Early Edition

"Halloween"
page 2

"Then, of course, there are the other days...all 364 of them."

It's 6:30 am, and time to get the paper, except something's happened to the orange tabby...

He's jet black! It's October 31st, Halloween, when the boundaries between the living and the dead are lifted, and spirits walk the earth seeking gratification...or mischief.

The cast for the '98 season (the third), is Erica Paget(Kristy Swanson) on the right, a single mother of Henry (Myles Jeffrey) on the left; Marissa Clark (Shanesia Davis-Williams), who's been with the show throughout; and Patrick (Billie Worley), who replaces Fisher Stevens as a regular (Fisher also appeared with Noelle in "Veins and Thumbtacks", and still reappears occasionally on this show.)

Marissa is currently the only other character who knows about Gary's paper (Fisher also knew). She's also blind, which serves a useful purpose, for us: when Gary talks about a story he just read, instead of handing it to her, he reads her the details aloud (Cat doesn't provide a braille version!).

By the way, since this episode is on Halloween, and is being broadcast on Halloween, it is the only one in the series we can presume is happening in "real time." So, we can ask: what would we do, if we got the paper a day ahead of time, in his shoes. I was unable to get a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times, but I did manage to find the 11/1/98 issue of the Chicago Tribune.
The major event of that day was the senatorial race , which encumbent Carol Mosley-Braun eventually lost (not much for Gary to do there unless he's a radical democrat). There were all sorts of innocuous headlines, like, "Voters to Decide Issues in Election Today", and not much else until you get to page three of the metro section. Then there were two stories, both murders. One occured the previous day at three in the morning, which couldn't be helped, since the paper doesn't arrived by then. The other was a hit-and-run of a man on a bicycle in the afternoon. The article gives the time of the accident, and the city block address it occured at. Sounds fairly easy to deal with.

(Is there a difference between the two papers? Yes. The Sun-Times [the one with Roger Ebert] is the leading metropolitan paper of the city of Chicago, and tends to focus on the daily workings of the town. The Tribune [former home to the late Gene Siskel] is aimed more at suburbanites and upscale city residents, focusing on issues and trends, and has a bigger television presence. So it's not just a matter of product placement that the show uses the Sun-Times; it's the best source for the type of reporting Gary is looking for. Webmaster note: the paper I read was just purchased by the Tribune).

Gary reads the headline: "3 Children Dead: 20 Stricken by Halloween Poison".

As he reads on, he imagines tomorrow's evening news. It gets worse, as he discovers the children's names and all other details are being withheld pending notification of the parents. The location they were poisoned: the north side of the city. The nature of the poison is not revealed. He has his work cut out for him today.
He realizes Henry is getting ready to go trick-or-treating. Will he be a casualty, too? Marissa points out the only solution is to cancel Halloween, which is impossible. Gary impulsively decides to test this theory.

Paper stuffed in back pocket, he takes the El train to City Hall, to stop Halloween before anyone gets hurt.

With the Chicago skyline in the background, he confronts a bureaucrat, who takes him for another kook. Without any concrete information, the mayor cannot 'cancel' Halloween. 'We've got wackos showing up by the fistful", she tells him, especially when there's a full moon. A clerk backs her up: two "witches" came in that morning, asking for a "warlock directory."

Gary takes another look at the paper while she talks. "Fire Destroys Historic Neighborhood" is next on his busy schedule. Time to move on!

On the way out the office, he meets a "wacko" who informs him, "I'm saving the world!!" For a moment, he gets a look at how other people must see him, just another wooly-eyed prophet. He can understand their skepticism!