This is a little piece I wrote up when the Middle East flared up in late November of 2001, sparking a lot of debate and unrest even among the normally friendly Rangerphile community. I was actually quite pleased and surprised by the limited response it got.
Dec 6, 2001
You'll never believe what happened to me . . .
I had a little visitor last night.
Gadget: Golly! Nice computer!
Rennod: Thanks. It's not much, but it works OK.
Gadget: You know I could attach this to your stereo, and then . . .
Rennod: No! No! I just got it working fine again. Microsoft is touchy enough without having to worry about trying to find a software driver for an old tape deck.
Gadget: Oh.
Rennod: That's all right, thanks for trying, Gadget. So, have you seen the news?
Gadget: Please. That's all Chip's been watching these days. Wish Dale would get over the flu so we could watch something other than CNN.
Rennod: What about A&E or the History Channel?
Gadget: (rolls her eyes) That would be Saturday and Sunday.
Rennod: At least he still believes in a five-day work week.
Gadget: (under her breath) Thank goodness for small favors.
Rennod: Well, we'll probably be hearing a lot of this-and-that about Palestine for the next several months.
Gadget: Why can't they all just get along and live in peace?
Rennod: Well, some are, and some do. But others are too busy shouting at each other. And a lot are mad, angry, and frustrated.
Gadget: Like Chip when we have no cases?
Rennod: Worse.
Gadget: Why do they keep fighting about?
Rennod: Mainly everybody wants the same little pieces of land. And Jerusalem, everybody wants Jerusalem.
Gadget: Oh. I guess it's complicated.
Rennod: You have no idea.
Gadget: Good. I like a challenge.
Rennod: Uh oh.
(To be continued . . . )
-- Rennod
P.S.: By the way, she's taller than you think. And cuter, too.
[Any of our resident creative people are free to expand on this . . . might make a nice little thread.]
I received replies from Gaby and Julie Bihn, both expressing their enjoyment of the piece. Julie replied that she didn't believe she could possibly follow up on it adequately.
Dec 10, 2001
I guess this piece just goes to show what can happen when someone does get inspired by something that affects us. With all the fuss over what's going on in the middle east, and the discussion brewing on the off-topic board, and the conversation I had with my very informative relative, I just caught a random thought: "How would you explain all of this to a child?"
And for some reason, that's when Gadget showed up, and I wrote down what followed. Maybe the connection was between a child's innocent point of view and between Gadget's naievete and her big heart. But somehow it managed to be sweet, funny, and hit home, at least for me. And it stayed in character, too, I thought.
I'm glad you think I did a good job. I had hoped so, and the validation does help. :)
I respect your opinion, Julie, that you don't believe you could follow up on it. I think you could, actually, but I can't, and won't, ask you to. I've thought about it, and I think the piece might just deserve to stay the way it is, open-ended, as a plea for some kind of sanity in the region. A sanity which might be a love as unrequieted as Charlie Brown kicking Lucy's football.
[And yes, I've seen the TV special where he did. I cheered heartily when it happened. But according to Schultz, it never has and never will happen.]
If, by any chance, somebody actually DOES write a continuation, or feels they want to, they are more than welcome to. I'd love to read it. For the meantime, I'm going to take this and link it to my website when I get a chance.
And Gadget, if you're still out there working on the problem . . . be careful, work quickly, and good luck!
-- Rennod
This page and all works referenced from this page are ©2000, 2001, 2002 to Rennod, unless otherwise noted. I do NOT grant Microsoft, MSN, Yahoo, or GeoCities any rights to do anything with these works except store or retain them in my account and back them up normally as any other account would be handled. The Rescue Rangers and their principal characters are copyright, trademark, and the like to Disney and/or their licensees, and are currently being used without permission, but with respect and without profit of any kind to the author.