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Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 10:36:06 GMT
From: pitman@anotherwayout.com (Kent M Pitman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps.cbs
Subject: Y&R: AWO#37: "The Wheels of Justice"
Message-ID: <sfwu3l0y86h.fsf@world.std.com>
INSIDE... * Will Doris Find Her Try At Trials Trying?
* The Secret of Jabot's Success
* An Old Mystery Revisited
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANOTHER WAY OUT, Episode 37, 21-Apr-97 by Kent Pitman (kmp@harlequin.com)
"The Wheels of Justice"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Jack Abbott pokes his head into Ashley's lab, a shadowy figure darts out of
sight. "Sis?" he calls. No answer. "Ashley?" Again he gets no answer but
apparently his sixth sense detected what we saw more clearly--that something
is amiss. He flips on the lights and starts to look around. Huddled behind a
file cabinet is a small-framed, nerdy looking man in a white lab coat who
struggles to evade Jack's view. He has almost succeeded but as Jack begins to
leave he starts to sneeze, and even though he muffles it in a handkerchief,
Jack hears the noise and turns around. Taking a metal rod from a nearby rack,
he rounds the file cabinet and confronts the man, who cringes. "What have we
here?" Jack asks curiously. "Who in the blazes are you and what are you doing
in this lab?" The man just stares back at him, frozen with fright.
Two uniformed Jabot Security men have joined Jack in the lab. One is
handcuffing the man while the other, who wears white gloves, is removing items
from the lab coat, placing them in plastic evidence bags. Ashley enters
and tries to figure out what's going on. "Jack, what's going on here? Who is
this man?" "Oh, dear me," the man says. "This is very embarrassing. I would
really like to consult a lawyer, if you don't mind," he says. "There'll be
plenty of time for that down at the station. We've called the Genoa City
Police and they should be here shortly," the security guard tells him. Ashley
looks at the evidence bags. "Jack, these are some of our latest formulas...
and this one..." She looks perplexed for a moment, then opens the bottle to
smell it. She raises an eyebrow as if impressed. "This is not one of ours...
but it's really not bad! What IS going on here?" The man just shakes his head
and buries his face in his hands. "I feel so guilty--this should never have
happened. Oh dear, oh dear." Jack condescends to the man, "Caught in the
act of industrial espionage? Or sabotage? Well, whatever it was, I certainly
agree with you it should never have happened. Perhaps you should have thought
about the guilt thing before breaking into our labs."
Genoa City Courthouse. Jack is on the stand. "Yes, those are the items that
were recovered from the man's pockets," Jack testifies. "No further
questions," the District Attorney says. The judge looks to the defense table.
"Ms. Collins?" "No questions," Doris Collins answers. [Note: See AWO Episode
32 for the origins of Collins and Sons, Doris's law firm.] "Your Honor, the
people rest," the DA says. Doris wheels herself out to the middle of the
courtroom. "The defense calls Ashley Bladeson Abbott," she says. Everyone
looks to Ashley, who seems surprised but comes forward. "Now, Ms. Abbott, you
work at Jabot, in the lab in question, is that right?" Ashley nods, "That's
right." "And what specifically does your job entail?" "Well, I arrive in the
morning and work until late at night, mixing chemicals and trying to find
scents that we could sell." "I enter into evidence defense Exhibit 1, a
notebook of Ms. Abbott for last week." The judge looks to the DA, who offers
no objection. "I call your attention to page 3. Would you say this entry is
typical of your experiments?" Ashley looks at it for a moment and then says,
"Well, not typical. For most of my experiments I don't actually take notes.
But when I find something of sufficient interest, yes, this is the kind of
notation I might be inclined to make."
"Would you read the notation aloud?" Doris asks her. "It says, `some red, a
bit of blue, lots of yellow.'" "And red is--?" "Well, I can't say for
sure--it would depend on the day." "Well, what would it have been for April
9?" Ashley shakes her head, "I don't know what you mean. I said it depends on
the day." "Well, I've given you a specific day, so what is `red' for that
day?" "It's whatever was in the test tube on that day." The judge leans over
to Ashley and admonishes, "Ms. Abbott, please avoid evasive--" but Doris cuts
in. "Your Honor, the defense does not object to Ms. Abbott's degree of
precision on this matter. In fact, we believe she is doing the best she can,"
she explains. Ashley smiles feebly, "Thank you, Doris," she whispers. "Very
well, then proceed," the Judge says apologetically. "We have no further
questions at this time," Doris says. "No questions," the DA says. The judge
says, "You may step down, Ms. Abbott. Call your next witness." "We call Neil
Winters."
Neil is sworn in and Doris resumes her quest for the truth. "Mr. Winters,
I call your attention to the screen image now being projected on the wall.
