Synopsis: The Walking Club

There's this guy, Jack, he's in his fifties, going to seed, a smoker and a heavy drinker. He's not in a downward spiral anymore, he's shaping up for a nose-dive.

Jack is a corporate planner, an advisor. He's living in an up-market condo near the beach. Opposite the condo is a park, and on that park at 5:30 every morning there is 'The Walking Club'.

Jack lives with his wife, well at least he used to. When our story opens they are playing out the last hand in a sorry game. She leaves, threatening divorce.

The next day we find Jack in a bar, having a liquid lunch with his friend from work, Matt. A sympathetic divorcee, Matt is a pretty big guy, younger and in better shape than Jack. He asks if Jack isn't going to be late for an important meeting. Jack says it's not important and orders another round.

Jack comes in late to the meeting. He's drunk, too drunk to hide it. He blows the meeting big time and does so under the nose of the vice-president of the company. Jack gets the sack and for good measure assaults the vice-president.

Jack hasn't quite hit full rock bottom yet. He goes home and spends the next few days on a bender. One morning, drunk, Jack is sitting on his front porch. 'The Walking Club' are doing their rounds opposite - people walking in seemingly mindless circles around the park. They walk counter-clockwise on different circumferences, marked by small flags. As he criticizes them, Jack becomes aware that one of their numbers has stopped and is waving to him. It's Matt.

Matt comes up and sees Jack is in bad shape. He decides to take affirmative action and enlists Jack in the club. The next day Jack is on a treadmill, having his fitness level tested by Daisy, the doctor's assistant. The doctor says if he continues on his present course he will soon be dead. This news is a little sobering for Jack. The next morning, although it nearly kills Jack, Matt arrives and takes him over to the park. Over the next few weeks we see that Jack is steadily improving. Without Matt's constant help, however, he knows the motivation is just not there. Matt keeps asking him to come out, you know, hit the town, pick up some broads, get laid. Jack is resistant.

Then one day Jack becomes aware of a good looking woman, Caroline, at 'The Walking Club'. She is walking on a circle two out from his own. Jack asks Daisy if he can move out to that circle. She tests him and tells him his heart rate is not yet up to it. In a few weeks maybe when he has improved, a circle at a time.

There's nothing for it, considers Jack, he's going to have to get fitter so he can talk to Caroline. He tells Matt his plan. Matt is negative, though, calling Caroline a stuck-up bitch. But through exercise Jack improves and moves up one circle. He only has one to go until he can start on the same circle as Caroline. One day when he is signing on for the day's walk he is able to check the list of names and finds her address.

Jack strolls round to Caroline's house one night and checks it out. He decides to peek inside. He goes down the side of the house and looks in through one of the windows. He sees her sitting inside, reading a book, stroking a cat. He comes out of her yard and is surprised by Matt. Jack makes his excuses and leaves, and Matt is suspicious.

Jack puts in a lot more hard training sessions on the beach. Finally, getting tested by Daisy, Jack is given the good news - he can go up to Caroline's circle. But Caroline doesn't show. He wanders by her place again at night. He's spruced up, ready to tell her how he feels. He knocks on her door, but it swings open. He enters cautiously but discovers something horrible. Caroline is dead, murdered, beaten to death.

More murders within the club follow, and Jack is the chief suspect. In the middle of this he has to cope with his divorce hearing, his hostile wife, and his scheming lawyer. Who is setting him up. Is it Matt? His wife? Daisy? His lawyer? His ex-boss?

By Fade Out we know who the murderer is, but also learn Jack is none the wiser, and that perhaps the worst is yet to come.