All My Shadows

Thanks, Paul, for that awesome episode guide. I'd never seen it before and I learned some little tidbits from it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE "Flamingo Road." Goodlife TV (now AmericanLife) picked it up in June 2003 and aired it on Monday nights for a year and a half, and I watched it religiously. I think that what did the show in was the introduction of the voodoo stuff midway through the second season, and it was also a very convoluted show. I had to watch the second season twice to truly understand all of the political goings-on. All of the domestic/relationship issues were great though, and I ate it all up. I loved the Lane/Lute-Mae friendship a lot, and I always wondered what Constance would have thought about her birth mother and her husband's mistress being so close. I loved Field and Constance's relationship in the second season, too, the way they would be snarky with each other but also still have feelings for each other. I loved Eudora's addiction to painkillers and how Constance's fake paralysis was revealed to Field when she was trying to calm Eudora down. My little show should have lived on, damn it! NBC put it up against "Hart to Hart," which, by that time, was a hit, and being that "Hart to Hart" was an Aaron Spelling show, it took away lots of the audience that would normally tune in to FR, so I say it was bad scheduling on NBC's part (surprise!) "St. Elsewhere" premiered several months after FR ended, so I think your memory is just playing a little trick on you.

Okay, I finally got SOAPnet a few days ago and last night, I forced myself to stay up to watch RH (no VCR/DVR on the TV...bummer) and I just fricken loved it. The two episodes focused mainly on the baptism and christening of Ryan, with some conflicts going on between Mary and Jack. I don't even know how to explain it...it was just good stuff. There was such a sense of family and togetherness, but at the same time, all of the soapy elements of the storylines still came through. It's criminal that SOAPnet airs the show in such a suckass timieslot. Their schedule wouldn't be bad if they didn't double-play all of the teen dramas. "The OC" and "One Tree Hill" should only be one episode a day, and after some adjusting, that would easily free up two hours for late morning showings of "Dallas" and "Ryan's Hope." Hell, they could put RH in its two old ABC timeslots, 11am and 11:30am.

"The Doctors" is one of the soaps that I've read a lot about and I've seen several full episodes from the late 70s and early 80s (YouTube and WoST). Several years ago, someone on the old WoST message boards typed up a year-by-year summary of the show (from the very beginning to the very end) and sent it to me. I lost it ages ago, but I wish I still had it! I've been hearing stuff like this for a while now. A long time ago, Hallmark supposedly bought the rights to the SFM Entertainment library, and some soap historians have actually claimed that because the show had been produced by Colgate/Palmolive, it started saving its episodes before most other soaps (as early as 1972-1973). For years, there was no new information, but a couple of months ago, someone posted that they'd emailed SFM and the response implied that Hallmark would be airing it soon and that there'd also be DVD releases in the works. I'm really wondering about all of that, though. I don't see any company having that much confidence in a long-canceled soap to put it on DVD (unless it's "Dark Shadows"), but putting it in reruns wouldn't be so strange.

I think you mean Birgitta and Brian Farrell, who played David. That was one of my favorite scenes of the episode, exactly for the reasons you listed. I loved Arlene so much that I took a screen cap of her lol One of the things that I love to read about early DAYS is how adjectives such as "hypersexual" and "psychological" are used to describe it. I imagine characters who are having sex all over the place then pacing around, agonizing about it for weeks on end LOL That's so vintage.

Prentiss is SUCH a 70s soapy name. In the late 70s, Y&R had brothers Lance and Lucas Prentiss (Lance was played by B&B's John McCook), and also Vanessa Prentiss. The original DAYS announcer (the one who did the "like sands..." for the first year) was named Ed Prentiss. Y&R's Prentisses were actually popular enough that one of my older cousins named his son Prentiss lol

I wrote down the credits for the episode (I loved it THAT much), but there aren't any mentions of who wrote or directed. Just four actor credits (Ron Tomme, Elizabeth Kemp, Christopher Reeve, and Birgitta Tolksdorf) and some other random credits. I think the Labine/Mayer era of LoL is what I'd probably be the most interested in seeing, too, but I think I like the idea of the show in the early-mid 1960s, with Vanessa moving to Rosehill with Bruce and having to deal with his and his first wife's family. If I remember my reading right, Bruce's son Alan and his first wife's father Henry thought Vanessa was sweet and liked her, but Bruce's daughter Barbara and Henry's wife Vivian couldn't stand her. Barbara went through some trials and tribulations, Vanessa and Bruce went through some trials and tribulations, Alan had his own dramas, etc. Barbara ended up marrying Rick Latimer, had his child, and they divorced (Barbara was supposedly immature and that's also what tanked her first marriage). Barbara left Rosehill and never returned. I think it would have been epic to have Barbara and Meg in town at the same time! Imagine them teaming up against Van! Another story from the late 1960s/early 1970s that interests me is the love story of Tess Krakauer and Bill Prentiss, played by Gene and Toni Bull Bua.

I think you're referring to Jean Holloway, but most of the sources I've seen (wikipedia, soapoperahistory.com) put her stint on the show after the Labine/Mayer era, actually around the show's last year or two. I've read that Jean's stories, coupled with the show's outrageous timeslot change (late morning to mid-afternoon) made the ratings sink even lower and eventually the show was canceled. I, too, have seen that YouTube episode and absolutely adored it. I loved it so much that I wrote down all of the dialogue (except for the last scene, with Meg and Ed Aleata). Tudi Wiggins had the amazing ability to lay down the law and show who was running things just within the first act! "I'm sick to death of everything and everybody, so just leave me alone!!"

http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwe...&PAGE=First Go there, and type in any soap title you want. They have quite a few episodes of most soaps. A good bit of 50s stuff from the CBS soaps, lots of 90s stuff, some 80s stuff, and of course, the 1971 and 1973 material. The thing is, some of the stuff is unavailable for viewing while for other stuff, you can watch it whenever you want to. Something that fascinates me other than the 1971 and 1973 stuff is that they have most (if not all) episodes of GH from 1963 to 1970 in their archives. It looks like pretty much every single one. For what reason would all of those episodes still exist but nothing else from ABC (besides "Dark Shadows") from that time? I think it's just so unfair that this chunk of television history, something that so many soap fans would *love* to see, is there. There's so little that we have from that period, and it's even more unfair considering that this was such a glorious time for the genre. Those episodes (as many as ten episodes for soaps that ran through both years) are so extremely important and I hope that they are being protected and repaired regularly if their quality starts to decrease. I would search for the Museum of TV and Radio's archives, but you have to register with their site and all of that, and I don't feel like it right now LOL

Those seven episodes of WTHI that are in existence are from March-April 1971 and March 1973, but they are tucked away in UCLA's archives presumably never to be seen again. I've spent some time searching through their archives online and they actually have episodes of *every soap* from those periods. Every single one of them, but the episodes are "non-circulating archive copies" which means that they aren't available to be viewed. WTF? It might not seem like a lot to them, but even as few as seven episodes is a gigantic piece of soap opera history considering that everything else from that era was mercilessly destroyed by idiots. They could at least put the damn things on DVD or something!

