Episode 1: Jack doesn't love Judith anymore. Marie has left town for a
retreat. Soren inherits a granary. The city council wants to foreclose on
Jack's nightclub due to the violence we saw there last season. Judith
swallows a bottle of painkillers.

Episode 2: At the hospital, Judith meets Soren, who crippled himself in
an industrial accident. Judith finds hospital food distasteful. Her doc-
tor, Edwin, has a mysterious past. Jack woos council members with exotic
drinks and small talk about his experiences as a fireman. Marie's lover
devotes herself to backgammon.

Episode 3: The mayor's cronies arrange a zoning variance for Jack, blocking
the council's action. Marie has a rating of 1800 at the backgammon club.
Her lover tends to miscalculate the drop point during tense matches. Jack
is seen with the mayor at a bar in the suburbs. Judith disregards Edwin's
nutritional suggestions. Soren has entered an ashram.

Episode 4: Marie's lover eases off her running game and learns to look
for market-builders. The mayor is found stabbed near Jack's apartment.
Judith only eats gourds. Hospitals are a hotbed for rumors. Soren thinks
he knows where Jack has fled to. The ashram purchases a leopard.

Episode 5: Edwin suggests to Jack that they share the money. Jack wants
time to think. Judith goes on television to plead with persons unknown
for Jack's safe return. Maria and the people from her retreat raid the
abandoned nightclub wearing leopard masks. Maria's lover hits loose in a
crucial game, but wins anyway. The prize money gets her as far as Omaha.

Episode 6: Jack rats on Edwin and cops a plea. Maria becomes an architect.
Soren thinks about grain more than is healthy. Judith still wears fur.

written for Janet Rosenbaum 9/20/01

I spent 20 of my 90 minutes on research for Marie's lover but neglected to name her. I also forgot what gender I'd intended to make her and which of the two was supposed to be a better backgammon player. Then I forgot Marie's name in Episode 5. Given all that, it worked out surprisingly well. I do wish Marie and her girlfriend had gotten a better ending.

The word "honey", thought of as a pet name, was the reason I thought of making the serial a soap opera in the first place, but when I decided to forego dialogue I couldn't find a way to use it explicitly.

- everything is by Aaron Mandel; please ask first if you're about to steal something -

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