Good evening. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce Chapter Twenty-Two, the second to last chapter of my story Power Grid Failure. This week was horrendous. My novelist took off for a few days and left me with that wretched Maltese and…Him. It was almost more than I could bear. I was certain I would burst into uncontrolled whining at any moment. The Maltese and I never get treats when my novelist is away. He doesn’t believe in giving out treats. What a horrid brute he is. I can hardly believe it. He seems to think we only need food and water to be cared for. Absolutely uncouth. That’s what I have to say about that.

On the brighter side, the Maltese is at the groomers today and I am at home enjoying the company of my now restored novelist. I am sitting by the window facing the street enjoying the view. I must also say Easter is this Sunday and I do enjoy…excuse me. My cell phone is ringing.

            Yes?

            I say Easter, you say Bunny!

            What are you doing calling me?

            I am being blown dry right now.

            What does that have to do with the price of training bits in France?

            I say Easter, you say Bunny!

            No.

            YEAH! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME EASTER BUNNY ACTION?!

            You are embarrassing me…

            WHOOO!

            Stop this tomfoolery right now…

            I say Easter, you say Bunny! Easter!

            No.

            I SAY EASTER, YOU SAY BUNNY!!!

            You are insane!

            EASTER!

            Mental, that’s what you are!

            EASTER!

            I…oh, good grief. Bunny!

            Easter!

            Bunny!

            Easter!

            Bunny!

            I say Easter, you say Bunny!

            Easter!

            Bunny!

            Easter!

            I’m getting as fluffy as the Easter Bunny! Easter Bunny! Easter…Buuunnnyyy!

            Hello? Tucker? Hello?

            It’s alright. I did a stage dive off the table and landed in the bubble bath.

I just…I don’t… forget it. Here is Chapter twenty-two of my story Power Grid Failure. Happy Easter, everyone!

Power Grid Failure

by

Gigi the parti poodle

Chapter Twenty-Two

Out on the skybridge Reynolds dodges around playing keep away from Craggy. Craggy charges at Reynolds who darts left and circles to the opposite side. Craggy charges again and Reynolds shoots back to where he started. Craggy rushes at Reynolds full speed. Reynolds darts left but to no avail. Craggy tackles him and the two men hit the deck.

Reynolds knows he is in the worst possible position: on the ground. Craggy rears back to throw a punch. Reynolds grounds his foot and rolls to his side. Craggy loses his balance and just misses slamming his fist into the skybridge floor. Reynolds hops to his feet as Craggy regains balance.

“Come on, Adams,” Reynolds mutters. “I can’t hold this guy off forever…”

Craggy grabs Reynold’s shirt and pins him up against the glass. He punches him in the stomach. Reynolds, gasping, and wheezing raises his arm, turns, and slams his elbow down on Craggy’s arm, breaking his hold.

“Ah, the good old prison days,” Reynolds quips.

Craggy slaps Reynold’s face.

“Ow!” Reynolds says and slaps him back surprising Craggy before he runs down the bridge in the direction of the Mesahchie building. 

Back in the glassed-in office area, Remmel checks his watch, looks at Martin, Sloan and Windy then checks his watch again.

“It’s been a while,” Sloan whispers. “What should we do?”

“It’s three to one,” Martin says.

“What does that mean?”

“He can’t stop us all.”

Sloan looks at Martin. Martin looks at Windy. Windy looks at Martin. Finally, Windy nods her head. All three look back at Remmel.

Remmel looks up from his watch. “What?”

Martin leaps from his chair and charges at Remmel. Remmel reaches into his holster for his No Fun Stun Gun. Remmel fires and hits Martin who yelps. Sloan and Windy dive at Remmel and knock him to the floor. Windy slaps the gun out of Remmel’s hand. He shoves her off him and dives for it, but Sloan gets there first. Remmel lunges at him, but Sloan, with shaking hands and racing heart turns and fires. He misses. Remmel goes to snatch it out of his hand when Windy jumps on his back and wraps her hands around his eyes.

“You made me miss my kids’ holiday performance!” she rages.

“Give me the gun,” Martin says to Sloan.

“Shut up, old man…sir. I know what I’m doing.”

“You’ve got to put it on the right setting.”

“Oh, so you’re an expert in No Fun Stun Guns now?”

“You’ve got to flip that switch there,” Martin says pointing.

“I know,” Sloan says flipping the switch.

Suddenly, they hear a thud and turn. Windy is on the floor.

“Shoot!” Martin tells Sloan.

Sloan points the No Fun Stun Gun at Remmel, pulls the trigger and…it doesn’t fire. Sloan pulls the trigger frantically, but it just clicks. Remmel grabs Sloan’s wrist and shakes it causing the weapon to drop. Remmel kicks it and it goes skittering into the wall. He wrestles Sloan to the ground. Martin turns to chase the weapon, but Remmel reaches out and catches his ankle causing him to trip and hit the floor. Sloan struggles to get up but his short stint in high school as a wrestler fails to assist him and he is unable to get leverage. Martin wheezes and coughs having had the air knocked out of him. He props himself up on his elbows and crawls towards the wall like a soldier on his stomach. A flash of legs comes into view and suddenly he hears the unmistakable sound of the No Fun Stun Gun firing.

