Episode 3
"The Great Unknown"
Transcribed by Bill K.

A case of the flu has been spreading through town, and all but four of the Meteor newspaper team are out with it. As Seamus expresses it to the Mayor's assistant, Isadora, "Today, we happy few are the power of the press!".

Seamus has made it his personal quest to see that the Wednesday edition is delivered "right on time, right on schedule". "This paper hasn't missed an edition in forty-five years, and it's not gonna miss Wednesday's!" To make that happen, he will have to deal with an angry Mayor, cancellations by advertisers, and an outraged Hector Allegria.

Hector – Who wrote this article?

Fig – I did.

Hector – You? You wrote this? You...!

Seamus - Hey-hey-hey!   If you have a problem, talk to me.

Hector – Problem? Printing lies about me? You smear my name all over town in your little paper. You insult my integrity. I don't have a problem, you have a problem.

Seamus - Give us a second.

Fig – He's lying.

Seamus - You're absolutely sure?

Fig – Why do you think he got so upset? I hit a nerve. I busted him. If he thought he had a libel suit, you think he'd warn us?

Seamus - No.

Fig – No. His company dumped all their garbage in the ocean.

Seamus - But he says they didn't.

Fig – They did.

Seamus - What if we're wrong?

Fig – We're dead. But we're not wrong. His whole construction company dumped tons of waste in the bay. Trust me!

Seamus - Mr. Allegria. We stand by our story.

Hector – You what???

Seamus - And we're going to run a second installment in tomorrow's edition.

Hector – You don't know what you're getting into. Or you, ma'am.

Savannah does her best to keep the flu away from her friends with wheatgerm and goldenseal.

Gumbo is dealing with a different kind of "flu" from his own past. "Somebody turn on some music – I feel like dancin'!"

JoJo questions Savannah. "So what the man been smokin"?

Savannah - That's what I've been wondering!

But a timeline is approaching fast for Gumbo. It is the "10 year" anniversary of a heart-breaking event that is weighing heavily upon him, and his jubilant mood fades quickly. Even to the easy-to-talk-to Savannah, it is all Gumbo can do to say, "You know how I always told you I used to work in the circus. I was a clown, and my, my w-wi-...I can't do it! I can't talk about it out loud!"

It's a rare thing when fate steps in to bring two souls together. Perhaps it's Kharma, or perhaps some other pair of unseen hands. Whatever the case, when Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Jefferson came face to face with the embodiment of a dream, she had taken the form of a 4 by 4 drivin', cigarette smokin', red meat lovin' fan of Andrew Dice Clay and Ronald Reagan. And a raven-tressed beauty, at that!

Cody's vivid and impassioned description of his foretelling dream of her were enough to convince Star that he might be worth getting to know a little better.

Star - Flowers?

Cody - Roses. They're organic!

Star - You never ate a rose?

Cody - No. I've eaten a lot of things, but...mmm...

Star - Thanks just the first thing you're going to learn tonight.

Cody - You know, I believe we knew each other "before".

Star - Now we're gonna know each other "now"!

Cody - I'm a triple Leo. The lion is my spirit animal. What's your sign?

Star - Couldn't tell ya.

Cody - You don't know your sign? I'm gonna have to do your chart!

Star - Why don't you just do me?

Cody - Ok.

Fig - Ive had it! My temperature is 103!

Seamus - That's it, you're going home!

Fig - It's not the end of the world if we miss one edition.

Seamus - Fig, take two aspirin and call me in the morning. You might want to try tea with lemon, that usually helps. But I appreciate everything you've done.

Fortunately for Gumbo, "Hightop", an old friend from the circus, has come into town. Hightop is the kind of friend who understands his pal's heart well enough to know that this day would be pivotal in Gumbo's life.

Gumbo reveals to Savannah:

"Her name was CiCi, and she was just a tiny little-bitty thing, not even five feet tall. She was my wife. We falled in love when we was just kids, really, Ôbout sixteen, I guess. We runned away twice, once to get married and once to join the circus."

Savannah – CiCi was a clown?

Gumbo – Yeah! Yeah, CiCi was the best clown there ever was! CiCi could take your funny-bone and shake it like a dog!

Hightop - That's the truth.

Gumbo - My CiCi got to carryin' on and people turned blue in the face! She would make you laugh so hard that you couldn't breathe, and I mean doubled over crampin', holdin' on to your sides beggin' for mercy but CiCi didn't know nothin' about mercy, did she? No, she would just shoot into overdrive and then pretty soon they had to bring out them, them stretchers and haul people outta there! Yeah, my CiCi was a Clown!

And that's the way she went - center ring, during the middle of our act, her little bitty heart just gave out, and she died, lying in my arms. With her grease paint on, though. That was ten years ago. Tonight. At eight o'clock. And I can't for the life of me figure it out why it getting' my goat this way. I got through the first year. I got through five years, but this ten year...

Hightop - We'll be here. All of us.

Gumbo - All? What you mean all?

The intuitive Hightop had "put out the call", and clowns from all over the country were making their way to Key West to help their comrade in greasepaint, Gumbo. As they start arriving at Gumbo's bar, old friendships are re-kindled as if no time at all had passed.

Seamus - You get the papers tonight, at 8 o'clock.

"Pay us up-front!"

