NMF: A Dream, With Light Brown Hair
By Dana Short
FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were sitting across from each other in the coffee shop when Mulder's Cell phone chirped for attention.
"What now..." Fox asked the universe in general as he pulled the device from his jacket pocket, activated it, and held it to his ear. "Mulder here." he replied.
Dana listened from her side of the table but a faint buzzing was about all she could make out. A faint buzzing seemed somehow appropriate, as that was what her head had been doing ever since they got into town on this Raucous Chicken case.
She was certainly glad that they didn't have on of those darn X-Files camera crews following them around on this one, so far the amount of progress they had made on the case was nil. Oh, Sheriff Anderson, the local law, was being accommodating enough, unlike with some of their past experiences, but still the very enormity of what they were facing was somewhat staggering. Hundreds of people who had been at the Raucous Chicken had been transformed into literally whatever they had been costumed as. As if to make matters worse, many of them believed they were now what they appeared to be, to various degrees. The local law had already had to deal with several super-villains out there, fortunately they had gotten some help from a few newly created super-heroes as well. It was a bit surreal to see an actual Super girl or Wonder Woman flying by over head, almost as though one's life had become entangled with that of some character on a TV show. Another facet of the case which made unraveling everything even more difficult, was that immediately after the "incident" whatever that was which caused the change, several people had left the club, so the actual list of transformees was still incomplete at this time. A press release had gone out, asking all the affected attendees who had not already done so to please contact the police so they could have their statements taken.
"Thank you, Sheriff, we'll be right there." Fox said, shutting off his phone and stowing it away again.
"Well? Anything useful?" Dana asked looking across the table and up into Fox's eyes, trying to judge the portent of the phone call.
"Another victim has turned up. The Sheriff wanted to know if we wanted to sit in on the questioning this time. Give us a chance to ask any first person questions, rather than just reading things in the reports." Mulder replied, gesturing at the several folders spread out on the table between them.
Gathering up the indicated folders, Fox and Dana left the Diner, and headed out to their rental car. Setting the folders in the back, Fox hopped in the Driver Seat, and Dana took up her usual shotgun position. The trip to the Sheriff's station was brief, only interrupted momentarily as they waited at a cross walk while a human sized chicken, obviously a victim of the club, ambled across the street. Noting the sudden expression on Fox's face, Dana pre-empted him by saying "Don't you dare ask."
Arriving at the Sheriff's Station, they headed inside, and were directed to the Interview Room, where suspects were regularly grilled for information. As they approached, Dana noticed the door to the observation room being pulled closed from the inside.
As they met the Sheriff out in front of the room, Dana asked "Who's in the Observation Room, Anderson?"
Fox just looked at her, a bit of confusion on his face.
"Nobody, Agent Scully. It's, uh, broken. We need to get it fixed before we can use it. If you two will follow me, we have the person in here. I don't know if he was really at the club at all, he seems, so...normal." Sheriff Anderson said, escorting them swiftly inside the Interview room.
The room's occupant was a youngish man, tall and skinny, with shoulder length shaggy dark brown hair, who was sitting at the table, looking sadly at a pocket TV set.
"Mr. Brown? These are Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from the FBI. They would like to sit in on your statement, and maybe ask a few questions of their own when you've finished, if that's ok?" the Sheriff asked, gesturing at Mulder and Scully as he sat down at the head of the table, opposite the man.
Looking up at the two agents, the man said "No, that's fine. They may be able to help." He set the TV aside, and stood up. He offered his hand to the Agents. "Dan Brown, pleased to meet you."
Taking the proffered handshake, Mulder said, "So, Mr. Brown, what can you tell us about the incidents at the Raucous Chicken Club on October 31?"
"Quite a bit, actually. You see, I was there. I sort of saw it all. I wasn't paying attention, but I did see the important stuff, even if just out of the corner of my eye."
"Well, go ahead, tell us your story. We'll just interrupt if we have any questions, or we could wait with the questions until you have finished your statement." Dana said, sitting across from Mulder, on the Sheriff's left, facing the mirrored window into the Observation Room, which was supposedly un-occupied, but which she had a feeling actually was.
"Whatever you prefer. I don't mind. Ok, where to start..."
