Episode 36, originally published 18-Apr-97

Payday!

A hotel room in Seattle. Nick and Sharon are sleeping blissfully near the crib of their dream child, Noah, who has not cried all night. Rrrriinngg. Nick picks up the phone. "Hello?" "Nick! It's the office. You are starting today right?" "Yeah, I am." He looks at the clock. 8:05am. "Do you know what time it is?" he asks, annoyed to be doing business before a mid-morning jog and a gourmet breakfast. "I was just gonna ask you the same thing," the voice on the phone says. "Well, coming in from out o' town I guess we can cut you some slack--but hurry in, ok? Things start early here. And the old man's been asking for you." "You got it," Nick says, and hangs up without saying good-bye. Sharon looks up at him sleepily. "Who was that?" "The office." "At this hour?" "Yep." "You must be awfully important." Nick beams. "Yeah, it sounds like they're already counting on me." "Well, I am just so proud of you, Nicholas Newman. Hardly a day in town and already someone they can't do without. That's my husband."

Paul and Cricket arrive at the Genoa city police department. Carl Williams greets them. "Hello, son," he says. "Hi, Dad. We heard you had a possible break in the case of that crazy that tried to run us down last year?" "That's right, son," he says. "We've got a line-up ready if you'd step this way." Inside, Paul, Christine, and Carl Williams watch as Victoria Newman, Phyllis Romalatti, Grace Turner, and Veronica Landers march into the room. "Do any of these women look familiar to you?" Carl asks. Cricket studies the women intensely. "Wow, they all bear an amazing resemblance to one another--you guys really go to a lot of trouble to find people that match that certain style, don't you?" "Well," Carl explains proudly, "we want it to be challenging to be able to tell them apart so that you don't just guess." "I don't recognize any of these people," Paul says. "Take your time," Carl says. "Nooo," says Christine. "I'm sure of it. I've never come in contact with any of these people anywhere in my life." Paul nods. "I agree, these people are complete strangers." Carl sighs and speaks into a nearby microphone. "Ok, turn 'em loose," he barks sadly.

Nick stops at a guard desk on the way into an office building. "Hi!" he says. No response. "I'm Nicholas Newman," he says proudly. "I'm Arthur Willis," the man says. They stare at each other. "I'm new here," Nick says. "Yup," the man says. "You may have heard I was coming?" Nick asks. "Nope," the man says. "Well, maybe the word hasn't filtered down to your level yet," Nick says. No response. "Anyway, I was hoping you could direct me to my new office." The man looks at him, then pulls out a clipboard. "Ah huh. Ah hmmm. Ah! Here it is. Just the other end of this here long hallway--last door on the right." "Great!" Nick says and heads down the hall. When he reaches the far end, he opens the door and looks puzzled. "There must be some mistake," he stutters to someone inside. "The man at the front desk directed me to here. But I'm looking for my office--it was supposed to be in this corner. There's obviously been some mistake." "You Newman?" the man asks. Nick nods. "Yeah, it's clear there's a confusion about the office thing--we'll sort that out later. Right now there's something important to deal with. The old man's been asking for you. Take the elevator across the hall. Top floor." Nick breathes a sigh of relief and goes to the elevator.

"Darn! I was just so sure it was Phyllis," Carl laments as he pours coffee for Paul and Cricket. "Phyllis? You suspected her? Why didn't you put her in the line-up?" Cricket asks. "I did," Carl says. "She was between Victoria Newman and Grace Turner." "Were we looking at the same line-up?" Cricket asks. "The one I saw had some woman with glass eyes, a woman with a nose like pinocchio, a woman with a neck like a giraffe, and another woman with a crazed stare clutching an old newspaper. I thought I was in some sort of circus sideshow." "No, no, you just weren't seeing clearly. The lineup you saw had Victoria Newman, Phyllis Romalatti, Grace Turner, and Veronica Landers."

Nick arrives at the top floor of the office building. A receptionist sits at the desk. She looks oddly familiar--the spitting image of Jill Whelan (Vicky from the Love Boat). "Can I help you?" she asks. "Hi, I'm Nick Newman," Nick volunteers. She nods and presses a button on the phone, then says into it "He's here." A voice speaks from the speaker on the phone "About time. Well, tell him to get his butt in here," comes a grumpy voice. Nick smiles. "It's so great to feel needed," he says grinning from ear to ear as he passes through the doors.

