Friday's Focus on Saturday: Meeting an Antagonist

Welcome to behind the scenes of Cheers, Chocolate, and Other Disasters. This morning I have invited Celine Carroll to come visit, but frankly, I don't know if she will show up or not. She is the young lady who brings disaster after disaster raining down on AJ Devlin's head in the Cheers book. Celine is not a very nice girl...or is she? Mainly, she is an enigma that no one, least of all AJ, can figure out.  Uh oh...I hear a faint knock on the door. Perhaps she has come, after all. Let's open the door, and see.

Mikki: Good morning, Celine. I'm so glad you came. I really didn't know if you would or not.

Celine: walking in with her usual smirk: Why wouldn't I come? Did you think I would be afraid to answer your questions?

Mikki: Here, have a seat. No, I didn't think that. I did think you might consider an interview with your author somewhat beneath you, and not come for that reason.

Celine: sitting down with a flounce and looking around the room, then shrugging: Well, we'll see how it goes, and then I'll tell you if this is beneath me or not. So, fire away.

Mikki: smiling to keep from tearing her hair out: Celine, who are the people you are living with? You know, the ones you refer to as Mom and Dad, when you know your own parents are in prison?

Celine: I don't think that's any of your business. Besides, I've been sworn to secrecy.

Mikki: Oh, not my business, huh? Then suppose you tell me why they chose to bring you to West Haven, Colorado. That is a very long way from Chicago.

Celine: I wanted to meet AJ. Her father sent my parents to prison. I'm going to make her pay for that.

Mikki: But Celine, AJ knew nothing about your parents, or even that her father was involved in their trial. She still knows very little. Why are you seeking revenge on her?

Celine: Well, why not? Someone has to pay, and I can't get to her father. She's the next best thing. Besides, she is so much fun to make fun of. She thinks she has the perfect life, the perfect friends, but when I get through with her, she won't have anything left.

Mikki: You have already made trouble between AJ and her two best friends, Jaime and Julie. They are following you around like you were some kind of Pied Piper, and totally ignoring her. What more do you want?

Celine: Oh, Mikki, for an adult you are really out of it, aren't you. Taking her best friends away, and making all the kids at that stupid school like me and forget about her is nothing. It was just too easy. Just wait, I have more plans for your little miss AJ.

Mikki:  Let's forget about AJ for a minute and talk about you. You are older than AJ and her friends. Why are you in middle school? Why aren't you in high school where you belong?

Celine: giving me a disgusted look: Oh, for crap's sake, Mikki. AJ is in middle school, so why would I want to be in high school where I couldn't get to her? It was so easy for my "parents" to get a fake birth certificate for me, so my age would be incorrect. It was perfect for me to be in the same grade as AJ.

Mikki: Ah, yes, your "parents." Let's talk about them for a minute. I understand that AJ accidentally finds a room in your house that is loaded with all kinds of electronic equipment, as well as a number of telephones. What is that all about?

Celine: Well, since it won't do you any good to know this, I'll tell you. A little bit, that is. The people I live with are not the good little citizens that West Haven seems to be made up of. That is such a boring town! Anyway, they are involved with people who make things happen, that make life exciting. To tell the truth, I really don't know much about their business, but I do know that it is an extension of what my mother and father were into.

Mikki: But your parents were convicted of mob activity crimes. And now you are living with people just like them? How does that fit with you now living in West Haven? Why there and not still in Chicago?

Celine: with her usual smirk back on her face: These people gave me riding lessons, bought me all the right clothes, taught me how to speak as if I'd been living the rich life in New York. They changed me so that I could come here, and pretend to be the person AJ and Jaime and Julie think I am. When I'm through with AJ Devlin, her father will wish he'd never even heard of my parents.

Mikki: So, you're not through with your devilment of AJ. Tell me, Celine, is it true that you are some kind of evil omen, that everything that is happening to AJ right now is all your doing?

Celine: laughing without humor: Oh my, you give me too much credit! I'm an evil omen? Why, no, I'm just this girl with curly blonde hair and deep dimples. How can anyone think I am evil? Celine laughs again, but it seems sinister. How could I possibly bring so many disasters down upon poor little AJ all at one time? An evil omen? I like that, Mikki, I really do. But I have to go now, and leave you and your readers wondering...am I really an evil omen?

Celine gets up before I can stop her, and saunters out the door, laughing loudly...so loudly that sound is still ringing in my ears long after she is gone. The interview is obviously over, but I'm left wondering...just WHO is Celine Carroll?

Until next time,
That's a wrap.