FHFIF: The Memories of Ms. Francis

FHFIF: The Memories of Ms. Francis

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: The Memories of Ms. Francis


(It twas a nice midsummer’s evening not too long ago upon the house of Madame Foster. It at first seemed to be a normal night upon the Foster Home of Imaginary Friends. Fortunately instead of mischief Bloo plays with his best friend Mac all around the house. Coco sits nearby laying eggs of various odd contents, Wilt is just watching the game for now while Eduardo is busy with his potatoes. As Herriman is busy doing paperwork the night away the night begins to get a little bit older. It was getting to be time for Mac to head on home he wanted to say his goodbyes to everyone and at first he was able to do just that. But one thing did go a bit out of the ordinary and namely on how the place was short one cute redhead namely Frankie. Normally she would be busy doing chores even in a night like this but yet she seems to be nowhere in sight curiouser and curiouser as Mac searches about the home. Until he finds Madam Foster and informs him that she is now at the very top. He heads upstairs and finds her simply gazing upon the stars in a very peaceful state of mind.)

Mac: Frankie? What are you doing here?

Frankie: What? Oh… nothing, I’m not doing anything…

Mac: Ohhh… okay then… Well see ya’…

Frankie: *sigh* Wait a minute come back, I’ll tell ya’…

Mac: You don’t HAVE to tell me anything besides it might get me late since I’m suppose to be back home.

Frankie: I thought it’d be for the best that I tell you now, cause if I come off as trying to directly keep a secret from you, Bloo being his… well no offense but rather obnoxious self would try to figure it out in his own “special” way. Besides I’ll explain this to your Mom, when I drive you back to your house later on tonight. Okay buddy?

Mac: Sure, okay Frankie what\'s up?

Frankie: Alrighty then first of all the reason why I’m even allowed to be up here is because on this very night every year. My Grandma allowed Mr. Herriman to let me off for the night on this special occasion. And she even made sure that the Imaginary friends don’t do too much that would cause a lot of work for me on the next day.

Mac: Well that would explain on why the guys aren’t doing a lot lately tonight except for Bloo I’m still a bit surprised he is a bit more calm tonight.

Frankie (with a slightly evil smile): He just simply knows I can use him for clean-up purposes in various ways, he probably still remembers how I used a certain stick the last time he made a huge mess for me to clean up. Heh heh…

Mac (slightly creeped out): Oookay…

Frankie (with a slightly sheepish smile): Eh heh heh sorry you heard that *ahem* (Now her face is back to normal) Anyways it all started when I was a little girl…

Mac: About my age?

Frankie: No I was even younger than that…

Mac: Ohhh…

Frankie: Before I started to live here I used to visit my dear sweet Grandma on her wonderful house of Imaginary Friends. Oh I had lots of fun just simply playing with how the cute little friends all about the house. It was such a wonderful world of imagination for me to play with… I may’ve been only a few years old then but I never had so much fun in my life, however that was all about to change.

(We briefly see a little flashback of a young grown man and woman briefly talking to Madame Foster then leave the area as cute little Frankie was waving them goodbye as they drove off.)

Frankie: My parents both work as executives for 2 different companies and they both had to go to their meetings. The plan was that I got to stay for the night at Grandma’s house while my dad drops my mom off to her meeting while he goes to his. They were both going to rather long meetings so they wouldn’t be back for me until the morning. At least… that\'s how it was planned…

Mac: Planned?

Frankie: Yep it was suppose to go like that but it was a rather dark and stormy night, they thought it might be for the best to have me visit there since I seem to be the most comfortable there. Unfortunately it seemed that the storm went worse as they were on their way to their jobs fortunately from what I remembered my dad was a good driver. However when it comes to the open road just because you’re a good driver on the road doesn’t mean that everyone else is. I was told that despite the whether my father kept a cool head on the road but somebody else didn’t. Some guy completely lost control of his car and crashed into some others… including my parent’s… The guy who did that was some drunken single guy who was getting back to his home from a bar. In the morning my grandma told me the terrible news, it was the first time I ever truly cried that I could remember. But my grandma did the necessary paperwork for her to adopt me as quickly as possible. As sadden as I was about my parents being gone, I was happy about going to my Grandma’s happy home of imaginary friends… Well… I was…

Mac: Was?

