Episode 31, originally published 28-Mar-97

Burning In Sense

Seattle. Sharon drives a rental car with Nick in a business suit in the passenger seat. "Your first day on the job, I'm so excited for you, honey." "Do I look ok?" Nick asks, wiping some lint from his business suit. "You're going to charm them all," Sharon says. The car pulls up at an office building and Nick steps out.

Antonio and Grace stand in the door at Millie Johnson's house. "So you still aren't going to admit that Cassie is your daughter's adopted kid." Millie shakes her head. "I'm telling ya, you're on the wrong track. Now git out of here. I've got no more to say to you." A deep, adult voice from inside the house calls "Dinner!" Tony looks at Millie suspiciously. "That wasn't Cassie..." "No--no, it wasn't. Now, dinner's waiting and I gotta go. Good bye and don't come back." She tries to slam the door, but Tony is ahead of her and stronger. A sturdy-looking black woman peers out from around the corner. "I said `Dinner' -- oh, I didn't see you have guests. Well, I'm sure there's enough to feed a few extra mouths..." "Thanks, we accept," says Tony quickly as he makes room for himself and Grace to enter the house. Millie sighs and shrugs.

Victor arrives home to find Hope sitting on the couch. "Hello, Victor," Hope says. "Hello Hope. Where is m'boy," Victor asks. "Betty's taken him to the park. I was just reading the Bible." "Hope, these are very special Braille books I've gotten you--they are not just printed in Braille but the paper is overprinted in normal text. I can see that you are reading romance novels, not the Bible." Hope blushes. "Well,... it's a way to pass the time." "Don't you think you may have done just a little too much of that--it seems that every time I come into this place, you are sitting on the couch reading romance novels." "But I like romance novels. I never used to get anything like this to read out on the farm." "Hope, I've spoken with some specialists and they've said they are willing to try an experimental new operation that would restore your vision." "What's that, Victor?" Hope asks distracted. "Your sight!" Victor says impatiently, "I have made an appointment for you to have your sight restored tomorrow at half past one." Hope frowns, "Could you make it a bit later? Rush Limbaugh is on until two." "What do you care if that character is on the radio? He only talks about politics. Politics is for the politically active. You never do anything but sit here on the couch all the time. Now we're going to have your sight restored, and it's going to be at 1:30 tomorrow, ahright? I'm going to get a shower." Hope, lost in her reading, doesn't respond.

Joani is on her way out the door with Little Danny. "Where are you going, Joani?" Phyllis asks. "I was going to take Little Danny to the park." "Oh, I can do that," Phyllis says. "I AM his mother, after all." "Thanks, Mrs. Romalatti!" Joani says appreciatively. No sooner is Phyllis gone than Danny enters the front door. "She's gone," Joani says. "I know--I saw her leaving," Danny says. Joani nods. "It worked just like you said--she seems happy to do her mommy duties as long as you're out of the house. And she thinks you're gone all day to rehearsal so we should have plenty of time..." And they wander off to the bedroom.

At the dinner table, Cassie, Millie, Tony, Grace, and the black woman sit. "I think we need some introductions," the unnamed woman says. Millie sighs. "This is--" she pauses and waits for them to introduce themselves. "Tony Viscardi," Tony says. "And Grace Turner," Grace volunteers. Millie points to the black woman and says, "This is my sister Mamie Johnson." "Your sister?" Tony says, disbelieving. "Well, half-sister," Mamie volunteers. "Oh, I can see some resemblance," Grace says, trying to be polite. Then she changes the subject. "We're here visiting from Genoa City and--"

Nick walks into the office of the president and shakes hands with him. "Nick Newman! Good to finally meet you." Nick gets a big grin on his face. "Well, it's a great honor for me, sir. I was so happy to receive your offer letter." "Offer letter?" the man says, confused. Nick nods. I have it right here. He pulls out the letter, which he's had framed and is apparently all set to tack on his office wall as some kind of trophy. "Nick, this isn't an offer letter. This is a request for an interview. We haven't made you any offer. And I'm going to make this short because I'm a busy person. If you can't tell the difference between an offer letter and an interview appointment letter, you don't know the first thing about business. Literally. And we can't use you after all. But thanks for dropping by."

