Our Miss Brook

As the holiday season begins Nicole Collins finds herself hoping for a festive interlude. But even as she finds solitary joy in the simple trimming of a tree, she will soon discover that her holiday season will be anything but joyous. More importantly, the young woman she had sought to help may now sow seeds of discontent that will eventually find her having to make painful decisions.

It’s a classic noir 1930’s film opening. Moonlight slanting down through the storefront window the only illumination. The backwards lettering splashing odd shadows upon the floor could have read Spade & Archer, should have read Collins Investigations, but instead reads Matigan & Wiley Law Offices.

The main lobby is darker than usual as the opposite storefront window is obscured now by the tree. A tall, fulsome spruce. Her long, slender fingers hook the gold ornament upon the limb and the releases it as she steps back now to check the placement — yes, perfect.

With a sharp-toothed smile, Nicole Collins silently steps over to the box of ornaments resting on seat of the chair and removes another. The decorations as well as the spruce had been a spur of the moment decision. In fact she had driven past the tree lot before taking the u-turn through the Shell Station parking lot and returning to the tree lot.

Harvey, having partaken of enough liquor to keep his old joints animated, had sat in the tent near a space heater, while he directed his two young attendants to help the young lady. Each eager to do so – eyeing her as she walked about the artificial forest of cut trees; Harvey himself standing at the edge of the tent, his hands stuffed into his back pockets of this sap stained jeans. None of them seemed to be at all concerned that as she moved so elegantly under the dangling 100-watt bulbs she cast no shadow nor wore a coat in 33-degree weather. They just liked the look of her. As she liked the kook of the tree from the moment she saw it. Harvey’s attendants, who had scoffed at the idea that she was actually going to tie it atop the Ferrai – yaw, like yew’re gonna scratch that paint job – would have stood even more disbelieving if they had watched her take the tree off the car and carry it single-handedly into the old law offices.

To hang the ornament she steps in closer to the tree. The scent filled the office with the hint of the forest. Yes, it was beginning to smell a lot like Christmas. That wondrous season of good tidings and great cheer, of Santas and Snowmen, of greenery hung with velvet red bows, of Christmas cards, and lovely wrapped presents – how odd this must all seem, she thinks as she hangs the ornament, a Vampire trimming a Christmas Tree.

Why else would she be decorating it in the dark?

The office door suddenly creaks and slowly opens – spilling an isosceles triangle of moonlight across the hardwood floor. Nikki stands silently, another ornament in hand as she watches Samantha Brook sneak quietly into the office. She closes the door and very softly ascends the stairs to the second floor storage room, which had been cleared, and a bed and dresser had been added for make a room for her.

Nikki slides a hand under her as she squats to take the green electrical plug in hand and inserts into the surge strip to watch as the tree’s lights glow crystal white. She smiles at the result of her decoration – the points of her eye teeth sharp and visible.

Upstairs she hears Sam’s voice: HEEEEEHEEEEE!!!

Then the sound of someone landing on the mattress wafts through the open door.

Nikki stands before the Christmas tree aglow in the bright lights, but now feeling not as merry as she had before she had heard Sam’s voice from above. She knew she would soon have to have a hard conversation – and she was suddenly saddened at the thought.

In the darkness, her breath escaping in small white puffs, Esther, with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her overcoat, her warm hat pulled down, walks across the frosty crunch of the grassy hub of the Rotary. She had made her way from Rhyaad’s Tea Room, where she had stopped earlier looking for Nikki.

In the office, Nikki, spectrally silent, had yet to the turn the office lights on – soon enough for that – as she stands arms crossed before the tree; the room now warmly lit only by the Christmas Tree. Esther approaching the old law offices of Matigan & Wiley looks at the darken office and raises her eyebrow as she sees the glowing lights of the tree through the window. She hurries over and as her hand reaches for the door latch, she finds she does not need a key, as the door is open.

Once again Nikki turns at the sound of the opening of the door.

She watches as Esther enters and closes the door behind her to stand a moment staring at the tree.

With a dramatic wave of her hand to as if to magically reveal the tree, Nikki smiles, ‘Tis the season.”

Esther looks at her and notes that there does not seem to be the joy in her voice she would have thought the decorating of the tree should have produced. She starts to unbutton her coat and smiles at the tall, svelte woman, “You’re worse than the shops Nik! It’s not even a week after thanksgiving. Oh, and Yeah, good to see you.”

