This story is in response to the sad, poorly written fragment of a story by DistopicTreeHouse. This is the Real story of Casey and Finnegan, not some Emo cryfest like that other FanFic author wrote.
The real story begins with the Avro Arrow.
Well, it should.
It really starts in a boardroom, with business men, making business decisions. Casey and Finnegan were sacrifices to the gods of the early nineties. They were shorn and shoved from a place of greatness and tossed into the funeral pyre of reruns.
This is how it all went down.
Mr. D had just finished a show where he put on his favourite new Sally Ann conglomeration, some sort of sheriff-cowboy-rainbow. He was packing away the Tickle Trunk, when the head suit, Mr. J, stopped over and took him into the boardroom.
“Erin, we have to talk.” His power tie cried out. “Please sit, Erin.”
Mr. D sat down. “There have been some startling new changes lately in the audience of our show.”
Mr. D didn’t seem fazed. He had been through all these ups and downs, through decades of good ideas.
“More kids are watching Sesame Street then us. Word is, they may be launching a Canadian version. Do you understand me? What this means?”
Mr. D sat as stoic as ever. He had been through hell before. This didn’t even come close to that Elephant program debacle.
“I’m going to cut to the chase.” Mr. J’s power tie rippled with managerial power. “Casey and Fin got to go.”
This, this was new. Mr. D cried out, “You bastard. If you cut them, you cut me too.”
“This is why you are here. When the show launched, it was our show. We made you, and the others. Here, we want to clean the slate, give you the control you’ve never had.
“We want to make you an executive producer.” Mr. J reached into the desk and pulled out a pair of suspenders in the same pattern as his incredibly business power tie.
Silence.
“Let me think it over…” He eyed the suspenders and all there symbolic gaudy power.
“You have three days… then it’s you and them, or you and us.”
It’s true, I was there. I was a lowly writer, still trying to pitch my show about gophers, iguanas, and blue jays cohabitating. I rushed out to see Casey and the mutt at the treehouse.
Hey, it was the CBC; they couldn’t afford to live elsewhere.
Casey was obviously furious. Fin was, well, he was obliviously oblivious. Casey and I go way back. Way way back. He first got me my gig working for Mr. D after we met at a party being thrown by Rusty and his gang. It had been a good run since then.
Casey and I stayed up all night, and we hatched a little plan.
The news came down on a Thursday. Friday was the last show with the trio. Everyone was incredibly heartbroken. But they were not to mention of their leaving on the show, just a wave at the end. Mr. D was to take a vacation so he could come back to his new role charged up with powerful new ideas.
Our plan was flawless. Come out and rock inappropriate moments. Sneak in and show up randomly during a live shoot. We could make the new characters look lame in comparison.
It worked, we guess.
Today, young adults remember Casey and Fin as disappearing slowly. No fast cut, just a nice slow pan out into the sunset. Even the CBC now records their leaving as a gradual removal, but it was never met to be like that. They were furious.
The whole experience really changed both Casey and Fin. Today, Casey runs a social advocacy group in Vancouver, trying to build social housing Treehouses in Stanley Park. And Finny? He moved to Pompeii, to bask in the sun and be around the wild, wild animals.
I still talk to Casey sometimes. He’s lost that smile he always had painted on his face. Now, he has that true Vancouverite blank stare.