URBAN LEGENDS
by Stephen Schlich
Synopsis

Have you heard about the highwayman hitching rides as a woman? How about the Mexican sewer rat mistaken for a lap dog? The boy in the iron lung who collects postcards? The truck driver who dumped concrete... These are all fantasies passed on by voice, by fax, by email. But what if they were true? What if these modern-day myths actually happened? URBAN LEGENDS is a comedy-adventure about two grad students who encounter one Urban Legend after another on a road trip.

JACK is a shy computer nerd at U.C. San Diego. He's arranged to meet (and secretly to marry) a woman he met on the computer Internet. He drives to Sacramento in a vintage convertible with his friend PETER, an irreverent rake and would-be mentor to Jack.

Along the way, the two participate in and are victimized by numerous Urban Legends. Their experiences change them: Jack acquires self-confidence and courage while Peter learns humility and humanity.

They antagonize a pair of bumbling bad guys -- a bully named Walter and a highwayman in drag named Adrian. They acquire a spunky passenger in EVIE, Walter's non-girlfriend.

Walter and Adrian pursue Jack, Peter and Evie against an absurd backdrop of Urban Legends come to life. In the climax, Jack must risk death and humiliation to triumph over the bad guys. He beats both.

By the time they near their destination, Jack loves Evie and wants to cancel the e-mail marriage he arranged. But he's a man of his word and must bid her a tearful farewell.

The final twist: Jack discovers that his would-be bride is a computer program -- a work of artificial intelligence that has booked marriages with several nerds just like himself. Now free, he reunites with his newfound flesh-and-blood love.

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