Frankie: Yeah, my favorite playground soon became my workplace. Not too long after I started to live there a certain gray hare namely Mr. Herriman soon gave me plenty of orders. I hardly saw him all that much before all of this happened but I saw him a lot more afterwards. Granted it didn’t seem too bad at first I mean I had things to do back at my old house and I wasn’t use to doing all that much work at the Foster house back then at the time. But over the days things got hectic for me and that rabbit but it never went truly bad until during a rather special night…

(We now see that Dark but not-so meteorologically stormy night in a flashback. There was quite a dinner being planned and worked on.)

Herriman (in a bit more nervous tone): Lets keep it up everyone our guests whom are the richest charity donators in the land will arrive real soon! C’mon now hurry! Ms. Francis hurry with the dishes!

Young Frankie: I’m trying Mr. Herriman!

Herriman: Well try harder Ms. Francis! Time is money! And the better time we make for them the more money we get for the house!

Young Frankie: Okay Mr. Herriman!

(Time shortly passed as the Benefactor in question here arrived at the house.)

Benefactor: I would like to have a drink of…

Herriman (still rather nervously): Milk? Coffee with Cream? Black Coffee? Hot Cocoa? Soda?

Benefactor: Ehhh… Just water will suffice…

Herriman: Oh… very well then…

(The night was going on just not rather smoothly, Herriman continues to try to cater to their special guest. Unfortunately he never really calmed down, things didn’t go too badly until…)

Herriman: Ms. Francis! Hurry with the extra entrees at once! Our guest is still hungry!

Young Frankie: Okay Mr. Herriman! I’m trying to… opps…

(She was carrying too much at once and accidentally spilled it on the table and most of the splatter went right on the Benefactor himself.)

Benefactor (sounding a bit annoyed): Well it’s pretty obvious now that this doesn’t seem to be the right time for me to consider making a donation huh?

Herriman: But… But… I can explain!

Benefactor: No… no the only good thing about this is that this place is not a restaurant. Otherwise it would’ve been closed down long before I ever even THOUGHT of coming here. Good night!

Herriman: WAIT! WAAAAIT! COME BACK! (The Benefactor slams the door on his way out, and now he marches over to little Frankie) Grrrr…. THAT WAS THE RICHEST CHARITY DONATOR AROUND THAT JUST LEFT US TONIGHT!

Young Frankie: I’m sorry Mr. Herriman!

Herriman: Sorry?! SORRY?! THE ONLY THING SORRY HERE TONIGHT WAS YOUR EFFORTS YOU GROSSLY INCOMPETENT LITTLE BRAT! CLEAN UP THIS MESS OR I’LL HAVE YOU THROWN OUT OF THIS HOUSE MYSELF!

(He slams the doorway to the hall on his way back to his room, a little later on that night as Madame Foster is about in the halls she can hear some crying from nearby. She found out where the crying was coming from namely in the dinning room while little Frankie was crying her eyes out.)

Madam Foster: Frankie dear what\'s the problem?

Young Frankie: Mr. Herriman…. Said that I was being bad… the rich man went away and its all my fault… that I was going to have to go away… I’m sorry Grandma please don’t make me go away!

Madam Foster: What?! Of course you won’t go away sweetie, as long as I’m around you’ll never have to go away.

Young Frankie: But… *sniffle* Mr. Herriman said…

Madam Foster: Oh don’t you worry dear, I’ll have a talk with that mean ol’ bunny in the morning. He may get to tell people what to do here but he’ll listen to me, I know it. I’ll go ask some of the night-time friends to finish cleaning up this mess. You had a long night sweetie, its time for you to go to bed.

Young Frankie: Okay Grandma…

(And now that they are in her room as Madam Foster tucks her in.)

Madam Foster: And don’t feel so bad about this dear, if anyone should be sorry it should be me. I know we all have our responsibilities but I never would’ve guessed Herriman would’ve been like that.

