The Rescue Rangers sit in a crowded room. Many of the people in here were in their 40s, but there were some children. The Rangers were very anxious. What was about to happen here was going to have a huge impact on their lives. Chip was the most nervous of all. All had dressed up nicely to match the others in room so they wouldn’t stick out. It had been the hardest to get Dale to take that very loud shirt off, but after two days of very loudly made threats, Chip had finally won. They sat side by side in this theater style sitting arrangements, while they watched person after person, all dressed in the same clothing, cross the stage, take a piece of paper, a friendly handshake and then exiting on the other side. Finally the Rangers saw who they were looking for and they all stood.

             "Golly there she is." Gadget spoke first and was on her feet.

             "The moment we’ve been waiting for." Dale was next to his feet.

             "The lass looks great." Monty said.

             "She does." Chip was the last to speak, which was understandable to everyone.

             The young squirrel walked out on stage and took the official looking sheet of paper.

             The rangers were ready. They made their move. All in one they began to clap loudly and cheer. "Way to go Tammy!" shouted Gadget. "You go girl!" yelled Dale.

             "Congratulations Luv!" Monty yelled out. "Good going, Tammy!" came from Chip. Much buzzing came from Zipper.

             Tammy looked out into the crowd and saw her friends. She took the diploma from her principal and shook his hand.

             "You have done very well Tammy, I am very proud of you." Said the headmaster.

             "Thanks sir, I tried my best."

             "I’m sure your friends there gave you a lot of help."

             "Yes they did, they're the best."

             The principal smiled at Tammy as she walked off the stage. The rangers calmed down and sat down and watched as the rest of the teenagers receive their diplomas.

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             A week after Tammy graduation she was in her room with her mom and Bink. Bink was now 8 years old. She had grown a lot and had calmed down very much since their adventure with the Rangers. She sat on Tammy’s bed with a not so happy expression on her face.

             "I don’t want you to go, sis."

             "Are you sure you want to do this Tammy?" asked Tammy’s mom.

             "Yes mom, I’m ready to go out into the world and be a Rescue Ranger."

             "What do they think?" Mom willing but not liking, packed some clothes into a suit case.

             Tammy smiled, *How many times have we been over this? It was always the same questions every time, at least Dale said his parents were the same way.*

             "Yes, they all offered to help me pack, but I told them I wanted to do this with you and Bink."

             "I just want to make sure… Oh my baby is growing up." Mom began to cry tears of joy and tears of sadness at the same time. Tammy went to comfort her mother.

             "Mom, it’s ok, I’ll just be down the road and I’ll be home so much you won’t even miss me."

             "I know but I’m still going to miss my little baby."

             "Sis, I’m going to miss you too!" Bink spoke up. Tammy put down what she had been holding and hugged her younger sister.

             "I know Bink, I’m going to miss you too, but you can keep coming to the ranger station just like you have been. Things aren’t going to be that different."

             "I knowwww."

             "Let’s finish packing, Gadget should be here soon to pick me up."

             The squirrels finished packing Tammy’s belongings. Tammy was excited about becoming an official member, but was sad to be leaving home. She did her best to keep a good expression about leaving, but not too good of one that her mom would think that she couldn’t wait to leave.

             *Am I ready to be a ranger? I tried really hard at sports so that I would be ready for the physical needs. I also studied a lot like Gadget said. Poor Gadget, I was so mean to her when I first met the rangers. Good thing that things have gotten better between her and me. Mostly me, Gadget was so nice.*

             "Ok hun, that's everything of yours... If you want to stay I won’t mind unpacking all of it." Spoke the eldest squirrel.

             "Thanks mom, but I think I'll be ok."

             "Ok Tammy, if you’re sure. How long before Gadget gets here?"

             Tammy looked at her watch. "About 30 minutes or so."

             "Ok, let’s go have lunch one last time before you leave."

             "Mom, I’m not moving to Mars." *Wow, was it this bad for Dale? I’ll have to ask him.* The Squirrel family walked into the kitchen and the mother squirrel fixed lunch.

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             "I hope it wasn’t a bad idea letting Tammy join." Worried the leader of the Rescue Rangers.

             "Don’t worry Chipper, everything will be wonderful." said the red nose member of the team, just a couch cushion came flying across the room. Dale had expected this and easily caught it. "Awww Chipper, it’s not nice to throw things." Dale said as he threw the same pillow back at Chip. Chip dodged the pillow, but not the cushion that came after it.