"I have never been one to get dressed up for Halloween. As a kid, Halloween was more a time to play practical jokes on folks, or to try and scare the little kids who came to the house with as elaborate a setup as my friends, Bob and Mark, and I could create. Over the years, I have tended to go with the concept that a costume is more a state of mind than an article of clothes. For example, I was at Disneyland for Halloween a few years ago, and I went as a 'Tourist to Walt Disney World.' It was more a matter of pretending I was in the wrong park, and wearing the clothes from the WDW park, carrying a camera, you know, looking the part of the tourist. Or maybe I just don't like having to look all weird. Take your pick. Anyhow, When Bob and Mark announced that they were going to drag me to the Raucous Chicken Club Party, whether I wanted to go or not, I said 'Fine.' and selected my favorite standard Halloween costume."
"And what costume was that, Mr. Brown?" Fox asked opening a notebook, and positioning his pen.
"It's Dan, please, and as I said, it was an old favorite of mine. I came up with it years ago for work, when they insisted everyone come in a costume for Halloween. I came as a serial killer."
Noting that Sheriff Anderson suddenly sat up, and reached for his gun, Dan hurried on to explain "Not that type, it's a joke. Let me explain. I took a single serving sized box of Fruit Loops, and stabbed it through the middle with a plastic knife. Then, if anyone was inclined to ask me where my costume was, I would hold up the box by the knife and reply 'I'm a cereal killer. We look just like everyone else.' It was a sort of walking pun, usually rewarded with a groan or an honest laugh." Upon hearing that, Anderson relaxed a bit, and put his hands back up on the table.
"So can we get back to the incidents at the Club? What happened?" Mulder asked.
"Ok, Mark and Bob went as a team, since unlike myself, they enjoy dressing funny for Halloween, so they went as Beavis and Butt-head. Bob went as Beavis. All the way over to the club they were practicing their lines, getting their voices right, etc. They were really into it."
"When we got to the club, there were already a lot of folks there, many of them in really cool costumes. We headed inside, and hit the refreshment counter. Bob went up and asked for a cappuccino. He wanted it so he could do a Cornholio skit. Mark just walked around, saying 'Uh, we're gonna score.' I just kind of tried to distance myself from them. So I grabbed a punch, and after insuring it was not spiked or anything, as I was driving, I saw her."
"Who?" Dana asked.
"Her. The girl. She was standing next to a man dressed as a giant cigarette. He had a really elaborate setup--he even had a bit of smoke coming out of the top of him. Almost good enough for some ad agency to have come up with for a mascot campaign or something. Anyhow, she was standing near him, and I figured it was a good enough excuse to get closer to her to go over and talk to him. Leaving Mark and Bob behind me with a poor imitation of the Schwarzenegger 'I'll be baak.' I headed over to talk to the guy in the cigarette costume, and get a closer look at the girl."
"Well as I walked up to the cigarette dude, I noted he was already engaged in a conversation with another guest, this one a guest dressed as Frosty the Snowman. Frosty was complaining about how his costume was really way too warm for him, and the Cigarette Man responded that while the dry ice he was using for the smoke seemed to work OK, aside from tending to drift down instead of up, that it was sure making his head cold. I suppressed the urge to break into their conversation with a silly line about fire and ice, but that left me with only two options, wandering aimlessly through the party, or approaching the girl directly. I chose the girl."
"She was carrying a metal gravy boat, and was dressed as a Genie in a costume much like Barbara Eden's in 'I Dream Of Genie." The costume did wonders for her figure, or maybe it was vice-versa. I couldn't tell. Either way she looked great. Probably the cutest girl I had seen so far at the party. That was even after counting the Silicone Stripper and Voluptuous Vampire we had passed on the way in. Her hair was light brown, and fell to halfway down her back, in soft, shimmering waves. Her eyes were a sparkling green, filled with intelligence and amusement. They were looking at me. Her mouth was wide, with full, kissable lips. They were smiling. Then she spoke, and her voice was soft, and somewhat high, but not overly so. 'Let me guess, a Cereal Killer?' she asked, and broke up laughing. She liked my costume! 'Yep.' I replied with a smile of my own."
"She stepped closer to me, and held out the gravy boat, which I figured was meant to be a Lamp." 'Well, hello there, Master. I am the Genie of the Lamp. Here,' she said, offering the lamp to me, which I took, 'go ahead and make a--' that was all she said, because at that moment something happened."
"What was that?" Anderson asked, slightly adjusting the mike on the tape recorder.
"Well, over behind Frosty there were a pair of folks dressed as wizards. At this point, one of them said 'I've had it with these fakes.' or something like that, and he raised his hand, and did something. Next thing I knew, I was hit by a wave of dizziness, and the girl in front of me simply vanished! Right while she was speaking. I looked down and saw that the gravy boat I held was now an actual silver lamp, then I looked up just in time to see the man who had yelled gesture again, and vanish. Just like the girl had."