Wow, so I'm definitely gonna start reading this again! I fell behind on a lot of blog reading over the last couple of months and only recently started to read again (mainly at DR), so I'm trying to figure out what I want to read each day. I have loyalties to you, Dusty, so you can count on me to "tune in" everyday! I'm gonna have to go back a couple of episodes to get myself in the know with the stories, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. You're doing Barbara more justice than the real show ever could. I'm hoping for a Luke and Noah break-up LOL. Gwen and Will are interesting again! And as always, nice to see my Stewart girls in action. Awesome job and I'm looking forward to more of it!

I liked "Scruples." It's been a very long time since I've seen it, though, and I don't really remember the plots and stuff. All I remember is that Lindsay Wagner is involved in, I think, a publishing company, and it's one of those mini-series that is heavy on the flashbacks (like "Lace" and "Sins"). Didn't know they were planning to make a daytime show. Had no clue about that. Would have been interesting, that's for sure. At the same time, NBC was also planning to bring "Flamingo Road" from primetime to daytime too, with some new cast members, and some of the same people. That didn't work out either.

LMAO. Yes, that would be legendary "Lace" from 1984, starring Phoebe Cates as Lili, a French actress who is searching for her birth mother. She narrowed it down to three women (Brooke Adams and Bess Armstrong played two of them, I forgot the other one) and she gathered them in a room and entered. "Which one of you bitches is my mother?" she asked lol There was a sequel, "Lace II," where she searched for her father. Of course, it was advertised as "Which one of you bastards is my father?"

I fricken loved the "Bare Essence" mini-series. WE used to show those great 80s mini-series on Monday nights a few years back, but they stopped showing them in favor of dumbass reality shows about cheerleaders and puppies and [!@#$%^&*] like that. But yeah, that was a great mini-series. It's been a while since I've seen it (the last time I saw it, it was on Oxygen), but I remember all of my favorite characters...Donna Mills played (I think) Bruce Boxleitner's mistress. He was married with children. And Lee Grant was so delicious in the role of wife of the man who owns the perfume company. Joel Higgins was in there too somewhere. And Linda Evans played Genie Francis's mother. It was really great. Speaking of mini-series with soapy tendencies, anybody ever see the great "Hollywood Wives" from 1985? Based on a Jackie Collins novel, so you know it was dirty. Let's see...Candice Bergen is married to Steve Forrest, but he's screwing around with Mary Crosby. Anthony Hopkins was married to Joanna Cassidy but he left her for Stefanie Powers, and now he's screwing around with Suzanne Somers. Andrew Stevens used to be a male prostitute and Roddy MacDowell was his pimp, but now he's married to Catherine Mary Stewart and is looking for his birth mother (who turns out to be Angie Dickinson). Really campy, really dramatic, really fun.

I wish they'd release FR on DVD. I had a twinge of hope last fall. Harmon's doing his thing on "NCIS," Fairchild was doing hers on "Fashion House." I thought they'd try to capitalize on that with at least a season one release. And it wouldn't like they'd have to falsley promote the show as starring them either. They were *the* stars of the show.

I LOVE this show! I can go on and on for days and days about it. I watched the reruns every Monday night on AmericanLife TV (back when it was Goodlife), right after "Homefront." It was a weekly tradition, pretty much. Favorite characters were Constance, Lane, Fielding, Lute-Mae, and Skipper. Also thought Eudora was great as an emotionally unstable old psycho. I think something that did the show in (besides being up against the monster known as "Hart to Hart") was the supernatural element that was introduced towards the end of the second season. Even before the voodoo stuff started to happen, the political plotlines of the second season were so damn complicated. I had to watch the entire run of the show twice in order to fully understand everything that was going on in the second season. The first season, IMO, was a bit better and I wish the show would have stuck to that formula, but still kept elements of the second season. I loved the Constance/Field/Lane triangle, that was some really great, campy [!@#$%^&*]. Constance's fake paralysis in the second season, along with her shacking up with Julio was great too. Loved Lane and Sam's wedding. I liked Skipper better with Christie in the first season than Alicia in the second season, but I liked their relationship a lot more after he went blind. Loved Eudora losing her mind, becoming addicted to pills, and getting institutionalized. Loved it when Lute-Mae was raped, but then she and Lane kicked her rapist's ass when they went camping. Loved Field getting drunk off his ass before a big campaign function. Loved how GODDAMN SEXY Mark Harmon was. I can pretty much go on and on about this show, I swear. Unfortunately, I've never really gotten a chance to see a lot of the other 80s soaps. As far as short-lived shows are concerned, the only one (other than FR) that I've seen is "The Yellow Rose," but that was one episode, a loooooooooooooooong time ago. I watched "Dallas" here and there when I was younger and it was on TNN. I was much too young to really get it, though. I didn't get a chance to see any of the others at all until recently. I don't have SOAPnet, but there were times when I was at a relative's house or in the hospital when I'd catch some of the shows. I saw some "Knots Landing" episodes, like Sid's funeral, when Diana needed a kidney transplant, etc. I bought the first season of "Dynasty" on DVD and love it, can't wait for the second season to come out. Taped two episodes of "Falcon Crest" off of TVLand when they showed it as part of a marathon weekend in 2005 (along with the pilot episode of Knots and the episode of Dallas where JR gets shot), and I really liked them a lot. Wish someone would just suck it up and show all four of these shows. That's over 1100 episodes, combined, that are just sitting around. Besides "Dallas" on DVD and SOAPnet, none of them are given the respect that they deserve. I watched "Melrose Place" reruns on the Style Network daily a couple of years ago. I really liked watching the marathons of the week's episodes on Saturday afternoons. I think my favorite seasons were two, three, and four. Amanda, Kimberly, Sydney, Jo, Jake, Michael, Billy, Alison, Jane...that's who I typically associate with MP. The first season was dull, but I still can enjoy it. Never really got a chance to see the later seasons (and all of the other characters like Taylor, Lexi, Brooke, Kyle, etc). "Dawson's Creek" is one of my biggies, no doubt. Of course, the high school seasons (especially their junior and senior years) were better than the college seasons. I still maintain to this day that if I could fall in love with a TV character and spend the rest of my life with him, it'd be Jack McPhee. He's *exactly* what I like in a guy. I wish they'd make more traditional-type primetime soaps. I love DH, and B&S is good, too, but I'd like to see something more melodramatic. I always thought Lifetime would make good shows like that, but I'm not really impressed by any of the stuff they're putting out...

