17 Stoneybrook: The Non-Disclosure Agreement

 I would like to thank Julie for the help in preparing this chapter. We would like to remind our readers that we are by no means making light of the Underground Railroad in the manuscript. The story is meant to inform as well as tell our story. We invite you to have fun with the story and remember not to take things too seriously. Pizza toast!

The Non-Disclosure Agreement 

Claudia had followed Karen's advice and slept in on Tuesday. Karen told her to arrive at noon well-rested and ready to work. Claudia picked out a versatile outfit that she could transform from work to the clubbing scene that night (her cupcake t-shirt dress and cupcake print leggings for the day, and neon green pantyhose for the night, and a pair of tall leather black boots). Claudia had packed her mini professional makeup kit along with a brush and hair accessories and tools. She just hoped they wouldn't go anywhere that a fancy dress code.

Claudia also prepared for her undercover operation of finding out what Karen was up to. She packed a small pad of paper and pen and also had installed an app on her phone for more private notes.

Once Claudia thought she was ready, she told Mallory and she dropped her off at Crookshanks. The front door was open and Claudia walked through. Karen came down from her upstairs apartment a few minutes later. She was carrying some papers.

" Hi, Claudia! Before we get started, I have some papers for you to sign. And then I will take you to the back room and the basement and we can start sorting. The first one is for your taxes, the second one is a consent form that I am kg liable for injuries caused by employee carelessness. I receive a lot of things that have broken glass and occasionally we will get swords and knives and other sharp objects, the last is a nondisclosure agreement. We get a lot of antiques and other valuables coming in that sometimes people do not realize are valuable. The most important thing is to never talk about the things you see here, especially the media."

Claudia signed the papers and wondered what treasures she might find today. Karen led her to the back of the store. Behind the check-out counter to the left was Karen's office. Ahead and to the right was a staircase to go up to Karen's apartment. Beyond that on either side were doors leading into two very big warehouse rooms Karen used for shipping and receiving and storage. Behind the staircase was a little room. Inside the little room was a door that opened up from the floor into some steps leading down into the basement. The basement had even more boxes and all kinds of clothes and books in it.

Karen led Claudia back up to the ground floor and into the storage side of the back room. 

"I've picked 20 boxes of books for us to go through and sort today."

She explained the process of categories as well as a table system she had set up for appraisals and things that had been requested.

Karen turned up the radio to WSTO full blast and they got to work. 

"Do you like Harry Potter Claudia?" Karen asked.

"Yes I'm not as big a fan as you but it holds a special place in my heart. I never did like school very much and preferred doing art. projects. But one day I had to do a paper on a book for school. Nancy Drew's books weren't long enough. I saw the Harry Potter book on Janine's shelf and used it for my assignment. After that I enjoyed school. It helped me. improve my science and history classes too. I became interested in school and applied myself more. I never made grades as good as Janine's I did good enough to get me into Stoneybrook University after a semester at the community college."

"That's awesome Claudia!"

"I majored in web design but I abandoned it after I went viral with my makeup tutorials."

Karen followed Claudia on all her social media platforms. It seemed everyone he'd age knew who Claudia was. They had been working for a few hours and decided to break for lunch. Karen ordered pizza delivery and while they waited continued to talk with Claudia.

"We have barely had any customers all day. How on earth do you stay in business?"

"I'm glad you asked that Claudia. And it's kind of a loaded question. Let's take our pizza down to the basement where we can talk."

They went down to the basement where Karen explained that the walls were soundproof.

"Claudia what I am about to tell you is important. It is also top secret. Remember that non-disclosure agreement I had you sign?" Claudia nodded."well I guess I should start from the beginning. You know I had always been a fan of scary things and witches and stuff. That's how I came up with the name for Morbidda Destiny. Well by the time I was in junior high school the first Harry Potter book was published. Of course, it was right down my alley. A lot of other kids got into it too.  Hannie, Nancy, and Ricky became our world and a lot more kids in the class enjoyed the books, too. But some of the parents were not happy about it. Not at all. By that time we had already had a Harry Potter Club at school where we quizzed each other on trivia and did other activities. The club was expanding, even other schools in the area. Even elementary schools. Some of the parents saw the things that we were doing. It reminded them of Magic: The Gathering or Dungeons and Dragons. They began to organize to protest against the clubs and tried to get them banned from the school libraries as well as your moms. It was awful. So the kids started to plan together at school, in lunch, outside of classes."