"Did you get a good look at him?" Mulder asked.
"Well, unfortunately, no. I was sort of paying attention to the girl, rather than to the two wizards. Also, after he drew my attention by yelling, I was a bit distracted by the girl's disappearance, and then when I did look at him again, was when he vanished himself. All I can tell you is he was wearing a gray robe with an orange stripe. Beyond that, I don't recall."
"Ok, so what happened next?" Dana asked, adjusting her position in her seat.
"Well, I looked back down at the Lamp I now held, then I heard a voice behind me yell 'I am the great Cornholio! Have you TP for my bunghole?'"
"I wheeled around, and was confronted by a real life Beavis, his shirt pulled up over his head, doing his Cornholio thing. Standing next to him saying 'Shut up, Beavis' was a real life Butt-head. The thing was, by real life, I don't mean human, I mean walking, talking, full sized, 3-D cartoons. It was weird. Of course, so was the rest of what was going on around the room. Apparently everyone had become whatever they had been dressed as. I looked down at the lamp again, and rubbed it absentmindedly. Suddenly a spurt of pink smoke emerged from it, and took shape as the girl. She looked almost the same as before, but her costume now looked completely authentic, and there was something different about her eyes. She looked at me and said, in the same voice, 'Yes Master? What is your bidding?' I was speechless. Suddenly Butt-head stepped in front of me and said 'Woah! Look, Beavis! A Babe! Huh-huh huh-huh. I'm in love. Come to Butt-head.' And Beavis ran past saying 'I need TP. TP for my Bunghole.' All I wanted to do was go away. I said, 'I wish we were at my house. And that this weirdness was all over.'"
"She smiled and said 'Very well, Master.' And just like that, I was standing in my living room. Beavis and Butt-head were there as well, as was the Genie. 'How'd you do that?' I asked her, and she got a confused look on her face and said, 'I don't know. I just did it. It was your wish, wasn't it?' 'Yes, it was, but still, that shouldn't be possible...' I replied."
"Beavis ran up to me at this point, and said, 'TP! Give me TP! I am the Great Cornholio! Give me TP for my Bungholio!' "
"I turned to the girl, and asked her, 'Can you change those two back to normal? I mean, I wish that they were their normal selves.' and I watched her carefully. Just like on I Dream of Jeannie, she blinked her eyes, albeit without the sound effects, and the noise from Beavis and Butt-head, especially Beavis, subsided, and yet, they remained. 'I'm sorry Master, but that is all I can do. Something prevents me from changing them back to a human form, or ever fully restoring their minds.'"
"I turned and looked at Beavis and Butt-head, formerly known as Bob and Mark, and they looked back at me. 'Uh...' Butt-head, formerly Mark, said. 'Uh...' said Beavis, formerly Bob. 'This sucks.' said Mark, now Butt-head. 'Yeah.' said Bob, now Beavis. 'Let's break something.' said Butt-head. 'Yeah, or set something on fire. Fire. Fire Fire!' said Beavis. 'Uh, Beavis, can you like say that anymore?' Butt-head asked, and Beavis replied 'Uh, I guess so. Fire! Fire! Fire!' And Butt-head said 'Yeah, A-huh-huh, fire's cool. Ahhh-Huh-huh huh-huh.' So it seemed that that was as normal as they could get."
"I turned back to the girl, and said, 'Well, can you do anything with them? You know to keep them out of trouble?' even as I heard something crash in the kitchen. Suddenly her expression brightened, and she blinked her eyes again, and a small hand held TV appeared in her palm. I noted silence from the kitchen, and an odor of smoke."
"I ran into the kitchen, followed by the girl, only to see there was a silverware drawer which had been dumped out on the floor, and placed on top of the stove, which had been lit, and thus had set the wood of the drawer on fire. The girl said 'Here, Master, let me fix it.' And again she blinked her eyes, and suddenly the spilled knives, spoons and forks had vanished, along with the smoke, and burning drawer."
"Moving into the kitchen, I opened the now restored drawer, and there inside was all my silverware, sparkling clean, sorted, and aligned perfectly, unlike my normal 'just-toss-it-in-the-right-shaped-space' clutter. I looked up at the girl, and noted a look in her eyes like that of a small child hoping to be told they have done a good job, and said, 'That's incredible! Thank you! But, how did you do it?' "
"She got a lost expression on her face again, and then she said 'I don't know. I just think about it, and close my eyes, and it happens. I can feel it in my head somehow.'"
