Subj: Collinwood 2001 Part Twenty
Date: 5/20/01 11:41:05 PM Central Daylight Time
From: N.E. Collins

THERE IS SOME LANGUAGE IN THIS PART WHICH SOME READERS MAY FIND OBJECTIONABLE.

The lights go down and the whole room is bathed in rich velvety darkness. A voice comes up through the inky blackness. "Will you welcome to the stage that infamous star directly from Gay Paree...Trixie LaRue!"

The crowd gives a nice healthy round of applause as a pink spotlight reveals a seven foot tall female form in a tight fitting Zebra print one-piece sleeveless minidress with matching five inch Zebra print heels. She is sporting a matching Zebra print pillbox and wearing dark Jackie O style sunglasses. She snarls a smile with those big red wet lips as she lip syncs to Annie Lennox doing Would I Lie To You? The crowd has never seen anything quite like this and they offer up another round of stunning applause.

"So, all you have to do is get a little teeny tiny blood sample from the kid so I can proceed with this DNA test to prove once and for all that David Collins is no more of a Collins than I am." Burke Devlin appeared to be whispering sweet nothings in Carol Worsinski's ear, but instead he was going over his little scheme to bring down Roger Collins. "Now I know that it won't be easy, but there must be some way that we can pull this off without anyone suspecting a thing."

Carol delicately took ahold of Burke's chin and brought him face to face with her seductively. "We, lover?"

Burke gave her an affectionate lick on the nose. "True. It has to just be you, otherwise suspicions would run a bit high, but I DO have an idea how you can pull it off."

"I'm all ears, mister."

Burke nuzzled her neck and said, "Thank goodness that's not true."

She gave a giggle as he continued with his plan. "Let's say that the boy had a little accident. Nothing too terrible, but one that would require, say, a tetenus shot? And you being a nurse would just happen to have one on hand. And after you give him the shot you could also take a small sample of his blood for emergency testing. You know? Just in case?"

Carol purred like a kitten. "You've got it all figured out, don't you?"

The two conspirators were interrupted from further plotting by the thunderous applause that came after the first number of the show came to an end. The crowd cried out for more, more, but Trixie LaRue never gave them more. Trixie's motto was, "make them beg for more and then DON'T give it to them."

"Awright, Miss LaRue! Wasn't she great! Yea! Whooo Hoo!" The faceless announcer called out. "I am your emcee and music man, Flip Side, and if you liked that then you are gonna LUV this next beauty. Give it up for the one and ONLY Norma Performa!"

A slightly shorter female form arose from the same table that Pepe, Julia, and Dave Woodard were seated at. This was how Norma Performa made her grand entrance. By posing as just another spectator she had taken them all by surprise, and what's more she had an actual microphone in hand for she intended to sing live to some taped music. The familiar strains of People by Barbara Striesand began issuing melodically from her golden throat. Applause, applause, applause.

A storm was moving in off the coast and directly over the Collins' family estate. The wind wailed and howled and blew the trees about in a frenzy as the two young men ran for shelter into the old abandoned mansion. Harry Johnson and Willie Loomis had been roaming about the grounds sharing a bottle of cheap wine when the rain had begun. They had had little trouble forcing one of the old front doors inward to get in out of the wet outside. Willie shone a flashlight over their dark surroundings. "Wud 'cha look at this run down old place? Damn, it's a dusty pile a'shit, ain't it?"

Harry agreed as they made their way through the front hallway and into the drawing room area. There was a massive fireplace with chipped marble stonework on the north wall. Long thin ceiling to floor windows lined the wall adjacent and most of the panes were broken out or cracked and darkened with the dust that permeated most everything. There were remnants of old furniture scattered here and there, but the thing which captured the boys attention was the huge portrait that hung over the mantlepiece.

"She was some good lookin' bitch." Willie said and Harry gave an "ayuh" in agreement.

"Who was she?" Harry asked.

"That there was the bride of one of the first Collinses way back when. And they say that she was the very FIRST one to jump off 'uv Widow's Hill."

Harry gave Willie a look like he didn't believe him. "Aw, go on! You're shitting me, right? Where'd ya hear that bunch of bs?"

"The kid." Harry laughed out loud at Willie's reply.

"David Collins, you mean? Hell, he was putting it over on you man! You KNOW what a big liar he is!"

But Willie insisted that it was the truth this time. "He showed me this old book and it had picture and names and dates and everything, and this girl was IN that book. I swear!"

Harry blew a pile of dust off of the mantlepiece and coughed as the cloud blew up and around. "Dammit!" Willie gave a snorting chuckle. And then he got a wicked idea and leaned in closer to Harry Johnson. "And ya know what else the kid told me? He told me that this girl, this DEAD girl, is a friend of his and that on certain nights, nights like tonight, she comes out of this picture and dances around."

Harry eyes were tranfixed on the portrait and he was just drunk enough to be a little scared when Willie made a sudden grab at him that sent Harry over the edge! "Goddammit! What the hell's the matter with you, man! You wanna get funny with me or something?"

Willie was about to bust a gut. "Aww...did I scare the widdle boy?"

Harry was about to answer back in his defense when there came an eerie creaking sound and then a moaning noise. "What's that? Where's that coming from?" Harry pulled up right next to Willie and they both shot quick glances around the room.

Willie got ahold of himself and made a decision. "It's nothing, man. It's just the wind, ya know. And this old house is settling and crap like that. It's nothing."

THUD - THUD , THUD - THUD, THUD - THUD

This was followed by another longer moan that rose up and down a scale. "Let's get OUT of here!" Harry said as he made a mad dash for the front door with Willie right behind him.

Out into the storm they went without a second look back. For if they had they might have seen Matthew Morgan enter the room, but they were far gone by then. The old man gave a hearty giggle to his ghostly antics. He talked outloud to himself. "Serves them two whipper snappers right! They don't belong in this place, no sir. They got no right to be coming and going like they own the place."

The lightning flashed outside and it was followed by the roar of thunder. The rain had let up some, but the wind was still tossing the tree branches about as they knocked randomly against the outside of the Old House.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.