The Further Adventures Of Shelly & Brunella

The four very tired young women walked along the deserted highway in the wee hours of the morning, heading home to the comfort and safety of their own Emily Dickinson College. Their night with those strange guys ending with the four of them being ditched by their blind dates in that awful nightclub in the middle of nowhere, forced to dance with those colored men until closing time, which couldn't have come too soon.
"I can't believe Fawn would know boys like that," said one.
"They reminded me of criminals," replied another.
"I thought Frank was kind of cute," said Shelly, the one who had set up her three friends on this quadruple date.
"EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW," answered the other three in unison.
"No, really," insisted Shelly.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW."
------
Several weeks later, and Shelly Dubinsky is sitting the bed in her dormitory room, on the verge of tears. Her attempt to find Frank -- the young rogue who had come into the dorm lobby a few weeks ago, announcing to her friend Brunella at the desk that he was Shelly's ex-roommate's finace -- reached a dead end. Fawn Liebowitz, the sophomore from Fort Wayne who had been Shelly's roommate, was dead, killed in a kiln explosion. Hadn't this boy known about Fawn's tragic demise? He was her finace. Hadn't anyone called Amherst and told him?
Shelly had called Amherst. The college told her it didn't have anyone named Frank Lyman enrolled there. She called the Liebowitz house. No, Fawn didn't have a boyfriend named Frank. She even called the Dexter Lake Club, where she and her friends had spent that harrowing night with all those Negroes, because one of those boys seemed to know the band leader. The club put Shelly in touch with Otis Day, who informed her he knew those fellows from something called a toga party at some fraternity at Faber College where his band had played a week or so earlier. Delta Tau Chi, he said, was the name of the frat. She called the dean, who told her in a very angry voice that he had kicked all the Deltas off campus ("out of here like shit through a goose" was how the dean phrased it). She wanted to describe Frank to the dean, but the man was obviously in no mood to discuss "those punks" he swept from Faber for good.
Faber. What a place. Shelly had heard there was a street riot there during the FC homecoming parade. Wonder if Frank and the others were in on that. Then she read about how the mayor of Faber was indicted by a grand jury on racketeering charges. Her hopes of ever finding Frank were dead in the water.
Then a knock came on her open door. Brunella stood in the doorway, her long and very thick brown hair in a rare state of being perfectly brushed. Brunella was barefoot, but was fully dressed otherwise in freshly washed jeans and a bulky Irish sweater. Shelly sat of the bed wearing just an EDC sweatshirt and khaki trousers.
"Hey, Shel, let's get our shoes on and go downtown. Noreen is playing at the coffeehouse tonight. Not just her and her guitar. She's got a bass player with her tonight. C'mon, what do you say?"
Shelly said nothing. She turned her head away from her friend.
"Something wrong, Shel?"
"I'll never find Frank," Shelly said, almost in tears. Brunella huffed.
"Why would you want to find him?"
"I liked him."
"EEEEWWWWWW."
"Keep your EEEEWWWWs to yourself. I wanted to get to know him better."
"Shelly, he's a creep," Brunella said in an indignant tone. "So were his friends. Forget him. Look what he did, pretending to be Fawn's boyfriend. Talk about bad taste. All he wanted..."
"I know what he wanted," Shelly said, cutting off Brunella. "But he was cute. No, he was handsome."
"Is that all you want in a boy, handsome? Shel, there are lots of handsome guys out there; boys who wouldn't have the nerve to say they were friends with a dead girl. I never saw anything so bold in my life."
"I like men who are bold, and different, and will do crazy things just for kicks and will take chances."
"Shelly, he did those things at your expense. He's a con man and a liar, why would you want a boy like that?"
"I don't know. I don't know."
"You wouldn't change him, if that's what you're thinking. You don't change men. You take them as is."
Shelly couldn't argue. She knew boys better than that. But Frank was just so damned good-looking she couldn't get her mind off him.
"Come on, Shel. It'll make Noreen happy if we go down and listen to her. It'll be the last time she plays before Christmas break."
Shelly got up and reached for her socks and shoes. Brunella started walking out of the room to get something on her own bare feet. Before she left, she had one last thing to say.
"You know I told you my parents are letting me go to Italy as a 21st birthday present this summer? You know, how they want me to get in touch with my heritage."
Shelly nodded.
"They said I can only go without them if I have a friend with me. Why don't you come along?"
"Me?" asked Shelly, pointing her index finger at her chest.
"Yeah, you. Why not you? You're an art major. Don't you want to see Italy? The great art museums. Florence. Milan. Venice. Oh, it'll be wonderful. Just us bumming around Italy."
Shelly smiled, a smile that let Brunella know that she would think about it, and that she was happy to have been asked. Brunella left and Shelly began pulling a wollen sock over the toes of her left foot.

