Edward Asner

On Christmas Eve, an orphaned baby crawls into Santa Claus's sack at an orphanage and is accidentally taken back to the North Pole. The elves discover the infant and name him Buddy, inspired by the label on his diaper. Papa Elf adopts Buddy and raises him as one of his own. Despite his large size and lack of elf-like skills, Buddy grows up believing he is an elf. However, as an adult, he learns the truth: he is human. Papa Elf reveals that Buddy's birth parents are Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells. Susan put Buddy up for adoption before she passed away, and Walter, now a children's book publisher in New York City, is unaware of Buddy's existence. Determined to find his father, Buddy travels to New York. He tracks Walter to his office at the Empire State Building, but Walter mistakes him for a Christmas-gram messenger and has him escorted out. Buddy wanders into Gimbels department store, where he meets Jovie, a jaded store employee who catches his eye. When Buddy learns Santa is scheduled to visit the store, he stays overnight and transforms the space into a winter wonderland. The next day, Buddy exposes the store Santa as a fraud, leading to a chaotic brawl that gets him arrested. Walter reluctantly bails Buddy out of jail and agrees to a DNA test, which confirms that Buddy is his son. Encouraged by the doctor, Walter brings Buddy home to meet his wife, Emily, and his son, Michael. While Walter and Michael are unsettled by Buddy's eccentric behavior, Emily insists they give him a chance. Over time, Michael warms up to Buddy, especially after Buddy helps him defeat a group of bullies in a snowball fight. Encouraged by Michael, Buddy asks Jovie on a date, and the two grow closer. Meanwhile, Walter's publishing company is in trouble after the failure of their latest book. Under pressure from his boss, Fulton Greenway, Walter scrambles to produce a successful pitch in time for Christmas Eve. Walter arranges a meeting with renowned ghostwriter Miles Finch, but Buddy unknowingly disrupts the meeting. Mistaking Finch's dwarfism for elf hood, Buddy inadvertently insults him. An enraged Finch storms out, leaving Walter furious. In a moment of frustration, Walter lashes out at Buddy, prompting Buddy to leave the meeting room heartbroken. Before departing, Buddy writes an apology to the family on an Etch A Sketch. And goes on his way. Walter and his team discover Finch's abandoned notebook, which contains ideas for a new book. As Walter presents the pitch to Greenway, Michael interrupts with news of Buddy's disappearance. Realizing his mistake, Walter quits his job and sets out to find his son. Meanwhile, Buddy stumbles upon Santa's sleigh, which has crash-landed in Central Park due to a lack of Christmas spirit. Santa explains that without the engine, the sleigh cannot fly. Buddy retrieves the engine and reunites with Walter and Michael. Walter makes things right with Buddy and they embrace. They accompany him to meet Santa, and Michael uses Santa's list to prove his authenticity to the news crews gathered outside the park. As Buddy attempts to repair the engine, the Central Park Rangers chase the sleigh. Jovie steps in to save the day, leading the crowd and viewers at home in a spirited rendition of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Their collective belief restores enough Christmas spirit to power the sleigh without the engine, allowing Santa to complete his deliveries. By the following Christmas, Buddy and Walter have started their own publishing company, with their first bestseller being a children's book based on Buddy's adventures. Buddy marries Jovie, and they have a daughter named Susie, whom they bring to visit Papa Elf at the North Pole.

