ANOTHER WORLD 314 Charlie considers legal action against the hospital

ANOTHER WORLD 314

Created by:  William J. Bell and Irna Phillips

Fanfic Written by:  C. Nathaniel Richardson

Consultants:  A. Washington Beeby, ML Cooks, and Nick Monarco

Characters in this episode:  Lindsay Winthrop, Charlie Winthrop Harrison, Kirkland Harrison, Donna Love, Bridget McKinnon, Jake McKinnon, Michele McKinnon

PREVIOUSLY ON ANOTHER WORLD

• Charlie was not hired for a hospital internship position, and overheard Thomasina Mason state that she didn’t hire Charlie because she was white

• Many years ago, Reginald Love, Donna’s father, showed Donna a picture, presumably of her missing third child, which made Donna hysterical at the time.  The child is a triplet of Vicky and Marley.

• Michele and Bridget’s feud hit a high point when Bridget collapsed in front of the Corys.  Michele switched Bridget’s OB test to make it look like Bridget had chlamydia.  Bridget was prescribed antibiotics and suffered a severe allergic reaction.  It was late discovered that Bridget never had chlamydia

PART 1 

AT KIRKLAND AND CHARLIE’S SUITE, SOMEONE RINGS THE DOORBELL.  CHARLIE OPENS THE DOOR AND SEES LINDSAY CARRYING A BAG.

Lindsay Winthrop

Charlie Winthrop Harrison

LINDSAY:  I come bearing gifts.

LINDSAY WALKS IN AS CHARLIE SMILES.  CHARLIE SHUTS THE DOOR AFTER LINDSAY WALKS IN.

LINDSAY:  I’ve got cobb salad.  

CHARLIE:  Wait I thought I asked you to pick up burgers and fries.

LINDSAY:  Oh the salad’s for me.  

LINDSAY WALKS OVER TO THE TABLE.  SHE STARTS TAKING THE CONTAINERS OF FOOD OUT OF THE BAG AND PLACES EACH ITEM ON IT.

CHARLIE:  Okay I was gonna say.  Did you get the ice cream?

LINDSAY:  They didn’t have Rocky Road so I got…

CHARLIE:  Butter pecan.

LINDSAY:  I know my cousin well.  

CHARLIE:  I don’t know about you but we’re hungry. 

LINDSAY:  Well I’m not gonna serve it to you.  Come and get it.  Where’s Kirkland?

CHARLIE:  He went to see his mom.  He’s supposed to be telling his parents that we’re having a baby.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kirkland Harrison

Donna Love

AT THE MCKINNONS, KIRKLAND IS IN THE LIVING ROOM WITH DONNA.

KIRKLAND:  Did you ever think of…maybe hiring a P.I. to start looking?

DONNA:  I…hadn’t thought of it much at all until you told me that you and Charlie were having a baby.  I’m so incredibly proud of you.

KIRKLAND:  Don’t try to change the subject grandma.  Maybe that’s something you should look into.

DONNA:  I don’t know.  What if my child wants nothing to do with me after I find him or her?

KIRKLAND:  I’m sure they’ll understand that your separation wasn’t your fault once you explain what happened.  Reginald took the baby away.  You couldn’t control that.

DONNA:  He did everything he could to keep Michael and me apart.  In his mind I didn’t belong with a stable boy.  

KIRKLAND:  He’s done a lot of damage to this family, but we don’t have to carry on his legacy of pain and hurt.  We can break the cycle.

DONNA:  You’re exactly right.

KIRKLAND:  Mom and dad fought over me for years.  That still hurts.  I don’t want my child to go through that.

DONNA SMILES AND GENTLY PLACES ON HER RIGHT HAND ON KIRKLAND’S LEFT CHEEK.

DONNA:  Oh sweetheart.  None of us do.  I want peace in this family. 

KIRKLAND:  We all do.

DONNA:  We just gotta get your sisters on board.

---------------------------------------------------------

Bridget McKinnon

Jake McKinnon

AT THE HOSPITAL, BRIDGET IS LYING IN HER BED AS JAKE WALKS IN.  HE PULLS UP A STOOL AND SITS AT THE SIDE OF THE BED.

BRIDGET:  Dad.

JAKE:  Hey how are you feeling?