I enjoyed the reunion a lot. I was upset though because they barely ignored Darra, Thela, and Jennifer. Yes, they didn't do a lot (well...Darra actually did some stuff), but it was pointless to have them there and not talk to them or anything to get updates. Heather (aka Nevaeh lol) wasn't there, and they didn't even mention that she wasn't. Schatar put on a few pounds and that make-up was NOT looking good on her. She looked better during her Charm School days than she did at the reunion. I'm glad Mo saw through the whole Schatar character she was playing. Definitely an act. And it never gets old watching her fall at Falcon Cre-.....Firestone Vineyards. Saaphyri did good for herself and that's awesome. She and Leilene more than deserved to be the final two and I'm glad they gave Leilene $10,000. That's a damn good consolation prize. The stuff between Becky and Shay was pointless, IMO, and just a lead-up to the Shay/Larissa confrontation. And the whole thing with Mo getting tired? That had to be a set-up. The Shayrissa showdown...my god. Well, let me say, Shay looks incredible. She was really gorgeous. She looked different, but in a good way. Larissa, on the other hand, looked like a whore. Like she was going to go stand on a corner in the hood somewhere after the reunion. Her mother was a mess. I thought it was funny that Mo had that big bodyguard to guard her up against Larissa. Did Mo REALLY need a bodyguard for little Larissa? It was all in all good, though. I can't wait for Season 2 if that's they're going for.

Finale airs next Sunday night. I can't wait. I caught up with the show with the all-day marathon on MTV yesterday and I am PUMPED. My girl Saaph better win this [!@#$%^&*].

Aw [!@#$%^&*]...I remember that like it was yesterday. "New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits. Chinese food makes me sick. And I think it's fly when the girls stop by in the summer, in the summer..." I'll never quite understand the significance of the New Kids and Chinese food references, but they were there. Anyway, I've been listening to that song "Lip Gloss. Dumbest. Song. Ever. But it's just too campy and over-the-top to pass. "They say my lip gloss be poppin, my lip gloss is kewl!" How can you now get it stuck in your head? And of course, "Rehab" by Ms. Amy Winehouse.

