- - - LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN - - -


     After numerous obfuscating and delay ridden mishaps, we are pleased to announce that 'Your Weekly Soap' is back on the air.  So relax, sit back, cringe and quail as we return you to...



                                     Dreams    of    Vermilion    Shadows

                                 featuring an all-star and ever expanding cast



                                 

             episode
                 3
 
  WHEN
     FATE
       CALLS
                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                          


        "That's odd. The line's still dead, but I could have sworn I heard the phone ring. Candida, surely you heard it."
        "Sorry ma'am, all I heard was that sudden, seemingly never ending peal of rolling thunder that sounded oddly like the hounds of hell let loose after a long weekend."
        "With an overlay of the wailing of Banshees."
        "Is that what all that screeching and hollering was, Mr. DeGuerre?"
        "You heard them too, Philly?  You must have some Irish blood in you."
        "Irish blood?  I don't think so.  Not tonight, anyway."
        "But I'm certain I heard the phone ring."
        "Happens sometimes, Mrs. Rollins, when lightning hits the phone lines, there."
        "Philly Looms!  How could you possibly...."
        "What's all the hubbub, bub?"                                                                                      

         "Mircalla!  Thank goodness!  You're home safe and sound."
          "Yes, mother dear."
          "But why didn't we hear the car come up the drive, or see the headlights?"
          "I had Wesley leave me by the gate, I didn't want him getting stuck in the mud."
           "And he let you walk all the way up all by yourself on a night like this?"
          "Cool your jets, sister.  I keep that old, beat-up bicycle just inside the gate especially for nights like this."
           "A bicycle?  On a night like this?  And I'm not your sister!  I'm your mother, as you full well know!"
           "So I've heard."
            "And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Mircalla  Doddard  Rollins

            "Jeepers creepers, Momma's on the warpath again.  Guess I'd better amscray on the lamscray."
            "And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?  I'm talking to you, young lady!  The nerve of that child!"
            "Don't let her get to you so, Beelzebeth.  You know what sport she takes in aggravating you.  And she's hardly a child anymore, in case you haven't noticed."
              "I've noticed alright, DeGuerre, and I'd thank you very kindly to not notice quite so keenly."
              "I've tried, but she's not the easiest person on the planet to ignore."
              "Well try harder!  And what exactly were you so busy gaping at with your mouth all agog, Philly Loomis?"
               "Well, not for nothing Mrs. Rollins, but did you notice how that open-back, black Taffeta evening gown of hers with that plunging neckline and them gauzy, almost opaque inlays didn't seem to have a spot of rain on it?"
               "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
               "Well, not for nothing, but just wondering how someone bicycles up a half-mile of driveway in the pouring rain, or through four point seven tenths of a mile's worth of rain soaked forest if you're taking the shortcut, and come out of it dry as a bone."
                "You wonder about things that are beyond your station to wonder about.  Just keep your mind on your work and keep your hands off my daughter."
                  "Wouldn't dream of it."
                  "Wouldn't dream of what?"

                  "Not keeping my hands off your daughter."
                 "And make sure you do!  Well, what's everybody standing around here for?  Candida and I have work to do if tomorrow's dinner party is to come off as planned."
                 "Well, goodnight every,,,  Wait!  Mr. DeGuerre, I almost forgot what I came to tell you."
                "Go ahead, Philly, I have no secrets from Mrs. Rollins or dearest Candida."
                "Well, when I was going around the back of the house earlier, just before it began to rain, I saw footprints under your window and what looked like tracks of someone been dragging a ladder."
                 "Footsteps?  Tracks?  Beelzebeth, let me see that."
                 "This has nothing to do with you Mason, it's not your map, it's..."
                 "You're right.  It's not my map.  It's a rather poorly crafted forgery.  This is what you found in my underwear drawer, Candida?"
                 "Well, it got sorta tangled up in my panties..."
                  "That means somebody stole the real map."
                  "Does that one make any sense, Mr. DeGuerre?  Me and Professor Van Pelt over at the university had a dickens of a time trying to make head or tale of all them other ones somehow made it up my drawers."
                   "My condolences.  I think maybe I should go have a word with the old professor.  He's a superstitious fool, but I'm wondering if maybe he might actually be right about this."
                    "Right about what, Mr.  DeGuerre?  And does this have anything to do with that mysterious handwriting I found on the wall in your room?"
                     "Handwriting?  What did it say?"
                     "Well, as best as I could make out, it said..."
                    "The house!  It's shaking!  And that noise, as if the earth had opened and the cries of the damned were escaping from the mouth of hell!
                     "Stay here! Candida, look after Mrs. Rollins."
                      "I don't need looking after, especially by someone without a college education!"
                     "I'm coming with ya there, Mr. DeGuerre."
                     "Good man, Philly.  Have you got your..."
                     "The lights!  Where did everybody go?  Candida, Mason, Loomis?  Where'd you all..."

                                                    
                                                         next week
                                                          episode
                                                               4

                                                 Their Dark Places