Rupert Holmes, Howard Meltzer, and AMC own the rights to Remember WENN...I just like to play.
Mackie took a deep breath as he entered the station and coughed. "Who let Hilary near the toast?" He looked straight at Gertie who shrugged.
"Don't look at me, and you're late.."
"I'm late, and someone tried to burn the place." He glanced around nervously. "Are we on fire?"
Gertie shook her head. "The smell was here when I arrived, on time I might add, twenty minutes ago. Scott looked around..."
"Are you sure...I wouldn't want to be..."
"Positive. The only thing burning is Hilary."
"Oh...I forgot." Mackie scurried down the hall and slid through the doors. Straight into Hilary's arms.
"I'm not that happy to see you," she said as she straightened her dress. "But I did have an interesting conversation concerning Ingram's coffee and percolation." She walked out the door with a arrogance that only Hilary could perform.
Jeff shook his head as he watched her leave. "She had to talk with me."
"Oh." Mackie picked up his script to continue with the morning programming.
#
#
"Betty, Betty, Betty..." Scott stopped speaking when she glared at him.
"Mr. Sherwood, one Betty will suffice." She typed two letters while he continued.
"Have we been inflicted with another austerity budget?"
"Just in words. It takes me a minute to type 45 letters. That's about 9 words. The average script contains..."
"I get the point." He leaned against the wall of the writer's room. "Scott takes..." He stopped to count. "Five letters less than Mr. Sherwood..."
"Is there a point to this conversation?"
"None...Well, yes there is. It is now one o'clock and you haven't had lunch."
"Thank-you for being concerned. I'm not hungry." She didn't even bother to look at him as she typed furiously for several seconds. She stopped and ripped the paper out of the typewriter and crumpled it up before tossing it the trash can.
Scott frowned, "Is there something wrong?"
"You can get out and leave me alone." She tried frantically to wipe the moisture from her eyes. "It's been a bad day..."
"I'll say." Scott's voice became calm and soothing. "What happened?"
"Nothing I can't handle...If I had the time..." She said tersely as she inserted a clean piece of paper into the typewriter. "Do you mind?"
"You should eat lunch." He stared at her, a stubborn determination in his eyes.
She sighed in resignation. "Very well...I will eat lunch. I'll order a roast beef sandwich from the Buttery."
"One roast beef sandwich coming up..." He was out the door before she could say anything.
#
#
He was back less than ten minutes later with two sandwiches. He handed her the roast beef sandwich, and pulled up the extra chair and sat down by her desk. "Ham..." He said.
She rolled her eyes. "I was planning on eating alone."
"Never eat alone. Bad for the digestion." He smiled at her. "Anyway, you've been locked away in here since before Gertie arrived. So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
"Ahh. So the fire didn't affect you at all?"
"It was on the top floor..." She stared at her typewriter. "I'll be able to pack the rest of my belongings this evening and tomorrow."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
She nodded quickly. "Friends. I'm going to look for a new place tomorrow."
Scott nodded. "So you are typing like crazy today?"
She laughed. "I'll say. I just have the script for tomorrow's episode of the Crimson Blade to do..."
Scott grinned. "I'm dying to know how he'll escape from being dropped into a den of angry vipers."
"Was it vipers? I thought it was hungry lions..." She shook her head as she wrote something down on a piece paper. "Check Crimson Blade storyline." She looked back up at him as she took a bite of her sandwich. "And speaking of stories, shouldn't you be on the air?"
He nodded. "Do you need any help?"
She shook her head. "No, I'll manage."
He crumpled the wrappings and tossed them in the trash can as he stood. "Then tomorrow night, I'll take you out to dinner to celebrate your finding a new place." He smiled at her startled look. "Meet me here at six?"
"Scott--"
"You have to eat. Six..."
"Six." She smiled slightly. "And don't tell the others. I don't want them fussing over this."
"Sure thing." He left her to her typing.
#
#
Maple leaned over Gertie's desk and waited for Gertie to finish with her call before continuing speaking. "And so I said to her, 'I thought you were taking the day off.'"
Gertie smiled. "I saw her as she was leaving. She looked exhausted, but Scott said we shouldn't make a big deal about it."
"It's tough being burned out. I remember in Miami the theater caught on fire...and well..." Maple laughed at the memory. "I had been on stage. We were forced to leave in what we were...wearing. Fortunately I had Anthony."
