SCENE 3
PHONE – POV SALLY
TONY (Filtered)
So how are you?
SALLY
Well Tony, I'm okay. How'd you track me down in Arkansas?
TONY (Filtered)
I went all the way to Milford-Haven to hear you sing, and then you weren't there! I had to make sure you were okay. Sally, is everything alright?
SALLY
Well, not exactly, Tony, but it all seems to look a little better from here.
TONY (Filtered)
Back to your roots.
SALLY
Yeah, sometimes I've just gotta sit and watch the grass grow, you know?
TONY (Filtered)
Yeah, yeah, I do know. And I bet having somebody do the cooking for you isn't bad either.
SALLY
Oh you can say that again, Mama has the best home cooking either side of the Mississippi.
TONY (Filtered)
Say, Sally, she isn't stingy with that home cooking, is she?
SALLY
Stingy? Well I should say not. Once she starts dishing it out, it's hard to get her to stop, as a matter of fact. Say Tony, were you fishing for an invitation?
TONY (Filtered)
Well, yes, Sally, I was. Would it be terribly inconvenient if I came to see you for the weekend? I mean I understand if you still want to be alone for a while...
SALLY
No, Tony, I think maybe it'd be real nice if you came to see me. Don't expect anything fancy now...
There’s definitely a theme for this episode, and it’s about getting out of Milford-Haven, either for good or for bad reasons. This theme gave me a chance to expand beyond the bounds of my little town, and to provide additional context for the characters. After all, everyone wants to get outta town sometimes.
Tony Fiorentino is just beginning to reconnect with his high school sweetheart Sally O’Mally. If things are ever to work out between them, it’ll be a long road, and Tony doesn’t want to waste a minute. So he discovers Sally has gone to Arkansas to visit with her mother, he invites himself to join them. So this is one of the “good” reasons for traveling.
Miranda Jones, however, is angry and frustrated to have discovered that Zack Calvin, the man with whom she’d recently begun a relationship, is actually involved with someone else, namely Cynthia. Miranda wants to get away, and even goes so far as to ask her representative Zelda to see about getting her a commission in Africa! (As it turns out, she doesn’t go that far after all.)
Meanwhile, Zack himself, recovering from a serious injury, is unaware what he’s done to anger and alienate Miranda, not realizing she came to the hospital and ran into Cynthia. He believes he’s broken up with Cynthia, but feels utterly confused and depressed his slow recovery. He decides to take a leave of absence from his job at the family oil firm, which distressing his father even further. Zack just wishes he could get away from it all.
Then Mr. Clarke, the wealthy business tycoon for whom Jack Sawyer is building a spectacular home in Milford-Haven, is so concerned about how the project is going that he’s threatening to visit Milford-Haven to check up on things for himself—and that makes Jack mighty nervous, because someone recently fell and was injured at the property and he fears a law suit.
The overall themes for each character play out over time in a soap opera. Each is a thread woven into the tapestry and when one thread gets pulled, this affects all the characters and the warp and weft of the story itself. It was complicated to keep all these character arcs in my head as I wrote the show. One friend was talking with me on the phone after a long day of writing, and he had the distinct impression there were a lot of people running around in my head. When we finished our conversation he said, “Goodnight everyone.” Hilarious . . . with a lot of underlying truth.
So now . . join us for Season 2 by downloading the episode or subscribing to Season 2, tune in to your favorite device, and join us in . . . Milford-Haven!
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