"I looked at her, and again noted a sense of loss, or disorientation, so I askeked her, 'Well, thanks again. You are incredible, no matter how you do it. What is your name, anyway? Mine's Dan.' And I extended my hand to her."
"She took my hand and as she shook it she said, 'Hi, Dan. My name is Genie,' and she smiled that smile she had used when we had first met. 'I'm the Genie of the lamp. I'm here to serve you.' I realized that whatever had happened at the club must of affected her mind as well as poor Bob's and Mark's, so I tried another approach. I said, 'Genie, I wish you could remember who you really are.' "
"She got a puzzled expression on her face, but then she blinked her eyes, and the puzzlement seemed to fade, only to be replaced by a more confused look. 'I can remember being at a party with my Dad, dressed as a Genie. And you walked up. I wanted to talk to you, and then I stopped you and we started to talk, and then...That's it. After that, I remember you summoning me from my lamp, assuming the position of my one and only Master, and wishing we were here. Everything before that is just a blur. I remember a lot of sadness, but that's about it. I'm sorry, Master, I mean Dan, but I can't remember anything else. No matter how hard I try, I can't remember anything, except for one other thing; I remember being on a swing, in a back yard, with my Mother pushing me. I was happy then. I don't remember how long ago that was, but it seems like a long time ago. That's all.' "
"I took her hand, and said, 'Can you remember your real name at least? Or your father? Can you remember your father's name?' "
"She looked up at me with those lovely eyes, and said 'J..just Genie. That's the only name I can remember. Nothing else. It's all fuzzy.' "
"I saw how sad this was making her, and so I said, 'That's Ok. We'll stick with just Genie for now. Maybe you will remember more later.' To change the subject, I asked her, 'What did you do with them? Mark and Bob, a-k-a Beavis and Butt-head? I notice they seem to be gone.' "
"She smiled at me and held up the little TV. 'I put them in here. It only seemed right. Now they can cause all the mischief they want.' I looked at the TV, and sure enough, there they were, Beavis and Butt-head, sitting on a couch, watching videos."
"You mean she put them into a cartoon?" Mulder asked.
"Yep. Here ya go. Just be careful with it. I don't want to find out what happens if it gets turned off, or you change the channel." Dan said, picking up the little TV he had been watching when Scully, Mulder, and Anderson had entered the room. Mulder looked at it, noted that it was indeed showing a Beavis and Butt-head cartoon, and while he had not seen that many of them, this one was defiantly a new one on him.
"May I?" Dana asked, extending her hand.
"Sure. Here you go." Mulder replied, sliding it across the table to her.
After examining it, Scully passed it up to Anderson at the end of the table. "What were their full names? And is there any way we can get them out of there to take their statements?" Anderson asked, peering at the image on the small screen.
"The one who thinks he's Beavis was Bob Shanowitz, 152 North Main, and the one who now answers to Butt-head used to be Mark Peters, 721 Eukeherst. As for getting them out, yes I have had Genie bring them out a couple of times, always with bad results. They really do believe they are Beavis and Butt-head now, there seems to be nothing of the old Mark or Bob left that I can find. If you want, I can have her get them for you. I would recommend talking to them just one at a time though, because both of them at once are a threat to civilization, and I am not exaggerating." Dan said.
"And this Genie, can we talk to her?" Anderson asked.
"Uh, sure. That's part of why I came here, was so we could see if you could help us. You see, while she still can't remember any names, she did recall that the guy dressed as a giant cigarette was her father. I was hoping you might have a report on what his name was, or where he lived or something? Here, let me call her for you...'Genie, come here please?'" He said, raising his voice a bit at the end.
Suddenly, without a sound, an attractive young woman appeared in the room, just to Mr. Brown's right side. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, which did nothing to hide her rather spectacular figure. If anything, the cut of the jeans almost seemed to emphasize it, and the T-shirt was a bit too short, playfully exposing a bit of her midriff along with her trim waist, and her belly button. Her hair, which was light brown and fell to her mid-back, was pulled back in a pony tail, and her eyes were a sparkling green. She smiled down at Dan and said, "Oh yes my Master, what may I do for you?"
He gestured at the seated law enforcement personnel, and said, "They have some questions for you. I wish you would answer them as best you can." Then turning to Dana, he explained, "She seems happier if I make formal wishes. She can act by herself, but doesn't seem to like it as much. Also, whenever she grants a wish, it seems to make her happy, so I try to phrase even the simplest request as a wish."