             Chip stood and yelled "I declare pillow war!"

             The fight was on. Pillows and cushions were being thrown left to right, mostly hitting Chip and Dale, but other things in the room became victims as well.

             Monty and Zipper had been sitting in the dining room the whole time watching the great pillow war. Monty laughed to himself. *Chip must be the only one that doesn’t realize Tammy is much better about keeping her emotions in check. Dale knows it, but he just loves to tease his best friend. Too bad for Tammy that first impressions are so hard to break.* Most of the pillow throwing had stopped and it looked like the boys had their fun and now Monty decided to intervene. "Boys, Gadget will be back with Tammy soon. Do ya want the lass to see the main room like this? You know how she acted the last time this happened?" He asked.

             The two chipmunks looked at each other. That was a very painful memory that neither of them wanted to remember. They looked over the main room. The couch was turned over, and pillows and cushions were everywhere. This was not good. Chip and Dale both got up and started running in different directions. They picked up things as they ran and seldom looked in front of themselves. Soon, they turned and kept going and ran straight into each other. Both of them fell to the floor. Monty and Zipper smiled at the goings-on. In a very quiet voice, Monty said to Zipper: "Who needs television when ya got Chip and Dale?"

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             As the boys were adding entertainment to Monty’s meal, Gadget was in the Rangerplane with Tammy on their way home.

             "Golly, that sure was a tear jerking goodbye, I almost started to cry too."

             "I’m glad you didn’t Gadget, I would have started crying too and then there would have been four of us crying."

             "Don’t worry Tammy, your mom is just worried about you." Gadget said, wishing there had been someone to worry over her when she joined the rangers.

             Tammy sat back and began to think. *Wow, so now I’m a ranger. Everything is so different from when I first met the rangers. I used to be so jealous of Gadget, but now she is my best friend. I don’t think she likes Chip, if she did something would have happen by now. No, Chip was just waiting till I was old enough to know what was right. What a gentlemunk he is.*

             "We’re here." said both of the ladies at the same time. The ranger plane landed and then moved into the garage where all the other ranger vehicles were kept. Tammy and Gadget walked into the ranger headquarters to see a pair of chipmunks sit down very quickly and look away from the door. They each had an unmistakable look on their face. Gadget saw this and looked back to Tammy, and whispered "the old 'I hope they didn't see that' look." Gadget got a mischievous look on her face, she had female backup now and that could help her have a lot of fun.

             "What are you guys up to?" asked the inventor.

             "Nothing, Gadget" answered the boys a little too quickly. Gadget looked over to Tammy and Tammy understood.

             "Say Gadget, didn’t the blue pillows used to be on the couch and the red pillow on the loveseat?" Chip and Dale each looked at the couch and loveseat and the pillows that were on them and vaguely remembered that they had the colors backwards. They then looked at each other with an "oops" look. Chip and Dale, very worried, looked back at Gadget.

             "Golly, Tammy, I think you're right, and I don’t remember all the cushions being upside down before." More worried looks and now they both had open mouths to go with it. If only they had more time, but now "oops" went to "uh-oh".

             "It looks like two chipmunks have been having a pillow fight in the main room." Tammy commented.

             The look of "uh-oh" now went to "oh boy" and both of them looked for a place to run and hide if needed.

             "No Tammy, it can’t be. Chip and Dale know better than to have a pillow fight in the main room. This must be our imagination. I’m sure after we finish putting all your things away in our room, everything will be back to the way it's supposed to be."

             "Yeah Gadget, it must just be our imagination. That’s it." The two female rangers left the main room. Very quickly red pillows went left and blue pillows went right as cushions were quickly flipped into their rightful positions.

             Monty and Zipper had been able to watch all of this. They were now on the floor enjoying the best laugh of their lives. The two chipmunks now sat on the newly colored couch and loveseat.

             "Chip, I think you were right."

             "About what, Dale?"

             "About it being a bad idea for Tammy to join. I think we're in for big trouble."

             "Monty, Zipper, it wasn’t that funny" said both the chipmunks together. Monty and Zipper continued their laughing fit.

             "Zipper, I think it was a great idea for Tammy to join." Monty said.

             Tammy and Gadget walked down the hall and Gadget put her hand on Tammy’s shoulder. "Tammy, I think it was a great idea for you to join."

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