Fran McGivern

Esther is beautiful beneath the surface, in an office where the surface is all that matters. Plus she has brains and about 100 extra pounds. Her nasty, brutish, and tall colleagues (Donna, Caroline, and Erica) make fun of her even as they depend on her knowledge. One day, she excitedly offers to show them a portrait she's had taken by Bud, of "Bud's Glamour Shots," who had spammed the office with an e-mail promising a picture that will reveal her true inner self. Cut to Esther, driving home in tears. That night she sleeps with the portrait near the bed and awakes to discover something extraordinary. When the three harpies see the result, will they book a session with Bud?

One man, one hotel, room service and a towel.

Dad's not having a great morning: at breakfast, his wife points out that his attempt to fix the sink was unsuccessful, his older daughter is miffed that he tossed one of her drawings from school, and his younger daughter awakes to find that the Tooth Fairy didn't show up last night, as promised. Dad makes excuses for the Tooth Fairy. Late that night, after fixing the sink, he remembers his dental duties. Under his sleeping daughter's pillow, he finds a note and the first clue to a treasure hunt she has set out for the Tooth Fairy. He's exhausted, but he searches out clue after clue as the night passes. It's a race against the sun.

Esther is beautiful beneath the surface, in an office where the surface is all that matters. Plus she has brains and about 100 extra pounds. Her nasty, brutish, and tall colleagues (Donna, Caroline, and Erica) make fun of her even as they depend on her knowledge. One day, she excitedly offers to show them a portrait she's had taken by Bud, of "Bud's Glamour Shots," who had spammed the office with an e-mail promising a picture that will reveal her true inner self. Cut to Esther, driving home in tears. That night she sleeps with the portrait near the bed and awakes to discover something extraordinary. When the three harpies see the result, will they book a session with Bud?

A woman in a slip is at her dressing table getting ready for a night out as her husband paces nervously. He's thinking back 30 years when, as a young man, he paid a visit to a pawnshop, a Nixon poster on the wall, a prostitute plying her trade outside. As he works up the courage to tell her whatever is eating at him, the flashbacks show a sleazy salesman pitching a necklace with a diamond-studded pendant. Back in the bedroom, he screws his courage to the sticking point and tells her the truth, as a fly buzzes annoyingly in the background. Are karmic forces at work? Will the sole of a shoe meet the soul of a heel?

A sweating man breathes rapidly from exertion as he open a packet and pulls out a DVD with the words "Salvation comes from within" on it. Impatiently he plays the film, which appears to be a Max Fleischer cartoon of the three blind mice singing. Soon, the mice deliver a message, telling the man to go to a specific street corner. Off he runs, through modern Los Angeles crowds. At the designated corner, a street person talks to him about shoes, then a cell phone rings, which he finds and answers. A voice sends him running - to avert a tragedy, to find salvation, or because he's trapped in earthly pursuits? Is this cosmic cat and mouse? Will he stop to smell the roses?