Peter Riegert

A man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.

Jimmy needs $900 to clear a gambling debt but a series of lies leads to Ray trying to raise the cash from friends who owe him money. Jimmy has a gambling debt and uses a lie to get his girlfriend Susan to help him find $900. Susan uses another lie to get her bartender brother Ray to help, but Ray hates Jimmy. Ray wanders around the local bars collecting the money; Jimmy's looking for Ray and Susan's looking for Jimmy. If the wrong people meet, the lies will unravel. —Rob Hartill At Christmas-time, a generally disliked out-of-work actor finds himself in debt for $900 to a local bookie, who threatens to start breaking bones if he doesn't pay. Knowing he won't get much sympathy, he tells his girlfriend that he needs money for an emergency abortion for his sister. Soon a bartender and a friendly bar customer starts hitting everyone up for the cash. Meanwhile everyone is roaming amongst Christmas parties and spreading the word. In the end, everyone meets back at the bar and only then does the actor's ploy stand revealed. —John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

A sweet, socially inept bank teller discovers a mask that transforms him into a superhero...but one whom you may not want to call for help.

This story is about a ne'er-do-well and his girlfriend as they search for a thief. Two Americans living sumptuously abroad find their relationship challenged by an unexpected lack of finances. When Jake, a commodities broker, is unable to pay the bills (due to a dock strike that holds up a cocoa shipment), he suggests that Tina (sensuous, beautiful, and still married to another man) file an insurance claim on her 'little Henry Moore' in order to help pay their bills. Tina balks. The statue is her only source of security, all that she owns in the whole world. Does he realize what he's asking of her? Then the statue simply disappears. Circumstances become more dire and questions emerge. Can Tina trust Jake? Can Jake trust Tina? When things spin out of their control, each is forced to reckon with doubt--doubt of themselves, doubt of each other, and doubt of the strength of their bond. As it is with love, "to some people, cocoa is very scary." The story that unfolds is sensuous, understated, witty, and elegant--a true 'Object of Beauty.' —JCrickett American couple Jake and Tina are living in an expensive London hotel way beyond what they can afford. When they were asked to pay the bill, Jake wants to sell Tina's 20,000-pound Henry Moore sculpture, but she is not happy about that. The deaf-mute hotel maid admires the sculpture for its beauty rather than its value. When the sculpture goes missing, the couple start fighting over it. —Sami Al-Taher <staher2000@yahoo.com> Charming comedy about how a couple's relationship wavers in tandem with the disposition of their statuette. With no fixed abode, Jake and Tina live in hotels across the world. With a large bill due and money in short supply, their plan to "steal" their Henry Moore statue and claim against it is thwarted when someone else steals it first. They soon start distrusting each other's motives as they search for the statue, and keep trying to get its valuation boosted while avoiding the bill. With no sign of it, they drift apart, despite being in love, and don't reconcile until it reappears one day--having been stolen by a deaf-mute maid who feels the statue "spoke" to her. —Cynan Rees <cynanrees@hotmail.com>

A woman suffering from amnesia discovers that she is the sole surviving witness to a brutal murder. Although the police can find no clues about any murder, the killers begin to hunt her.