The chaos ceases and the glassed-in area becomes silent. Sloan feels Remmel go limp. He squirms and struggles grunting under the weight of his attacker and moves towards freedom like a seal on its flippers. His eyes lift and he sees Windy standing in front of the wall, hands quivering, eyes wide and wild, still pointing the stun gun at Remmel.

Reynolds hears Craggy’s footsteps pounding behind him as he races towards the Mesahchie entrance.

Then, like a ferry boat emerging from the fog Adams’s face comes into view through the door’s window. Adams raises his frantic eyes to meet Reynolds’s as he rushes to put the keycard up to the reader.

Reynolds breathes in relief as he finally sees a way out of the skybridge. Reynolds dives for the door as Adam’s throws it open.

“Reynolds, hurry!” Adams yells.

Reynolds feels his feet rise off the ground; his hands positioned like an airborne swimmer. As he sails towards the exit, Adams’s face is jerked out of the way and replaced by Dragontail’s. His hot red eyes bore into Reynolds as he shoots Adams with his No Fun Stun Gun dropping Adams to the floor.

“Reynolds,” Dragontail growls, “You can’t seem to comprehend my level of rage.”

He points the stun gun at Reynolds and fires. Reynolds puts his hands over his head and winces. He hears a thud behind him as Craggy hits the floor.  

“You think I need muscle to bring you down?”

Reynolds scrambles to his feet and says, “All this because I got out of jail a year early?”

“You ruined my career!”

“You could still have a career.”

“I tried founding a new production company when I got out of prison. Hydra Harridan Productions. It went bankrupt too.”

“Because you keep making the wrong movies.”

“An artist needs to make films that drive him.”

“You needed to make a film about a mountain man who lived in a national park and scared campers at night until he discovered his true calling selling handmade sunglasses crafted out of scraps of wood and working part time for the CIA?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it needed to be made. Some films just need to be made.”

“But not films that drive the company into bankruptcy.”

“You always cared about the box-office. Never the story.”

“That’s not true. You can make a reasonably priced film that will give you a good payday and then make another reasonably priced film, and then another. You just need to stay within the budget.”

“I needed to make a film about a Komodo Dragon who travels back in time and finds his long-lost relatives amongst the dinosaurs. Sometimes bringing your vision to life is not about the budget.”

“Without the money you can’t make your vision. You were going to make a movie about a guy who after twenty years goes to see his parents and meet his little sister whom he’s never met.”

“Boring.”

“Maybe. But if you can make that story not boring and stay within budget, I’ll help you produce it.”

“You’re a janitor.”

“You know I’ve got money saved.”

“I want it in writing.”

“Done. But only if you take this building out of lockdown and let the employees go home.”

“Craggy.”

Craggy rises from the floor.

“Paperwork please.”

Craggy reaches inside his jacket pocket and produces a contract and a pen.

“You didn’t think I came unprepared, did you?”

Craggy walks towards Reynolds and hands him the papers.

Reynolds looks at Craggy. “You recovered fast.”

Craggy shrugs.

“I need to have a lawyer look this over.”

“Sign the papers or not only is Unicorn not opening the building, but he’s also taking off with Tiffany and…what’s her name right now.”

“That’s not possible,” Adams says bursting through the door to the Mesahchie building. “Crystal and Tiffany tied him up.”

“For a computer nerd you’re a little slow.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Sign the papers, Reynolds.”

“These look like documents for a movie,” Reynolds says looking at the document.

“Recognize them, do you?”

“What’s going on?”

Suddenly, Martin, Sloan, and Windy appear at the window to the Redoubt building and start pounding on the door.

“Let them in,” Dragontail tells Craggy.

Craggy lumbers back across the bridge and opens the door. As soon as he does, the three office workers charge at him and knock him to the ground.

“Wait!” Reynolds yells, running towards the ruckus. “Stop!”

“We just escaped!” Sloan says. “We’ve come to rescue you.”

“I think we’ve been hoodwinked.”

“Hoodwinked?”

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: BORN FREE (1966)-CRACKLE &AMERICAN CLASSICS

This week’s pick is one of the most beloved films of all time and boast one of the finest film scores and songs ever written for the silver screen. It is the timeless story of Joy and George Adamson beautifully played by real life spouses Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. The story was based on the book Born Free: The Story of Elsa by Joy Adamson. After shooting a man-eating lion and its lioness, game warden George discovers the two large cats had three cubs. The couple took them in and raised them as if they were part of the family.

When the cubs start to get older the head warden Kendall (Geoffrey Keen) tells the couple the cubs will need to be taken in by a zoo. Heartbroken they agree and prepare a truck to transport the young cats. But when they get to the location of the airport George sees how devastated Joy is and keeps the smallest cat Elsa, Joy’s favorite.

Joy and George continue to raise Elsa to adulthood, and all goes well until an elephant stampede overruns a village and Elsa propensity towards playing with other Kenyan animals is suspected. Joy and George face a complex dilemma: put Elsa in a zoo or find a way to re-initiate her into the wild.