Short installment today to make up for a long, long installment on Wednesday. The entire installment will be set around Luke and Kevin's date, so make sure to tune in! AS THE WORLD TURNS "Luke & Kevin" - Part 22 Luke looked around the whole room to make sure everything was just right. It all had to be just right, and if Luke had anything to say about it, everything would be perfect. He looked at the table with food already on it, wondering again if that was a good idea. Having the little date catered seemed to be too formal to him, but Lucinda assured him that it would add a touch of class to the evening, and if anyone knew class, it was her. So there it was. A nice dinner on the table, some chilled soda water in a pail,, and a cheesecake in the refrigerator. There was a good movie in the VCR and all he had to do was press "play" when it was time to watch it. A Barry Manilow compilation CD played softly on the stereo. Luke sat down on the couch as he snook a quick peek at his watch. Kevin would be there in only about six or seven more minutes. He looked around the room again, this time, however, he was proud of what he saw. He had set it up quite nicely given that he only had one day to plan it all. The room had a nice aura and that was enough to set the mood. How could anything go wrong? And like some strange, twisted sign, the telephone rang. What kind of omen could that have been? For a second, Luke didn't even want to answer it. But then he thought. Kevin wouldn't know the number to the guesthouse. If he had to call Luke, he could have called him on his cell. Luke felt for his pocket, noticing that it wasn't there. Crap, he thought. He hopped up to answer the guesthouse phone. "Hello?" he asked. "Dahling," Lucinda said. "I'm calling to see if everything's a go for this evening." "Oh! It is, it is. I'm feeling a little nervous, though." "Oh, for whatever reason why? It's just a little date." "I know," Luke replied. "But I don't think Kevin and I have really had any alone time in a long while now, so this'll...it'll be a good night, right?" "Of course it will be. Just have a good time," Lucinda encouragingly. "I wanted to tell you, though, that you must have left your cell phone here in the living room earlier today." "Oh! That's what happened. I just noticed that it was gone." "Do you think you have enough time to come up here and get it?" "Well...I don't really need it...but you know what, I think I better run up and get it. You never know what I might need it for," Luke decided. "I'll see you in a few." ~~~~~~~~~ "Looks like somebody's gonna have to go upstairs and tell Luke that dinner is ready," Lily unenthusiastically noticed. She, Holden, and the girls were sitting down to dinner when she realized the familiar sound of Luke's footsteps coming down the stairs was not there. Holden looked up from his plate, not knowing what to say. "I...I think he went out." "Went out? Are you sure? Luke knows that I like to be notified when he's not going to have dinner with us," Lily said, seemingly hurt by Luke's careless decision to ditch dinner with the family. Holden, not wanting to make anything look uncomfortable in front of Faith and Natalie, let out a small laugh with a smile. "Come on, he's seventeen years old. I'm sure it's more attractive to go out with friends than it is to stay in with his parents and little sisters." Lily's scrunched up her eyebrows. "It's not that he's out with friends, it's that he didn't call. And, you know what, since he couldn't pick up his phone to give us a call, I think I'll embarass him by giving him a call." She stood up. "Excuse me, girls. Enjoy your dinner." She marched out of the dining room and into the living room, where she went into her purse to retrieve her phone. She was going to do it. She was going to disregard everything her mother had just told her not too long ago and tell Luke all about what she saw at the mall. She felt that Lucinda could have been right, that she just taking something completely context, but her gut, her instincts...they told her otherwise. She had a duty to fulfill, a duty as a mother, and she knew deep down in her heart that Kevin Davis was not going to get another chance to break her son's heart. Holden followed her into the living room. "What are you doing?" he asked, in a tone that tried to tell her to stop. "I'm making sure our son isn't getting attacked by some thugs again. Or worse. Mother told me to start handling things and I am, Holden, I am. The both of you just need to trust me on this one," Lily paranoically replied, dialing in Luke's number. "The sooner this gets out, the better." "Wait a minute. What do you mean, the sooner 'this' gets out? What is 'this?'" Holden asked. Lily covered the speaker of the phone. "I saw Kevin and some little...some little thing at the mall today." Holden understood. "Okay...but is it bad for Kevin to have friends?" "Friends? No, no problem at all. If they only seemed that way. Friends do not make out in public, Holden." Holden's mouth dropped. He didn't know what to think. At Lucinda's home, the matriarch stood with Luke's cell phone in her hand, waiting for him to arrive to pick it up. She looked at the screen at saw that "Not So Lil Lily" was calling. Lucinda knew her daughter well and she knew exactly what Lily's call meant. "I knew she wouldn't keep her mouth closed for long." Lucinda answered the phone. "Dear, you can stop wasting your time." "Mother? Where's Luke? And why do you have his phone?" Lily asked. "Your son is paying me a visit, paying a visit to his grandmother. And from the sound of your voice, I can understand why he'd rather be here than there." Lily ignored her. "Mother, I know you told me not to tell him, but I have to. I just have to. If he doesn't find out now, he'll find out later and it's going to hurt so much more." "I agree," Lucinda said nicely. "I would agree whole-heartedly if there were any reason to believe that any of this is true." "I told you. I have a hunch." "You may have a hunch, but I have a living, breathing person who is telling me that he has never cheated on Luke with anyone." "You talked to Kevin?" "I did. And I am telling you, please, darling, don't make the mistake of putting a strain on Luke's relationship with you. That's what it would be, a big mistake." "What did Kevin say?" Lucinda sighed. "I called him, dear. I called him and I simply asked him if he was being unfaithful to Luke. Do you want to know what he said? He said that Luke is the one and only person in his love life." Lily smirked. "Of course he said that. He wouldn't admit to seeing other people, especially not to you. I thought you were smarter than that." Lucinda was offended. Lily did not just insult her skills. "Oh, ho ho ho! No, you don't! I have proven over the years to have a much better sense of judgement than you, my darling daughter. I can tell when a person is lying and when they are not. If Kevin Davis is cheating on my grandson, I'd know it. I'd feel it!" "But that's the thing, Mother! I feel it!" "What you feel is your dislike for a fine young man. What is your hunch grounded in? Why exactly do you feel the way you do about this whole situation?" Lily thought for a second. When she realized that she didn't have a true answer, she faltered. "You didn't see it! You didn't see the way they were...touching and kissing. You didn't see it, so you can't possibly understand it." "Okay then," Lucinda began. "Fair enough. Until you give me proof that Kevin is cheating on young Luke, I forbid you to tell Luke about what you saw." "Forbid?! You can't forbid me to do anything!" "Oh, but I can," Lucinda corrected her slyly. She loved knowing that she still had some control over Lily's actions, even though her daughter was nearly 40 years old now. Lily turned to look at Holden, but continued to talk to her mother. "Why do you care so much about Kevin? What do you owe him?" Lucinda became slightly defensive. "I don't owe him a thing. I just...well I think it is unfair for him to have to not only lose his father, but also lose probably the most important person in his life now, in such a short span of time. No one deserves that. And then, I think about Luke. How would he feel if you told him this and it all turned out to be entirely untrue?" "That's a risk I have to take," Lily said. "But I know what I saw, and I know what I'm doing. I'm trying my hardest to be a good mother to him and I think I'm doing a good job." "Fine," Lucinda said. "Fine, but please remember, I thought I was doing a mighty fine job with you, too. And we've already had this conversation, so you know what I'm going to say." "Yes. I do." There was a brief moment of silence before Lucinda remembered that Luke would be coming any second to get his phone back. "Now, you won't talk to him at all about any of this?" "No," Lily reluctantly agreed. "I won't. But when it all comes out, and it will, I'm going to tell him that you kept me from telling him sooner." "Fine, if that's the way it turns out, great. I'll speak to you tomorrow. Good night." Lily paused. "Goodnight. I love you." "I love you too." Lucinda turned the phone off just as Luke came into the living room. Luckily for her, he didn't see her closing the phone. "I believe this is for you," Lucinda remarked. "Yes, ma'am, it is," Luke replied. He took the phone from her, but noticed that her spirits were low. "What's wrong?" Lucinda didn't want him to ask any questions or worry, so she put on a smile and made herself lively. "Not a thing! Does something look wrong? Everything is fine." Luke didn't understand what was going on, but he smiled anyway. "Okay. I think I'll get back down to the guesthouse before Kevin shows up looking for me. Thanks again, Grandma, really." "Oh, it's nothing. Really, it's nothing." Luke became serious. "It's a lot. I felt so bad about our fight last night, so it's really important for Kevin and I to...you know...make up." "Well, I was partly the blame for the argument, so I'm evening myself out here." Luke hugged her. "Thanks." "You're welcome," Lucinda said. "Very, very welcome." TO BE CONTINUED...

LOL. I meant 3/28/07. Must have gotten the month and year confused for a second. And believe me, it'll be worth the wait!

I hate to announce it, but there will not be any new installments on today or Friday, due to some unforeseen circumstances. New installments resume on Monday, April 2.