Marvin Mange (Rob Schneider) is a meek, uncoordinated man who dreams of being a police officer like his dad was. Instead, Marvin just works as a trainee in the evidence room of a small town police station. He tries a few times to pass the physical test to become a full-fledged police officer, but he just can't seem to finish the obstacle course. One day, while left alone at the station, he receives a robbery call. With all of the real policemen out at a softball game, Marvin rushes to the scene himself. Along the way, he swerves to avoid a seal in the road and crashes over a cliff. He is critically injured, but is rescued by Dr. Wilder (Michael Caton), a mad scientist who puts Marvin back together using animal parts. Days later, Marvin is returned to his normal life with no memory of what he has just been through. Suddenly, he's full of life. He can out-run horses, mean dogs are now scared of him, and he doesn't need his asthma medicine anymore. He thinks it's due to his late-night TV purchase of "Badger Milk", which is guaranteed in the ads to make him stronger. One day at the park, Marvin meets Rianna (Colleen Haskell) while she's out walking dogs from her animal shelter. His animal-like tendencies are slowly taking him over. When a frisbee is thrown in his direction, he can't control himself, and he jumps to catch it in his mouth. He goes to the airport to talk to his friend, Miles the security guard (Guy Torry), about his problem. While there, Marvin sniffs out a man trying to hide heroin in his rectum. For uncovering a drug smuggler, Marvin is declared a hero and is made a full-fledged police officer. As days go by, Marvin's animal instincts are becoming stronger and stronger. He often wakes up in strange places, and subsequently, hears about animal attacks that occurred in the middle of the night. Because of these attacks, Dr. Wilder believes that Marvin is out of control. The mad scientist confronts him, takes him to his barnyard laboratory, and explains about the grafts and transplants that saved and changed Marvin's life, and gave him remarkable animal powers with certain problematic side effects. Later, at a party thrown by the Mayor, Marvin chases after a cat and destroys everything around him in the pursuit. Marvin is fired on the spot. During his reprimand, he hears something, jumps into the nearby lake and rescues the mayor's son using powers derived from a sea lion and a dolphin. He is swiftly reinstated. Chief Wilson {Edward Asner) questions Marvin about the late-night attacks on farm animals, because one of witnesses made a police sketchand it is identical to Marvin. Rianna goes to Marvin's house, where he has barricaded himself inside. They spend the night together, but Marvin wants to be tied up so he can't hurt anyone anymore. In the morning, he finds himself untied, because Rianna thought he looked uncomfortable. Suddenly, the police show up outside. Another attack had happened that night, and the police have come for Marvin. Rianna convinces him to run. Marvin escapes to the woods, where a huge chase ensues. The police have organized an angry mob into a search party to catch Marvin. While running through the woods, Marvin finds Dr. Wilder. The scientist tells him that there was another "patient" of his that is out of control, and he is in the woods looking for it. Sgt. Sisk (John C. McGinley) confronts Marvin, and is about to shoot him. Suddenly, the other "animal" jumps from a tree and knocks Sisk down. It's Rianna. Now, the crowd wants to kill both Marvin and Rianna. Miles is there also, and he takes the blame for everything. He has been claiming that there is reverse discrimination with him since he's black, and that no one wants to hold him accountable for anything. Sure enough, once the mob thinks a black man was the responsible party, they don't care anymore, and leave, one man (Norm Macdonald) saying "I'm not going to be part of a mob that kills a black man." Marvin and Rianna get married, and have a litter of children that each look like Marvin.

A commitment-phobic man goes in search of a bride, including his fed-up girlfriend, to inherit his grandfather's one hundred million dollar inheritance. James Shannon III (Chris O'Donnell) is seeing his single friends get married one by one. He isn't too worried until his girlfriend Anne Arden (Renée Zellweger) catches the bouquet at his friend Marco's (Artie Lange's) wedding. Suddenly, his wild mustang days are numbered. He finally decides to propose to her, but he sticks his foot in his mouth and botches the proposal. Being insulted by the defeatist proposal, Anne leaves town on an assignment. After she's gone, he finds out that his recently deceased granddad James Shannon's (Sir Peter Ustinov's) will stipulates that he gets nothing of a multi-million-dollar fortune unless he's married by 6:05 p.m. on his 30th birthday: tomorrow. Not being able to find Anne, Jimmie begins backtracking through his past girlfriends to find a wife. —Tony B James Shannon III (Chris O'Donnell) is a man who is somewhat gullible at keeping relationships with his girlfriends. But one day, he meets Anne Arden (Renée Zellweger) and suddenly his life is changed. It is then that the night he was supposed to propose to her that he returns back to his old self again. This