Young Foster: Its okay Grandma, I know your still my sweet caring grandma.

Madame Foster: True well good night dear…

Young Foster: Good night Grandma I love you.

Madame Foster: I love you too sweetie…

(She kisses her forehead as she is tucked in for the night. And that\'s where the flashback ends.)

Mac: Wow… I can’t believe Herriman would’ve done something like that…

Frankie: I know, some of the friends in the house even apologized for not doing enough work to help me then. But my Grandma did have a talk with him and she got him to make me work considerably less. My amount of chores went a little higher as I grew older over time. But still as annoyed as I might still get to be sometimes I know that the little talk my Grandma worked well enough.

Mac: Wow I never knew your life was so harsh on you.

Frankie: I’ve tried to get used to it over time, I never really made human friends all that much. This house was the only place I ever truly had friends.

Mac: I can understand how you feel there, I lost my dad a long time ago. My mother doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with me and well you know my older brother has never been the caring type. Before I came here Bloo was the only friend I ever had. Besides you definitely have one good human friend and you’ll get to see often…

Frankie: Oh really?

Mac: Yep… Me (he gives her a nice hug)

Frankie: That\'s so sweet of you… (Though she starts to smile in a different way while rubbing his head) you know its quite a shame there is such a age difference between us if you know what I mean.

Mac (while pulling away completely red-faced): Frankie! I…I…

Frankie (while having a little giggle at first): Oh I’m sorry I was just joking… But still I do thank you Mac, your probably the sweetest boy I ever meet. And I’ll always be your friend as well. (She kisses him on the forehead in which Mac certainly didn’t have a problem with that. And as she has another little giggle…) Okay Mac I should take you home now okay?

Mac: Okay…

(Just then the door opened and…)

Herriman: There you are, we’ve been looking all over for you two.

Mac: Sorry…

Frankie: Its no big deal I was just telling him the reason why I’m up here during this night every year.

Herriman: What do you… ohhh… I see, understood then…

Frankie: Very well then I’ll be making a quick trip by dropping off Mac to his house then I’ll be right back okay?

Herriman: Well alright…

(And she did, however it is now tomorrow afternoon as Mac arrives at the house at his usual time. Bloo and the other friends arrived to meet him. Frankie was in another part of the house doing her usual work while Herriman was nearby inspecting the area.)

Bloo: Hey Mac…

Mac: Hey Bloo…

Bloo: Got any plans for us today?

Mac: Not quite yet…

Bloo: Ah okay I’ll go ahead and try to think of something too…

(He looks away thinking, but soon Mac does a little bit of eavesdropping.)

Herriman: Oh my… Dust spots everywhere, some of the pictures crooked… oh my…

(Now Mac is starting to become silent and a bit sullen as he hangs his head low)

Herriman: And there are still some stains to wipe up around here. And the washers are probably been done by now.

(Mac is now feeling MUCH worse as he was gritting his teeth with a slight bit of tears coming out of his eyes.)

Bloo: Heh I got nothing, what about you Mac? Mac? Mac?

Herriman: I maybe aware of why she was up there last night but still this is rather sloppy, its not hard to see why this is the only job she can be able to hold on to.

(And now Mac is now flat-out mad he went ahead and ran right at Mr. Herriman knocking him down. The other friends rushed into the scene as Wilt tries to restrain him in midair.)

Mac: LET ME GO! LET ME GO NOW!

Wilt: I’m sorry Mac, but you’ve gone too nasty to let go now.

Eduardo: Si Mac you gone loco!

(Coco excitedly squawks)

Bloo: Yeah and I thought I would be the first one to do that.

(Eduardo, Wilt and Coco slightly glare at him)

Bloo: What?

Herriman: Master Mac! What gave you the slightest right to deliberately attack me like that!

Mac: What give you right to treat a poor little girl as your slave!

Herriman: Preposterous! I would’ve never done something as vile and despicable as that!