NEXT: Shelly & Brunella see more Italian traditions besides great artwork.

lololol animal house is one of my very favorite movies. toga toga toga.. great job, love it so far. and frank aka whatever his name is was sooo cute. tim matheson sighs...

isabeau

Oh, yes, I can't count how many times I've seen Animal House. The part where Tim Matheson (a guy I would not mind looking like) poses as Fawn Liebowitz's fiance is classic! And Shelly was the best looking babe in the movie. Much better than Amanda and Babs from Faber College. Stay tuned as the gals get an experience weirder than that evening at the Dexter Lake Club.

Animal House--Thumbs Up!

I know Animal House very well. When I was 15, my mom gave me a copy of the uncut script for my birthday. I must have read it from cover to cover hundreds of times.

"Frank Lyman" was an alias used by Eric "the Otter" Stratton, played by Tim Matheson. It's not surprising that Shelley Dubinski wouldn't be able to track him down, since the name's a fake. Stratton claimed to be from Amherst, because he was trying to make a good impression on Dubinski. You'll remember he told Kent "Flounder" Dorfman (played by Stephen Furst, who later went on to costar in Babylon 5), "Just mention civil rights, modern art and folk music and you're in like Flynn." As it turned out, most of what Stratton said that night was a pack of lies.

It'll be interesting to see where this story leads. According to the story, we're at a point in time after the parade, so the movie's events have already come and gone. I'm sure we'll be hearing from other characters from the movie as well, but I don't know how that'll happen since the story's heading toward Italian culture.

One hint that might be helpful in writing the rest: in the uncut script, the list of offenses committed by the Deltas prior to the movie's beginning was a bit longer than it was in the movie. Think back to Dean Wormer's listing the Deltas offenses for Gregg Marmalard of Omega House: "...every spring, the trees are filled with underwear, every winter, the toilets explode." The uncut script mentioned the Deltas also held coeds captive in their basement for 36 hours, but this was considered too risque for the 1982 audience for whom the movie was to be shown, so it got cut. Nowhere did it say how or why the Deltas captured these girls, or what happened during those 36 hours. Might be interesting to pursue.

Also of note: the Deltas also crated the statue of Emil Faber (with the inscription "Knowledge is Good", the founder of the college, and shipped it to the Kremlin. It cost the school a great deal getting it back. If Shelley & Brunhilda want to travel, a Russian influence might be a good way to connect the story's inclination toward foreign cultures with these characters. Just an idea.

All in all, I like this stroll down memory lane very much. Keep up the good work, and I hope to see more like it.

Oh boy, is this great?

Yes, although I'll say this story really isn't about Animal House per se. I'm just using the two minor characters from the film for my story of tickling. I look at it this way, rather than have to describe characters in my stories, anyone who has seen AH knows what Shelly and Brunella look like. Besides, as I said, I have had a mad crush on Shelly Dubinsky for 28 years. I think that actress (Lisa Baur) was a righteous babe, and I don't know why she never got more work. Brunella, BTW, is Julia Roberts' sister-in-law.

Anyway, people have been asking me why I have waited so long to post the second part. Or, as Dean Wormer would say, "Well?...Out With It!!!!!"

A good beginning. You write very well. An intersting story line.
Only one critisism.... NO TICKLING! Dab-nab-it! Let's get to the good stuff!