1
Nikki
"Nikki, I have a mission for you."
Looking back, I realize how simple those words sounded back then. How I thought what Barry would ask of his assistant director would be a simple task that I could do within a day or two and not have to be concerned about again. I closed my computer and said, "Anything."
"I need you," he said, standing up from his desk. "To drive down to Phantasma, Coney Island and get the rights to Learning Lunacy from the mysterious Mr. Y."
I raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Y…the Phantasma guy? You couldn't find a website?"
"No, could you?"
I…was playing Bloons. "No," I replied. "The mysterious Mr. Y indeed."
"The technophobic Mr. Y," he scoffed. "You ever been to Phantasma?"
I gulped quietly. "Not since…before my mom died, so…not in seven years. But I pass by the theater once in a while. I, uh, just wouldn't know how to track the head of the operations down."
"There's no show today. You could ask around. Just look for him, be sweet little Nikki Lasalle-Jones and coax him into giving us the rights. Try to get him to keep it under two hundred fifty," he said. "Go now, call me when you get the rights."
There was no saying no to Barry, but perhaps questioning. As I put my computer in my bag, I said, "Isn't it technically your job to do that, as the director?"
"Ah, you think too little of yourself," he said. "You're an assistant director, so you're a mini-me, so you can do jobs like that."
"Lemme rephrase that," I said. "Why aren't you going?"
"Because the last train is in thirty minutes. My partner took the car to work today. But you have a car, don't you?" he said.
"I could take you with me," I suggested.
"Gosh, Nikki, how desperate are you to not do this alone? Why, are you scared of talking to strangers?" he joshed. "It's a learning experience."
I chortled. "All right, I'll do it."
"Good, good. Hear from you soon, see you tomorrow."
"Sir, yes sir," I replied. With that, I left.