BRIDGET:  I’m almost a hundred percent.

JAKE:  Well that’s good right?

BRIDGET:  Yeah.

JAKE:  Why don’t you sound more excited about it?

BRIDGET:  Because what happens when I get out of here?  Is it back to the same old crap?  

JAKE:  Doesn’t have to be.

BRIDGET:  Yeah it doesn’t, but it is.  You and mom are not getting back together.  Michele and I…well you know how that’s going.

JAKE:  Why do you look at it that way?  You can use this opportunity to heal.  We all can.

BRIDGET:  I don’t think I can…move to that level until I solve things with Michele.  In fact, I wanna see her.  I want to start the healing process.

JAKE:  Wait a second.  Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?

--------------------------------------------------------------

CHARLIE AND LINDSAY ARE SITTING ON THE BED.  BOTH HAVE THEIR LEGS FOLDED WHILE THEY EAT.

CHARLIE:  My baby says thank you.  Oh I’m…I didn’t mean to.  I’ve been so insensitive.  I’m so sorry.

LINDSAY:  No.  You should be able to freely talk about your baby.  I’m over all of that.  Really.

CHARLIE:  It would be understandable if you weren’t and I don’t want to sound like I’m rubbing it in.

LINDSAY:  Will you stop?  You’re not rubbing anything in.  I’m getting comfortable with the fact that there are other ways I can have children.  So what’s going on with you?

CHARLIE:  Funny thing is, everything is not exactly fine.  Do you remember that day you found me hunched over in pain at the hospital?

LINDSAY:  Yeah.

CHARLIE:  Well, I had just come from Dr. Mason’s office, and I heard her say something that disturbed me, and I’ve been sitting here wondering if I should tell my dad.

LINDSAY:  What happened?  What did you hear her say?

CHARLIE FLASHES BACK

EPISODE 288

THOMASINA:  Oh I looked into it.  The jobs she applied for went to candidates with lower GPAs than she had.

RUSS:  It’s more than a GPA Dr. Mason. 

THOMASINA:  Of course it is.

RUSS:  What about her rotations and residencies?

THOMASINA:  The doctors she worked under recommended her white counterparts.  I felt for her.  We would meet in coffee shops and I would reassure her that she will find what she’s  looking for, and I said to myself that I would make a difference; I will not let one more black person go through what Deborah Boswell went through.  

RUSS:  What are you saying?   That you didn’t hire Charlie Harrison for the Public Relations internship because she was white? 

THOMASINA TURNS BACK AND FACES RUSS.

THOMASINA:  You’re damned right!  

MEANWHILE, CHARLIE IS OUTSIDE AND HAS JUST HEARD WHAT THOMASINA HAS TOLD RUSS.

CHARLIE FLASHES BACK TO THE PRESENT.

LINDSAY:  Oh my God Charlie.  Are you sure that you heard Dr. Mason say that?

CAMERA PAN ON CHARLIE.  SLOW FADE OUT.  FADE IN TO THEME SONG.

-------------------------------------------------------------

PART 2

CHARLIE:  I know what I heard.  

LINDSAY:  That’s…that’s real serious.  It’s actually hard to believe.

CHARLIE:  So you think I’m lying?

LINDSAY:  No that’s not what I’m saying at all.  It’s just…Dr. Mason is a really good doctor.

CHARLIE:  I’m not questioning her skills as a physician.   That’s not at all what I’m talking about.

LINDSAY:  I know that, but Thomasina Mason is an esteemed doctor at the hospital.  

CHARLIE:  I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble.  Maybe I’m overreacting.  Maybe I’m overthinking the whole thing.

LINDSAY:  Sounds like you might be a little, but it seems like it’s really bothering you.

CHARLIE GETS OUT OF THE BED AND WALKS OVER TO THE TABLE.

CHARLIE:  It’s confusing.  I thought that with the baby news, that I could shake this feeling, or just let it go, but I can’t.  

LINDSAY:  What is it exactly that’s bothering you about this?

CHARLIE:  I really wanted that internship but…

LINDSAY:  But she didn’t hire you because you were white.

CHARLIE:  Is it really that, though?  Is it because I wasn’t black?

