Kirst & Company

WGA 1290638

Brandon and Joan Miller are brother and sister, thirteen and nine, respectively.  Their dad, Mark, gets a new job in a new town as a foreman for Kirst Construction.

The family has to move, upsetting Brandon.  He likes things they way they are.  He has fun with his city life and doesn’t like the suburbs.  Joan is a little more open to the idea.  She has books about nature and never got to see much of it firsthand.

As the family arrives, they see couples arguing in drive ways, shadows fighting in windows.  When their car parks, the townspeople go back to normal and act harmonious.

The kids start school.  Classmates call Brandon a city slicker.  He sees a girl in the halls who he begins to have a crush on.  She's an outcast too, who just moved back to town. He becomes friends Brittany Kirst, who has a dark haired spooky, alluring look.  Joan fits in better with her new friends.  Barbara, their mom, tells Brandon he should try harder.

Brandon does not even get along with their new house.  His bathroom sink squirts water at him.  Joan laughs at this.  Brandon sees shadows on the walls.  He is simply not having a good time.

Brandon sees ground being broken for a new house.  There is a sign saying “Kirst Houses”.  Brandon’s eyes widen.  No wonder things have been running amuck, his house is cursed!  Brandon tells his sister first.  They sit up with blankets and flashlights one night.  Nothing happens.  They pass out.

One day after school, the kids come home and see Mark and Barb arguing the same way they saw other people’s parents were.  They open the door and their parents settle down and pretend nothing is going on.  They kids look at each other, acknowledging the oddness.  Brandon gives Joan the “I told you so” look.

The kids go to the public library one day.  They look up the history of the town and the Kirst family.  They find out the construction company was always very successful, but tragedy befell the wealthy Kirst Clan.  Barnaby Kirst, original proprietor of Kirst Construction lost his beautiful young bride, Cecily, to illness.  He never got over it and every house built after that was given the feeling of loneliness, heart break and frustration.

It turns out that the town of Kirst Falls has the highest divorce rate of any town in the world.  The children fear for their parents and their former happy home life.

They also see that there is a current day member of the Kirst family who is a divorce lawyer, Kirsten Kirst.

The kids go spy on the law office.  They see Ms. Kirst counseling couples, telling them that since they haven’t paid off the house yet, that they should sell it back to the outside of the building.  The couple leave, and the kids see Ms. Kirst checking her online social networking site.  She acts upset because no one sent her any messages.   She sees other people announce they are “in a relationship” status on the site and begins to fume.

Brandon and Joan decide the must stop the building of anymore Kirst houses.  Joan’s new little friends, Melissa, Courtney and Tyler help.  They all go pour sugar in the tanks of the bulldozers and fork lifts at the construction sites.  The kids hear their parents talking about how everything stopped working.  They are all happy they succeeded.  Yet, the next day on the way to school, they see that all the machines are back up and working again.

The kids regroup and try to formulate a plan.  They decide maybe if they get Ms. Kirst a boyfriend, the curse will be lifted and their families will be happy again.  They sign her up for different suitors who come by the law office.  The kids watch one by one as all the men crawl or fun out of the office building crying, having the flowers or chocolates they brought thrown at them.  The kids all shake their heads and go home.

They regroup and brainstorm some more, while watching movies and eating popcorn at a slumber party/meeting.  Lastly, they decide the only way to stop the curse is to confront old Barnaby himself.  They watch a marathon of the tv show ‘Ghost Hunters’ to prepare.  They pack their things and go up to the boarded up Kirst mansion.  Things are over grown.  In school, Brittany over hears this.  The Miller kids and Joan’s friends are getting into the old house.  Brittany follows them quietly.

Brandon turns on his flashlight.  He says, ‘Barnaby, if you’re here, talk to us’.  There is silence.  Joan tries.  Once again silence. . . until it sounds like something fell in another room of the house.  All the kids scream and grab onto each other in fear. A smoky figure of a turn of the century man appears.  He asks, ‘What do you want?’  Brandon spits out the words.  He tells Barnaby about how they know about Cecily and to not be sad, that she is well and he should join her.  Barnaby says he had to hang around and make sure his company was being run right and see over his great granddaughters.  Joan tells him that Kirsten will find her own way and that he should go to Cecily.

Meanwhile, the Millers don’t know what happened to their kids.  They have been arguing so much that they haven’t been paying enough attention to their children.  They start a search party with other parents.  While driving around, the Millers see the small pack of children leaving the old house.  They see a bright orb fly out of the house as the kids are walking out of the gate.  Mark and Barbara are so happy to see the kids safe.

It appears the whole town is in a different light.  Everything looks brighter and better.  The sun shines, the plants are greener and more colorful.  Even the paint on the houses looks fresher.  People have real smiles on now.  Everyone is getting along.  Brittany thanks Brandon for helping her family.  Ms. Kirst closes her practice and goes on vacation to meet guys.  Barnaby and Cecily are together.  The kids got it done. The curse is lifted. J