Uncle Phil

Nicola: Internet sleuth, tech wiz, Amazon’s best friend, finder of lost treasures, Kindle book finder, taco
connoisseur and curry lover

Chapter I

Her childhood nickname was Cookie. From where it came I know not, but given her big vivid brown eyes, I can assume that it reminds one of the chocolate morsels that one sees on the surface of a delicious chocolate cookie.

As she grew older, the chocolate melted, and the soft cookie morphed into a crispy gingerbread, crusty
on the outside but still moist on the inside.

I recall the panic that ensued when her sisters and I were shopping at a department store in Fox Hills Mall when an eight year old Nicole wandered away among the women’s wear clothing racks. Given her small statue, we could not see her, so we all screamed and shouted her name in unison. Instead of her
responding to our panicked calls, she just stayed where she was until we found her. Little Nicole was sending us a message of independence and that was the end of the shopping trip.

Fast forward to her young adults years. I had given her my old Acura Legend, which had over 350K miles. I had expected her to drive this car into the ground and then to the wreckers, but would you believe that after putting on an extra 20K miles, resourceful Nicole found a buyer for the car and pocketed $1K.

This was a trait she exhibited her entire life. Never sweat the small stuff; never buy retail; always hit the used or thrift stores for great finds and avoid the ordinary.

Nicola was the ultimate internet dumpster diver. She knew the innards of the internet and could find
anything that was of importance or of unimportance.

An example. My wife and I were planning our 50th wedding anniversary party and wanted a specific song played as the opening tune. Now, this song was sung by an obscure songstress (Phyllis Battle) who had self-published her works. We had obtained an old-cassette tape of the tune, some twenty years prior, but it was in no condition to be played, given the age of the tape. Our very experience DJ spent months trying to find an updated version of that particular song and was unsuccessful. We were now faced with finding a substitute song for the event.

As the date of the celebrations approached, in passing I related our dilemma to Nicole. With just four days to go, the amazing Nicole found and mailed the CD of the album with the song. It was a miracle. I reprimanded the DJ, given the fact that he was in the business of music and who after three months of searching could not find what we desired but Nicole found what we wanted in less than a week. No one else I knew could have done what this miracle worker had accomplished.

Only once did she suffer defeat, of sorts. There was a singing group name Boney M, based in Europe, Germany to be specific. They were very popular in the disco era of mid 1970’s. We owned an LP of their greatest hits. Over the last few years there has been a revival of interest in vinyl. Our adult daughter, who as a youngster had always liked to dance to the sounds of BoneyM, had just gifted herself a record player, so we decided that getting her a copy of the LP would be a pleasant surprise.

The amazing Nicole searched Amazon and had no luck. She then searched E-Bay and still same. No availability. Then she really got to work and landed on a website in Germany. They had the LP of
BoneyM, but the price was in Euros and it was over $100 and the seller’s reputation was sketchy. We agonized over this and ultimately decided not to make the purchase. This was a race that was half-won. Through no fault of her own, she found the quarry, but could not deliver. Her amazing sleuthing was
unparalleled.

I was reading an obscure journal about unheralded persons who helped Great Britain survive during wartime Europe. One unsung hero, Leslie “Hutch” Hutchinson, was a Caribbean born, Black British pianist, singer, a protégé and lover of Cole Porter and a renowned consort to many high society ladies in Europe, Paris and London. A black man consorting among the ultra-rich and famous in 1930’s Britain was a rarity, not to mention his sexual encounters with those of both genders. Hutch’s life, were he a white man, would have been the subject of many movies and biographies. But now, here in the 21 st century few still know his name.

Detective Inspector Nicole was recruited to find out more about this bon vivant. Amazingly, she discovered that someone in England had written a bio on Hutch. but the book was no longer available. However, the indomitable Nicole found a publishing house in London and secured an abandoned paperback on Hutch’s life. That gem soon found its way into my US postal mailbox, via Nicole.

As I delved into this gem of a book, I also happened upon the name of another important Black woman, Mabel Mercer, who also inhabited Hutch’s world and who made a bigger impression on the famous who resided in London and Paris during and after the war.

Searches of Amazon and Barnes and Noble were fruitless, but Nicole dug deeper and found a used book store that had a discarded library book on the life of Miss Mercer.

Once again I dived into the life of a should-have-been-famous person and as I was learning more about Mabel Mercer’s life, I happened upon another Black heroine, named Ada “Bricktop” Smith. In the blink of an eye Nicole had secured a copy of the bio of Bricktop.

All of these books are now half-read and I am more confused and saddened, because I am unable to share some of the tales of these persons with dearly departed Nicole.

I am a ferocious reader of non-fiction and so was Nicole, but I must admit that I am more than a reader, but a collector of books, many still unread. Often, I would read an article or a book review of a newly released non-fiction book and would forward the title to Nicole with a simple phrase, “please do your magic”, expecting her to find the book from one of her used or discount book sources. In less than twenty-four hours after my request a digital copy of my request would arrive in my Kindle. From whence it came I knew not where. And when I would ask how much, her response would often be, ”a curry dish next weekend would do fine”. How she was able to source these newly released books so quickly, I did not want to know. Was it from a shadowy underground source? Did she have a friend of a friend of a friend in the publishing business? Was there a gaping gap in the Amazon pipeline?

Only the amazing Nicole could meet my requests for obscure book titles, such as: Tanqueray; Imperial Reckoning; White Lies; Geniuses at War; They call me George; Prince of Darkness; The King of California; All Blood Runs Red.

With Nicole gone, I have lost my dealer. I have lost my pusher. I have lost my back-alley source. Returning to the legitimate book market would surely be a crime.

Out of the blue my Samsung “Smart TV” went on the blink. It was purchased in 2016 and I had expected this television would last well over a decade, given the fact that my workhorse “non-Smart” Visio was still humming along. I tried everything to get the Samsung to work, including purchasing replacement power cables, as suggested in the various online blogs. Needless to say, Samsung Tech Support was unapologetic, and their hot line was useless. Eventually I was transferred to a higher level Samsung
technician, who turned out to be a fast talking glorified salesperson, based in the Philippines. I was against the wall and had no desire to visit a local showroom amidst the lingering Covid-19 period, so I was talked into buying a new upgraded late model Samsung for a discounted price (one-half the price of the old model) with free next-day shipping and free remote setup and installation assistance. Sight unseen, I had shelled out over $500 without even the benefit of a Consumer’s Report appraisal.

The deal was that after I received and unboxed the TV, I should schedule a call my “personal” troubleshooter in the Philippines and she would walk me through the set up and installations.

Enter Nicola. She had heard of my television troubles and drove to Cucamonga from Los Angeles, with the promise of a curry dish, and to take a look at the new TV. Upon arrival, and without saying a word, Nicola grabbed the remote from my nervous hand and proceeded to enter commands to my stereo receiver, cable box and TV and in the flash of five minutes quickly executed the steps, excluding many of the unproductive features that Samsung would have activated to track my TV usage. She saved me the time and effort I would have had to make to work with the overseas technician. Now the install manual, the quick setup manual and the troubleshooting manuals remain in the plastic pouch, never to be
touched.