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Date: 18 Apr 97 10:43:30 GMT
From: kmp@harlequin.com (Kent Pitman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps.cbs
Subject: Y&R: AWO#36: "Payday!"
Message-ID: <KMP.97Apr18104330@romulus.harlequin.com>
INSIDE... * Pee-Wee Newman's Big Job Adventure
* Bug Bugged When Faces Faced in Line-Up Lined Out
* Tony's Source of Income Revealed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANOTHER WAY OUT, Episode 36, 18-Apr-97 by Kent Pitman (kmp@harlequin.com)
"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..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 1997 Kent M. Pitman. All Rights Reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Another Way Out" takes plotline state at time of publication and shows that
there are interesting places right around the corner. The goal, besides
having some fun with good-natured parody, is to challenge the notion that we
must be mired in certain tired plotlines for months just to have a good time.
There is always another way out...
Archives of this and older episodes of "Another Way Out"
as well as the more serious "morals" that underly them,
can be found at: http://world.std.com/~pitman/awo/index.html
And don't forget to try the new "character index" while you're there!