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  Johnny Dollar hops off the bus in Stanley Springs. Most likely, very few passengers got off with him. Stanley Springs isn't exactly a tourist destination. It's a company town. It has one industry only and the businesses in the town are really just there to serve the employees of that company.

  
  
  
• Johnny has arrived undercover, pretending to be a journalist. Sometimes when the police go undercover, they might even get involved with a gang of criminals. They might even have to commit crimes to prove themselves to the gang. Johnny doesn't go that far, but his cover is a good choice. As a journalist, it makes sense that he is asking questions and snooping around the place. He's hoping he doesn't alert suspicion. He hopes the company carries on with 'business as usual' so that he can see what it is that they are up to.
  
• As soon as he arrives, Johnny starts to meet people. The first is Ann, a nightclub singer. She's very friendly, but why? Is she hoping Johnny is a detective come to help them, or is she a company spy?
  
• The next day, Johnny goes to the Stanley Springs company and meets the manager, Norman Steger. Steger, in turn, introduces him to the chief clerk, Phillips and the shipping clerk, Childs.
  
• I’m especially curious to hear what you think of Anne – Is she going to be a help to Johnny, or is she trapping him? In hard-boiled detective fiction, there is often a beautiful woman who becomes the detective’s love interest to one degree or another. He is drawn to her, but he knows she could be a trap – someone tricking him into revealing who he really is, who he’s working for, and what he knows. She might even lure him into a dangerous place where is beaten up or killed. This kind of role is called the ‘femme fatale’. The label comes from French, but it is quite similar to English. ‘Femme’ reminds us of the English words ‘ female’ and ‘feminine’, so this means she is a woman — a very sexy, feminine woman. And ‘fatale’ means ‘fatal’ in English. So getting involved with her could be fatal — it could result in your death.  She's getting herself too involved to be neutral, so she must be either good or bad. Is Anne a victim or the femme fatale?
  

Word List available at www.dramaticlistening.com/DL020