Mac: What about Frankie huh?! Her parents death wasn’t the only thing she told me about last night! You’ve been overworking her even back then! And when some rich guy came over you were so nervous you made her slip up and spill the food all over that guy by getting her to carry too much! It was your fault she spilled so much stuff and yet you blamed her for it! Not only you blamed her for it but you threaten to throw her out of the house! You were going to kick her out of her only home that she has not long after her parents died?!

(The three friends even Bloo were looking at Herriman with shock and dismay as Wilt lets Mac down. Though of course the most shocked is Herriman.)

Herriman: But…but…I…

Mac: But what?! You’re an Imaginary friend Herriman! And Imaginary Friends are suppose to make people happy not miserable! But you seem to be a real pro at that huh?! I thought you did go nicer with Frankie lately, but now I found you complaining about the little things that only YOU care about and saying that she couldn’t keep her job well. She hasn’t got to them yet! As much as you want to think otherwise she is only one person! Its pretty clear now that you only care about your job when it comes to bossing people around than the folks who live here do you?!

(Herriman just gazes at him in shock and terror)

Mac: Not answering huh?! Fine! I’m leaving!

(As he slammed the door on his way out)

Herriman: Wilt, Eduardo, Coco, Bloo please inform Ms. Francis to see me in my office right away.

Wilt: But… Mr. Herriman…

Herriman: PLEASE SEND MS. FRANCIS TO MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!

Wilt: Okay…

Herriman: Sorry about that…

(Meanwhile as Frankie is now in his office moments later)

Frankie: Hey Herriman I was hearing an awful lot of shouting and some of the guys told me to come see you I noticed that Mac wasn’t with them. What\'s going on here?

Herriman: I can explain it all Ms. Francis, you see just moments Mac attacked me.

Frankie: What?! How can that be? Its not like him at all…

Herriman: Indeed but I’m afraid its true…

Frankie: Oh no… please don’t forbid him from the house we’re the friends he has, please…

Herriman: Not too worry Ms. Francis I will do no such thing…

Frankie: Thank you

Herriman: Yes and say what will about how violent he was but his anger at me was perfectly justified! He overheard me complaining about several tasks you haven\'t gone to yet admittingly petty in general. That\'s when he struck me down, he informed me that he also heard from you upon that night in which I went mad and nearly deprived you of your only home.

Frankie: Oh I see… its okay Herriman it was one of those “heat of the moment” kind of situations.

Herriman (as he was trying not to cry): No it wasn’t! He knew just as much as I do now that what I did that night was inexcusable! It was like what Mac said a Imaginary friend is suppose to be a kind help to people they care for! AND DURING THAT NIGHT I WAS NO BETTER THAN A BLOODY VILE NIGHTMARISH MONSTER! (And now as he flat-out cries) Ms. Francis… I’M SORRY!

(As he continues crying, Frankie smiles and walks over to Mr. Herriman and pats him on the shoulder.)

Frankie: It’s okay Herriman, my Grandma told me about how your not such a bad guy afterall… She also told me that she was going to talk to you about it as well…

Herriman: And she did, I remembered when she wanted to see me in her office. She lectured me on how the reason why you’re here is because you’re her granddaughter not my lackey. I was surprised at her suddenly firm and serious tone at me. I followed her orders but I was not perfectly understanding of them, but now I am. I truly am, Ms. Francis I know we all have our responsibilities but I will no longer overuse my authority upon you ever again, that is a promise!

Frankie: I see, thank you Herriman… Well if you don’t mind I should go explain this to Mac…

Herriman: Oh not at all in fact please do so and while your at it, here is some money. (He hands a pretty good amount of cash.) Treat him to a nice outing if you will, I’ll give you the whole afternoon off.

Frankie: Sure thing and thanks…

Herriman: Yes and be sure he has you home by 7 young lady. And don’t pick an all too reclusive spot if you two go see a movie. Heh heh…

Frankie: Oh really?

Herriman: Just kidding…

(They both share a laugh)

Frankie: Well see ya’ Herriman

Herriman: Farewell for now…

(She walks away and as Madam Foster walks in)

Madam Foster: You did good my sweet little bunny, you did good…

Herriman: Thank you…