AS THE WORLD TURNS "Luke & Kevin" - Part 21 Kevin Davis entered the guest room of his cousin's apartment clad in only a towel. He had just gotten out of the shower and felt clearer than he had in a long while. His mind, his soul, his heart felt clean. No matter how clean he felt, however, he knew that he still had some things to get through. This night, for example, was not going to be as fun and as easy as he wished it could have been. He was sure that Luke planned some type of romantic evening for the two of them, but he wasn't going to enjoy it. Not like we wanted to, at least. Kevin was the type of person who let things get in the way of his happiness. Some people had the strange ability to, while in the midst of drama, enjoy the things that would normally make them happy, but Kevin was definitely not one of those people. Any time something in his life was not going the way he wanted it to, he'd think about it all the time, never letting it go. He failed countless tests because of the feuds between his parents. He could count on fingers and toes the number of times he could remember leaving Stacey in the middle of a date simply because he couldn't deal. Would that happen tonight? he wondered to himself before he pulled up his underwear, followed by a pair of thin summer blue jeans. No! No way. He wasn't going to let it happen. To hell with his mother and her needs and wants. To hell with everything! He was going to let his inhibitions go and enjoy himself. More importantly, he was going to remind Luke Snyder just how much he loved him. It felt like forever since the last time they saw each other, and it ended so bad, so this night...this night had to be something magical between the two of them. Kevin put on his belt, and, from that moment on, he was only going to think good, happy thoughts. As he put on his favorite shirt - navy and sky blue stripes, horizontal - he lingered to the window of the room. Gently pushing the curtain aside, he could see a group of some of the other tenants enjoying the pool in the glow of the evening's sunset. What carefree lives they must lead, he thought. He had met most of them since moving in with Nora. There was a single mother, Lorraine, and her three-year-old daughter Sindy. They frolicked together on the shallow side of the pool. The twins, college fratboys Jess and Kenny, were in the middle of one of their "small gatherings." Nora had once said something about how the twins asked her at the beginning of the summer if it would be a problem if they had a "small gathering" every so often. Nora said that she didn't mind, but since then, it had been an endless summer of fratboy antics. Kevin would have liked the idea of having wild fraternity men next door if they weren't so damn childish. A couple sat at one end of the pool, his arms around her, both with their feet dangling in the water. The lucky bastard! Kevin wanted nothing more than what that man had at the very moment: someone to put his arm around and to sit in the pool with. This was a perfectly acceptable thing, between a man and a woman. What difference did it make if this simple act of love and understanding occurred between two men or two women? Why did it matter? Why did it piss so many people off? Why was Kevin even thinking about this? It was just a testament of how easily he could stray from a good mood to a depressing one. He petulantly closed the curtain and sprayed on some of his best cologne. Just to be safe, and because he thought it felt cool, he picked up his wallet to make sure there were condoms in it. He put a chain around his neck and smoothed himself out before standing in front of a full-length mirror. Hotness. He finally worked up the courage to leave his room and go back into the living room, where he was sure his mother was still perched, probably waiting to give him the third degree. Of course she was, he thought. Kevin theorized in his mind that somehow Sheryl felt threatened by Luke for some reason. There was no real reason for him to go to Chicago with her. All that "wait and see" business was pure crap and Kevin couldn't believe he felt for it that morning. He felt comfortable back in the position of not caring what she did or said. She spent the last five years not giving a damn about him, so he figured his five years of reciprocation had only just begun. He quietly exited his room, letting the door fall close behind him. When he walked into the living room, he was surprised. His mother was not there. Instead, Nora was sprawled out on the sofa, wine in hand, watching some random game show. "Where is she?" Kevin asked, even though he didn't want to. It was the question that existed in his mind so greatly that it forced itself out of his mouth. Nora looked up at him with a depressing disposition. "She's sleeping in my room." "Of course," Kevin immediately shot out. "I'm sure all those lies and guilt are eating her alive. The only thing she can do not to think about it is sleep it off." He waited for Nora to agree, but she didn't. She simply stared. "Kevin, I've been thinking," she began to say. She sat up on the sofa and put her glass on the coffee table. "I think you need a vacation." "A...vacation?" Kevin asked, his spirits rapidly decreasing. He could instantly tell where this was going and the very thought of it disgusted him. "Yeah. I mean, don't you just want to get away, go off to some foreign place that's brand new to you? If I had the chance, I now I would," she continued, trying to sound chipper and alive. "But I have the chance?" he asked, his voice shaking. What the hell!? Kevin thought. Nora couldn't possibly be suggesting that he...no, she just couldn't do that! She wouldn't do that to him! Nora wasted no more time trying to sound normal. She knew that he could sense what she was trying to say. "Only for a few months. I mean, think about - " "You're on her side now! You want me to leave!" "No! Now th-that is not tr-true," Nora studdered. "I don't want you to leave. I mean, look around at what you've done to this place over the last couple of weeks. I'd be crazy to let you go, kid. But...come on...she's your mom." "She was not my mom when she left me with that bastard for five years! I needed her then, so don't you even try to tell me that she needs me now." "Your mother wasn't stable back then. She was not in the position to raise a kid. You know that!" Nora stood. "She wanted to take you, but she couldn't." "Well, she's showed already that she hasn't made much progress in the stability department, or the raising a kid department either, for that matter. The first step, I'm sure, is not trying to screw up your seventeen-year-old son's life by relocating him. She is five years too late to try to get me to go with her, and you know what else? I am sick and tired of saying this words and hearing them too! I'm going to say it for the very last time. I will not go with her to Chicago! I will not move away with her! I don't care what reasons she makes up! I'm not going!" He was so out of breath now that it wasn't even funny. So much for an enjoyable evening with Luke. So fricken much for that, he thought. "All I wanted for a good night with Luke! Just that! But no, I couldn't get that. You had to come at me with something like this," he suddenly found himself saying to Nora. "Well, you know what? Forget you. Forget you and her. The both of the you can go to hell." He didn't even wait for a response. Nothing she had to say meant anything to him now. He yanked his keys off the ring above the kitchen counter and started for the door, but not before Nora could get in one more thing. She put her hands on her hips and a deepness in her voice as she spoke to his back. "Kevin, before you walk out that door, I am going to assure you that I am going to forget that you said what you just said, for the sake of somebody in this house not being pissed off at somebody else. I'm not trying to hurt you, and your mother is not trying to hurt you. Just please...just think about the right thing to do. Put...put your pride aside for just once second and remember that she is your mother. And that sometimes the answers to the biggest problems are simply the secrets we share." The words pierced Kevin's soul and spoke directly to his heart. Secrets, he echoed to himself. Secrets. ~~~~~~~~~ "Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?" Holden asked Luke, who skipped the bottom stair and went for the front door of the Snyder home. "Nowhere special," Luke said. He twisted the knob, but stopped and turned to face his father. "Do you really want to know?" "Um...sure," Holden