Gertie looked at her with a puzzled look. "Anthony?"
"Marla's boa constrictor. She did this routine...Good morning Mr. Eldridge." Both women greeted the elderly man. Maple stood straighter. "Mr. Eldridge, Scott was looking for you."
"Why, what did I do?" He asked as he calmly walked by. Maple shook her head as Gertie chuckled.
"Another day begins." Maple said as she picked up her script.
"It won't if Hilary doesn't get here in the next three minutes." Gertie turned around to the switchboard to answer a call. Maple strolled into the greenroom for a cup of coffee.
"Hey Scotty, how you doing?"
Scott grinned as he put down the paper. "Couldn't be better, Mapes." He looked at his watch. "Will you look at the time..."
"Bedside Manor will be pretty empty...Oh, never mind." There was a shriek from the hall as Hilary said something to somebody.
"Hilary's in rare form this morning," Scott said with a slight smirk. "She probably just read this morning's script."
"Oh Scotty, do tell..."
"She has to be civil to Jeff, with a G."
Maple laughed as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "As long as she doesn't try to drown him in the water pitcher again..."
"We've tried to keep all such dangerous implements from her..." He nodded toward the door. "Curtain call."
"That's after the show..."
"I knew that." Scott said as he left. Maple picked up the discarded paper, glanced through it quickly, then started to read her script.
#
#
Betty sat down in her chair and groaned. It had been an awful day. Worse than awful. She'd been to seven places and after rejecting three outright, had discovered the other four were full. One did have a room available in two weeks. So now she just didn't have a place to stay for those two weeks. She'd splurged and taken a taxi to her old place and been able to gather her belongings. After 4 years, she didn't have much. Her neighbor, Sarah, had given her an extra box to pack the last of her clothes. She looked at the three boxes and four suitcases stacked behind her...Pretty much everything she had in Pittsburgh.
Well, it could be worse. The station did have a couch and facilities.
There was a knock at the door. Scott, she'd clean forgotten they were having dinner together. She wasn't willing to call it a date.
"Betty, there you are."
"Here I am." She stood quickly. "Well shall we?"
He smiled. "Let's." He took her arm.
#
#
She sat down on the couch and took a deep breath. Any more nights spent on this thing and she would fill out the request for a new one...One night had been bad...But two weeks? Betty shook her head. Just think of all that money I'm saving by not paying rent, she tried to remind herself.
She fussed with the bedding and lay down, then sat up to adjust a bump in the couch. "Sheep...Count sheep," she mumbled as she lay down again. Her eyes closed and she found herself counting letters. She shifted her position, and tried again.
It was the strange noises. The groans and creaks that seemed to resonate through the building. She had carefully locked up, turned off all the lights...but it still sounded like there was someone in the hall.
The door opened and it took a great deal of effort for her not to scream.
"I thought so," Scott's voice said in the dark. "Why?"
She sat up, carefully wrapping the blanket around her. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking. Get dressed. I have a taxi waiting downstairs."
"Scott..."
She heard him laugh before he responded. "Maple has a couch for emergencies..."
"I can't."
"You can...Or do I come over there?"
"All right...Close the door. And turn on the light." Betty closed her eyes to block the light, then slowly opened them. The door was shut, she could hear him pacing in the hallway. She should have known that someone--Scott--would have guessed her secret. She quickly changed back into the clothes she'd worn earlier.
A few minutes later she opened the door and looked out. "Scott?"
He was sitting at Gertie's desk. "Maple is expecting us."
"Scott..." She shook her head. "I can't..." He looked at her. "I mean, I'll be...I...well..."
"She's willing for you to stay there as long as you need. And don't worry about being in her way. She'll manage." He smiled slightly. "Do you want to bring your belongings in the writer's room?"
"No, the suitcase here will be enough for the moment. Who knows?"
"Everybody." He took her suitcase. "They were all worried about you."
"How did you find out?"
"You tried to get rid of me too quickly." He grinned. "I followed you. "And remember, I have a set of keys too."
"I didn't try to get rid of you. I..."
He stopped at the door and looked at her. "You didn't? Hmm. Then why didn't I get a good night kiss?"
"Because...I..." She looked up at him, slightly annoyed--embarrassed--at his question.
He smiled as bent over to quickly kiss her. "See it wasn't that bad." He said a second later as he again picked up her suitcase.
"No, I guess not," she replied as they walked out the door.