4

Blood is Thicker than Juice

Summary for Monday, April 24: Doris plays doctor.

At the Global Chemical Company office, Stormy orders Chinese food over the phone while eating a brownie. He hangs up as Doris enters and plops a Basic Black plastic bag on the desk. She criticizes him for the brownie and the chocolate all over his phone. Stormy tells her that Brownies are chemistry too. Doris calms down and pleads with Stormy to take care of his body, then she notices the can of Flazzle and nearly loses it. Stormy asks what's in the bag. Doris tells him to “look out for yourself.” Stormy pulls a health drink from the bag. Doris says the guy at the health food store recommended drinking a couple of these a day to correct a variety of bodily imbalances including headaches and dizziness. She takes one of the bottles and looks at the label and remarks how many vitamins it has. Stormy doesn't hide his disinterest. He thanks Doris and wants to say more but stops himself. Doris asks what's bothering him but Stormy deflects and asks if she wants to go to the opera in a couple weeks. She says why don't we just go to lunch first. Stormy says enthusiastically “how about Chinese?”

From her table in the plaza Marlena can see Julie and her daughter Brenda having lunch in Charles Tavern. Marlena is eating frozen yogurt. Doug opens the door to the tavern and stops when he sees Julie and Brenda. He backs away and watches them for a moment. When Doug notices Marlena watching him he comes over to her table and asks to sit. Doug asks how New Orleans was. Marlena is more interested in what's going on between him and Julie and asks why he didn't go into the pub. Doug hesitates but tells how he made his feelings known and Julie didn't have an answer for him. Marlena says, “Or maybe it wasn't the answer you wanted.” Doug says he shouldn't get involved anyway since the club requires so much of his time right now. Marlena says she always knew how good a singer Doug was and she's glad it's working out. Doug nods yes like he's not so sure.