answered. Luke walked past Holden and lead him into the living room before coming to a hault behind the sofa. "I'm planning something nice at Grandma Lucinda's for me and Kevin." "Something nice? Like..." "Well, I was thinking about getting some of those really good love songs CDs, you know with the standards and stuff. And like, a really good movie, and I just called Grandma and she was able to pull some strings to have a dinner for two catered to the guest house." Holden grinned. He recognized those types of plans. They only meant one thing. Somebody did somebody wrong and there was only way to make it right. "Sounds like you have a secret agenda." Luke's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" "Don't worry about," Holden replied, not wanting to make uke uncomfortable. "What time will you be back home?" He asked this question, but if his thoughts were right, Luke would tell him that he wasn't going to come home tonight. Would Luke be bold enough to say it? "I...I don't know," Luke said. Close enough, Holden thought. "Well, does your mother know about these plans?" "Ha...well, I plan on telling her that I'll be spending the night at Grandma Lucinda's. I don't think she'd be ready to know who I'll be spending the whole night with." Jackpot! "The whole night? You just said that you didn't know when you'd be getting home," Holden cut in. Luke felt like he was backed into corner. "Um...well..." "Listen, I trust you and your judgement," Holden said. "I know that you won't do anything stupid. I think you've learned your lesson as far as alcohol is concerned." "Yeah, I think the whole kidney transplant thing kinda taught me very well." "Good, then," Holden said. "Have a good time, son." Holden playfully jabbed him in his shoulder and went into the kitchen. A weight was lifted off of Luke. It felt good to know that his father approved of him. Now, the only thing left was making sure Lily didn't find out. ~~~~~~~~~ Lucinda and Lily entered the living room at La Walsh's home, where coffee was on the table. They sat down. "Now, tell me, what exactly is this thing you keep going on about?" "Mother, can you please not say it like that?" "Like what, dear? You do indeed keep going on about it, so what else should I say?" "You know what I mean. I saw Kevin cheating on my son and you're acting as if I'm the one in the wrong." "You were spying, weren't you?" "I was not spying!" "And when we spy, we often miss a lotta details, don't we?" Lucinda continued, ignoring everything Lily said. "I was not spying! I happened to be in Major's and I looked to my left and there they were, Kevin and his little...his little chica with their little ice cream and their little cell phone numbers. They hugged, Mother, and then they kissed. What else was I supposed to think? And besides, when did you all of sudden become the voice of reason? As much as you've meddled around in my life..." "Oh, dear, you're right. I meddled in your life and we sure as hell don't want Luke to turn out like you did, now do we?" "Of course not," Lily subconsciously agreed. "Wait a minute! What is that supposed to mean?" "Darling, I was joking, but the more I think about it, the more it is true. I'll be the first to admit that our relationship has been a little more than strained, and I'll even be the first to admit that most of it was my fault. Do you really want your son to feel towards you the way you once felt towards me?" Lily thought for a moment. "But it's not the same," she said in an assertive, yet still passive, voice. "I'm just trying to help him. I don't want him to devote so much time and energy to his kid who is just destined to break his heart." "I thought I was helping you by keeping your true parentage a secret. But you know how that turned out." Lily frowned as she got up and wandered around the room. "You know, when I saw what I saw at the mall, I was so happy. I thought 'This is it, finally I can get Kevin out of Luke's life.' But then I thought to myself on the way here...is it really good for a mother to want to see their child unhappy?" Lucinda rose and stood behind Lily. "You don't want to see him unhappy. You just have your instincts...and they're telling you something that can or cannot be true." "What should I do?" Lily asked, turning to her mother. Lucinda smirked. "You're asking the wrong person, sweetheart!" She became serious. "All I know is that the truth always finds a way to come out on its own. You can try as hard you want to keep it a secret, but the truth never loses." "Wow...I never thought of it that way. I...I guess - " "You guess I'm right. I get told that quite often nowadays, it seems." "Well, if it's true, it's true," Lily said, hugging her mom. "Thanks, really. Now I guess I just wait...just wait for Kevin to trip himself up. But, you know, I don't understand something. You just told me not too long ago to start handling problems like this in a more direct way. Why are you telling me to keep this quiet?" Lucinda stepped back. "There's a difference between Luke experiencing the joys and sorrows of love and Luke experiencing a hate crime, which is exactly what that was, by the way! Honey, there are times when you have to step in and handle it for him, but this is not one of those times. I guarantee, if you try to fix this for him, he'll only shoot the messenger. Let him find out for himself if Kevin is dilly-dallying with someone else." Lily hugged her again. "I honestly do not know what I would do without you." "Of course you don't. Now get out of here, I have some work to finish before I turn in for the night." "Oh, I see, your work is more important than helping your daughter with her latest crisis." "Precisely, dear, precisely," Lucinda playfully agreed as she showed Lily the door. "Tata." "Good-bye," Lily said. With Lily gone now, Lucinda could finally get to the bottom of this problem herself, but she did not how. What in the hell was Kevin's cell phone number? She started to try to remind herself, but then she realized that she never actually knew it in the first place. How could she figure it out? And, like a light at the end of the tunnel, Luke's cell phone appeared to her as it sat on the coffee table. He must have been here in the living room earlier, before he came to her office. Somehow he had to have dropped it. Lucinda immediately picked up the phone, but then she thought. Would this be considered...snooping? She was only going to get Kevin's number out of it, mind you. It was not as if she planned to read his text messages or listen to his voicemails. All she was going to do was get that phone number, and there was nothing wrong with that. "Okay, what lovey-dovey preteen-inspired nickname would he have it under?" she asked herself as she clicked through the address book in the phone. "Let's see here. 'The Farm'....must be Emma Snyder. 'Not-so-Lil Lily'...I wish I could have thought of that one. 'Juicy'....would that be Kevin?" Lucinda quickly pushed the buttons to see what the number for "Juicy" was. To her horror, she recognized it as her own cell phone number. "Oh, hardy har har, grandson." She continued to search until she came to an entry labeled "Sex (Kevin)." "Could he be any more frank?" she asked herself as she memorized the corresponding number. Lucinda went to the brass-and-ivory phone sitting on the coffee table and started to dial the number. "Hello, yes, can I speak to Kevin Davis?" she asked confidently when there was an answer on the other end. "This...is he," Kevin answered. He was in his car at a red light. "Who is this...and how can I help you?" "Yes, yes, Kevin, this is Lucinda Walsh. We spoke earlier this morning." "Oh! Luke's grandmother. I should have recognized your voice." "Oh, well, you don't have to flatter me that way. But I would like you to answer a question for me. You don't have to go into any details regarding your answer, just a yes or no will do." Kevin was puzzled, but he decided to go ahead with this anyway. "Okay..." "My grandson is the one and only person in your love life right now, correct?" "Um...yes..." "What do you mean, 'um...?' I told you, just yes or no," Lucinda urged. "Well, I did say yes. Why...did you ask me that anyway?" "Don't worry, dear. If you answered truthfully, you have nothing to worry about. And you did answer truthfully, did you not?" "Um...I mean, yes, yes I did." "Good. Have yourself a splendid little evening, Mr. Davis," Lucinda said. Before Kevin could return the sentiment, she hung her phone and beamed into blank space, proud of herself. "You still got it, old girl. You still got it." TO BE CONTINUED...