Still in the police station, Cricket asks, "That was Veronica Landers in the line-up? Joshua Landers' dead ex-wife?" Carl nods. "Well, I never met her, but she looks very good for a dead woman--I didn't mean to sound so critical of her. But the others--Victoria and Phyllis--are you sure?" "Well, Phyllis did tell us she was trying to be a changed woman," Paul reasons. "And I heard the same of Victoria Newman since she got back in town. I guess they're really serious about it." Cricket is still skeptical. "But what would make them all have such long straight hair? Do they think it's going to get them ahead in the world?" she says, slinging her long blonde mane around. "Well, maybe they just see others being successful and are trying to emulate that." "OtherS?" she asks, emphasizing the plural and giving him a sharply disapproving glance.

"Hi," he says. "I'm Nick Newman." A pause. "I've been looking forward to meeting you ever since I got your offer letter." The man laughs. "Oh, that. Well, we never had an applicant like you before." Nick continues to beam. "But if you want the job--," the man says. "Oh, I do, sir!" Nick says. "Good man. All right, here's the package. It's gotta go across town to Johnson and Miller." Nick takes the package. "Well? What are you waiting for?" "Don't you want to go over the presentation with me?" Nick asks, puzzled. "Presentation? No." "Oh, so I should just wing it. That's cool." Nick says. "No. No presentation. No winging it. Just get the package there and quit wasting my time." "But you said this would be an opportunity for me to be the ambassador to other companies."

The doorbell rings at Nina's apartment and Nina answers. It's Grace and Tony. "Nina McNeil?" Grace asks. "That's right," Nina says suspiciously. "I'm Grace Turner and this is Tony Viscardi. We came in response to your ad in the paper about the child you had stolen from you ages ago." "You know something about my child??" Nina asks, suddenly excited. "No," says Grace. "But we may be able to help you," Tony says. "Maybe you should come in," Nina says.

At the police station, Christine is still chatting away with Paul and Carl. She volunteers proudly, "You know, it took more than just good looks to get where I am!" Then she adds quickly, "Not that those women were getting very close in that department!" She paces back and forth thoughtfully. "It takes sweat and sometimes even blood!" As if to emphasize the word, she picks up a bottle marked "BLOOD EVIDENCE" from a nearby table. Suddenly, we hear a gunshot, but the bullet hits the bottle, ricocheting off--avoiding certain deadly injury to the Bug. In the distance, we hear Phyllis's voice saying "Damn!" Paul picks up a bottle similar to the one Christine has been holding. This one is marked "WATER". He says, "Wow, that's amazing. I'd think the bullet would have gone straight through a bottle like this." Another shot. This one does go straight through the bottle Paul is holding. In fact, it leaves a bullet hole in his chest, and he falls over dead. "Ha!" comes Phyllis's distant voice. "He was right, you know? You really got lucky there," Carl says. "Lucky?" she says indifferently. "I don't think so," she explains. "Everyone knows when it comes to the The Powers That Be deciding who gets shot and who doesn't that blood is just thicker than water!"

Nina escorts her visitors to the couch and brings them some tea. "So you might be able to help me. How?" "Well, we know of a girl who lost her mother under similar circumstances... she's a real living doll, but she has no place to go." "And you think I should take her in?" "Well, you have a boy, don't you?" "I do, but we're not on the best of terms. And my best friend, Cricket Williams--she won't let me have my boy back right now. She says I can't handle the responsibility." "Your best friend? And she won't let you have your son?" Grace asks. "Some friend," Tony comments. "Does she have the legal authority to keep you apart?" he asks. "Well, she works for legal aid, but I don't think she has any legal authority... She just has--authority--in general. I dunno. It's just the way she talks--like she knows better than you do what you should be doing. After a while, you start to believe it." Tony nods. "Yeah, I've heard about her--I hear she does that to everybody. Well, what if we helped you get this Cricket to agree--would you take the little girl then?" "Well, sure!" Nina says, just happy at this point to have anyone trust her. "All right, then," Tony says, "This is how it will work..."

