Crimes by Moonlight

First she had to stop at Pandora’s Jar and thank Aster again. No. She didn’t have time. She would see Aster later when she came home.

Except Aster was out on the street in front of her store and calling to her. “Good morning, Hope. I’m so glad you dropped by. I have a present for you.”

“I can’t now…” The Greek woman was strange but sweet. In spite of her leathery skin, thick lips, and jowls, it was obvious that Aster had once been a beauty. She also had the oddest eyes-one green, the other black-they seemed to reflect dark light.

“Come inside. It’s a charm against any evil spirits that may be following you.”

What were a few more minutes? Hope walked into Pandora’s Jar. Her forehead wrinkled when Aster said something she didn’t quite get.

“I’m so sorry,” the old woman apologized in her guttural voice. “Sometimes I forget and speak Greek.” She pursed her thick lips, nodding wisely. “I’ll just have to teach you, that’s all.”

Aster walked Hope to a cheval glass mirror on an oak stand. “Sit.” The old woman stood behind Hope and slipped the chain over the girl’s head. “This is the Goddess Hecate. Keep her with you day and night, and you will always be protected.”

Hope gazed into the mirror at the charm, which was a small carving of a face. The face was deep green and flecked with red spots like drops of blood. It was enchanting.

Aster smiled and tilted the mirror so Hope’s face was the main focus. “Have a good look.”

More mesmerizing than the carving was Hope’s reflection. Not only had most of her pimples cleared up, but her port-wine stain seemed to have faded.

She touched her face in awe, gri

Her hair was so lustrous. She was prettier. And thi

Utterly confused, she turned to Aster, who said, “You look very nice, my dear.”

“I know.” Laughing, Hope ran outside, caught a passing cab to the U.B.S. building, danced like a madwoman as the express elevator took her up, up, up, and barged into Vic’s office.

She was changed. More than her appearance. Her transformation had been as abrupt as an incantation and a puff of smoke. There had been no puff of smoke. Just a black wolf and a three-headed silver dog.

Marching up to Vic’s desk, Hope suggested that he put on a show based on people’s sexual revelations.

“Pretty sure of yourself, are you?”

“You’re damn right.”

“Okay. You’re the producer. Produce it.”

Sexploits was born.

II

As she arrived home after work, she spotted him walking toward her. It was the day following the party she’d missed.

He was absolutely beautiful. She wanted him. Surprising herself so much she nearly swooned, Hope said, “Hi.”

He stopped. “Hi, yourself. My name’s Rusty. What’s yours?”

“Hope.”

“And what can I hope for, Hope?”

In an even more spectacular surprise that made her head spin, she said. “Why don’t you come upstairs and find out?”

Rusty was wonderful. And though she was not up to his usual standards, he felt the same way about her.

HOPE shanghaied Jess to be her assistant and hired Rusty as the office gofer. After the first day, during which he cracked her up with silly jokes, she decided he had served a long enough apprenticeship and promoted him to chief writer.

A year of madness followed. The Sexploits ratings went through the stratosphere.

Each day Hope’s port-wine stain faded to almost a memory. She lost weight, and her complexion turned peaches and cream.

Until one day she realized that she was prettier than Jess.

HOPE turned out to be a born producer, learning every aspect of the job quickly and efficiently. She never seemed to falter or grow weary, and she continued to find new and interesting people with alluring stories about their sex lives that the audience never tired of hearing.

Next, Hope came up with the idea of Celebrity Sexploits. The celebrities were eager to appear and tell all, admitting to outrageous events. Some actionable. One was even questioned by the DA’s office after the show.

Of course, Hope happened to have a camera crew there to capture the arrest. Pop musicians were a glut on the market, and there was no shortage of exhibitionist actors or athletes.

Politicians clamored to be guests on the show after reports came in from pollsters that a Sexploits appearance would enhance their numbers and help them get elected.

Impatient with her talent coordinator, Hope took over the final interview of each guest before Vic met them. And, Rusty supposed, had sex with as many as she could. Male and female.

It wasn’t long before they were making the big move. Full network and live. The only talk show of its sort. The gimmick had worked: Sexploits-or as some people were sarcastically calling it-“Safe Sex”-was a great big monster of a hit.

Vic always claimed credit for the original idea. The man was a walking contradiction; he kept giving Hope more responsibility but at the same time continued to bad-mouth her, saying she was only there to implement his concepts, just another pushy bitch with no new ideas of her own.

The people at the top paid no attention to Vic’s dissing Hope. They were high on the show and high on her.

This strange phenom called Hope Brady grew more and more beautiful, and more and more powerful.

Things hadn’t been too bad for Rusty, either. He slept in Hope’s bed. And much of the time she was there with him. He was also getting his own action on the side. Sauce for the gander was sauce for the goose. It was a brave new world, and he was all for it.

The dreams were horrible. But his new life was wonderful.

Hell, when he first met Hope, his prospects were lower than a snake’s belly. Now he had a future with Sexploits, the greatest thing on TV since the tube itself. And he was getting sex that was better than his wildest fantasies.

That certainly was worth a few bad dreams.

Rusty shivered and began sweating; he pushed away the thought that nothing was worth those damn dreams.

Sexploits had gone through miraculous transitions. It had become the leading prime-time show on U.B.S.

After Lunar Broadcasting acquired U.B.S., the show became the bright star of Lunar-TV.

ONE of the first things Lunar did was rip out two floors of the Superior Broadcasting building and construct a new auditorium to seat five hundred people.

Sports, music, comedy, original movies for television, talk shows, all these and more were to be found on Lunar-TV. Plus, and most important, everybody’s new favorite: Sexploits, live, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

As Sexploits grew bolder in using gutter language and becoming more explicit, religious leaders railed against it. Still, Lunar-TV’s popularity and revenue soared.

Sexploits was described by the religionists as pornographic proselytizing. Nonetheless, in a quick turnabout, their power in the country seemed to be diminishing.

Applications to deal with the matter traveled quickly through the judiciary system to the Supreme Court, but the Court refused to get involved, declaring that the pornography issue was a matter for the lower courts.

Happily for Vic and company, an erstwhile conservative judge came down on the side of free speech. Sexploits had a clear and smooth path, and all systems were go.

The network was shifting to a weekly schedule. Sexploits was going to five nights a week, eight thirty to ten p.m., EST, toe-to-toe with the established networks at the start of the new fall season.

No doubt about it, Lunar-TV was the new network, an integral fact of life of the broadcasting industry, with highly rated programs and phenomenal billings.