Our next installment sets up some plans for our title couple, but at the core of today's drama is a startling confession from an aunt to her niece. The story continues! AS THE WORLD TURNS "Luke & Kevin" - Part 20 "Well, you look awfully busy this afternoon," Luke said to Lucinda as he walked through the door of her home office. In actuality, Lucinda sat, reclining in her chair, enjoying some sort of alcoholic beverage. "I do recall a certain special lady once telling me that the answers to life's problems aren't in the bottom of a bottle..." "Life's problems? Darling, I have no problems right now. This is just a drink for joy," Lucinda replied, taking a sip. "What brings you here?" "Actually, I have a bone to pick with you," Luke said, sitting down. "A bone to pick? With moi? Whatever do you mean?" Lucinda asked, a bit surprised. "Well," Luke began, with a smile, "Kevin and I got into a little fight all because of little old you." "Me?! Sweetheart, if I inadvertedly did anything to jeopardize your relationship with Kevin, you do know that I apologize, right? I apologize whole-heartedly! But I do have to ask...what exactly happened?" "Grandma, please, don't apologize, I'm kidding," Luke assured her, putting his hand on top of hers as it lay on the desktop. "Kevin and I just got into a little tiff, that's all. I overreacted about something and had a big old [!@#$%^&*] fit. Excuse my language." "Honey, I've said worse," Lucinda said. "Well, yeah. You see, Kevin and I were sitting around at his cousin's apartment and the subject of you came up and somehow I conjured up in my mind that Kevin blamed you for his father's death, and it's all such a convuluted story, and I just don't...I don't want to get back into it." Lucinda nodded. "Understandable. On both parts, I mean. I can see why Kevin would think that I should be responsible for his father's accident." "But you're not!" Luke exclaimed. "And I wasn't going to let him think that you are." "Okay," Lucinda said, trying to change the subject. "So, tell me then. If you're not here to read me the riot act, why are you here?" Luke settled back in his seat. "Well, you've entertained gentleman callers more than a few times in your day, correct?" "Right," Lucinda replied, a smile forming on her face. "You should know, then, that after a fight comes a night of...shall we say, reconciliation." "Haha! That is my boy!" Lucinda bellowed. "What do you plan? Oh, in my younger days, we'd go dancing, or to the beach, or to the drive-in. What is it that you kids do nowadays?" "Well, we actually were gonna go see a movie, but Kevin's not really feeling that anymore, so I was thinking that maybe we could spend some time...in your guest house?" "Oh," Lucinda said. "Well, of course, you're always welcomed to the guest house. You didn't even have to ask me about that." "Oh, I know, but I when I say 'spend some time'...I kinda mean the whole night." "The whole night?" Lucinda asked, not completely understanding Luke's motives for a second. Luke, on the other hand, had his eyebrows arched up in a position that suggested something risque. He hoped Lucinda would get the hint without him having to actually tell her. She was a cool grandmother, but she was still a grandmother. "Oh! Oh! The whole night," Lucinda suddenly exclaimed. "I do believe I understand where you are going with this." "Mhm," Luke nodded. "I just wanted to make sure it'd be...you know, all right with you." "Sweetheart, of course it is. I mean, you're both level-headed young men...you both have good sense, I think, despite the whole alcohol thing." "There won't be any alcohol, I promise, I swear on my life. The most intoxicating thing we'll have is Crystal Light." Lucinda laughed. "Good. And, well, neither one of you can get pregnant, so I don't see the harm." "Right! Right! That's a very important point. I should tell that one to Mom." "Your mother, your mother...have you told her about your plans for this evening?" Luke shook his head. "We both know how she'd react." "I'm afraid you're right. But to come to her own defense, I have to say that she did seem to be preparing to fully accept your relationship earlier today when we saw Kevin at the Lakeview." "The two of you saw Kevin at the Lakeview? When was this?" "Earlier today. I assume he was there with his mother." It all became clear to Luke now. The reason why Kevin decided to knix the movie was not because he was sick but because he had to endure a meal with his mother. Luke could only imagine how that had turned out. "Okay," he said to Lucinda. "So it's all set?" Lucinda thought for a second. "Sure. Why the hell not?" "Great! Thank you, Grandma. You are helping out in more ways than you can imagine," Luke said as he got up and started for the door. Lucinda started to walk behind him. "I hope it makes up for whatever confusion I caused the two of you last night." "It does. Believe me, it does!" Luke said in parting. He gave her hug and then went on his way. Lucinda felt good about herself then. She felt as if she was important in his life, as if she actually meant something to him. It felt good to be a significant figure in her grandson's life. It made her feel young and lively again, not to say that she had ever felt old and homely. This just released her and kept her on her toes. Settling back down behind her desk, hot off the heels of the warm family visit, Lucinda could feel her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. "Ugh!" she groaned out loud. "Can a lady savor just one special moment in a day, without business affairs bombarding her?" She took the phone out of her pocket and read the tiny screen. "Oh-ho!" she sighed out. "Business, the daughter, business, the daughter, business, the daughter! They're both work!" "Why did it take you so long to answer?" Lily asked when Lucinda finally put the phone to ear. "I was very busy working, dear, working to keep this company afloat. You're lucky I even answered at all! Now what is troubling you so much that you had to call me only an hour after we last talked?" "Mother, I hope you are happy because I just got the proof I needed, the proof that screams why Kevin is all wrong for my son!" Lily's voice sounded highly upset. "Dear, what are you blabbering about?" Lucinda asked loudly, roughly sliding her free hand through her hair. Her fingernail caught one of the hairs, and she gently pulled it out, examining it because that was truly a more exciting experience than whatever it was Lily was going on about. Lucinda smiled at the thought, however, even though she knew it was wrong to think such a way of her daughter. "I just saw your best bud, Kevin, over here at the Oakdale Leaf Mall. And would you like to take a stab at what I saw him doing?" "Trying on the newest Barbara Ryan original? Because, darling, that would truly make me turn against him..." "Will you get serious, Mother?! I saw him with...with some girl! Some girl that I didn't even recognize. I have no idea where she came from, who she was, or anything like that! And get this, this is the best part. Not only was he with this girl, but they hugged, they kissed, and I think I even saw some phone number exchanging going on." Lucinda at long last placed her full attention on Lily. "Oh, really? And what makes you so sure that it had to be what you are thinking? Surely you could have been mistaken." "Mother, I know what it looks like when two people are...involved with each other. Now, we have to tell Luke before that Kevin has anymore of a chance to...to brainwash him! That's exactly what he is doing! He is brainwashing my son and I swear I will not let him get away with it!" Lucinda heaved a big sigh, carelessly shifting her eyes around the room. All of those good feelings she had? Gone. That special moment she felt she had had with Luke? No longer existing. Of course Lily was overreacting...or was she? And that's what worried her. "Look, just make