Later at the Romalatti residence. Joani and Danny are wrapped in sheets. "I'd better tidy up before your wife returns," Joani says. "Yeah, you're right," Danny says. "If she saw the bed a mess, she'd know something was up. There hasn't exactly been much bed-mussing since ... well, since that big change came over her." Joani nods, and Danny continues rambling. "I feel so guilty going behind her back this way. Maybe I should come clean and tell her what's up." "It's up again already?" "No, no... I mean--" "I know what you mean, Danny, but don't worry, I have a plan for how to resolve this."

"Genoa City! I used to live in Genoa City," Mamie exclaims. Grace smiles politely. "Yes, I work at Jabot Cosmetics--in their marketing department." "And I'm on the Board of Directors," Tony says proudly. "Really, that's very interesting. I used to work for John Abbott, too," Mamie says. "At Jabot?" Grace asks. "No, in his kitchen," Mamie explains. "I was his maid. I raised his children." "Wait a minute--I heard about this," Tony says. "John Abbott had an affair with you, but you somehow got a million dollars out of it from Jill Abbott and headed off on some cruise around the world, never to be heard from again."

The hospital. Bandages are being removed from Hope's eyes. Victor holds Hope's hand gently. She gasps as she gets her first glimpse of the world around her. "Victor?" she asks. "Is that you?" He nods and mumbles "mmm,hmmm". "You're--you're beautiful." She feels around at the things nearby. Flowers, a telephone. "These things are all beautiful. The world is beautiful. Oh, Victor, this is such a gift. Thank you!" "I just wanted to do something wonderful for you because of all the wonderful things you have done for me," Victor says.

"Really?" Danny says to Joani. "You have a plan. What's that?" "Well, you know how Phyllis is always talking to herself? I'm sure she's done something bad--maybe lots of things. I've placed voice-activated tape recorders all over the house and I'm collecting pieces to a puzzle. Soon, Phyllis's dark side will be out in the open and then ... her days will be numbered." "Well, just tell her to hurry up, ok? I'm not sure how much more of her I can stand before -I- start doing something I shouldn't and your tape recorders start picking up me instead!"

"Ah yes, the cruise around the world," Mamie says with an air of nostalgia. "Well, I suppose it's just as well that's how they remember it. I was heart-broken because of the way John Abbott had toyed with me. He kissed me, you know--on the lips. And then he said he didn't remember. I tried to go on the cruise, but I missed Little Billy so much. I had to have a little child of my own. And that was when I found out little Cassie was available... so I took my cruise ticket and most of my money and traded them for dear little Cassie. We don't live a rich life any more, but it's a happy one." "Yeah, Mamie's the best cook in the whole world!" Cassie says proudly. Grace gets a tear in her eye and looks over to Tony who is speechless. "Gee," he says, "We were almost hoping the kid was being horribly mistreated so we could justify trying to take her back to Genoa City to her birthmom. But now,..." "I don't want to go anywhere," Cassie says. "I like it here." "It's ok, Cassie," says Grace. "Tony and I wouldn't think of taking you away from here now." "Sure not," says Tony. "I've tasted Sharon's pathetic attempts at cooking. The kid is better off here. Is there any more of this soup? It's delicious..."

Victor's apartment. He enters to find Hope on the couch. "What are you doing there? I thought you'd be out seeing the world..." She waves him away. "Shhh. He's about to propose." "Are you watching soap operas or what?" "Not just soap operas, Victor. The news, QVC--I bought the most beautiful cubic zirconia. It's amazing what new wonders are opened up by having vision. Oh, and there's Wheel of Fortune--it makes a lot more sense when you can see it! It's going to be on soon, too; why don't you sit down and watch with me?"

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 32!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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