Shared Object not saving?

hey all. i have two different swfs. one sets a shared object and one is supposed to read it. it is always coming back as undefined (I’m not permitted to have a containing .swf, btw)

writer of SO:

var user = SharedObject.getLocal(“userData”);
var cookieValue=_root[mcAtTarget0]._name.charAt(10)+_root[mcAtTarget0]._name.charAt(11);
user.data.first=cookieValue;
user.flush();

reader:
user = SharedObject.getLocal(“userData”);

if (user.data.first == undefined){
text_txt.text = “not here”;
} else {
text_txt.text = user.data.first;
}

what am i not getting? thanks!