“The script?”
“Danny, there’s not much to it. I explain the show and occasionally I ask, ‘is that all, is there more. Easy.”
“The mug?”
“I don’t understand that,” Hal said.
“Product placement,” Danny explained. “It’s important that you get it in.”
“Why can’t I know the secrets?” Hal asked.
“Because we want that shocked effect with you,” Danny said.
Hal nodded. “Got it.”
Danny exhaled, and took another peek. “It is insane out there. Good luck. I’ll be off to the side.”
“The producer slash director.”
“Like?” Danny chuckled. “I am. Good luck, Hal,” He backed up, turned and adjusted his headset microphone. “Signal check. How we doing? Bowman.”
“Got the test pattern.” Bowman answered.
“Jordan.”
“The old lady’s face is clear as day.”
“Social hall.”
“Sounds great. Looks great. We’re pretty packed.”
“Doyle camp?” Danny called out.
“Hey Dan, we’re getting occasional squiggle vision.”
“Shit. Okay. I’ll get a tech on that.” Danny stopped in his walking when he saw Dean. “Hold on.” He lowered the headset. “Dean?’
“Oh hey, Danny.” Dean turned around. “What’s up?”
“Why are you right here?”
Dean chuckled. “Um, I’m doing the show?”
“Um, yes, but you also are in the second half of the show. You have to go in the hide room. I can’t have you seeing the confessee.”
“Frank? Danny, come on. Why do we care? What’s he gonna do.”
“Dean!” Frank’s voice blasted. “I swear to God if you make me sound Gay I am not gonna be fuckin’ happy.”
Danny pointed back with his thumb. “See?”
Dean waved out his hand with an ‘oh’, “Danny, It’s under control. Trust me.”
“Fine.” Danny shifted his yes from Dean to Frank as Frank approached. “But don’t spill your guts.”
Raising his right hand, Dean nodded. “I promise.”
Danny walked away, but not without look back a few times.
“Dino.” Frank inhaled, buffed out his chest and lifted his pants. “Yep, can’t have a TV program without me.”
“You know, what is up with that?” Dean asked. “You’re the Beginnings equivalent to Michael Cain.”
Frank laughed. “What are we eating?”
“Coffee and … check these out.” Dean lifted a cake. “Zing-Zings.”
“Yes.” Frank grabbed one. “You think this is gonna go good today.”
Dean nodded with a smile. “I think it’s gonna go great.”
***
“Down in front,” Joe ordered as he placed himself in the chair center of the living room, full view of the set. “Robert. Over.”
Robbie scooted over.
“Christ,” Joe shook his head. “Either Frank is gonna have to go out and get a bigger set to go with his cable, or stop inviting all these people to his house.”
“Joseph,” Andrea playfully scolded with a slap of her hand to his knee. “It’s so old world. Having everyone over to watch a show. I love it.”
“Glad you do.”
“Try to relax, enjoy. Besides, you could have been there. Didn’t Danny say you have a seat reserved?”
“Yeah, but I can’t enjoy it with all those people. It’s bad enough there are ten here.”
“This is family.”
“Last I recall Andrea, I had four sons and one wiry daughter.”
As she entered the living room, plate of food in hand, Ellen smiled at Joe as she set down the plate. “You are so sweet.”
Joe grumbled.
Andrea said, “Ellen everything is wonderful.”
“I was the party hostess in the old world. If anything, I could throw a party.”
Another Joe grumble and Ellen chuckled. She sat on the couch, scooting her way between Elliott and Jimmy.
There really wasn’t that many people in the room. Just family with the addition of Elliott, Jenny Matoose, and Christopher. Joe couldn’t figure out the logic in that. Nor why Ellen kept watching Christopher asking if he was okay and moving Christopher from Jenny Matoose.
Something was up.
But the show was on.
Fanfare, pre recorded music blasted as Blake did the voice over. It was a honey mixture of game show meets sitcom with the fanfare of a super bowl game.
