"Our home at Waltons Mountain was far off the
beaten track, but we were connected with the rest of the world by a picturesque
back-country road, muddy or frozen in winter, hot and dusty in the summer,
rutted always, the road brought us many adventures. Sometimes a herd of deer
would leap in front of the headlights, or the pine forest dappled with newly-blossomed
dogwood or red bud would refresh the eye and lift the spirit, and I remember
one occasion when I met a stranger on the road, a casual incident which led to
fireworks in the family such as we had never seen before".
As John-Boy drives home he picks up a young
man hiking. He’s Chad Marshall from Richmond, Virginia, a forestry student from
VPI. Chad is doing a paper on forestry. John-Boy mentions that his
great-grandfather settled Walton’s Mountain in the 1700s, and he is a second
year journalism major at Boatwright. John-Boy suggests Chad talk with his
father and grandfather about his lumbering questions. At home, Olivia and
Grandma are delayed canning stewed tomatoes when they run out of mason jars.
Grandma thinks more jars are in the attic, and Olivia goes to find them. She
finds the old baby cradle and a trunk full of baby clothes. Grandma continues
to cook tomatoes, wondering what is taking Olivia so long. At Ike’s store,
Olivia is buying mason jars when Joleen Gunther comes in with her new baby
after visiting her mother. Olivia holds the baby, unaware of Ike’s comments.
John-Boy and Chad find Mary Ellen and Erin
walking along the road, and John-Boy introduces Chad to his sisters. Erin sits
up front with John-Boy while Chad and Mary Ellen share the rumbleseat. They
stop at Ike’s so John-Boy can check the mail. Chad and Mary Ellen talk about
his walk from Richmond. Mary Ellen thinks he is “fresh” when he tells her that
he likes her, and says she is more sophisticated. Erin smiles. Olivia seems confused
when she returns from Ike’s store. Grandma thinks she is “wool-gathering”. Erin
lies on her bed dreaming of Chad as Mary Ellen talks about Chad. Mary Ellen
puts on powder and rouge, but Elizabeth thinks she’ll look funny slopping the
pigs in her church clothes. John-Boy tells Chad about the old cabin up on the
Mountain, and John asks John-Boy for help. Erin tosses an egg to Chad and he
begins a game of tossing the egg back and forth. He ends up with the broken egg
all over himself. Erin runs off, calling him “butterfingers”. They all laugh at
the site.
At supper, Grandpa tells Chad to plunge in,
and then says grace. Mary Ellen and Erin steal glances at Chad, and both appear
interested in Chad, and jealous of each other. Elizabeth asks if Chad is married.
John suggests that he camp close by. John looks at the full moon overhead and
asks Olivia to take a walk with him. Realizing she was quiet at supper, John
wonders if something is wrong. Olivia says she was thinking about the children
at supper, and with John-Boy at Boatwright, Jason at the Conservatory, and Mary
Ellen graduating high school this summer, she wants another baby. She says
there is nothing more rewarding than sitting in a rocking chair late at night
holding a baby. John wants them to first see Doc McIvers. They kiss in the dark
of the night. At hree o’clock in the morning, John-Boy finds his mother in the
attic looking at baby clothes. He asks, “Momma, are you….” Olivia says, “No,
I’m not.” In the morning, Olivia is in bright spirits, singing while Grandpa
drinks coffee and Grandma mixes materials in a bowl. Grandma wonders why Olivia
has changed her mood all of a sudden, and then sees Olivia and John kissing.
She wonders why they are keeping a secret from them. Grandpa says, “Your
beauty is only matched by your curiosity.”
Chad enters the kitchen, wanting to help out
in the mill. John says that Grandpa will show him around, since he and Olivia
are leaving for town. Jim Bob comes down, with disheveled hair, saying that
Mary Ellen has camped out inside the bathroom. Mary Ellen sees Erin looking at
herself in the mirror, and says that she saw her making eyes at Chad last
night. She tells her, “How could possibly know about love?” On the trip to town
John says he’ll take her to lunch because he has two dollars burning a hole in
his pocket.
Chad, John-Boy, and Grandpa work at the mill.
Erin is on the roof sprinkling Chad with water. He’s not sure what is going on,
with not a cloud in the sky. Mary Ellen removes the ladder, and the men see
Erin on the roof. She moves to the other side, but slips and falls into the pig
log. Finding her okay, Chad pours a bucket of water on her. At Doc McIvers’
office, John and Olivia learn that the doctor advises against Olivia having
more children because her body has reached its limit.