LINDSAY:  I really don’t think that matters.  You’re going to your dad to see what your legal options are, aren’t you?

CHARLIE TURNS AROUND AND FACES LINDSAY.

CHARLIE:  If I tell my dad, he might decide to sue the hospital, and it wouldn’t be the first time he did it.

LINDSAY:  My mom told me about the last time he filed a lawsuit against the hospital.

CHARLIE:  That was for something completely different.

CHARLIE SIGHS.

LINDSAY:  Charlie you seem really concerned about this.

CHARLIE:  What leverage would I have?  This stuff…really doesn’t happen to white people.  I was rejected for a job because of my skin color, or lack thereof.  I know what my dad’s gonna say after I tell him.  Maybe I should just keep it to myself.

LINDSAY:  You have to get answers.  You won’t feel better until you talk to Uncle Cass.  I think you gotta tell him.  Have you talked to Kirkland about it?  What does he think?

CHARLIE:  No.  I haven’t yet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

DONNA AND KIRKLAND SIT ON THE COUCH.

KIRKLAND:  It would almost take an act of God to get those two to start getting along.

DONNA:  I know.  Ever since Michele came back to Bay City, she’s wanted some type of revenge on Bridget.

KIRKLAND:  Bridget hasn’t exactly been innocent in the matter.

DONNA:  Neither one of them has.  I just want this to end.  Their feud has done a lot of damage to this family.  Your mother and Jake split up because of it.

KIRKLAND:  But you know what grandma, this family’s been messed up for a long time.  Way before Bridget and Michele were even born.

DONNA:  Hard to disagree with that.  Started with my father.

KIRKLAND:  Mom told me everything he did to you, Nicole and Uncle Peter.

DONNA:  Nicole gave birth to your cousin Allen when she was sixteen, and Reginald paid Allen’s father to take him away.  For years Nicole that her child was dead.

KIRKLAND:  Probably lead to her drug abuse.

DONNA:  It did.  She’s fine now though.  My poor sister has been through so much because of daddy.

KIRKLAND:  Don’t forget about you. 

DONNA:  What about me?

KIRKLAND:  Everything he did to you and Grandpa Michael and…

DONNA:  My baby.  

KIRKLAND:  Did you ever think that your baby might have…been in Bay City?

DONNA:  I don’t know.  I never really thought of that.

KIRKLAND:  Do you think your child is here now?

DONNA:  Kirkland I…I really don’t want to go down this road.

KIRKLAND:  But grandma you’ve got to.  Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to find the child that was taken from you?  Maybe you can find people that Reginald spent time with.  

DONNA GETS UP, FACES AWAY FROM KIRKLAND,AND BEGINS TO THINK ABOUT REGINALD’S PAST DEALINGS.

DONNA:  Well daddy didn’t have a lot of friends.  If he did, he wouldn’t have said anything about my child.  

KIRKLAND:  Didn’t he have like, a wife or something?  As evil as he was, he had to have had a soft spot for someone.

DONNA:  As a matter of fact, he did.  

DONNA TURNS BACK TO FACE KIRKLAND.

DONNA:  Mary McKinnon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BRIDGET:  Things need to be different you know?

JAKE:  I’m proud of you.

BRIDGET:  I wish…mom would say that.

JAKE:  You talked to her?

BRIDGET:  Yeah.  I told her to get lost.

JAKE:  Why did you do that?

BRIDGET:  She came in here with this…empty apology.  

JAKE:  She didn’t believe you when you said you didn’t have chlamydia, and she was wrong.

BRIDGET:  I don’t think I’m ready to receive mom yet.

JAKE:  Sweetheart you can’t be like that.

BRIDGET:  Mom has mistreated me ever since Michele’s memorial service.  She blamed me for the accident and she embarrassed me in front of the whole town.

JAKE:  So you don’t forgive her?

BRIDGET:  I don’t know yet dad.  Does that make me a bad person?  

JAKE:  You and Vicky haven’t had a great relationship to say the least.  It’s going to take some time for you to rebuild it.

BRIDGET:  I’m just not ready to forgive mom yet.

MICHELE WALKS IN.

Michele McKinnon

MICHELE:  What about me?

FREEZE FRAME ON MICHELE.  SLOW FADE OUT.  END OF 314