Episode 3

MY V.I.
(a soap opera)


Cindy was worried as she stood by the bar with Trudy who'd just shown up. They both watched as the paramedics attended to Michelle's head wound; all this while Michelle sat silently staring at the beloved, bloody braid she was holding in her hand.

"Trudy, look at her," Cindy said. "Poor thing - she loved that braid."

"Gosh, I know. Maybe she could just bobby pin it back in place, you know," Trudy added.

"TRUDY!"

"Well, I don't know . . . oh, Cindy, look."

"Oh my god, Trudy, what is she doing?"

"Well, it looks like she's petting it . . . like a cat or something."

"That is just sad."

Across the bar Chrystal, Fermin and the new girl, Charmaine were busy picking up over turned tables, chairs and debris left behind by the melee.

It was Charmaine's first night training as a server and Chrystal assured her that this type of thing doesn't normally happen here but Charmaine wasn't concerned - she kind of liked it. She found the whole experience exciting.

Most people that knew her found Charmaine Truce to be an odd young lady. She was a bi-polar, single mother living in a Costa Mesa triplex. Her friends called her CharTruce and she liked that.


Charmaine was hooked on "America's Most Wanted." She'd watched it for years and had, in fact, been fired from her last job as a waitress because she twice thought she recognized a customer in the restaurant where she worked as one of the fugitives from the show. The first time it happened the cops considered it an innocent mistake but the second time the SWAT team surrounded the place and it was a mess. There was something about criminals and criminal activity that fascinated her.

Chrystal walked over to Charmaine who was clearing off one of the few tables that had been left standing and tapped her on the shoulder, "Charmaine."

Turning around she answered, "Please call me CharTruce."

"Oh, o.k. - uh, listen, Fermin'll finish cleaning this up. Let me show you how to close out and do your paper work."

"O.K."

The two of them walked over to the computer and Chrystal showed her how to run her closing sales report; once that was finished she opened the drawer to retreive her cash.

"That's funny," Chrystal said.

"What's that?"

Chrystal rummaged through the drawer. "My money . . . it's not in here."

Looking away Charmaine responded, "It's not?"

"No, it's not. It's gone!"


TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF MY V.I. .................................."Where's my money?!!"