This story surprised the heck out of me. That’s quite a feat for something that’s been lurking in my mind for over a decade.

The story started out with different characters. It was originally inspired by an arrangement of “Breathe On Me, Breath Of God” by Jeff Johnson, from his album “Why Should The Heart Not Dance?”. As it grew, other scenes fell into place, mostly inspired by music, particularly soundtracks by Danny Elfman. His music is by turns surreal and ethereal, whimsical and menacing. In short, they suited the dream world I had envisioned perfectly.

But it didn’t seem right.

Much as I wanted to write this story, or to be more accurate, as much as the story wanted to be written, I was dissatisfied with it. Eventually it was consigned to the dustbin of memory, where it began to lurk.

Time passed. I dropped out of college and joined the Navy. I loved and lost, mostly the latter.

Then one day, whilst traipsing about on the Internet, I decided to look up “Gadget Hackwrench” on Google. I still had fond, if distant memories of the short-lived Disney Afternoon animated television show, “Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers”. Being in a nostalgic mood, I decided to see if anyone else did too. Imagine my surprise and delight when the search returned over 1100 hits! After an evening filled with reliving memories on the World Wide Web, I wrote one of the webmasters, Matt Pearman, to thank him for keeping the memories alive. Matt kindly directed my attention towards that friendly little rest area off the Information Superhighway known as “The Acorn Café”.

The hub of the Rangerphile universe, wow! What a place! Suddenly there was more Rescue Ranger fan art and fan fiction than I could ever hope to digest in a lifetime. I downloaded tons of pictures onto my hard drive. I read fan fictions by Roy Neal Grissom and Meghan Brunner. I wanted to see it all, but even more I wanted to contribute.

That’s when the story that had been lurking in my head all of these years quietly reminded me of its presence. I knew I couldn’t contribute artistically, I’m not that good of an artist. But a writer . . . Well, I’d written technical papers and instructions. Could I really write something creative?

I guess I could. That was what surprised the heck out of me. This story drew a lot of positive feedback from the Acorn Café readers. Roy Neal Grissom, my greatest inspiration for writing a Ranger fan-fiction, called it “a masterpiece”. It was nominated for six “Golden Acorn” awards, including Best Story and Best Author, and won one, for Best Imagery.

And that’s the story of how the story came to be!

By now you should have realized that I didn’t do everything by myself, and indeed I did not. I must thank Roy Neal “The Enduring Man-Child” Grissom, whose work “Home Is Where You Hang Upside-Down” forms the basis for some of this story, and inspired me to contribute my own effort. I should also thank Meghan Brunner, whose story “To Catch A Rainbow” is also one of my early influences in this arena. A brief nod to all “Foxphiles” out there, the story just wouldn’t have worked so well without her.

Naturally I should also thank Tad Stones, Tress MacNeille, Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, and the late Deborah Walley, and everyone else who worked so hard to bring these characters to life. On that note, thanks also to Jack Hannah, who created Chip and Dale in the first place.

Lastly, but certainly of no little importance, I would like to thank everyone who read and enjoyed this story. Without readers, storytellers like myself would just spend a lot of time sitting around babbling to ourselves.

“Once Upon A Dream” is an original work of fiction based on characters and situations created and copyright © by Walt Disney Studios. They are used without permission, but with the utmost respect for their creators and without any motive of gain or profit by the author

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