WIDOW'S WALK

Kathy McMasters is closer to her thirtieth birthday than her twenty-ninth. She has completed her MBA with honors and helped build a company that now has a multi-million dollar balance sheet and a multi-national clientele. She on the other hand is not a partner or vice-president as promised, but rather the “Executive Assistant” to the President/Founder of the company. In short, she is tired of working too many hours for too little money.

After an especially trying week, while attending a corporate function on board the President’s yacht, Kathy is introduced to Brian Clark, an attorney and old school mate of the president and the next head of corporate counsel. The realization that Brian will be a quarter of a million dollar a year vice president is more than Kathy can handle at a rational level and she decides to do whatever it takes to get ahead.  As she is sitting and watching television, she sees the show “This Week in Medicine”. Her plan begins to take shape and is facilitated by the advances of Brian.

As she and Brian are involved in an intense whirlwind relationship, Kathy guides and directs the activities so that he proposes to her in under a month. Kathy explains that she has an inoperable brain tumor and has only two or three years to live. Brian suggests a second opinion and she tells him she has had a second and a third opinion. Brian tells her that if they have two minutes or two hundred years, he wants to spend them with her.

They buy a house and live together and then Brian takes Kathy to meet a friend’s younger brother Ric. Much to Kathys’ surprise and delight, Ric is not only a law student, but he is putting himself through school as a yacht salesman. The couple purchases a 60 foot sailboat from him.

During one of their weekends onboard their sailboat, the couple spend a romantic evening drifting on the current, drinking champagne and making love. Asleep from the effects of the champagne and love making, the two sleep peacefully on deck under the stars. Kathy awakes to the light slapping of the water against the hull of the sailboat, wraps the anchor line around Brian’s feet and releases the anchor, sending  Brian to continue his sleep...with the fishes.

After the investigation determines the death to be an alcohol related boating accident and the grieving Kathy inherits “a substantial amount of money”, she decides she must get away for a while and moves to the opposite coast.

One day, about six months later as she is walking along the docks, Kathy meets Colin Jensen an older gentleman and fellow sailing enthusiast.  he two enjoy a friendly conversation and Colin is surprised to learn that he and Kathy are both entered in a local sailboat race. The two have dinner and talk about sailing. They find that sailing isn’t the only thing they have in common, they have both lost a spouse.

After a short but passionate romance that has the entire community talking, Colin and Kathy are married. The couple spend several blissful months until one weekend they are competing in a local “Couples Regatta” and, as Colin and Kathy are getting ready to raise their flying jib, with Colin manning the jib and Kathy manning the lines, a line gets wrapped around Colin’s neck and he is yanked overboard and slammed into the hull. As he is being drug alongside the boat and Kathy is “trying” frantically to help him, the harbor patrol comes to their aid. To the horror of all, Colin is dead. As Kathy returns from spreading his ashes, we see the grieving widow sobbing gently...as the sobbing subsides it turns to an almost hysterical laughter.

Almost one year to the day from the time she left, Kathy returns to her former home.  As word gets around that she is back, some of her old sailing crowd begins to get together with her. Ric has passed the bar exam and, with the financial backing of some friends, started a small firm.

While at a party, Ric introduces Kathy to Tom and Terri, two climbing friends of his. Along with being his friends they are clients. Kathy spends some time with them at the party and finds that they are trying to raise the money to start several rehab facilities. Given her current financial situation, Kathy becomes a 50% partner with them. The rehab centers turn a huge profit due to both government funding and insurance companies.

In addition to the common interest of the business, Tom, Terri and Ric teach Kathy to climb. Much to his surprise, Ric finds himself and Kathy becoming not only professionally but casually involved physically. One day  he asks about the tumor and tells her how impressed he is by her continual courage. She explains that it is only the courage to accept the things you can’t change and she thinks that is part of why she is so glad to be involved with the rehab centers...these people have things that can be changed for the positive. Ric throws in the fact that while a noble cause, it is also quite profitable. She replies that profit only has value if you’re around to use it and she probably won’t be for long. Ric feels that he just put his foot in his mouth and they change the topic.

Several weekends later while Tom is continuing to teach Kathy about proper placement of climbing protection, he falls. It appears that Tom is seriously injured and Kathy makes the determination to cut him away rather than risk being pulled off the mountain herself. There is some question as to this being a good decision and Kathy is charged with murder.