EPISODE ONE: CHAPTER ONE "MEET MITZI"

CHAPTER ONE: IN THE BEGINNING.

One of the most pleasant homes in all of Plasticopia belongs to a wonderful couple, Mabel and Jeff, and their little daughter, Mikey.

And of course their delightful dog, Doolittle. Down boy.

They're such a handsome family. And so brave. Mabel has been a single mother for many months while Jeff is away doing his part in the Rocky War. Mikey is very proud of her dad for keeping Plasticopia safe from Terriers.

"Not Terriers, dear," Mabel says. "Terrorists."

But Terriers sounds so much less frightening that they like it a great deal better. They will all be very glad if Jeff comes home with nothing worse to complain about than a bite on the ankle.

Mabel is the oldest of four sisters, who are known to family and friends as the M&Ms: Mabel, Molly, Mitzi and Margaret.

Mabel is the practical one, the one they have all come to rely upon since the loss of their mother, who has been pushing up...well, you know...for the last four years.

Every time Mabel walks by the picture of herself as a child in her mother's lap, all the memories come flooding back. Her heart skips a beat and a tear rises to her eye.

Molly is the second oldest, the flamboyant one. Men fall at her feet. She has become very good at stepping over them, bruising their egos only enough to satisfy her modest needs.

Mitzi is the sweet one. She wears her heart on her sleeve. The only thing she adores more than her husband Jack is her little daughter Miranda, or Randi as she is called.

Finally, there is Margaret, or Maggie, who was only fourteen years old when their mother passed to the Other Side. Their father was too heart-broken to care for her, so Maggie came to live with Mabel. Margaret is very serious about saving the world and always recycles glass bottles and aluminum cans. She is a freshman at the University of Northern Plasticopia, planning to major in both political and environmental science. Margaret regrets that she was not born in the '60s, which she is convinced had to be the most exciting era in all of history."

Mabel's comfortable country home is the family gathering place, where they all get together for holidays and minor crises and gossip fests. The kitchen is often bustling with activity, although on this day it is quiet. Only Doolittle, who loves to pose for the camera.

There are signs others have been about. Sewing on the kitchen table....

A cup of chocolate still warm to the touch.

Well, hello, here's someone getting a little sun on the porch.

"Hi. If you're looking for Mabel, she's out in the garden with the girls ... with my daughter Miranda and her own daughter, Mikey."

Well, it's actually you we've come to see, Mitzi. For today, it's your story we've come to tell.

"Oh really?"

Ring ring.

"Whoops, that's my phone. Excuse me... Hello. Oh, hi, sweetie." She puts her hand over the phone. "It's my husband, Jack. He's working late. He's been putting in long hours lately. That's why we're visiting Mabel."

Mitzi is obviously pleased to hear Jack's deep voice. "Will you be home soon?" she asks.

"Well, actually, Darling, probably not. I've been thinking a lot, and I was wondering...would you mind terribly if I left you for another woman?"

His voice continues, as if from a great distance. "It would be really good for me. I could use the change."

Mitzi has forgotten all about us. She finds herself unable to speak. She can only stare at the phone, as if it is a strange object that has fallen from the sky.

"Mitzi? Are you there? Did I lose the connection....?"

"I'm here," she says weakly.

"You don't sound so good. Is everything okay?"

"You want to divorce me?"

"Well, yes. If you don't mind. We can divide everything up, equitable-like. Hey! I have an idea. How about I take the car and the furniture and the apartment, and you can have Randi. That's fair, don't you think?"

After Jack has hung up, Mitzi sits alone on the porch for a long time, her book forgotten, feeling very small and very alone in a very big world.