Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my twenty-third and final chapter of my story Power Grid Failure. After having a scrumptious Easter with my novelist, she left me with…Him again for two days. Isn’t that a fine how-do-you-do? And of course, I was relegated to spending time with the Maltese. I cannot tell you how retched it is sitting there trying to enjoy a delicate piece of my white chocolate Easter bunny whilst having that carbuncle glued to my side. Not to mention he’s developed the most annoying snort ever since he went to the groomers. Had a breakdown in the bathtub from what I understand and got water up his nose. I ask you; how would you like to partake of your Easter treats with something that sounds like a congested donkey by your side? Monstrous I tell you. I’ve experienced better ambiance in the public bathrooms. My novelist did return by evening of the second day and my world is now back in order. I managed to somehow squeak out this last chapter wrap it all up with a bright red bow. In the next few weeks, I will begin a new tale. And so, without further ado, here is Chapter Twenty-Three, the finale to my story Power Grid Failure. Fruere!

Power Grid Failure

by

Gigi the parti poodle

Chapter Twenty-Three

Reynolds turns back to Dragontail and says, “You’re out of your mind.”

“On the contrary,” Dragontail replies, “this is the most lucid I’ve ever been. The idea came to me all at once. At first, I considered revenge. I considered it a lot. Every waking moment I mulled over ways to destroy you, Reynolds. I wondered about how I’d get even with you for all the precious time you robbed me of. I could have been a great actor with an extensive resume. But I always made the mistake of listening to you. Letting you steer the boat. I never wanted to create that stupid wrist burning watch for actors. I just wanted to make movies. Great movies. Movies like no one has ever seen before. If we’d focused on building a production company instead of a product, we wouldn’t have ended up in prison.”

“Your productions were always losing money.”

“Not always.”

“Okay, not always. The problem was you’d make a small film that made a profit and then you’d turn around and make a bigger budget film that bombed. I kept telling you to make small films. You’re good at making small films.”

“Well, I’ve found a whole new way to make movies I’m even better at. Guerilla filmmaking.”

“Are you saying you’ve put all of us in your new movie?”

“Correct.”

Crystal hurries to the entrance of the Mesachie building and helps Adams to his feet. “What happened?” she asks.

“Dragontail shot me with his stun gun,” he tells her. “Where’s Tiffany?”

“Guarding Unicorn.”

“You just left her alone with Unicorn?”

“She’s a grownup. She can handle it.”

“But he’s Unicorn.”

Crystal marches onto the skybridge. “What’s going on?” she demands looking at Dragontail and Reynolds.

“It’s all been a scam,” Sloan says.

“A scam?”

“As in Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.”

“What’s Candid Camera?”

“How did you film us?” Martin demands.

“Unicorn is head of security,” Dragontail says. “He’s got access to cameras everywhere. And since he works the night shift it was easy for him to set up a way to record sound as well.

“You made me miss my kids’ holiday performance because you wanted to make a guerilla movie?” Windy says.

“Yes. But it’s something your whole family will be able to treasure for years to come.”

“You monster!”

“You can’t release the film without our written consent,” Martin says.

“Your consent is irrelevant,” Dragontail says.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because guerilla filmmakers don’t care about consent or permits. They care about making a film at all costs. And not only that, but this isn’t a workplace film. It’s a film that happens to be made in an office building.”

“At least you’ll have an interesting excuse for missing your kids’ show, Windy,” Martin says.

Suddenly, the door of the Mesachie building swings open, and Tiffany burst inside dragging Unicorn stumbling behind her tied up with computer cable.

“Here’s the little weasel,” she says and gives Unicorn a shove.

“Apparently, Unicorn is a cinematographer,” Adams tells her.

“A what?”

“Dragontail and Unicorn have been filming us the whole time.”

“You jerk!” Tiffany says and yanks on the computer cord causing Unicorn to squeak.

“I love it when you hurt me,” he says.

“Watch your mouth,” Sloan warns.

“We need a final shot,” Dragontail says.

“You call that an ending?” Reynolds says.