Back stage, ready to make his stage entrance Hal winced at the loud noise. Then as Blake announced the new hit series, Hal debated on how to make his entrance. Would he walk on stage, run, lightly tramp?
There was no more think time.
Blake announced, “And here is your host ... Hal … Slagel.”
Showtime.
A quick walk, hand held high, Hal made his entrance on stage. Pulling from watching Family Feud, Hal held out his hands to silence the audience with a smile.
“Thank you.” Hal nodded, and waited for the applause to subside. “Thank you. Wow. A new television show. We certainly entered a new era in this world, haven’t we?”
Everyone clapped.
“I have to say I was as surprised as all of you to find out we’re going to be having Arena fighting this spring. Now, I … look forward to that.”
Chuckle. Chuckle.
Audience laughter.
“Confessions. Great name. And we hope that you’ll find it to be a great show. Here’s the object of the show. We’ll have the confessor. They’ll come out, tell me their story, I’ll …” Hal paused to wink. “Get the whole truth out of them. Or try …”
Back at Frank and Ellen’s.
Andrea grasped Joe’s hand. “Oh, Joe, doesn’t he look handsome up there. Such a natural.”
Joe let out a ‘hmm’, “He looks kind of pale.”
“That’s the lights,” Elliott said. “He didn’t want make up.”
Robbie added. “I heard he scheduled tanning appointment.”
Ellen fluttered out a laugh. “That is so Hal.”
Hal showed the big wooden door. “And back stage. The person who is the target of the confession will be hearing through headsets. After hearing it all. They will determine will they or will they not accept the apology. That is when our confessor walks to that door. If they forgive the confessee, they will be there. If they are not forgiven, the doorway will be empty.”
A round of ‘oohs’ erupted.
“And with that, let’s begin. Let’s bring out our first confessor. You know him from Beginnings and that magical shop. Will you welcome please, Ben From Fabrics.”
Hal side stepped and from cross stage, Ben walked out.
He wore a purple shirt, flowered pants and combat boots. He waved nervously to the audience.
Hal showed him the couch and Ben sat down.
In a big blue chair, Hal parked his rear. He slowly lifted the mug that said ‘Gemma’s Baked Goods’ and sipped. After crossing his legs, he folded his hand and turned toward Ben. “Mr. From Fabrics. Thank you for joining us this evening.”
“You’re welcome, and thanks for having me. Forgive me if I’m gassy, I’m a little nervous.”
Hal’s top lip twitched as he tried to hide his disgust. He cleared his throat. “Tell us, Ben, why have you come to Confessions?”
“To confess.”
“We know that.” Hal said with irritation. “Let’s start with the person you are confessing to. Who is it?”
“Todd.” Ben gasped out.
“Todd is back stage now. He’s listening and waiting. Are you ready for the confession?”
Ben nodded.
“Talk to us.” Hal presented an understanding listening ear.
“Pure. Everyone has the impression that I am pure.”
Hal raised an eyebrow.
“When the truth of the matter is … I’m an addict.”
&nbs
p; “Excuse me. What kind of addict.”
“I’m an exhibitionist.”
“You ….”
“Exhibitionist. It started out with an occasional show. But now I have a peep booth set up in the back of the shop, where I let people peek at my penis because it’s so big.”
Joe coughed, nearly choking on his coffee.
Andrea’s eyes widened, “Sweet Jesus, a porn shop!”
“Yes!” Robbie clapped once and pointed. “This is the shit that makes Beginnings so worth it.” He caught his father’s shifted eyes. “I mean … I mean.”
“I know what you mean.” Joe said.
“Joseph,” Andrea scolded. “What are you gonna do about this.”
“What do you want me to do about this?” Joe asked.
“Shut it down.”
“It’s not my town.”
“You’re the leader of it all.”
“Christ, Andrea, if people want to see his big penis let them.”
“Sweet Jesus, Joe!” Andrea scolded.
“What. Now quiet while we watch this.”