In particular, the two columns of numbers labeled `old numbers' and `new
numbers'. Would you explain those?" "Well, sure. When the numbers in the
old numbers column are mostly bigger than the numbers in the new numbers
column, it means things aren't so good. And when the new numbers are big,
it means things are better." "And when the numbers are up?" "Well, we
write a report." "And when they're down?" "A report." Doris pulls out
a page and says, "I'd like this added as Defense Next in Sequence." The
judge nods. The DA shrugs and nods, too. "That's one of our reports," Neil
volunteers helpfully. Doris nods, "Yes, it is. Just answer my questions
please. Would you read the report?" Neil nods. "Alright, sure. It says
`The numbers are up.'" "Go on," Doris says. "Well, that's all it says."
"If I told you your wife says you didn't come home until late that evening
because you were at work writing a report, would it surprise you?" "Well, no.
It takes a long time to crank these out. You gotta look at both columns of
the numbers and then you gotta figure out if there's a better way to express
it. It can get tiring to read the same old presentations every day." "One
more question," Doris says. "Do you know what happens to these reports?"
"Sure. They go to marketing, to Jill Abbott, to Jack Abbott." "And those
people do what with them?" Doris asks. "Objection!" the DA says. "The
defense is lying to the witness." The judge looks up at the DA who continues,
"She said she had only one last question and now she's trying to get in a
second." Doris sighs, "Withdrawn. We're through with this witness." "No
questions," the DA chants. "Call Ryan McNeil," Doris says.
"How many people work at Jabot?" Doris asks Ryan after her has been sworn in.
"Well, I don't know. Lots. I bet more than a couple hundred." "I call your
attention to this floor plan. Considering the average size office here for
your lowest paid employee, how large a building would it take to house that
many employees?" Ryan takes a pen from behind his ear and a notebook from his
pocket and does some quick calculations. "That's can't be right," he mutters.
He scratches it out and re-does the computation. "I don't know," he finally
says. "You can't do simple math?" Doris asks. "Objection," the DA says.
"I'll rephrase," Doris says. "Don't you mean," she says, "that the answer you
got just doesn't make sense given what you know about the size of the Jabot
building?" "That's right," Ryan says. "Either the building would have to be
enormously bigger or most people would be sharing cubies somewhere--but I've
never seen anything like that." "So the question remains," Doris begins, but
he finishes, "Where do all those people who park in the parking lot actually
go?" She nods. "I don't know," Ryan says. "But I'm not making this stuff
up. Products do get sold and salaries do get paid!" "Yes, of course they do,
Ryan," Doris says with s mysteriously pleasant smile. "But thank you for
emphasizing the point." She turns to the witness and says, "I'm done with
this witness, Your Honor." The judge eyes the DA, who shakes his head.
"Defense calls Diane Jenkins," Doris says.
Under examination, Diane examines the blueprints of the lab. "That's an
elevator shaft. What an odd place for one," she says. She continues eyeing
the floorplan. "Strange, There are several of them leading in and out of many
of the major offices in the building. "Ashley Abbott's lab?" "Yes." "Jack
Abbott's Office?" "Yes." "Even Victor Newman's office?" Doris asks. "Yes,
that's right," she says. "And the openings are not visible from within the
offices?" Diane shakes her head. "No, I've seen the offices and there's no
sign of any such openings. It's quite awesome. When this trial is over, I'm
going to look up the architect whose name is on those plans and find out how
he did it." "Thank you, Miss Jenkins. No more questions," Doris says.
The DA stands. "I have one or two questions for Miss Jenkins," he says. "The
entrances are invisible to the rooms' occupants but there may be entrances
that are more visible on other floors, isn't that right?" "Certainly." "And
there may be a hidden way back into the elevators even at the floor where we
found the defendant." "Oh, definitely. I only mean to imply that it wasn't
surprising that Ashley did not know about the entrance." "Thank you, Miss
Jenkins. No more questions." Doris wheels herself back out to the center and
proudly announces, "Defense calls the defendant, Arthur Sanford."
Mr. Sanford takes the stand. "Mr. Sanford, where do you work?" Doris asks.
He takes a deep breath and somewhat reluctantly says "Jabot Cosmetics." There
is a murmur in the courtroom. "And what is your title there?" "Senior
Chemist," he says. Another stir among the onlookers. "That's not possible.
