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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 02:41:59 GMT
From: pitman@anotherwayout.com (Kent M Pitman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps.cbs
Subject: Y&R: AWO#39: "By The Book"
Message-ID: <sfwg1w6k32g.fsf@world.std.com>
INSIDE... * Will Nick Book or Be Booked after his Heated Seattle Affair?
* Can the Bug's Buggy Tape Worm Warmth out of Danny
while Closing the Book on the one the Bugged Bug Bugged?
* Can Kurt Be Read like an Open Book?
AWO WEB SITE USERS: The long-awaited AWO Self-Ratings System is in place!
(And if you've never visited the AWO web site, you might find it worth
your while to stop in just to see Self-Ratings in action!)
http://world.std.com/~pitman/awo/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANOTHER WAY OUT, Episode 39, 02-May-97 by Kent Pitman (kmp@harlequin.com)
"By The Book"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The phone rings at Grace's. Tony is asleep on the couch in his clothes. He
scrambles for the phone. "Hello?" "It's me--Grace." "Grace, where in the
world ARE you? You were supposed to be back last night!" he chides her. "I
couldn't do it, Tony." "Yes, I know you couldn't do it. That's why you still
have the kid. But Grace, I'm tellin' ya, you gotta!" "I don't have the kid
any more, Tony... You do." Tony momentarily confused. "I do? But you're
coming back for her, right?" His confusion shifts to worry as she clarifies:
"No, Tony, I'm not. You're much better with her than I ever was anyway. Good
luck--." "Grace, wait a minute, where ARE you?" "I flew to Seattle. I'm
going to be here with Sharon and Nick. And you see, don't you? Cassie can't
be here. So you'll have to watch over her now. Bye, Tony."
Having followed Kurt back to Cape Cod, Ashley perches herself among some
bushes, peering into the window of the restaurant portion of a building that a
nearby neon sign identifies as the Lucky Lobster Inn. Inside, he sees Kurt
seated at a bar, eying an attractive woman who is sitting alone. Ashley
squints to get a good look. Satisfying herself that she has never seen the
woman before, she ponders, "I wonder who THAT could be and why he has such an
interest in her...?" As she watches, the woman gets up--presumably to go to
the powder room. When she does, Kurt saunters by her table and, checking that
no one is watching, pulls something from his shirt pocket and sticks it into
the woman's food. Ashley can make no sense of this at all. "What could that
have been? A drug of some kind?" she asks with some alarm. "What kind of
man is Kurt? What have I gotten into?" Kurt returns to his seat and watches
the empty table, expectantly.
There's a knock on the door of Nick's hotel room. Nick is walking around
kicking furniture. He doesn't notice the door over the other noise he is
making. Another knock. "Nick, are you all right?" comes Grace's voice from
outside. He comes to the door, blushing slightly. "Oh, hi, Grace." Grace
peers into the room and sees that it is partially destroyed. "Looks like you
were in some sort of fight," she says. "I was, but not here," he explains.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks. "It's a long story," Nick sighs.
She pushes a suitcase through the door. "I have time," she says smiling.
Back at the Lucky Lobster, Ashley continues to watch Kurt, who is watching the
empty table. In this moment, the woman returns. "I wonder if I should warn
her," Ashley says to herself, worried. But before she can make a move, Ashley
sees the woman siezing up and falling to the floor. Unable to watch further,
Ashley runs to a pay phone and calls 911 to anonymously report the poisoning.
Then she sneaks back into the shadows and starts pacing in the dark. "What
could he have been doing? ... And who was that woman? ... Maybe there's
some clue in his room," she says to herself. Under cover of darkness and the
blaring of approaching sirens, she moves around the building to a window
outside another room she has previously identified as his. She sniffs the
window and then sprays a little cologne on her wrist to compare. "Yes, this
is the one I marked," she mutters. "Well, with the police coming, he'll have
a lot of explaining to do. I should have plenty of time," she says. And so
she pries the window open and climbs in.
In Nick's hotel, time has passed. Grace is wearing just a robe and Nick is
(appropriately enough) in "boxer shorts". "I'm sorry they were so insulting
to you, Nick. But it sounds like you really put them in their place," she
says, trying to prop up his ego. "You think?" he says, eager to be swayed
back into believing he's the world's best. "Oh, definitely," she says. She
pushes him back onto the bed, which shows signs that this is not the first
time. "It's so good to have some time alone with you again, Nick. I've
missed you so much since that time we had in the snow," she says in reference
to an event from Episode 25. "Really?" he says. "Cool!" She giggles. "Oh,
Nicholas--I said snow and you said `cool'. You are just so witty!" she gushes,
laying it on thick.
One by one, Ashley goes through Kurt's bureau drawers. But before she finds
anything, she hears a key in the door and she freezes. Kurt enters. "Hello,"
she says nervously. He seems unsurprised to see her. "I figured you'd be
here," he says. "You did?" she asks surprised. "You've tracked me for months
Ashley, so I know you're never far. I figured it must have been you who
called 911." "Then you know I saw you poisoning that woman!" Ashley says.
"Poisoning?" he asks. "Is that what you think happened?" He laughs. "Well,
I--I saw you put something in her food and--" The phone rings. "Hello? ...
She's going to be fine? That's wonderful. ... No, really--I was just doing
what anyone would do.... Well, thank you. Tell her I'll check in on her and
maybe we can go out on a date sometime... Thanks." He hangs up and Ashley
just stares. "Kurt! What IS going on? First I think you poisoned that
woman, now it's sounding like you saved her..." Kurt sighs and goes to a
drawer. He pulls out a book.