upsets Anne completely. Soon, his Grandad James Shannon (Sir Peter Ustinov) dies and leaves Jimmie an inheritance of one hundred million dollars with one huge condition: Jimmie must get married on his 30th birthday by no later than 6:05 p.m. Pacific time or else his San Francisco-based pool table company goes under, and/or will be sold, his bank accounts will be frozen, and employees will be laid off completely. Jimmie must now use every attempt to learn from his foolish mistakes, find his true love, get married, and save the company in one day. James Shannon III (Chris O'Donnell) is a man who has had dozens of girlfriends and they all break-up with him because he is unwilling to commit. But when he meets Anne Arden (Renée Zellweger), he starts to loosen up a bit, but is still a little hesitant. Even his blustery Grandad James Shannon (Sir Peter Ustinov), who is concerned of the fate of the Shannon line, is nagging him to get married and have children. So he decides to take that step, but he is so nervous, that he botches the proposal. Anne is disappointed in him. When his grandfather dies and the will is read, they discover that he has left Jimmie one hundred million dollars, but only if he gets married by 6:05 p.m. on his 30th birthday, which is the next day. Jimmie then decides to propose to Anne again, and this time does a little better, but when Anne questions his eagerness and if he truly wants to marry her, he freezes, she then gets on a plane for Greece. She gets off the plane at the last minute and goes to visit her parents. Jimmie then learns that if he doesn't get the inheritance which includes the business, a company that has a reputation of buying a business and then stripping it for all that it is worth and then laying off the employees, will buy it and lay off all of the employees. Jimmie is adivised to find someone else to marry, so he goes through his black book and proceeds to ask every girl he has dated to marry him, only some of them are still stinging from his breaking up with them, others think that it's a travesty what he is proposing, or he just continues to propose badly. —rcs0411@yahoo.com

The partner and nephew of an armored-truck driver tries to prevent three million dollars from being taken by a gang during a catastrophic flooding caused by a severe storm. In the small town of Huntingburg, the armored truck with three million dollars driven by Tom and his Uncle Charlie gets stuck in the flooding. They realize that the town has been evacuated since the dam does not have capacity to hold the storm. While waiting for the National Guard, they are attacked by Jim and his gang formed by Kenny, Mr. Mehlor and Ray and the clumsy Kenny kills Charlie. Tom flees with the bags of money and hides them in the cemetery. Then he is hunted down by Jim and his gang and he hides in a church. Out of the blue, he is knocked out and awakes locked in a cell. Soon he learns that the restorer Karen believed he was a looter and hit him. Sheriff Mike Collins and Deputy Wayne Bryce go to investigate Tom' story while Officer Phil takes Karen out of the town by boat. However she escapes with the boat and goes to the church. Meanwhile Tom is trapped in the cell full of water and Karen rescues him. He decides to return to the armored truck to retrieve a shotgun but he is captured by Jim and his men and learns that Charlie was part of the gang. He tries to retrieve the hidden money for the gang, but Sheriff Collins and his men have already taken it. Soon Tom learns that the Sheriff wants to keep the money for him and his men and Tom and Karen are witnesses and he teams up with Jim. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Tom (Christian Slater) is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Jim (Morgan Freeman). Tom gets away with all the money and hides it. In a panic, he tells the sheriff about the area he hid the money in and the sheriff locks him up. Now Tom has to get to the money and keep himself alive battling the sheriff, Jim and his crew and the elements. —ShowBob <showbob@geocities.com> Young Tom helps his uncle Charlie, who is a bank armoured-truck driver. Criminal Jim leads a gang of four, they want to steal that truck with money, but the city is taken by a flood. Tom manages to hide the moneybags and everyone wants them, including local sheriff, who wants that money for himself. —Anonymous Heavy Rainfall causes a Indiana river to swell and flood the town. All inhabitants are forced by public services to leave instantly. Tom and his uncle Charlie work for a money transport firm and their assignment is to evacuate all cash from the banks along the flooding river. So, their truck is loaded with about three million Dollars. Hank tries to prevent further flooding, as he's the guy responsible for the dam up the river, but he has to open one gate in order to save the old dam from breaking. Only the police under the Sheriff's leadership stay in town to prevent looting. As the water level rises, Tom and Charlie's Truck gets stuck in the flooded road. This is the moment, Jim, an elderly thief, and his gang have been waiting for. In an attempt to get the money from the truck, Charlie gets shot and Tom swims off to save the cash bags. While trying to hide, he meets Karen, who resisted to leave the old church she has been restoring for eight months. She thinks he is a looter, and calls the cops to bring him in. But as the Sheriff finds out about that much cash in a situation like this, he radios his old pal Hank, up at the dam... —Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com>