sure you know what you're doing before you tell Luke anything." "I saw it as plain as day, Mother. As plain as day! Luke is going to thank me when I tell him. You told me to start handling these kinds of situations better, didn't you? You told me to take action! Well that's what I'm doing now. I'm taking action and you should be proud of me!" Lucinda could feel that Lily felt very passionate about this. Damn, that girl loved her kids more than anything else in the world. Even when she was bound to make a gigantic mistake, she was so determined to do it because she felt it would be right. It was true, Lucinda decided. Learning did not stop at a particular age, especially learning from your mistakes. Lucinda didn't know for sure, but as sure as she knew her own daughter, she knew that Lily was on her way to making a mistake that could truly put a major dent in her relationship with her son. ~~~~~~~~~ Sheryl Davis slowly opened the door of the bathroom in her niece Nora's apartment. With her head firmly back, her eyes closed, and her arms stiffly pointed diagonally from her body, she walked through the door. As she pulled it close behind her, she paused for a moment, to lean on the door for support. She let out a sigh of internal pain. What had she let her life become? What was she doing? Why? Was this new way of living any better than her old way of living, as the victim of her husband's mental conflict? The front door opened and Sheryl immediately fell out of her trance, yet she was still a bit jittery. She looked around for an instant before deciding to just face Nora and Kevin, which, indeed, was the last thing she really wanted to do. She walked down the short hallway that ran from the living room, straight through the kitchen, and ended with the door to Nora's room, with the guest bedroom door on one side and the bathroom door on the other. "I still don't see what makes you sure that Major's is going to be having a sale anytime soon," Kevin said, a continuation of whatever he and Nora had been talking about before they entered the apartment. Neither one had any bags, but they both sank down into the sofa as if they'd be working out all day. "Trust me, Kevin, trust me. If there's anything I know, it's my sales. I never miss a good sale," Nora said. She smiled at Kevin before turning her head and noticing Sheryl coming through the kitchen. Nora looked back at Kevin, to see his reaction. "The two of you went shopping," Sheryl observed in a shaky voice. "Did you buy anything for me?" she asked, putting on a grin. She looked such a mess now, very different from the way she was at breakfast. Her skin was pale, her hair was uneven, and her lips were chapped. "How was your nap?" Nora asked, as if Sheryl taking a nap was a big secret that she had just found out. "Nap? I didn't take a nap. I came home, watched a little television, and that's it," Sheryl replied. "I'm too up to take a nap right now. I have energy in me and it wouldn't dare let me go to sleep." Kevin and Nora both felt something weird in the way Sheryl talked. Was she not remembering what had happened just a few hours earlier? She had no simple words of apology for either one of them? Kevin felt that she owed him one, but his experience with her, as far as her leaving him with his father, told him not to expect anything. "I'm going out with Luke tonight. I'm gonna go take a shower," he dryly said to Nora, facing only her. "Kay," she said in reply. Kevin rose up from his seat and walked past mother to the bathroom. "You just let him go out for the night like that?" Sheryl asked Nora. Nora ignored her question, rose from her own seat, and walked to the counter that Sheryl stood behind. "What...in the hell...is wrong with you?" Sheryl laughed. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? What's wrong with anybody these days?" "Okay, you're way too young to be hitting menopause, so..." "What? Menopause? Nora, stop it!" Sheryl exclaimed, still laughing. "Just a few hours ago you were begging, pleading for Kevin to leave town with you, but now you seem like you couldn't care less. What gives? What changed?" Sheryl carefully backed up into the kitchen, sitting down on the tabletop. "You know, that's something I wanted to talk to you about. I could have used your help back there." "My help? Wait, you thought I was gonna help you tag-team up on your son, guilt-trip him? Have you lost your mind?" Nora swiftly marched around the counter and into the kitchen, hands firmly on hips. She was ready to kindly hand her dear aunt her ass. "Why are you so hell-bent on trying to ruin this for me?! What did I ever do to you?!" Sheryl asked. Nora couldn't believe this! What was this woman talking about? Why was she acting so strange? This was not her Aunt Sheryl. Absolutely not. Nora could only look at her, up and down, wondering who she was. Who was she?! This woman with the ragged hair and dirty face. Who could she be? "Why, Aunt Sheryl," Nora calmly began, closing her eyes, "is it so important that Kevin go to Chicago with you?!" She opened her eyes and raised her voice as the question went on. "Just answer it. That's all you have to do." "Because!" Sheryl responded to Nora's toughness. "Because he just needs to! I need to have somebody with me!" Sheryl was now crying, her face becoming a mecca for tears. Nora immediately lost her edge and knealt down beside her. She automatically connected Sheryl's weeping to Sean's passing. "I'm sorry," Nora said as she put her arms around a bawling Sheryl. "I'm so sorry, I forgot. I forgot. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's okay now." As Nora tried to calm her down, Sheryl could feel herself slipping back into form, back into who she was. She became herself again. She pulled away from Nora and looked around the room. "Do you want something to drink?" Nora asked her. Sheryl looked down at her. "Nora," she said, not answering the question. "Nora, we have to talk." "Okay. We can talk. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about." Sheryl could feel another tear coming down her face as she stared directly into Nora's eyes. "Nora...you have to promise...you can't tell Kevin. You can't..." "I won't! I promise. Now what is it?" "I....I.....I can't bring myself to say it....Nora....." "Come on, you can say it. Just take your time." "I need help, Nora," Sheryl said, her voice barely there as she whispered. "I need help." "Help from what?!" Nora exclaimed, trying her hardest to stay patient. "Nora...I...I...there is no Dr. Alex Steele...he does not exist. I don't have a job...and I live in an abandoned warehouse...and I...I am a prostitute." Her voice cracked on the word. She was now crying again and her thoughts had to come through that. "I'm a prostitute," she repeated. Nora's eyes grew wider than she could have ever imagined. She did not hear what she just heard. No, she did not. It was not true! Not true at all! No way in the world would her aunt ever think of doing anything like that! "I'm so sorry, Nora," Sheryl continued. "But now...but now you understand, don't you? You can now understand why I need Kevin to come back with me. I need my son more than anything right now." Nora remained speachless. The path between their eyes was filled with confusion, confession, hurt, betrayal, regret...and every other emotion in the book. Nora gathered her thoughts, as broken as they were, to form one final reply. "Okay." TO BE CONTINUED...

Wow, that's really BIG stuff. The Carly/Jack story with Sage would have been so great! I could only imagine how amazing it would be if it played out on TV. Same thing with the Nancy stuff, the conclusion of the Emma/Lisa stuff (though, with Lisa, I doubt that would have been the real conclusion lol), and the Susan/Neil stuff. You SO should not have quit writing!

Wow, that was great! I'm really looking forward to this, Matt. I think you'll be giving us some good stuff.