Above, Sam walks backwards out of the second floor doorway and turns around slowly.

‘Sorry I’ve been away. I managed to get eight bucks, so you should be set for a while.” Esther takes her coat off and puts it on the coat rack.

“I could not resist . . . “ Nikki says indicating the tree—as if apologizing, “But—what with everything going on I thought maybe something normal in our lives for a change . . . and so, I was listening to Nat King Cole on the radio as I was driving over here, seeing all those people out shopping, leading normal lives . . . I found myself stopping at Harvey’s Tree Emporium.”

Sam stands now on the second floor landing and gazes at the tree almost mesmerized.

Nikki turns back to look at her tree, “Oh, there is a little something for you on the your desk.”

Esther looks at Nikki suspiciously, “Oh?” More application forms she fears as she goes over to her desk.

Her back still turned, facing the tree—“Now you do not have the only office without one.”

Esther stops, her eyes widening, “A laptop! Oh this’ll make things MUCH easier . . . or it might make them worse. I don’t know.” Esther goes over and lifts the screen upward on the laptop, “Thanks Nik!”

‘Yay porn!” Sam cheers.

Esther quickly looks up at the banister.

“You didn’t . . . “

Sam giggles mischievously as she hangs from the banister.

Nikki turns away from the tree and saunters over to Esther’s desk: ‘Well I knew you needed one and Christmas is so far off –“

Esther as excited as she is with her new laptop still gives Nikki a look regarding the woman hanging from the banister.

“Yes, I am quite aware—we need to talk.” Nikki says.

Sam suddenly sits on the banister silent with a small smile looking down, “My apologies.”

‘Want to talk in the office?” Nikki asks.

Esther nods, “Yeah . . . “

Sam slides back to the storage room and jumps on the bed.

Nikki silently walks over to her office.

Esther turns slowly looking at the storage room and follows Nikki – not certain she wants to leave her laptop unattended.

As she closes the door behind her, Esther asks disappointedly, “So – what’s all that then? I knew the laptop would not come without a catch.”

Nikki walks around the large, heavy desk and pulls her chair back, “I read your recommendation on the application.”

Esther leans against the wall in her usual spot – the part of the wall that might start to noticeably show the effects of wear after a few years or so of this, “Yeah. The one that says she’s bonkers?”

“Esther, you know I absolutely allow you to run the office.” Nikki says sitting down with a sigh, “As I said, we started this together, you and I.”

“And then Rhyaad joined in. We did agree to put him in th’ books, right?”

“Yes – even though he protests that he doesn’t need to be on the payroll – he puts himself in harms way for us, and so yes, he should be on the books.” Nikki sat and clasped her hands and put them in her lap, “So, let’s talk about our Miss Brook.”

‘Right.” Esther moves now from her spot against the wall to take a seat across from Nikki.

Outside, in the main office, on the second floor landing, Sam peers out and then pulls out a length of fishing wire with a dull hook and slips out the door, where she attempts to pry the fridge open from the banister like some-kind-of-a-ninja.

Nikki leans forward crossing her arms, “Look I know she is rough on the edges, and – she’s a bit wild.”

“A bit wild? She’s insane!” Esther says, “I looked into that medication she is taking. They’re crazy pills.”

‘Yes,” Nikki says with a sigh, “But I feel she doesn’t have anywhere to go—“

Sam now gets the refrigerator open and manages to hook a beer, quickly reeling it up to the second floor landing, where she grabs it and quickly heads back into her room, leaving the fridge to close on its own.

‘So you were going to do what? Keep her ‘round like some office pet? She needs medical help. Doctors, nurses. You know.” Esther exasperated with this whole Sam business.

Sam giggles like a little girl in her room as she sits sipping her beer.

“No. Not as a pet! I just thought if she worked around us, felt some security in her life, she might finally become . . . more lucid. I mean, I just felt she hadn’t been given an opportunity to show what she is capable of—“ Nikki tries to explain her reasoning, “ And some of it . . . some of it I believe is a defensive act she puts on.”

Esther frowns and leans forward looking at Nikki, “Worked? As what? Nik. She has major medical problems. She needs help and we are not qualified to give it.”

Nikki ran her fingers back through her hair, “I know. I know . . . and so, Just to let you know.”

Esther starts to sit back and closed her eyes.