"What if you make a wish she doesn't want to grant?" Dana asked.
Dan scrunched up his face in thought for a second and then turned to Genie and said, "Genie, what would you do If I made a wish you didn't want to grant?"
Genie looked lost for a second, then replied, "I would be sad Master, but I would grant it. Why?"
"Hmmm...OK, from here on out, I wish that if I make a wish you would not want to grant, that you would tell me so first, before fulfilling it, and ask me if I am sure I want you to do so. OK?"
Genie brightened and said, "Oh thank you Master! You are the greatest Master any Genie could ever want!"
Dan looked over at Scully and shrugged, saying, "Well, there you go." He then looked back at Genie, and said, "Thank Agent Scully here, she is the one who brought it up."
Sheriff Anderson now spoke up "Miss, what is your last name?"
Genie got sad looking and said, "I don't know. I have tried to recall, but I can't. My Master even wished for me to recall, but I still couldn't. I don't know who I was. Now I am Genie, however. As Genie, I have no last name."
"Ok. We'll skip that for now. Mr. Brown said you remembered who your father was, is that correct?" Anderson went on.
"No, not really, all I remember is I went with him to the party. I think it was his idea, but I am not sure why, and that he was dressed as the giant cigarette, there was some reason for both of our costumes, but I can't remember that either. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful."
"That's all right, Miss. I believe we have a report on a man who had attended the party as a giant cigarette somewhere, and we'll look it up as soon as we finish here. See if we can't get the two of you back together." Anderson said, with real compassion in his voice.
-o-
In the observation room, the Cancer Man had heard enough. They could deal with the young man and his Genie soon enough, and the two cartoon characters seemed pretty safe, tucked away in their TV. He had an appointment to keep. Unlike the Sheriff, he already knew the identity and the history of the cigarette man and his daughter. And now that she'd turned up, and he knew she didn't remember who he was, or even who she was, he had an appointment to keep. He got up from his chair, and left the observation room, heading for the parking lot, and his car.
-o-
In another part of town, the Marlboro Man sat in his back yard, on his daughter's swing, looking sadly at his empty house. It had seemed like such a good idea, going to the party. The best way to snap poor Genie out of her slump. The years of pain as his wife, her mother, had slowly succumbed to cancer had taken a horrid toll on both of them. He had watched as his wife's slow decline had turned his charming, happy outgoing child into a glum, solitary young woman, with no friends, and no life outside of school, and taking care of her mother. Sonia's passing last August had almost been a relief for both of them. At least Genie could start to live again, he had thought, but instead, without her mother around, she seemed to withdraw even further into herself, seldom leaving her room except to eat.
He hadn't known what to do for her, until a co-worker had mentioned the party at the club. He had seen it as a challenge, a chance to take back life for both of them, and so had insisted she go. When she seemed reluctant to do so, he offered to go in the most elaborate costume he could find, even if he knew he would, well, be the butt of most jokes. She had finally accepted his challenge, and had fashioned a costume which must of included tons of cleverly hidden padding and stuffing under the gauzy material, because he knew his daughter did not have the kind of figure her costume portrayed. He didn't mind--she was going out, and that was all that mattered.
At the party, however, she had seemed to sink back into her glum shell, but then she spotted some guy, who didn't even seem to be wearing a costume, and sort of brightened up. She became positively happy when he walked over to them, and she even spoke first! He had been so happy to see his daughter coming out of her shell, and then it happened. Someone behind him yelled something about fakes, and as he was hit by a dizzy spell unlike anything he had ever experienced before, his daughter had vanished right from before his eyes.
He had looked around frantically, but couldn't find her. Then, she had almost magically reappeared before the guy she had been talking to, only this time she had looked quite different. The costume she was wearing now revealed it was somehow her true figure beneath those gauzy clothes, and not cleverly placed padding after all! No sooner had he noticed that, than both she and the guy had vanished again, and he had never seen her again.
He had told the whole story to the police, and again to that government agent, the one who gave him the willies, but no one seemed to know of any way to help. All the police could do was promise to contact him if they heard from her, but as they pointed out she was an adult. The government guy had not even promised that much.
He sighed, letting another great puff of smoke out of his top. It was why he was here in the yard rather than inside the house, he couldn't stop himself from smoking, and the more angry or depressed he got, the worse it got. His life was basically over--what could he do? As a Giant Smoking Cigarette, he was literally banned from all restaurants, public events, and all forms of public transportation. What was even worse, he had fought so hard over the years to get those very laws passed. Who would have ever considered that he would someday become the actual target of his own campaigns? He sighed again as he heard a car pull up in his front drive.