“About a month now, steadily,” Ben confessed. “I don’t even charge. Just the thrill of it all. I am so ashamed.” He placed his face in his hands.
“Well …” Hal exhaled. “That was very interesting. And you want Todd to know... why?”
“To know. To help me with this obsession.”
“You do know there is a chance he won’t behind the door. He won’t forgive this.”
Ben nodded.
“Let’s go check.” Hal stood.
So did Ben. “Will you hold my hand?”
“No.” Hal walked to the door. “Now if Todd is there, all is forgiven. If he’s not, life will not be the same for you, Ben. Ready?”
Ben nodded.
“Is Todd there?” Hal reached for the door, the dramatic music played. It opened and... Todd stood there.
The audience applauded.
“Todd!” Ben held out his arms.
“You bitch!” with hurl of his hand, Todd slapped Ben in the face, then spun and walked away.
“Todd!” Ben chased after him.
Hal faced the camera.
Danny clenched his fist with excitement, then gave a thumbs up to Hal.
“We’ll be back after this word from our sponsors,” Hal said.
Andrea hung up the phone, and stood from the couch.
“Where are you going?” Joe asked.
“Signs, Joe. We are making signs to picket The Unique Boutique.”
“When?”
“Well, it can’t be tomorrow, it’s Frank’s signing. The next day.”
“Then sit down, because I have a feeling the Dean segment is going to be good.”
“I shudder to think.” Andrea, reluctant, sat back down. Joe had sort of enjoyment out of it. He smirked, grabbed his coffee and watched Gemma’s commercial.
Ellen spoke as she returned to the living room, “I can’t wait until next week. I hear they have the Dan Paul thing on.”
Curiously, Joe looked at her “What Dan Paul thing?”
Robbie answered. “Last week they got into a fight over a karaoke song and been fighting ever since. Paul tells Dan he’s not a real musician because of Karaoke... that sort of thing. Funny. It’s our very first race riot.”
Joe smirked. “Well isn’t gonna be much of a race riot considering Andrea and Paul are our only black people in Beginnings.”
“True.” Robbie said. “But they’re pretty funny. We need more ethnicity in Beginnings.”
Joe only looked at him.
The show returned.
Dean had been introduced and Hal welcomed him to the confession couch. Dean didn’t seem nervous, actually, not at all. He came across confident.
“Thank you Dean for joining us.”
Dean nodded.
“Now you understand why you are here?”
Dean shrugged. “Sure, I was blackmailed into doing this.”
Hal blinked. “Blackmailed?”
“Yep. But that’s okay. It needed to come out.”
“We have Frank hearing the confession. Do you really seek Frank’s forgiveness? Really it’s odd.”
Dean shook his head. “Nah. I just guess we needed a symbolization of Beginnings, and Frank was it.”
“Why don’t you tell us the confession?”
“Okay, first let me explain. In the world of science, we need progress. In a lot of ways we’re strung all over. Now, Joe, he doesn’t want us doing unethical stuff, but he doesn’t lay the stringent rules of the FDA.”
“I understand.”
“All right, understanding that …I was concerned about population and races. Let’s face it, we have two Asians, Danny and Henry. Two African Americans. Andrea and Paul. And two Hispanic. Hector and Elliott.”
Elliott raised his head.
Joe slapped his hand on his knee. “Why does he do that?”
“I’m not adopted,” Elliott said.
Joe waved him off. “It shouldn’t matter and you need to let this go. Speaking of ‘go’ where did Christopher go?”
Jimmy replied. “He’s in the kitchen with Jenny.”
“Shit!” Ellen jumped up and flew into the kitchen.
Joe shifted his eyes. “Anyone else find that odd?”
Hal looked as if he just wanted to hurry Dean along. He didn’t need figures and percentages and projectiles. He needed the confession.
Dean continued, “So with the scales ….”
“Dean.”
“Yes.”
“Shut up and quit stalling. Spill it.”