“I call it art. Now, I want to finish this scene.”

“What scene?”

“The final scene on the skybridge. A great big fight scene.”

“You’re nuts. No one wants to fight. Everyone just wants to go home.”

“And they will. As soon as we finish this scene. Now, there’s a good chance there will be some serious injuries.”

Just then the elevator doors ding and Remmel comes strolling down the hall and enters the skybridge from the Redoubt building entrance.

“Fantastic!” Dragontail says. “You’re here. Alright, places everyone. One, two, three and…action!”

“Adams, run!” Reynolds yells.

Adams shoves Dragontail out of the way and runs towards the Redoubt exit. Windy grabs Martin’s and they run after him. Tiffany lets go of Unicorn’s computer cords, runs up and grabs Sloan’s hand and they scramble after the others. Reynolds grabs Crystal’s hand and starts to leave but Craggy grabs Crystal’s free hand.

“I’m finishing this movie, Reynolds!”

Adams rushes to the elevator and holds up the key card. He turns to his coworkers and yells, “Hurry!”

Windy, Martin, Tiffany, and Sloan all sprint for the elevator door.

“Let’s go!” Martin shouts.

“We can’t. Reynolds and Crystal aren’t here yet.”

“They’re coming!”

The elevator dings. Martin shoves Adams into the elevator and drags Windy inside. Tiffany and Sloan get on. Adams gets to his feet and pushes the Open-Door button.

“We need to wait for them,” Adams says.

“He’s right,” Tiffany agrees.

“Someone’s coming!” Windy says.

Suddenly, Reynolds jumps onto the elevator car and pulls Crystal inside with him. “Go!”

Adams releases the Open-Door button and pushes the button for the first floor. Dragontail’s angry face comes into view. “Get back on set!”

Tiffany steps up and pushes him and he stumbles backwards just as the doors are about to close.

“This is my movie…!”

The door shuts and all of them stand staring at the number pad. The car begins to descend. Reynolds looks at Crystal and realizes they are still holding hands.

“I hate Mondays,” he says to her and smiles.

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: EMILY THE CRIMNAL (2022)-NETFLIX

This week’s pick is a fantastic taunt tense thriller written and directed by John Patton Ford in his feature directorial debut. It focuses on the ridiculous amount of debt students are forced to carry due to America’s lack of funding for higher education. It also shows the sinister way companies use internships to abuse college students and graduates to legally acquire free labor. The United States is notorious for the way it punishes the best and the brightest and rewards the wealthy mediocre who gravitate not towards STEM or the arts but business and management. This can be seen in how grade schools now sickeningly reward complacent behavior alongside academic achievement. Then they turn around and hire unnecessary bureaucratic management that rob students and teachers of the money they need. Ford based his story on his personal life dealing with working in restaurants and struggling with student debt.

Emily (Aubry Plazza in a stunning performance) is a former student carrying $70,000 in student debt. She struggles to lower the principal because much of the money she pays towards her loan each month goes to the interest instead. She constantly interviews for better paying jobs but is always turned down and often haunted by an incident that left her with a criminal record. One day her coworker Javier (Bernardo Badillo) asks her to cover one of his shifts and gives her a number to text if she’d like to make an easy $200.

After her shift Emily texts the number to ask what the job is. She receives a vague answer but goes to the provided location anyway. When she arrives, she finds herself amongst a dozen or more others who have come to see about the job. One of the men heading up the operation makes a copy of their driver’s licenses and photographs them. Emily then meets Youcef (Theo Rossi) who helps head what turns out to be a credit card fraud ring where Emily and the others are enlisted as dummy shoppers. They are given a fake ID and fake credit card, are driven to a large store, and told to each purchase a flat screen television that the ring will turn around and sell for nearly 100% profit.

Youcef does indeed give Emily her $200 cash for her hour of work and says if she wants to earn $2000, she can return tomorrow after they text her. Emily obliges and takes the $2000 an hour con job. And even though it proves to be far more harrowing than the first, Emily discovers she might have a knack for the work and is just getting started.