The president of Nick's company is baffled by Nick's claim that he was told he would be "ambassador to other companies". "Do you have the offer letter?" he asks. Nick pulls it out and shows him. "Idiot!" the man says. "Can you read? It says `use the ambassador' ... that's a cab company. Your role will be to take packages from our company to other companies," the man explains. "I see. Start me out at the bottom so I know the business thoroughly before you entrust me with management responsibility. Verrry smart," Nick says. "No, start you out at the bottom, where you'll probably stay, because you don't have any useful education or experience, and because you can't deliver a simple package without a lot of chit-chat." Nick is silent. "Well?" the man says. "I don't understand--I thought this was my big break." "I'll tell you what, Newman, I'm going to give you a big long break. You're finished here. Take as much of a break as you like. Ms. Whalen will show you to the door."

Cricket is with Nina telling her about Paul's demise earlier that day. "Wow, that's an incredible story," Nina says, heaping on the obligatory praise. The doorbell rings and it's Tony and Grace. The two introduce themselves as if they were strangers and Nina invites them in, where they make essentially the same pitch about an orphan angel as they'd made on the previous day. "Oh, I don't think I could take something like that on," Nina protests. "Nina!" Cricket says, ever-so-predictably undercutting Nina's ability to decide anything for herself. "How could you not take in a child in distress like that?" Cricket says, ignoring the obvious fact that she is just as capable of volunteering to take in the child as Nina is. "You really think I should?" Nina asks sheepishly. "Nina, of course I do. I think the sense of responsibility would be good for you." "But you told me I couldn't have Philip back." "Of course I did. That was because I didn't think you could handle the responsibility," Cricket explains. "But this is different," Nina says matter in a matter of fact tone, but really as a question. "Yes, it's different," she says, oblivious to how ridiculous she sounds. Unseen to Cricket, Tony just winks at Nina. Cricket goes on, "Now all that remains is for me to draw up the paperwork." "And for us to let Cassie in from the hallway," Grace adds as she goes to the door and Cassie magically appears. "Cassie, meet Nina," Grace says. "Nina's going to be your new mommy..."

"You're firing me?" Nick asks, confused. The man's response is bitingly sarcastic in tone, "Bingo! Just think, if only you'd shown that kind of quick, think-on-your-feet reasoning while you were our employee, you might still be employed here." "But I AM really smart, sir," Nick pleads. "You just haven't given me a chance." He thinks for a moment. "At my father's business I planned and authorized the purchase of Dennison Vanguard while he was out of town." "Dennison Vanguard? The company that went bankrupt last week?" "That's the one!" "You don't have to say that just to make me feel better about having fired you." "No, really, it's true. Of course, it was solvent when we bought it--in fact, it was a sure winner. I guess it was just bad timing that it went sour just when we took it over." The man presses a button under the table and Ms. Whalen enters. "Yes, sir?" "Have Mr. Newman escorted out." "Yes, sir." "And see that he doesn't TOUCH anything. Wouldn't want his amazing good luck rubbing off on us. He'll need it at his next job," the man says. "Thanks!" Nick says as he exits with her, still grinning.

After Cricket leaves, Nina smiles appreciatively at Tony. "You should give personal empowerment seminars--I bet it'd be well-received around here." He laughs and tosses her a pre-recorded cassette tape. "I already do. Hey, what do you think--money grows on trees? Driving from town to town looking for little girls to rescue takes a lot of cash. I'd never have been able to afford it without the royalties from those tapes!"

Nick enters the hotel room to find Sharon and Noah. "You're home early," she says, clicking off the TV. "I didn't mean to interrupt," Nick says. "Oh, don't worry," she says. "It's the Young and the Restless. The plots have been really slow lately anyway--I'm sure I'm not missing anything. How come you're home so early?" "I just couldn't wait to see my beautiful wife and child," he says. "Nicholas... I don't believe you," she says. He looks embarrassed, "Ok, ok. I don't think it was working out. The new job would have involved a lot of travel and--" "Oh, Nicholas, it's so sweet! Many men would just have gone away and left their wife, but not my husband. He must be the most considerate man in the world. But what will they do without you?" "I don't know, but they'll just have to cope. They were very nice to me when I left--had someone help me to the door and everything." "Aww. That's so sweet. So you parted on good terms?" "I think so. I think I really left an impression. In fact, I'm pretty sure they'll be willing to recommend me even if I go to their competition." "Wow! They must really care about you at a deep personal level." "I think so. I was really touched." "Well, we'll just have to send them a thank you card, or something." "Oh, I don't know. That might not be such a good idea." "Really? Why not?" "I hear their mail room is understaffed this week--I wouldn't want to overload them..."

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 37!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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