The Also Ran

THE ALSO RAN (Synopsis) By Jason Cooper. Jasoncooper1950@gmail.com Marty has a face to die for but a gambling habit to match. His fiancé leaves him, he gets evicted from his apartment and his bookie Rosie throws him off the Brooklyn Bridge. Surviving the fall Marty leaves town, unknowingly with takings of a racetrack robbery in the trunk of his car. It was put there by crime lord Mr. Big's useless thugs, whose robbery with them disguised in pantomime horses’ heads is a farce unto itself. Marty is off to Phoenix to win back his girl, Marcy, the one true love of his life. On the way he stops at a diner and attracts the attention of waitress/psycho Mary-Joe. When he rejects her advances, she flips into psycho mood. On discovering the cash, a distracted Marty’s next stop is the Phoenix racetrack, Turf Paradise. This is where he discovers he can communicate with horses! An offshoot of the fall --? No matter, with money and the winner of the first race telling him he’s going to win, Marty believes all his troubles are over. He’s caught the attention of Blaze Macdonald, the gorgeous daughter of the track owner and top racehorse trainer, Laird. She tells her father that she’s going to marry Marty. Back in New York, Rosie promised Mr. Big that he would kill Marty. Thinking this was easy money seeing as though Marty was already dead, Rosie is now in deep trouble. Mr. Big knows Marty was not only still alive but he left with the robbery takings! Big tells Rosie to kill Marty and to get back the money. Marty at the track: With the input from the racehorses and Blaze, with designer shopping part of a money-no-object lifestyle and his luck, he hasn’t lost all the money, yet. Laird loves Marty however and if Blaze doesn’t marry him, he will! Marty with the help of the racehorse told Laird not to run him, thus saving the horse from a possible deadly fracture. Laird is confused; this man is no mush as described by his New York connections. Must be mistaken identity; this man is a horseflesh genius! Mary-Joe takes her first shot at Marty and she would have succeeded if it wasn’t for a passing bird who took the fall instead. Blaze and Marty are kind-of dating; he’s been sidelined from his main purpose; reuniting with Marcy. At a local eatery, Marty does finally reconnect with Marcy. However, he’s on a kind-of-date with Blaze and Marcy’s the waitress! “I’ve never been humiliated!” cries Blaze. “You mean, you’ve never been so humiliated,” replies Marty. “I know what I said!” she concludes. Result: He’s out of favor with both girls. Marty is at a new low. Not only is the money dwindling, it turns out the racehorses aren’t as affective as he first thought. Marcy and also Blaze do not want to know him; leaving Laird heartbroken. Marcy agrees to a clear the air meet. Unfortunately, it’s at the same time as Rosie and his heavies catch up with him. The world’s worst car-chase ensues; it soon ends in a mangle, where Marty uses Laird’s name. Not having this edge, Rosie and the heavies get arrested. Both surveying this situation are Samuel, who apart from Marcy’s new love interest is the local go-to hit man, and Mary-Joe. They hook-up. Marty funds depleted leaves town. He and Marcy say their goodbyes. This farewell is going to be permanent if Samuel and Mary-Joe have anything to do with it. An argument ensues; Mary-Joe wants to kill Marcy as well, something Samuel doesn’t agree with. In the fight for the rifle, they disturb a bee’s nest and are repeatedly stung. Marty and Marcy are left to say their goodbyes. The drive home sees Marty stopping at the diner where he met Mary-Joe. It seems they need a short-order cook; a job he accepts. He’s out back one day and this horse box pulls-up. The racehorse is a killer the handler warns. But Marty knows this horse; and what’s more the horse knows him! He becomes docile, even eating out of Marty’s hand, much to the amazement of the handler. This is until the racehorse head-butts Marty and puts him in hospital. Heavily sedated, Marty has a series of strange visitors. Healing further he discovers that all around him are speaking gibberish! It is up to a professor of linguistics to explain the concussion has led him speaking a rare African dialect and that the gibberish he can’t understand is English! His next trip to a racecourse has Marty in a wheelchair being pushed by Blaze. Still not communicating with humans, he finds he can more than communicate with the racehorses who all speak his dialect! Even more insight is no good to Marty; he sobs with the frustration of knowing all the horse’s innermost thoughts and not being able to do anything about it. Mary-Joe and Samuel look on, deciding that killing Marty would be doing him a favor. Besides, the law has caught up with Mr. Big and they wouldn’t get paid. Rosie on release from pokey, is taken back to New York and meets the fate he planned for Marty. Marty healed, marries Blaze, much to the delight of Laird. Blaze; she hasn’t forgiven him for the Marcy incident. But this keeps her father happy. Marty reconnects with Marcy. With her still waitressing, Marty wants to make her a kept woman but as she explains “I’m not waiting around for your phone call my entire life.” Marty replies, “The Lamborghini I bought you. Do they think it’s your mothers?” Marcy, “Yeah. Middle-aged Jewish women are hot for Italian sports cars.” At a date which ends in a hotel’s presidential suite, Marcy makes her exit, much too Marty’s chagrin. He can go around again. Marty throws a pillow at the closing door as Marcy’s laughter recedes across the suite. Alone, he looks around at his plush surroundings. With money no object and he’s got back his girl, Marty looks kind of bored. THE END