Q: I read that a character named Laura is returning to "Days of Our Lives." I just started watching the show earlier this year. Who is she? — Melba of Bridgeport, Conn.

Dr. Laura Horton is the mother of Mike and Jennifer and is the grandmother of Abby and JJ. She came to town to do her medical residency in late 1966. From 1966-1975 she was played by Susan Flannery (Ex-Stephanie, "The Bold and the Beautiful"), Susan Oliver, Rosemary Forsyth and Jaime Lyn Bauer. Laura loved Horton brothers Bill and Mickey. The night before she was to marry Mickey, Bill raped her. In typical soap opera fashion, she got pregnant. Not wanting to destroy the family, Laura kept quiet. Later, their father, Tom Horton, learns that Bill is impotent and realizes that Bill, not Mickey, is the father of baby Mike. A guilty Tom keeps Laura's secret.

Between affairs, amnesia and disappearances, Laura's marriages to both brothers were filled with angst. After giving birth to Jennifer, Laura suffers from postpartum depression. Laura is admitted to Lakewood Sanitarium, where she spends the next 17 years. Laura is very aware of what is going on around her but remains in an apparent catatonic state because the crooked sanitarium workers are keeping her drugged in order to get access to the Horton family money. A fellow patient, Vivian, realizes something is wrong with the hospital and helps her gain her freedom.

Expect fireworks when Laura and Kate, the woman with whom Bill had an affair, get together. While married to Laura, Bill had a son by Kate.

Laura feels it is because of Kate that she was placed in the hospital. The last time the two met up was when Alice Horton was terminally ill. To honor Alice's innate goodness, there is a slight thaw between the women. But with Alice gone and Kate off in another bad relationship, it is probably back to the deep freezer for the two. Although they might bond over the death of Stefano and their hatred for him, it will not be for long. Rumor has it that Laura returns to help her granddaughter Abigail, who fears she is losing her mind. Not only did her grandmother suffer emotional illness; her great-grandmother committed suicide: Laura became a psychiatrist because of her mother's problems.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.