Audrey Grinfield

Origin

Audrey Grinfield is the protagonist of the two-part Fantagraphics volume, Pogostick.

Creation

Audrey was created by Al Columbia.

Character Development

Audrey is the only night shift employee at Mogg's Design Firm. Audrey cannot quit his job at Mogg's, as he is under contract. He is transferred to the night shift after accidentally exposing himself to his coworkers, and coming up with a scheme to win everyone's sympathies back and avoid being ridiculed by having himself committed and appearing to have a breakdown. The great irony of this is that Audrey's scheme, as well as his eccentric behaviour - at times deliberate, but at other times quite unintended - strongly indicates that he is truly mentally unstable.

After a psychiatric evaluation in which Audrey makes a series of deliberately bizarre and incredibly violent statements, he is voluntarily committed to a mental institution. But it is not long before he escapes, prompting a disapproving letter from the institution, in which they tell Audrey to expect to hear from them very shortly. They later come to an agreement with his employers, agreeing to let him continue on as an outpatient on the condition that he see a therapist once a week without fail, and that he return to Mogg's on the night shift and relocate his office to the basement. But because he is working at night, it is not long before he begins to miss his appointments. Fortunately, the hospital allow him to remain free.

Audrey is a complex character, and at times it can be difficult to discern whether or not he as oblivious to things as he seems. On the night shift, he begins to eat food from the employees refrigerator, even though his coworkers have clearly labelled the food with their names. Audrey takes this to mean that the food is intended for him, and that the food is labelled so that he knows who it is from, and who to thank for it - he interprets this quite scornfully as vanity. He also begins rifling through the unattended desks of the day workers, leading to each desk being fitted with padlocks. Audrey sees no correlation between the addition of the locks and his own behaviour, and while he notes that no padlocks are fitted to his own desk, he sees this as a simple omission and nothing more.

For a short time Audrey's unsettling actions are tolerated, but after seeing how little work Audrey has completed since returning to Mogg's, his boss terminates his contract. He returns home, where he is confronted by an unnamed friend who rants at him, accusing Audrey of being ungrateful for everything he has done for him - which includes finding him a place to stay and his job at Mogg's.

Later on, desperate, Audrey calls his aunt, becoming hysterical and threatening to kill himself. Disturbed by this, his aunt notifies the emergency services, who turn up, handcuff him for his own protection, and load him into an ambulance. While Audrey is informed that they are taking him to the hospital so that he can get the care he needs, police search his home for anything dangerous or suspicious.

As the last officer leaves the scene, a pool of blood begins to spread out from under Audrey's bed.

Major Story Arcs

Audrey does not appear in any major story arcs.

Powers and Abilities

Audrey is a regular human character with no special powers or abilities.