Dean cleared his throat. “Fine. I started experimenting with cloning.”
“Cloning?” Hal asked.
Dean nodded. “I have a lot of sperm samples in the freezer and I used them.”
Hal winced. “Thank you for that.”
“Embryos were not easy. After hundreds and hundreds of failed attempts, I was able to successfully create nine embryonic clones.”
Slowly, Hal whispered out. “Holy … shit.”
“Sweet Jesus, the immorality in this town!” Andrea barked.
Joe’s jaw clenched. “I’m killing him. Ellen!”
Ellen was still in the kitchen.
She didn’t answer.
“Nine,” Dean repeated. “Beginnings residents. One of which … and this is the reason I am confessing … one of them was Brian.”
Hal’s hand went to his face.
“I took the clone baby and implanted him. Unfortunately, she lost the child. She miscarried.”
“Margaret?”
Dean nodded. “The entire relationship was a rouse. We were never involved. She was only carrying Brian.”
From the audience, someone shouted “I hope to God I wasn’t one of those clones!”
“Me either!” Someone else added.
Dean scoffed at them, “Oh, stop. Like you wouldn’t be praising my name if you needed a new heart and I had your clone to snatch it from. Doesn’t matter anyhow, they’re gone.”
Hal asked. “What do you mean, gone?”
“It struck me as unethical and I destroyed them.”
Out of the audience someone yelled. “Murderer.”
Joe gave a quick twitch of his head. “Robert, Elliott. Head on down to the station. There might be trouble.”
‘Frank’s there,” Robbie said.
“Exactly,” Replied Joe. “I don’t know how he’ll handle this.”
Hal spoke, “So not only is Frank the symbol of Beginnings. In a sense you are confessing that you cloned his son.”
“Yes.”
Hal stood up. “Let’s see how Frank handles this and if he’s behind the door right …”
“Wait.” Dean called out.
Hal stopped.
“There’s more.”
With a dramatic swing of his body, Hal faced him. “Go on.”
Dean stood. “I do need to confess to Frank. I want him to know I hate the fact that he’s
gonna marry Ellen. I hate. It. I love her with everything I am and I am going to make sure he doesn’t marry her. In fact, I want to start that process now. See, Ellen knew about the cloning. Didn’t tell Frank. And...She knew about Brian. Didn’t tell Frank. And finally, Ellen also knew that my relationship to Margaret wasn’t real, since it wasn’t real there, neither was my break up with Ellen. We’re still married. Probably why we had sex last night.”
BOOM.
The door burst open, and like a monster, Frank stood there.
“Dean.” Frank snapped. “Run.”
“Fuck.”
A quick jolt and turn of his body, Dean took off. He leapt from the stage and raced out with Frank right behind him on his tail.
“Yes!” Danny squealed out, slapping his hand with his clipboard. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. Drama.”
“Christ!” Joe ejected from his chair. “Robbie, get some men, this can get ugly. Elliott. Head into town. Hide Dean. Son of a bitch, could the man cause any more trouble?”
At that moment, blood curdling screams emerged from the kitchen. Jenny’ scream.
Everybody froze.
“Sweet Jesus, she is traumatized in there.” Ellen gasped.
Joe took a step, but before anyone could react, Jenny flew from the kitchen and straight of the house, screaming the entire way. Andrea immediately chased her.
“Ellen,” Joe breathed out and rushed to the kitchen.
Ellen came out of the swinging door, staying put in the doorway. “We saw a mouse.” She smiled nervously. “Boy does Jenny overeat.”
Robbie and Elliot cocked back in surprise.
“Is that so?” Joe asked.
“Yeah,” Ellen giggle nervously. “I’ll tell you, she ought to toughen up in this world.”
“Really?” Joe nodded. “Hey, Ellen?”
“Yes, Joe?”
“The door swings both ways.”
Ellen waved her hand out. “Oh, please, I’m not afraid of a little mouse.”
“That’s not what I mean. Literally, your kitchen door swings both ways.”
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