Opening. Sombre, Black. Minimum Titles. Priests intone the word 'Koyaanisqatsi' over rather sombre organ? music. Might make one imagine a requiem. To look at some cave ? painting. Remember the old days? Egypt? Priests? Gods? Bubbling fire. Industry. A smelting? works. (The music has broadened , to involve a soprano line - on the organ) Slow motion, of oil pump? No! It's a rocket take-off, all the fire. Next- the earth, mountain range. Seen from this rocket? Seen from a plane or helicopter (whose shadow you could probably see, if sharp.) Wonderfully odd stones- forget the name in geology. Grand canyon??? Second movement- a siren? like sound, repeated note on a horn? Sounds... imploring, speaks of distress? Calms down a bit- we inspect the stones, contours, colours. Rock formations, not like pebbles. Sorry. Look! No people? Is it saying. Desert landscape, with mountains. Start to hear the wind. The music repeats include another note- which make it sound more hopeful. Looking over the great plains??? sorry to be ignorant. Beautiful, I think is the idea. Beautiful and old. Like myself. I didn't say. Cut that last bit. Then, steaming. Volcanoes? Geysers?? A string element has been woven into the soundscape, sounds elegiac??? not too bad. Priests again. Koyan... can't spell. Actual, desert sands. and the wind ripples over their surface. So - just really... idea? let your mind be blown, by the ceaseless beauty of the earth. Shadows moving - first clouds, then shadows moving across the hills and vales. Very large, hills and vales. Mountains and... bats? in a cave. Fade to black. Third, movement? stage of music. A rasping - sounds more serious. Yet more clouds, but they are darker. Watching clouds. Then torrents of water- a waterfall. Niagara perhaps. See from above. Vertiginous. The sea. A trumpet solo is sounding more bonny now. The storm has gone??? don't be so sure. Return to beginning, seriousness. Waves. NB is Reggio his real name? When regio is Italian for director... Blaring fanfare, sounding much more certain , bold, happy. As we watch photography of clouds streaming over mountains. Or I do. Then. Fourth change. Buzzing on a plane through a valley- and turbulent flutes. ascend and descend the scale. meanwhile a bassoon??? rushing along the ground- and the different colours of farm fields. Wonderful. Music supported by brass. As if saying, yes I agree. So. I'll call that bit over. first 18 minutes. Now, difficult transfer... but now it moves into footage, of blasting a quarry? (don't hear the explosion) Man, as it were, is introduced- and he is ... a van that looks like it wouldn't be out of place on the moon. Polluting black smoke pouring from. (or no- first man, were the priests on the cave painting.) and here we have his massive bridges. and pipelines. stretching off into the distance. and pylons. The organ is back, screeching like a bird- be-ware! as there is footage of pylons. Crisscrossing the desert. A power station's cooling towers smoking. Massive reservoir and dam. Then the music goes a bit hyper. And the footage is of an oil refinery? Explosion in time with music. Atom bombs , Los Alamos? Music does not sound so threatening at this point. Bizarrely?? sunbathers. choir. Just outside the power station. Oblivious. People visiting the tower station. (choir are angels- saying look at those morons?) Clouds reflected in the side of a huge office block. Airplanes taxi in desert heat shimmers. Does the front of an airplane , look like an angry human face?? We marvel for a moment. Sixth? change. Repeated scales again- the flux, roads. Traffic. Spaghetti junction?? anyway, roads. Music exhibiting some of the thrill of driving, plus - the angelic choir -are concerned? for the plight of humanity?? More close-ups of the traffic. Give it a human face. A car manufacturer. Aerial. Tanks. Flurry on the strings and flute. More tanks. Fighter plane. View from back? of a stealth bomber??? as it flies. A bomb dropping. A rocket rising. Spacecraft jettisons one of its fuel canisters. Museum- hydrogen bomb? Man o'war. Parachutes- devastations of war. Shadows of clouds flick across New York City. Fast. in perfect silence. river trip on the Hudson??? NY river. That I have taken. A 'cello? The size , of some of the building? point. Violin quartet? and a sort of ghetto? derelict buildings. someone's broken a fire hydrant, in these squats. interior- lonely slide in a play park- broken street light. Broken pavilion? Birds flock. Then the trumpets sound, we must do something they say? fly overhead- there are many blocks of flats like this- one after another. Eventually, the detonation, of one. then another. then another. then cranes on the dock. A bridge. another high rise. another. another. staccato trumpets. Another. Don't know what that was. Explosion, bits flying everywhere. Back to: a glowering sky, turning strings- as though to say, the Gods are not happy?? Looking over a city. Calming down a bit. up to minute 39. Will come back.