“When we began all of this, you and I, it was you who said, Nikki you solve the puzzles, and I said, okay Esther, but I need you to run the office. And I want you to know you do an absolutely wonderful job of doing so – and so . . . you run the office. I go by what you say and if you say no, it’s no! So, I will try to get her some help. Find her a place to stay. I just want to help her, and I am not sure how to do that.”

Esther sighs and throws up a hand, “Fine. Let her stay, but I think we need to call a doctor to come out here and check on her . . .”

Sam now silently exits her room and descends the stairs, drawn now to the large Christmas Tree, where she sits on the floor, in front of it, staring at it like a little girl on Christmas Eve.

“ . . .trying to help before you know who you are helping can be dangerous,” Esther continues, thinking back now on her encounter with the child-vampire asking for her mommy and shudders slightly.

Nikki shakes her head, fingertips slightly rubbing her lips, “Esther, please – I’m not trying to influence your decision. Really! I don’t want you to say fine unless you truly feel that way, I am not trying to go against your recommendation.” Nikki tells her, “Really – I mean she could get killed dealing with some of the crazy things we get involved with around her. I’m thinking back on that night with Mister Bubbles and that demon child, she could have easily gotten killed out there. And now, there is this Kang to worry about.”

“The best way to help her is to get her to people that can help her,” Esther said aware that her friend was really very conflicted over this matter. “It’s like trying to get a thorn out of a horse’s hoof without knowing anything about horses.”

Nikki raises a hand in resignation, “In the last couple of days, she has had moments of insight. She even was able to get a lead on someone who knows Kang via her contract with the UN—but she just can’t stay focused.”

Sam turns and slowly crawls over to the closed office door, listening now at the keyhole.

“Ok. So she has moment’s of lucid thought. She’s not an oracle.” Esther tells Nikki, but, if she wants to try and help this girl . . . “So, if you wan’t her to stay, fine, but I wan’t a doc to come and see her, and find out just how nuts she really is.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“Good,” Esther leans forward and places her hands on the desk palms down, ‘Then it’s agreed.”

Nikki leans forward and puts her hands atop Esther’s, “It’s agreed.”

“I’ll find a mental hospital in Bangor. Of course, they may ask us to bring her over there . . “

Sam outside the closed door stands and slowly, not making a sound, falls back from the office door.

“As I said, it began with us, and it will always be the two of us to make the decisions.” Nikki says.

Esther cups her hand atop Nikki’s, almost comforting, before removing her hand hands and heading to the door, “You got it boss.”

Esther opens the door and immediately sees the fridge door open and sighs.

Sam caught says loudly, “EEP!”

Esther looks at the woman; crosses over to the refrigerator and closes it. She then returns to her desk and silently starts searching for nuthouses in Bangor.

“Sam—Esther and I have had a talk.” Nikki says and motions to the chair across from her as she walks out and takes a seat in front of Esther’s desk. ‘So, will you please have a seat, we would like to speak with you.”

Sam looks at Nikki and then Esther, “Ummmm ok . . . “ and she clambers to the chair.

“Sam – we are really very concerned for you. What we want to do is we would like you to see a Doctor – and we would like to get his evaluation. Now – at the moment, I fixed the second floor storage area for you to have a place to stay. But, before we can proceed further we would like to get a doctor’s opinion of whether or not this can work out for you – and us.”

“Like . . . a gynecologist?”

“No, a different kind of a doctor – based on the symptoms you seem to be presenting, we would like you to get a through medical evaluation, physical and mental—you have been through a lot, Samantha.”

With a frown, Sam counters, “Ummmm—but I have medicine.”

She holds up the bottle.

Esther, without looking up from her new laptop and the search she is running, “And when was the last time you took it?”

“I take it daily.” She smiles.

“For how long?” Esther typing.

“Since I ran away.”

“So, you have been taking that all from just that one little bottle?”

“It was the last thing I got before I left.”

“Sam, as I have tried to explain – even explaining what I am – the work we do here is dangerous and unusual.”

Passing the bottle to Esther she wants her to see that she has been taking her medication.

Esther takes it and looks to see how many pills are left.

“Right and when that runs out—Sam, you will need a doctor to renew it, right?” Nikki offers.

“The label is old but legit.” Sam explains and then answers Nikki’s question, “Ummm – well I did renew it.” And she smiles: “You see they said I’d be on it for life so I stayed on it, you see.”

