sighed. "We're back at square one with this mystery."

"We never left square one.", remarked Alvin. I would be willing to do a ton of chores again if it means Dave would tell me."

"I don't think that would work. He's keeping this one very close to his chest. And it's not like any of the material things we've done chores to get in the past.", said Simon.

"Aw man.", Theodore said in disappointment.

Alvin suddenly gained an idea. "Hey, if we can't get the answer to the book's importance, then maybe science can."

Simon was already starting to think Alvin's idea would be folly. "What are you talking about, Alvin?"

"It's simple. We just tell some person who researches languages that we found a new one. And then Dave will have to give up the book."

"That sounds like Dave would get in a lot of trouble if he didn't give it up.", Theodore tried to point out to Alvin.

"Not that we're trying to get Dave in trouble. For all we know there might not be any. Come to think of it, why didn't we just do that in the first place?", Alvin realized.

"Uuuuuhhhhh… Oh. We totally could have done that. Now I feel stupid."

"It's okay Theo.", Alvin said, trying to perk his little brother up.

"I mean, I guess it could have been worth a try. But sometimes people who own objects of historical or scientific significance don't have to give them up, at least not within their lifetimes. There are actually a ton of scientific discoveries that were delayed by private ownership.", Simon elaborated.

"Well there goes that idea. No way I'm waiting for Dave to croak. And our chipmunk years might catch up to us by then.", Alvin said as he tried to hide the dark truth with humor.

"Yeah. I think Dave would just tell us before then. Once we're old enough.", said Theodore.

Simon expressed doubt in getting much further with their mystery about the book. "Anyway, let's just forget about it for now, like Dave said."

The next day, Jeanette and The Chipmunks were sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch and discussing Dave's confiscation of the book.

"Wow, I can't believe Dave actually did have something against you finding that book.", said Jeanette.

"Well there really isn't anything we can do about it now.", replied Simon.

"Yeah. It's a total bummer. It seemed like we were on to something big. As big as mysteries involving Dave can get.", Alvin said, expressing how unfortunate their missed opportunity was.

Brittany and Eleanor walked up to the table with their lunch trays and sat next to their sister, and across from the boys.

"Hey Jeanette. What are you all talking about?", Brittany asked curiously.

"Oh nothing, Brittany.", she blankly responded.

"Doesn't seem like nothing.", Brittany suspected. "What's this all about, boys?"

"We found a really old book in our basement yesterday containing some long lost ancient language.", Simon answered.

"I couldn't recognize the style of the inscriptions, although it was a dictionary that translated to English.", Jeanette explained.

"The problem is, we don't have any stories from this ancient culture to translate.", Alvin stated.

"Wait. You said you found the book in your basement?", Brittany asked for clarification.

"Yep. While we were lining the place with roach poison.", Theodore detailed.

"Where was it exactly?"

"Under the stairs, behind the water heater.", Theodore told Brittany.

"Where did it come from before then?", she continued asking.

"Maybe it belonged to the previous owner of the house, and they forgot to take it with them when they moved out.", Eleanor suggested. "I can't think of any reason why Dave would have it."

"Well therein lies the problem.", responded Simon. "We asked Dave and he was acting awfully strange about it. He wouldn't tell us why, and confiscated the book."

"Oh wow. That is strange.", Brittany commented.

"He said it was something passed down from relatives, but I'm not buyin' it. I think there's something bigger at play.", Alvin said, hoping for something revolutionary.

"Did the book have a title or the author's name on the front?", Eleanor asked.

"No. And we skimmed through all the pages. There were no descriptions of anything aside from things like word order and the numerical system.", Jeanette said.

"I can help you guys solve this case? That's been my thing for a while now."

"Sorry, Eleanor. Trail's gone cold.", Alvin said with disappointed certainty.

"No way. I can warm it up again.", she said with high determination.

"That's going to be hard with Dave in the way.", said Theodore.

"We appreciate your help, Eleanor.", Alvin complimented. "But I get the feeling this is gonna be personal."

To be continued...