In 1857, con man Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke swindle slave owners into buying Jason, who's a free man, and later share the profits when Jason escapes captivity. Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke have pulled off every dodge known for conning a well-heeled sucker, but it wasn't until they hit on the old skin game that they started to clean up. The game is simple. Jason, though born a free man in New Jersey, poses as Quincy's slave as the pair ride through Missouri and Kansas in 1857. Quincy picks a likely mark in each town, sells Jason to him for top money and rides out of town. Then Quincy and Jason get back together on the road to another town, because if Jason can't just run off after dark, Quincy finds a way to spring him loose. —Anonymous

In the Broken Saloon at El Dorado, two old friends meet up again. Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) greets Cole Thornton (John Wayne) with a pointed rifle.They've both been friends since before and during the American Civil War. But J.P has heard his friend now works for Bart Jason (Edward Asner). Thornton admits that Jason has offered him good money, but he doesn't know what he has to do to earn it. J.P explains "Jason showed up here around the end of the Civil War with a pocketful of money and nobody could find out where he got it, but everybody else around here was broke. Having money, he started to grow, but now he needs more water. There's only one place to get it; trouble is, somebody was there ahead of him, about 20 years ahead--his name is Kevin MacDonald (R. G. Armstrong). MacDonald has four boys and a girl. The whole family have worked real hard. Hung together through the rough times; now things were looking up, MacDonald was not ready to sell, so he's holding out and Jason was pushing, and now I'm standing right in the middle." Saloon owner Maudie (Charlene Holt) walks in and throws her arms around Cole. She bursts out laughing when she realizes that her old flame and her current one are friends. Cole gave her a stake some time earlier to help her sort out her money problems when her gambling husband was killed. Thornton goes off to Jason's ranch to tell him that he's not going to work for him. Warned that Thornton has gone to Jason's, MacDonald has left his youngest boy Luke (Johnny Crawford) out on the hills to do a man's job and look out. But whilst keeping watch, he falls asleep and when he wakes up he jumps and shoots down at Thornton. Instinctively, Thornton shoots him down. Thornton rides to him and is upset to see the boy's age. He tries to make him feel comfortable but Luke is in agony. While Cole has his back turned to him, Luke pulls out his gun and kills himself. Thornton takes the body to Luke's father's place and explains what happened. Luke's sister, Joey (Michele Carey), a tomboyish, wildcat in buckskin pants doesn't believe him and tries to kill him. Her brother stops her and her father asks her to get in the house. But, she angrily rides off. Macdonald thanks Cole for returning his boy but Cole feels guilty and rides off. On his way back, Joey ambushes Cole at a creek, dropping him with a rifle bullet. He manages to get back on his horse and escapes to Maudie's place, where Doc Miller (Paul Fix) treats him. The bullet is lodged dangerously close to his spine, but the elderly doctor says he's not equipped to deal with it and to find a better surgeon for the bullet's removal. After a short time,Thornton leaves El Dorado, much to Maudie's disappointment. Several months later, Cole arrives in a town near the Mexican border and has dinner a the local cantina. A young man nicknamed Mississippi (James Caan) enters and confronts one of four men sitting at a dinner table, reminding him if he remembers him or if he remembers the black hat he is wearing? Mississippi's closest friend, mentor and father figure was accused of cheating at cards two year earlier and was killed. He says he caught up with the man's other three companions and he killed them all. He asks the last of the murderers to stand up. Mississippi isn't wearing a gun; instead, he kills the man with a knife. As one of the men tries to shoot him,Cole shoots his hand and steps in. One of the men sitting at the table is Nelse Macleod (Christopher George), a dark thin-faced man with a scar down the left side of his eye and cheek. Along with Cole and J.P., he's one of the most dangerous gunslingers in the territory. Cole