"Oh, my lord!" Said Claudia. "I remember that. I remember them trying to ban the books. I net not one of those people ever read one of the books either."

"Well, we tried everything. We would play Harry Potter at home with the parents like Daddy that didn't find anything wrong with it. But some of the other kids weren't so lucky. So we began meeting at night in secret at the park and various other places. We would sneak out of the house and meet to trade books or play Quidditch. Some would make Harry Potter-themed treats and others made trinkets and jewelry. All kinds of things. 

As we got older our interests grew, and our parties grew with us. It was easier to organize once the internet became more popular. It was huge. We wanted to do one big gigantic party. One we could start doing yearly. We planned it out in secret for about a year. Some were buying and making costumes, others were gathering books and other memorabilia, to sell and trade, gathering up crystals and herbs, making wands, one group of kids were even making their moonshine Butter Beer."

"That's incredible!"

"Well, we were so busy planning. We were going to meet in the woods where there is a clearing. We spent a lot of time preparing the space for it, too. We had decided to make the gathering at the beginning of the summer. Right after school let out but before anyone went on vacation or summer camp or got summer jobs. It all went well until we got to the party. We got it started and everything was going great until a bunch of things happened all at once. A bunch of parents discovered the kids missing and started a search. Someone had called the fire department after seeing the bonfire in the woods. The police also showed up and everyone got in trouble. We were all grounded. A lot of our books and jewelry and all we worked so hard on was lost, confiscated by the parents. The forums were taken down. Everything. It was devastating."

"How awful. If only you could have gotten them to listen to you, they would have seen all of that potential."

"Well during that time something started happening. With all those kids being grounded kids were spending a lot more time at home. Daddy wasn't so hard on me. He began to lift some of the grounding and Hannie and Nancy were allowed to come over. One night we were in the pool house hanging out and watching movies. Hannie leaned against a wall. It was a false wall that opened up to steps that led down into a secret passage. We couldn't believe it! One day when the family was preoccupied we decided to follow it. It was connected to several houses in the area, including Nancy's. We explored it for days trying to figure out how far it went. We followed it into downtown."

"Oh, my lord! Do you know how dangerous that could have been?" Claudia asked. And then she thought a minute. "Is it still there?"

Karen only smiled and continued with her story. 

"We began talking about it at school. Kids were all looking in their houses for their secret passages. Now we had a new way to gather undetected and away from the critical parents, teachers, and other adults who didn't like Harry Potter. We gathered the things we salvaged from the failed party. We would have scheduled meetings and continued our now secret society. A group of boys including Ricky had somehow acquired an old mailbox. They had the idea to decorate it and put it out in the passage to communicate with each other. That way we could buy and sell things without all being in the passage at once and at our convenience. 

Once we graduated, some of us went off to college, and kids that remained continued to develop the passageways. Now, after 6:00 there all kinds of things you can do and see in the passage. Some of the rooms are for dining like a restaurant. Others grow their herbs and sell them. Some make costumes or sell crystals. And of course Harry Potter groups."

"Oh, my lord! Can you take me?"

"Yes but first I want to explain to you a little bit about how things work. First of all, let me explain the structure of the passage. Over here in the downtown area, the passage is very stable and very maintained. There are narrower parts that led into big rooms. The rooms are where the shops and food places are located. The unique design does two things. For one, the walls are extremely thick in between because it was originally used for the Underground Railroad it acts as if it is soundproof. That means you could make noises and no one can hear you in the buildings they are attached to. The other thing is it also can act somewhat of an acoustic for sound. So live bands sound good in the passage. The other thing isn't it much more incomplete and sketchy once you head into the residential side of the passage and some of it has breaks where entrances and exits have been covered up to avoid detection."

"Wow! I just can't believe it!"

"The other thing you need to know is there is an initiation period you have to go through. I will instruct you step by step until you are accepted. After that, you will be on your own."

Suddenly Hannie and Nancy came out of a closet that was in a corner of the room. Claudia hadn't realized but they had been talking for hours and it was now 6:00. 

"Are you ready to go clubbing Claudia?" Asked Hannie.