HELLCATS OF THE SAFETY PATROL
1     A BOY AND HIS COMPUTER. DAY

      Watching TV late at night in winter, or after the
      Easter Seals Telethon, or both. The TV is a giant
      black-and-white Zenith with a huge channel dial,
      the kind you need hands the size of softballs to
      turn. With both hands the BOY switches from
      Channel 13 to Channel U and back, again and
      again. Then, for fun, he turns the dial exactly
      halfway between 13 and U. A program unexpectedly
      comes on, and for a brief moment the boy and his
      computer share this dream:

                            TV ANNOUNCER
                ...was Buzz Aldrin, office boy
                and former fifth grade
                guidance counselor. No room
                in his heart for photocopies
                of keys hung behind a storage
                room door or a boy who could
                not Hold the phone.

      On the screen a brief shot of a primary-school
      teacher admonishing an unseen student.

                            MRS. NELSON MARCOUX CARPENTER
                Remember to wash your hands,
                and I don't mean in the
                bathroom, or your lunch may
                have to wait, young man.

                            TV ANNOUNCER
                But he knew that if he turned
                his head long enough, found
                an irrelevant topic boring
                enough, he could sneak out
                his writing paper and drown
                in dreams of a deep country
                forest on a cloudy day far
                frPS504

      But the computer malfunctions, and words
      dissolve in a jumble of machine code. Before
      waking, the viewer is asked this question:

                            SOMEONE SHORT
                I stayed up until midnight to
                watch Easter Seals and there's
                no Bunny?!

      FADE TO BLACK.

      THE END.