-o-
Back in the interview room at the Sheriff's station, Genie had just returned Butt-head, a-k-a Mark to the TV with Beavis, formerly known as Bob. The results of trying to interview the two about the party were a demand for TP by 'Cornholio' and a declaration that they 'sucked' by Butt-head, who also kept hitting on Dana and Genie.
"Well, at least you seem to have escaped the whole incident unscathed." Mulder said, turning to Dan.
"Not quite." Dan replied. "Remember my costume?"
"A Cereal Killer, correct?" Scully asked, looking down at her notes.
"Yes. Well, I also thought I had come through it without any problems, aside from losing my two best friends to a couple of cartoon characters, until about three days ago when I discovered that I had also been affected."
"What happened?" Dana prompted.
"Well, I was over in Newton's Grocery Store, doing some shopping, when I turned into the breakfast isle." Dan said, looking around the room. Genie walked over and stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders. "Suddenly, as I was passing the cereals, I found myself ripping down a cutlery display and going after every box visible with the largest knife I had found. I was like a madman. Children were screaming, parents were yelling, the store manager was trying to grab my arm. Cereal was flying everywhere. A real mess."
Sheriff Anderson perked up. Apparently this rang a bell to him somewhere in his mind.
"Eventually, he was able to get me away from the cereal isle, and I called Genie, who came and fixed it all up and took me back home. I wrote a letter to the manager of the store, apologizing for the mayhem, explaining what had happened, and promising I would never cause trouble in his store again."
Anderson nodded. "We had several reports about a disturbance at the store, but when we arrived on scene, we could find no evidence. Only the garbled stories from several people about a madman with a knife slashing prices, or hacking boxes and chasing children. No body was injured, and despite the stories, there was no evidence of any damage, so we had to let it drop. The store manager even told us it was all OK. I hadn't thought to connect it to the Raucous Chicken Club though. I guess I should have. You shouldn't have left the scene of the crime, you know."
"I suppose so. If you want to charge me, go ahead. It won't happen again, though. I made a wish that if I ever see any cereal, I will just fall asleep from now on, before I can go on a killing spree." Dan said, looking glum.
Uncharacteristically, Anderson said, "This time, I think we can let it drop. Like I said, the manager of the store seemed satisfied, and as there was no one hurt, and no physical damage that anyone could detect, and it was an involuntary action, even if we did charge you, most juries these days would just let you off anyhow."
"Ok. Well thanks. Is that all then? Any more questions?" Dan asked.
"I think that does it for now." Anderson replied.
Fishing out a card, Mulder said, "We'll keep in touch."
Dana stood, and shook hands with Genie, who then waved at Fox and Anderson, and kissed Dan on the cheek and vanished, leaving Dan standing at the end of the table with a stunned expression on his face, before anyone could say anything.
"Um," Sheriff Anderson started, "We'll look into the files for the report on your, er, girlfriend's father, and get back to you as soon as possible."
"Uh, thanks." Dan said, turning red.
Dana said, "She really seems to like you. Don't let her down."
"I won't. At least I will do my best not to." Dan said, getting even redder.
As he walked out of the station clutching his little TV, the agents followed, Scully noting that the door to the observation room was now slightly askew. "I wonder who was in that room?" she asked Fox.
"What room?" he queried.
"The observation room. I saw the door close as we arrived, and now it's slightly open." She explained.
"Since when were you the paranoid one on our team? Sheriff Anderson said it was broken, maybe they are fixing it. Relax a little. Isn't that what you are always telling me?" Fox replied.
"I suppose. Let's check the file for the record on that Cigarette Man, ok?" Dana asked.
"Sure." They turned and headed over to the records room, only to encounter Anderson on his way out, a concerned look on his face.
"It's gone." He said.
"What's gone?" Fox asked.
"The report on the Cigarette man. It was in here, but someone's removed it, and deleted the entry from the computer." Anderson explained.
"How could someone do that?" Dana asked the sheriff.
"I have no idea. The system is supposed to be secure. You can't just go around deleting files from it!" Anderson replied, running a hand over his head "No one here has that kind of access."
Scully looked back up the hall towards the observation room door, and felt a new stab of concern. Fox's eyes and mind echoed her's as well.
-o-
In another part of town, an empty swing twisted lightly in the wind, behind a now vacant house, in which lingered the slight smell of cigarette smoke, but nothing more.
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