Cubby Fundraiser Ends in Trauma for White Lady, Possible Theft The Cubby Creatures, just days away from a groundbreaking trip to New York, were momentarily stunned by a huge financial blow that has crippled the coffers of the cubby collective. After sinking nearly two hundred dollars into a "fundraising party" and more than five hundred dollars -- and the health of one of its members -- into a new print installment of the cubby missalette, the cubby creatures were surprised to find that the money earned from the night's Cubby Raffle - an estimable sum of one hundred seventy dollars - had vanished, apparently into thin air. The party, dubbed "The Money Experiment" by one of its organizers, was also deemed notable for the tense social dynamics that permeated the party as a result of a surprise appearance by an unfamiliar neighbor . Between 11:15 and 11:30 pm, a wild, long-haired White Lady burst onto the makeshift stage from a section of Cubby Control's backyard known as "Huck's secret passage." After delivering a short, obscenity-strewn monologue centered around her dissatisfaction with the fact that the band was playing while she was wanting sleep, the woman disappeared back into the passage, only to deliver an obscene curse from offstage. The money disappeared from the bed of cubby creature Jol Perez, who claims he was presented with the money by "Raffle Queen" Kendra Foster, who he then photographed "laying on the bed in her sequin outfit with the money falling down on her from above." Jackie Pelletiere, who recently made her cubbyvision acting debut in Episode V, was also present in the bedroom at the time, and she, too, participated in the cubby Money shoot, snapping a Polaroid of Raffle Queen Kendra upon the money-covered bed. Jol claims that upon being presented with the Polaroid, he promptly taped it to one side of a brown envelope whose other side he labeled "Paper Currency from the Money Experiment." For a moment, he claims, he contemplated presenting the envelope to brian weaver, but seeing that the latter was in the midst of conversation, he returned it to his own room, placing it on the bed and leaving the room. Upon returning, he says, the money-filled envelope was gone. Adjectives used to describe Perez's handling of the money have included "careless," "irresponsible," "lamentable," "imbecilic," "way stoopid," and "shameworthy." He has defended his choice of money placement, stating that his bed seemed like a "logical" spot for it. The money's disappearance, however - which hasn't officially been labeled a "theft" - has been eclipsed in recent days by discussion of the White Lady Incident, which has proven to be a thematically rich touchstone for debate and opinion-tossing. And while there are variations on the story, it has generally been agreed that the White Lady provided the night's climax. Clarinet player k.m. soehnlein - in town friday night on a pit stop from his ongoing whirlwind book tour - remembered the White Lady Incident thusly: "I was standing right next to her. It definitely started with: SHUT THE FUCK UP. JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP. Then she said: SOME OF YOUR NEIGHBORS HAVE WORK IN THE MORNING and something that included the phrase: YOU SELFISH PIGS. When Jason said, 'It's Friday night,' she definitely said I DON'T CARE (maybe with a "fucking" thrown in there). There was also something else as she was retreating back down the secret passage that referenced 'humans,' as in YOU'RE NOT HUMANS YOU'RE SELFISH PIGS." The White Lady's physical appearance at the performance - the cubbies' third backyard show of the millennium - was allegedly preceded by a number of shouted verbal demands for silence and a lobbing of vegetables into the cubby backyard - including an onion, a tomato, and a cucumber. One audience member said he wished he'd "had the presence of mind" at the time "to prepare a bagel." "I thought they put her up to that," said one person who was there. "It's not unusual for them to create characters that mirror reality." It has also been said that Ronald Bonemaker and Suzie Potsniff, the cubbies' homemade fall election hopefuls, are not actually real people, but rather, they are two people playing those parts. "At any moment, any random person in that orbit could suddenly become some wholly fictional person. It's a sort of identity hysteria," said Javert Thomas, a critic who has closely followed the cubbies since the cubby project's inception in 1997. Polls indicate that the "fundraising" party is being perceived as a "mixed blessing." On the one hand, no funds were raised and the cubby creatures are now deeper in the hole than ever. On the other hand, they survived their first public bid for money, and the White Lady Incident gave the night an element of "drama" that made the party "unforgettable," in the words of alissa mach, who was there. "The Cubby is known to work in mysterious ways," explained one Cubby Creature. "How I see it, it's a test. The universe exists as a number of potentialities and variables, and when something happens that seems not to be right, i find that it's often an invitation from the universe to adjust the focus and stretch our perception of reality." [ close ]