Seamus - Listen, wise guy, I pay you one dime up front you won't be sober enough to see your feet! Now, you want the job? Be here at 8 o'clock tonight!

JoJo - Seamus, ya can't do this alone. You're runnin' yourself ragged. Ya haven't slept in two days! If you need to go home and get some rest, close the paper and go! I, myself will tell King Cole you tried this day to make it work"

Seamus - As soon as I get these papers out I'll sleep. I promise!

JoJo - The boy gon' kill himself.

Pepe - You are going to be a good newspaperman

Seamus - Yeah, if Cole doesn't fire me the minute he gets back!

Pepe - Fire you? You took on the Mayor. You got the scoop on Allegria – I personally saw how you handled that. You trusted your reporter, you stood by your story. Tough call! Tough call! You got guts, and you got heart. King Cole ain't gonna fire you. You are a newspaperman!

Sheriff Cody has lived a life of rare enlightenment. He is well in touch with his existential side and his spirit's own self. Born a triple Leo to "the original hippie" mother and a sheriff father, Cody lived in a Buddhist monastery for two years, and then joined the police academy.

Cody Jeremiah Jefferson is a rare cat, and this "Big Kitty" has just met his match.

Cody - Star, I think I'm falling in love with you.

Star - Big Kitty, if I could dance that dance I'd do it with you, I truly would. But my life is like a high-wire act without a net. I work alone. I go solo. But if I ever did take a partner... it would be you.

Cody - Star, this thing that's - happened it's meant to be.

"Star" is not a believer in what she cannot see.

Star - Nothing is "meant to be". There's no aura, there's no vibration, no astral projection, no out-of-body experiences, no soul travel. It's crap! It's unreal.

Cody -It's not unreal. It's only unknown.

Still, the magic between the two is not unreal, and it is not unknown. The attraction was as undeniable as gravity, and as Star puts it, "If broccoli juice and yoga can turn all men into the bunk-bunny you are, I'll start paying for group fares to India myself!"

Seamus is working "feverishly" to nearly single-handedly get the newspaper out. The flu would have other plans, as its effects overtake even Seamus' die-hard intentions of making King Cole proud of him.

JoJo - So, where you want to be buried? Ya know we got some nice cemetaries down here at the end of the world. ÔCourse now you could be buried out to sea. That'd be nice. Let the fishies feed on ya instead o' the worms. Either way I figure you'll be dead by Tuesday.

Seamus - Look, JoJo, I'm almost done.

JoJo - No, man. Ya are done! Let's pack it in. Come on

Savannah - You quit takin' your wheat germ, didn't you. That's what I thought.

Savannah - "Ok, baby you're coming with me. You're going to bed." In a state of exhausted delirium, he winds up in the capable hands of Savannah, whose unlikely task is now "to cool a man off in bed".

"But the paper is almost ready", objects "News Hound" through his fevered fog. JoJo, who has been cautioning Seamus all along about killing himself from exhaustion, does not miss the opportunity to help his friend. He heads back to the newspaper office to see that the 8:00 p.m. deadline is met.

"How long are you in town?", Cody asks Star from between the sheets. "I leave tomorrow." "And why are you here?" "Why don't you come with me and see?"

And with that, Star brings Cody to the gathering at Gumbo's bar. "Star! Oh my Star-Bright done come back to her old pal, Gumbo!", exclaims Gumbo. "Y'all remember Star-Bright! Best lion-tamer ever crack a whip! My Star was just sixteen years old when she first climbed into that cage with them big cats. She crack that whip and them lions just sink down like little pussy cats. My Star have that power in her, a lion understands! A lion take one look at her and know! He can feel it. It's supernatural!".

Cody is speechless.

Savannah -No, Seamus! Seamus, wake up! Seamus, you're too hot! We gotta cool you off!

As 8:00 arrives, JoJo is coordinating delivery of newspapers while Gumbo and his friends gather in a ring of homage to celebrate their lost compadre. Seamus has visions of flying newspapers.

Gumbo - It been ten long years since I seen all of this. Oh my goodness, look! It's Cici's wig...

...and her little nose, too! And her great big ol' shoes!

(You can hear the circus barker and the calliope playing. You can almost smell the grease-paint, and hear the roar of the crowd. CiCi is present with everyone there.)

Gumbo -My little CiCi. I can't hardly believe it been ten years since I held her in my arms, touched her pretty face. You know, I never have told anyone this, but I never have really felt like she was really gone. I can feel her. I know, I can't see her or nothin', but I can feel her. I wake up in the mornin' sometimes, look at the sunrise, and I swear I see CiCi shinin'!

The clown friends have joined hands in remembrance. At the same moment, the wind kicks up at Savannah's house, and the lights flicker and go out.

Gumbo - CiCi, I know you're there. I can feel you. I never have stopped lovin' you, my beautiful little wife. And I miss you sometimes more than I think I can stand. But lookin' at all these old friendly faces, they carry you in their hearts, too makes me understand that it's wrong of me to keep you locked up in my heart. I've got to live for me, and share the memory of you, and you can live forever".

Seamus's fever and delirium are peaking, then breaking, as he picks up of a message from somewhere far away. "What? What is it?", whispers Savannah

Seamus - I have to find Gumbo, I have to tell him something.

Savannah - Tell him what, baby?

Seamus - CiCi loves him. And she understands.

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