discovers that he's the latest gunslinger that Bart Jason has offered good money to work for him. Not only that, but he also tells him that J.P. won't be a threat because he's been an alcoholic for months. Cole and Mississippi get ready to walk out of the cantina, but Cole stops him. He knows Macleod will have some men waiting for them to shoot and he tells him to call the men off. Mississippi, feeling grateful that he's saved his life twice, joins him for a meal. Cole soon finds out that Mississippi cannot shoot at all. He stops off at an old gunsmith friend's and gets him a shotgun to use. Cole and Mississippi arrive in El Dorado and stop off at Maudie's to find out if any strangers have been hanging around. She says no and she tells him the full extent of J.P's alcoholism. Cole goes over to the sheriff's office with Mississippi and finds Bull (Arthur Hunnicutt) on guard outside--who has been trying to keep law and order all on his own for the last few months. Cole goes inside to wake up J.P., who's asleep in the cell. He throws some water over him to wake him up. J.P punches him and and Cole knocks him out with a pan to his head. Mississippi makes some special drink in order to keep him off the booze. With the black-looking mixture in his system, any alcohol J.P drinks afterwards will just make him feel sick. The next afternoon, Bart Jason arrives in town and waits in the saloon for Nelse Macleod to turn up. At the same time, the Macdonald family arrive for their weekly town shopping. Bull goes off to keep an eye on the Macdonald's and tells Colt he'll blow on his trumpet if there's any trouble. Later at night, J.P. gets up, looking for some alcohol. Cole tells him they've got rid of it all. J.P. goes over to the saloon to get a bottle of whiskey and Bart and Macleod start laughing at him. He walks back in shame. Gunshots are heard and Bull blows the trumpet. Cole and Mississippi run out and find one of Macdonald's boys wounded. Cole, J.P., Mississippi and Bull search the town for the gunmen responsible. A woman comes to the window and tells Mississippi that she saw a few men take off down the street towards he church. A gunfight breaks out and two of the men are killed but the man with the limp gets away. They follow him into Jason's saloon. J.P. is angry from the humiliation he had earlier and he wants to prove what he's made of. Everyone denies seeing a man enter but the pianist looks nervous. J.P. tells him to get out of the way and begins firing his rifle at the piano. The gunman comes out from hiding and starts shooting but J.P kills him. The barman goes for a gun but J.P. shoots the top of the bar and a load of wooden splinters go through his hand. J.P. approaches the men who were laughing at him earlier. He hits one man in the stomach with the rifle and whacks Jason over the face. He's ready to shoot him but Cole intervenes. J.P. calms down and arrests him. As they are taking him to jail, Mississippi sees someone pointing a gun at them from the stable and goes to check it out. He grabs the person and sees it's a woman, in fact Joey, who was trying to get a shot at Bart for revenge. He takes her over to the jail to confirm her identity. She asks J.P. if Jason will get what he deserves. He says it's up to the judge. She thanks them for what they've done and leaves. Cole and Mississippi walk around the town on night-watch and some of Jason's men come riding along. Mississippi dives into the street right in front of the horses' hooves. The horses jump over him and he shoots one of the men. J.P. comes running out of the office and takes a bullet in the leg. As Cole tends to his wound inside, he asks Mississippi why he dove under the horses and he tells him that you can't shoot properly while your horse is jumping in the air and an horse won't step on a person. The doctors are in the office removing the bullet from J.P's leg. They tell Cole that it would be a good idea for him to have the bullet removed from his back. Cole tells them if he survives all the trouble with Jason's men, he'll have it taken care of. J.P. is feeling restless and frustrated and trying to control his need to drink. He comes up with the idea to lock themselves away in the office with some food and water until the U.S. marshal arrives to pick Jason up. Bull recommends that he cleans himself up if they're going to be confined together. While J.P. takes a bath, Joey and Maudie bring some things around for them to last