Nick is walking into the lobby of his hotel when confronted by a policeman.
"Nicholas Newman?" the man asks. Nick nods, "That's me, though I'm not sure
I want to be known by that name." "I'll bet not," says the policeman as he
slaps cuffs on him. "But it's a little too late to be taking on an alias,"
the policeman smirks. "Wait! What?" Nick asks, even more confused than usual.
"You're under arrest for the murder of a Mr. Barrington. Witnesses saw you
attack him yesterday." "I--I did, but I was escorted out before--" "Uh, huh.
But not very happy with the outcome?" "Of course not," Nick says. "Do you
know what he did to me?" "Probably not as bad as you did to him when you came
back at 3am and shot him!" the policeman says.
Tony stands in front of Sharon's house. He points to a large porch swing.
"You sit right here, Cassie, ok?" She nods. "I don't want to be any
trouble," she says. "Good girl," Tony says. Then he knocks on the door and,
hearing Sharon's cry of "Come in, it's open" he goes ahead inside. "You
really should lock your door," Tony chides her. "I could be a real lowlife,"
Tony says. "You're not?" she kids him. "Ok, ok. I guess I asked for that,"
he says. "So where's Grace?" Sharon asks. "She's ... away," he responds
evasively. "Well, what brings you by?" "I have a ... well, it's like a
surprise ..." he says awkwardly. "And I'm not sure exactly how you're going
to take it so maybe you should sit down." "Okaaayy..." she says, and sits.
Cricket is with Danny at the Romalatti residence. "So you're sure they're
out?" Cricket asks Danny. Danny nods, "So what did you want to show me?"
"Well," says the Bug, "not show you--play for you." She plays the tape of
Phyllis admitting she despises Cricket and will never trust her. Danny nods,
bored. "Just fast-forward to the surprising part," he says. Cricket
bristles. "You're not surprised by that?" "That she feels threatened by you
and annoyed at you? Why should I be--especially if you're running around
taping her behind her back, just like she always imagines you're doing. Maybe
her worries are justified..." "Ooooo!!" Cricket growls angrily as she huffs
out. Danny just sits there after she leaves. "Was it something I said?" he
wonders.
"Do you remember a long time ago, a guy in Madison named Frank...." Tony
quizzes Sharon. She is surprised at the question. "*I* remember! How do YOU
know about that? Has he been talking---" Tony shushes her. "Calm down now.
No, it's nothing like that. Look, this is a little hard to explain, so I'm
just going to drop it on you: the adoption you arranged was a phony, and
there's a little girl outside that needs you very much..." "A girl?" Sharon
asks, astonished, starting to tear. "Your daughter," Tony says. "And does
SHE know?" Sharon has the sensitivity to ask. "Not yet," says Tony. "You
might want to break it to her a little more gently than I did...." Sharon
grabs a kleenex and wipes her now-flowing tears. "Lead on," she says. Tony
goes to the porch and yells "Come in, Cassie." "I don't want to be any
trouble," the girls says. "You won't be," says Tony. "Unless you don't come
in." She comes racing in. "Cassie, this is Sharon," Tony says. Cassie
extends her hand and says "I don't want to be any trouble." "Oh, you're not!"
Sharon says excitedly. She turns to the window and says to herself, "Uh, oh.
How can I tell Nick about this? This little girl is going to be trouble!
This will break up our marriage for sure!"
In Seattle, Nick paces his cell. "So, they think I did it. And they have
every reason--I acted like a horse's--well, probably like a whole horse...
But if I tell them my alibi at 3am was with Grace, what will Sharon say? This
will break up our marriage for sure!"
Victor, wearing his black leather rescue jacket, sits looking out the window
of his jet on the way back to Genoa City. "Well, well, well, my boy, ..."
Victor mumbles to himself. "You may be moving to Seattle but at least I've
saved you from the dangers that Barrington creep might have posed for you
there. We may not exactly be speaking to one another right now, you and I,
but one day you'll see that blood--" He pauses, noticing a spot of it on the
wrist of his jacket. He licks his finger and rubs it clean, then he continues
his mumbling. "--blood runs thick in this family... much thicker than water...
and that last night I did you a great service--the greatest service a man can
offer to a son he loves. I only wish I could be there to celebrate your good
fortune with you."
Ashley looks at the book Kurt has given her and reads the cover aloud. "101
Unique Opening Lines Guaranteed To Help You Pick Up Women," she says. "I
don't understand," she protests. "Page 37," he says in a resigned tone. She
flips to that page. "Rescuing her from a staged rape by the pond--" she
starts to read. "Oops, sorry! Wrong chapter," he says hastily. "Try page
54." She shrugs and turns to the new page. She reads aloud again, "Playing
Doctor?" He nods. She reads more, "This scenario takes a few days to play
out but is sure to endear your woman to you for life. Instructions: 1. Sneak
a small obstruction into her food. 2. Wait for her to choke. 3. Perform an
emergency tracheotomy (see diagram opposite). Saving her life will make a
surefire bond. " Ashley looks up at Kurt. "You're not a doctor?" "I never
said that I was," Kurt explains. "Everyone just assumed it. I was just
following instructions." "But they said you were so expert at it!" Ashley
says. Kurt shrugs. "There's a good reason for that," he says. "Oh yeah?
What?" she asks, disbelieving. "Practice," he replies with a grin. "Years of
practice."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 check out the Character Index and Ratings Index!