Flash Bug? Masked Dynamic Text not working

Ok, so I have a very very simple script to change the value of my textbox that is inside a MC called ‘two’.
I want to mask that textbox, so I did indeed embed the font that’s not the problem. When I make the textbox layer a ‘masked’ layer with the mask layer above it, the code stops working UNTIL I put a ‘fake’ variable into the ‘variable’ field of the text properties menu. Then it works, but I am not calling that variable. Also it works fine as is, when the layers are not masked, only when it becomes a masked layer does it stop working.

What’s up with that?

[AS]var myCount:Number = 0;
two.txtLetter.text = myCount;
function switchLetter() {
if (myCount < 9) {
myCount++;
} else {
myCount = 0;
}
two.txtLetter.text = myCount;
trace(myCount);
}[/AS]