Esther looks into the bottle and sees a medley of various pills. She passes the mix-and-match bottle of pills over to Nik for her to see; she then returns to her laptop and continues her search.

‘Two pills daily is what the doctor said, it’s what I do.”

Nikki opens the bottle and sees a different Christmas Tree, a collection of various coloured pills. “But Sam, these are not all the same.”

“I couldn’t afford a doctor . . . “ Sam looks down.

Esther picks up the laptop and shows the screen to Nikki, “Found it.”

Nikki looks at the screen and nods to Esther, “Right, and that is what we are saying – I can afford the doctor. I want you to see him – can you do that for me?”

Sam looks at Nikki with a strange sense of warmth and nods, “Ok . . . He don’t tie be down will he?”

Esther typing, “That depends on how you act.”

Nikki looks at Sam very concerned – tie her down? “Now, Esther has found a place in Bangor, A doctor Autoette. I want you to see him—okay?”

Sam looks down an mumbles, “Ok . . . “

“Now, I won’t be able to go with you because it is during the day – but Esther, and I will see if my friend Samantha can go also, will go with you to help you get there to see him.”

A confused look appeared on Sam’s face, “But I’m Samantha.”

Nikki smiles, “Yes, but there is also another Samantha here in Collinsport.”

“There are people that have the same name in the world. Out of, hell, seven billion people, there are quite a few Samanthas out there.” Esther replies.

“Um . . . ok”

“Tomorrow, around midday or so, I’ll give him a call and set up an appointment.”

Sam nods, looking at Nikki not Esther, “Ok”

“Especially now that we have the UN to deal with,” Nikki said with some irritation.

“The UN?” Esther asks looking over at Nikki. “What did you declare independence and are now apply for membership?”

Sam smiles and looks at Esther, “I beat’em up in the tearoom last night.”

“Oh, you will not believe –“ Nikki muses. “Some members of some special UN military group same into Rhyaad’s tearoom last night, and, they started beating Sam up because she tossed her UN contract with General South into the fire.”

“The UN has a military?” Esther asks – and types in Goggle.

“If St. Clair had not arrived someone might have started shooting, luckily she got things under control. It seems that now we have some Task Force in or around Collinsport. The TF141.”

Esther looks at Nikki oddly, “That sounds like a Droid.”

“I’m guessing TF stand for ‘The Fuck.” Sam giggles and looks over to Nikki.

“Task Force 141, with supposed authorization to go anywhere, do anything to combat ‘the forces fo the supernatural.’ Nikki replied.

“Task Force 141. Makes me wonder what the other 140 task forces were?” Esther asks trying to do a Google search on it.

Sam giggles, “Well I think UN people are crazy.”

‘This General South says they have authorization to use deadly force in the event of a supernatural threat to life, or . . . if there is a threat to property damage – whatever that means.”

“A werewolf breaks a piece of china, he get’s shot?” Esther asks.

“And he wants me as a consultant.” Sam now cackles.

Esther stops typing on her computer, “You?”

Sam pulls out the slightly charred contract.

“Why!?”

Sam pulls out her old Blackjack Investigations ID, “That’s why.”

‘Yes, apparently Sam is actually part of TF141,’ Nikki agrees, “She—she has a contract signed by General South.”

Sam put both of them away.

“Okay all politics aside. Just what in the hell do they want with you?’ Esther continues to try and find some reason for this contract.

“I dunno,” Sam shrugs, “Said my time with Blackjack had given me invaluable experience and insight . . . “

Nikki looked at Esther, ‘She was able to use a contact in the Task Force to find someone who worked with this Kang.”

Sam giggles, “Of course I dunno what experience they want, but if I can get info from them then I’m happy. Ummm I have a question about the doctor . . . “

‘Yes?”

Sam suddenly bolts from her chair and runs upstairs for a moment digging in her bag. Esther looks at Nikki and rolls her eyes. “This General South is f*****g nuts!”

Nikki sighs.

Sam comes running back down the narrow stairs with a letter, “Should I show him this? I got it shortly before I lost my eye—“

She hands over an acceptance letter to Harvard.

Esther doesn’t really look at it, “Whatever medical records or whatever you think he needs to see, bring it with you. But it may be a few days.”

Sam nods, a bit disheartened that Esther did not really look at the letter. She takes her acceptance letter and turns, slowly walking back the way she had only moment before been running with excitement; and heads for her room.

Cue Music end of Episode