I'm the only one with that title!" Ashley says from the audience. The judge
bangs a gavel and warns the court to avoid further such outbursts. "And what
is your role as Senior Chemist?" Doris continues. "I oversee the development
of new scents for Jabot, and..." He trails off. "Go on, Mr. Sanford," Doris
says gently. "This is so embarrassing. I had hoped this wouldn't have to
come out. But, well, every morning I add some food coloring to the chemicals
our staff has worked up, and then I have them delivered up into Ms. Abbott's
lab for her to `discover'." "So the scents that Jabot uses don't just come
from pouring a few vials of colored liquid back and forth?" Doris asks. The
man laughs momentarily and then stops abruptly as if suddenly realizing he's
on display in a courtroom. "Uh, no, ma'am," he says in a somber tone. "This
is serious science! It requires special machinery, safety equipment,
computers. No, the vials are just `for show'. We could never make the Jabot
board understand these matters--well, you know who they've got over there and
what kind of training they have. So over the years, we detached the REAL
business operation of Jabot from its public image."
There is an uproar again as people watching the trial begin to whisper about
the significance of what they've just heard. "So would I be right," Doris
asks, "to conclude that you had stolen the business of Jabot?" "No ma'am!
The business is still right where it always has been. We've just kept it from
being run into the ground, that's all! I admit we do manipulate the money and
equipment a mite, but not for any sinister reason. Do you know how late those
people upstairs come in? Or how long their lunch hours are? Or what goes on
their expense reports. There are only about 8 or 10 of them, all so full of
pomp they are. Steal it? No. We've kept the company alive." "So the upper
floor has no effect on the company at all?" Doris asks. "Well, I wouldn't say
that. It took us a while, but we figured out how to harnass it. We use it
for marketing."
"For marketing?" Doris says, trying to sustain the jury's sense of surprise
about all this. "Can you explain that?" "Sure, I think so. You see, people
who buy our products--well, they like to think that if they add a little dab
of cologne they'll be able to get a job anywhere, you know? I mean, it's
ridiculous--no company could work that way. In fact, we tried to hire actors
to pretend to do that on TV but they said it was unethical. They compared it
to saying smoking was healthy, if you can believe that! Anyway, we decided to
just let the upper floors continue to operate--you know, like as if life were
that simple. And we just photograph them now and again, for use in our
advertising. It worked out well because for some odd reason I don't think any
of those people ever watch TV, so they never saw themselves. But most regular
have probably seen the campaigns--``Buy Jabot and the whole office will want
to sleep with you.'' or ``With Jabot, it's mailroom to board room in 2 weeks
... or less.'' and my personal favorite ``People who use Jabot products command
larger offices.'' They're very highly rated."
There's a chuckle from the audience and also a few of the jurors. Doris waits
for it to subside before getting serious again. She rolls herself in close to
him and takes a serious tone. "So when you were found in the laboratory..."
"Yes, well. I'm afraid I was just checking the fluid levels on the test
tubes,... and bringing by another scent for Ashley to `discover'." He shakes
his head sadly. "I have to say these things, you understand, to clear my
name. But, you know, this is not going to be at all good for the company.
And I'm very sorry about that. When the truth gets out about this, ... Oh,
my word, I just don't know what it's going to do to our image."
The judge says, "Ms. Collins, do you wish to move to dismiss the charges?" "I
have one more question, Your Honor," Doris says. "Very well," the judge says,
"but you've already made your case." "This is more of a personal curiosity
question, Your Honor. But if I don't ask now, it'll be hard to get the
answer. Mr. Sanford, on the night that Victor Newman was shot, was anyone
from your office present at the scene?" A burst of commotion starts in the
courtroom but it falls immediately back to a hush as he seems about to answer.
"I'd hoped you'd not ask that. Yes, one of our employees was very disgruntled
that night and did sneak up there in one of our secret elevators. We fired
him, of course. But we just couldn't come forward--it would have exposed
everything and risked the whole company--just as I've put the whole company at
risk by getting caught now." "So Mari Jo Mason..." "Well, she's innocent.
Just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and driven a bit crazy
afterward by the pressure everyone was putting on her, I suppose. She saw our
employee, but I'm sure she later realized she couldn't prove it and that no
one would believe her. By the time we realized she was going to have it
pinned on her, she was already in too deep for us to intervene. Since then,
we've written to her any number of times at the sanitarium and tried to
explain, but apparently it's common for people there to have proof--even
letters in writing like ours--of shadow organizations, secret conspiracies,
and the like. So no one has ever paid attention when she's tried to get
herself cleared."
"Thank you, Mr. Sanford," Doris says as she draws herself back so that she can
address the entire court. "At this time, the defense moves to drop all
charges." "The people concur," the DA says. "Very well," says the judge.
"The charges are hereby dropped." The judge bangs her gavel. "You're free to
go, with our apologies, Mr. Sanford... Mr. Sanford?" She looks around but he
is not there to hear, having disappeared already--perhaps by some unseen
passage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!