John-Boy writes in his journal: “Much is
going on here. Mary Ellen and Erin are in love with the same young man. Both
girls are behaving irrationally which I suppose goes with being in love at such
a tender age. But I hope this can be resolved without either of them being
hurt. I’m also concerned about Momma and suppose she may be having another
baby.” Grandpa interrupts, saying Chad is a fine worker if the girls would
leave him alone. Mary Ellen explains what she did, calling her sister a little
creep. John-Boy says the “green-eyed monster” has arrived, explaining that she
is jealous. Mary Ellen says she isn’t jealous with a fifteen-year-old child.
Chad and John-Boy ask Grandpa about the
history of the Blue Ridge. He says that Adam Walker was the first person to
settle those parts. Erin and Mary Ellen aren’t talking to each other, and
Grandma is in the middle as they wash dishing. John tries to comfort Olivia who
is in the attic. Jason says that Doc McIvers has stopped by. He tells them that
a little eight-month year old baby girl needs a foster home while the papers
are finalized. Olivia wants to take care of the child, but John knows that his
wife and his family will become attached to the child. Erin asks John-Boy
advice on how to make up with Mary Ellen. John-Boy tells her that Chad will
leave in a few days, and she’ll never see him again. Grandpa shows Chad a
southern yellow pine, and a chestnut tree that had been killed with a beetle
infestation around 1931. He tells the forestry student that they use hard woods
such as hickory, oak, and yellow popular. The family is anxious while waiting
for the child to arrive. He thinks Olivia is level-headed, except then it comes
to babies. Elizabeth is trying to get the house ready for the baby, and Grandma
has Ben and Jason help placing the clean laundry on the line, even though they
think it is woman’s work. Grandma says, “Work is work!”
The truck drives up with John, Olivia, and
the baby. Olivia announces that her name is Jennifer. John-Boy holds the baby,
calling her ‘Jennie’. That night Olivia rocks the baby to sleep, and John finds
that his wife has fallen asleep, too. In the morning, Chad says goodbye to the
family, and especially to Mary Ellen. John-Boy brings John a letter from the
county’s Welfare Department. Chad tells John-Boy that he’s fallen in love with
Erin. He goes to Druscilla’s Pond to say goodbye to her. He tells her that he
loves her, but that it’s a couple of years too early. Erin cries as he walks
down the road.
Grandma and Olivia diaper the baby as Erin
walks in. She goes upstairs and cries in front of Mary Ellen. Erin says that
she loves Chad. The sisters hug each other, and agree they are sisters again.
Grandpa comes into the kitchen complaining about the hot weather. He says, “It
beats me how a few pounds of noise and appetite can upset a whole household and
turn a bunch of sensible people into babbling idiots.” Jason asks John to
go out to the mill, then comes back to tell Grandpa that they need a new belt
for the saw.
That night the family gathers around the
baby. Jim Bob doesn’t know what all the excitement is about. A knock is heard
at the door and John finds that Blanche Pigeon is there, the social worker from
the Welfare Department. She announces that the couple is ready to adopt the
baby. Elizabeth cries out to her mother not for her to take the baby. Blanche
tells them that the couple can’t have children on their own, and will love the
baby very much. Olivia wants to meet the couple. Blanche introduces Ida and Jim
Persie to the family. Olivia hands over the baby to Ida and begins to tell her
about the baby. Suddenly, Olivia breaks down, unable to go on. John holds his
wife, as the children say goodbye to Jennifer. Olivia watches at the window
while they drive off. John picks up the baby clothes, and takes the cradle to
the attic. Olivia says not to place it too far back in the attic.
"The cradle was never far back in the attic,
it was used again and again as our own families grew, and I think she is never
so happy as when one or all of her grandchildren come to visit in that house on
Waltons Mountain".
John-Boy:
Goodnight Mama.
Olivia: Goodnight John-Boy. Goodnight Mary Ellen.
Mary Ellen: Goodnight Mama. Goodnight Erin.
Erin: Do you think Chad will ever come back?
Mary Ellen: I don't know Erin, maybe.
Jim Bob: I hope he doesn't. When he was here, you and Erin were primping
in the bathroom all the time.
John: Goodnight Jim Bob!
Jim Bob: A guy has to get in the bathroom sometime.
Mary Ellen & Erin: Goodnight Jim Bob!
Elizabeth: Goodnight everybody!
Notes:
Michael O'Keefe returned to reprise his role as Chad Marshall during season 5, episode 15: "The Elopement".
Grandpa says at the end of his blessing: “... Amen. I wonder why they never say ‘A-women’?”
Chad is a student with a major in forestry.
His father works at a newspaper in Richmond, Virginia.
Chad attends VPI, which, in
real life, is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in
Blacksburg, Virginia. Its web site is: http://www.vt.edu.
Also appearing:
Chad Marshall
(Michael O'Keefe); Joleen Gunther (Elizabeth Gill); Dr. McIvers (Rance Howard);
Jim Persie (Gary Dontzig); Ida Persie (Trish Soodik); Blanche Pigeon (Dee
Anne).