them until the marshal's arrival. Cole gets angry with her and tells her that it's best for her to stay away because Jason's men might use her to get Jason back from them. Later at night, a friend of Maudie's arrives with a note from Maudie saying that Macleod's men have been hanging around her place and that she's heard that they've got something planned. Cole and Mississippi go over to to the saloon but a gunman starts shooting at them. They chase him through the saloon, out to the back door. Two men tell them the person went out the back door. Mississippi luckily recognizes the men as Milt and Pedro and remembers the incident from their previous encounter. Cole asks if him anyone's waiting outside for them. Milt says no but Cole tells him to walk out. Milt doesn't want to but Cole shoots him in the arm and tells him to go. Milt says he lied, there's somebody out there. Cole shoots him in the leg. With no choice, Milt runs out of the doors shouting not to shoot but he is gunned down. Cole tells Pedro to go next but as he is trying to force him out the doors, he starts suffering with the numbness down his arm again. He falls to the floor in pain. Pedro goes for his gun but Mississippi kills him but he is knocked out from behind. Mississippi and Maudie go to the office through the back door to tell them what's happened. Macleod has Cole and wants to trade him for Jason. J.P. reluctantly agrees. He frees Jason and he, Cole, Bull and Mississippi flee town and hide out at his place. Bull is suspicious that Macleod let them get out of town too easily. Joey turns up to tell them that her brother Saul has been kidnapped by Jason and he will only be returned if the Macdonald ranch is handed over to him. With Bull's age, Mississippi's poor shooting skills, and Cole and J.P's crippled condition, the odds are stacked against them. Cole realizes he can still use a rifle with one hand, so they hatch a plan. They ride back into town. Cole drives a wagon to the front of the saloon to confront Macleod, who has Jason and a few men at his side; while a few of the other men keep watch over Saul in the saloon. J.P., Mississippi and Bull go through the back door to get behind them. Bull fires an arrow into the back of one of Macleod's men and blows his bugle, which distracts Macleod long enough for Cole to jump from the wagon and gun him down. J.P. and Mississippi handle the rest of the men inside. Jason goes to grab one of Macleod's guns to kill Cole but Joey is hiding in the distance and shoots him first.. Cole thanks her for saving his life. He walks over to Macleod as he lays dying. He says to him "You never gave me a chance at all did you?" Cole replies "No, I didn't. You're too good to give a chance to," leaving Macleod to die with his pride intact. The story ends as Cole has his leg wrapped up from scattershot from Mississippi who accidentally caught him with his shotgun during the gunfight. Mississippi goes off to talk to Joey, Cole goes off to see Maudie, and J.P. and Bull have a drink while J.P. tells him he needs him as his deputy. The story ends with Cole and J.P. both now limping down the street as Cole prepares to leave town and J.P. has gained his self respect back.

College volunteer Alan Newell is working alone at the crisis center one evening when he receives a telephone call from suicidal caller Inga Dyson, who has swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. Can Alan save her? Alan is a Seattle college student volunteering at a crisis center. One night when he's at the clinic alone, he takes a call from a woman who tells him that she needs to talk to someone. She informs Alan that she took a load of pills, and he secretly tries to get help. During this time, he learns more about the woman, her family life, and why she wants to die. Can he save her in time? —Pat McCurry <ccgrad97@aol.com> Alan Newell is a Seattle university student who works at a phone-in crisis clinic. Most of the calls he receives are routine, such as an unhappy barber who feels he gets no respect. But then he gets a call from Inga, a suicidal woman who claims that she has deliberately overdosed on barbiturates. Flashbacks reveal the events that have led her to attempt to take her own life: her marriage is on rocky ground after her husband learned that their child is not his. As the telephone company attempts to trace the call and the police try to locate her, Alan works desperately to keep her on the line. —garykmcd