- Michael Steadman: [hosting a dinner party] You're early.
- Ellyn Warren: [having bumped into the caterer] I know. I've already apologized to the staff.
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: [trying to find a suitable guardian for Janey in case they die] How about your brother?
- Michael Steadman: Hope, I just made up my mind I wouldn't leave him the Volvo. Now you want me to leave him Janey? Hmm, what about our parents?
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: Yeah, that'd be great if we died right now, but they're getting older every minute.
- Michael Steadman: So are we.
- [Hope flips through a photo album]
- Michael Steadman: Oh. Well, see? Who's that in the Marine uniform?
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: My cousin Paul.
- Michael Steadman: Oh? He looks stable.
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: Yeah, that was before the surgery. Now he's a cocktail waitress in Seattle.
- Michael Steadman: Oh. Well, a warm, loving mother who's been through Paris Island? Sounds like a bargain.
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: [closing it] This is not the way to pick a guardian. This is like shopping in a catalog. We need somebody that we know and who knows us and knows Janey.
- Michael Steadman: Mm. Well, if we want to stick to family, there's Melissa.
- Lucy: It's at times like this that makes me glad I'm in media. This is a remarkable piece, Hope.
- Kit: Lucy and I were talking about it all morning.
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: I'm glad you liked the article.
- Lucy: With a little work, we think it'll make a powerful article.
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: Uh, it already is an article.
- Kit: We mean an article for us. An article for the new "Synergy".
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: Mm-hmm.
- Lucy: You see, one of the things we're very anxious to do is address the problem of digestibility.
- Kit: For a consumer magazine to succeed in reaching out to the public, it must be scannable. It has to present itself in a quick, visual, high-impact way that's readily absorbable and instantly useable.
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: Are we talking about an article or an antiperspirant?
- Hope Murdoch Steadman: I met the, uh, people who bought the magazine today. They don't look old enough to be bagging groceries at the A&P. They want me on the staff. They dangled an office and an assistant in front of me the way you dangle your keys in front of Janey.
- Nancy Krieger Weston: [at Elliot's office] I had some book business, so I thought I'd stop by.
- Elliot Weston: Oh, great, great.
- Nancy Krieger Weston: Um, do you think you could get away for an early lunch?
- Elliot Weston: Uh, yeah. Yeah. Boy, come on, what, are you kidding? Absolutely. There's a little place across the street. It serves great salad.
- Nancy Krieger Weston: Um, that's not what I had in mind.
- Elliot Weston: [getting what she means] Oh. Oh! All right. Yeah, I can go to lunch, absolutely.