"Storytelling was art in our family, it was not only
entertaining but a way of preserving family history, local legends, and a few
tall tales. Stories of ghosts and nameless things that moved in the night were
told by my grandfather in the warmth of the fireplace. But they lived only in
our imaginations, until one, quiet, moonless night. It seemed that something was
watching us.....".
One night while the family sleeps something
mysterious creeps into the barn. A bird is heard, and the animals are disturbed
by whatever is outside. John wakes up after hearing the animals. He goes outside
with John-Boy and Jason. Once outside, John-Boy says he saw a tall man standing
over by the barn. They wonder why Reckless didn’t bark at the intruder. In the
morning, John finds Elizabeth making a birdcage. The family talks about the
incident while Olivia makes breakfast. Grandpa remembers when the Depression
began, and hobos often roamed around Walton’s Mountain. Olivia tells the
children to go directly to school and to stay together, and John reassures the
children that they will be safe.
Ike puts up a new sign ‘Godsey’s Hall’ next
to the store, announcing he is opening his new hall (with new plumbing and
electricity, spending $75 on everything). John-Boy and Jason agree to spread the
word while they pump three dollars into John-Boy’s car. John-Boy suggests to
Jason that he and several of his musician friends rent the hall and plan a
dance. Ike tells Jason that the hall rents for three dollars during the week and
five dollars on weekends. (Zack Roswell rents his barn for six dollars.) As the
children walk to school, Jim Bob stops when he thinks he’s found a headlight in
a bunch of junk. Erin and Elizabeth go on without him. As they walk through the
forest, they hear a whippoorwill, something they don’t normally hear. They see a
man off in the distance, and they quickly run off. Later, at home, Jim Bob says
he didn’t see anything a few minutes later when he walked by. John, Grandpa, and
Grandma discuss what could have happened. Grandpa thinks it was the ghost of
old, tall Paul Tucker, a fellow who was killing many of the cattle around the
area. Grandma doesn’t want Erin to work at the telephone office, but John says
that she will be all right. Later, John-Boy talks with Corabeth and Ike,
wondering why Erin hasn’t called from the telephone office. He calls Miss
Fannie, but she says that Erin left earlier. Soon, Erin walks in to say that the
Baldwin sisters gave her a ride. Ike promises Corabeth that he will lock all
their doors before they go to bed.
As they prepare for bed, Corabeth looks
outside and sees a face staring in the window. Ike rushes off to call the
sheriff. John-Boy works on the newspaper when Jason and Ben walk in to talk
about a possible dance. Jason thinks they would play regular music like
‘Stardust’. The boys think they will make a profit of about fifteen
dollars (tickets and an ad in the newspaper will be four dollars, and couples
will be charged fifty cents). Ben calls the band “Jason Walton and the Rhythm
Kings”. After the boys leave, John hears a whippoorwill outside the office. As
the Baldwin sisters turn off their evening lights they see something in the back
yard, possibly someone wanting some Recipe or maybe Papa’s ghost. Suddenly, the
front door bell rings, and they find John-Boy standing there. He was concerned
about them, telling them of a stranger wandering about. They tell them of what
they saw outside. He checks outside, through the Recipe room, but doesn’t see
anyone He brings in a sack full of apples. John-Boy suggests they make sure all
of their windows and doors are securely locked. As John-Boy drives home, he
meets a woman calling out for Lorin. He offers her a lift, but she walks on
without saying a word.
Jason looks over the hall, telling Ike that
he might reserve it for this Saturday. He offers Jason a deal, he reserve it
Saturday night if he will provide Corabeth’s lemonade. Elizabeth makes a
birdcage for school, while Erin tells her sister that the project is too
difficult for her. Jason and Ben announce that they are having a dance this
Saturday night at Godsey’s Hall. The girls are excited about getting dressed up,
and Jason asks if Olivia and John will chaperone. Grandma says she will go in
order to keep their grandfather out of trouble. The children dance in the living
room. Olivia and Grandma tell the children that John and Grandpa are up on the
Mountain hunting to feed “this crazy bunch”.
John and Grandpa see smoke over at the old
Montgomery Place. They find Eva Hadley setting up housekeeping, saying Sarah
Montgomery was her mother’s sister. They notice the fine wicker baskets lying
about the house. The men excuse themselves and continue their hunting. Grandpa
felt that someone was hiding from them; John felt it, too. John-Boy writes in
his journal, “Into the peaceful, unchanging pattern of the days, the presence
of the stranger moved like a cloud casting a shadow of fear across the village.
The people drew away from each other, and not knowing when or from where the
menace might appear, they….” Erin interrupts him as he writes down this idea
for a story. She wonders if very many tickets are being sold, wanting to meet
someone special at the dance.
Ben puts up a sign at Ike’s store “Dance -
Saturday Night - Godsey’s Hall”. Jim Bob and Elizabeth also put up signs along
the road. In the bushes someone watches them. Back home, Erin irons her dress,
and then dances around with it draped across her body. Grandma says as long as
her dress is clean, that is all that matters. Erin wants to wear a red sash, but
Grandma says that color is only for fancy women. Erin thinks she might be a
fancy woman. Grandpa comes in, smelling her donuts. He says John is outside
plucking the turkey they shot. He begins to dance around with Grandma singing
“The Lady in Red”. John walks in with the turkey. They say that they found a new
neighbor at the old Montgomery Place. Ben comes in worried: nobody is buying
tickets because they are afraid to go out at night. Jim Bob and Elizabeth
continue putting up signs, when Elizabeth sees someone after hearing another
whippoorwill. They rush off.
In the morning, Erin, Jim Bob, and Elizabeth
go off to decorate the hall while Olivia plants flowers. John-Boy drives them as
he goes to Rockfish. John and Sheriff Bridges walk up to the Montgomery Place to
investigate Eva Hadley and the goings-on. She is upset for bringing the sheriff.
She admits that her boy is also living with her. She tells them that they came
from Buckingham County, and her boy will be gone all day. They leave, saying
that they will have to look for the boy themselves. That night, the family eats
a subdued meal. They talk about Mrs. Hadley. Grandma thinks Bridges works too
slow. Jason says that three musicians are coming tonight to practice for the
dance, and he is worried about losing money in this venture. Jason goes out to
the barn when the musicians arrive. They play “Shuffle Off to Buffalo”
but have a problem with the saxophone player. Outside, the stranger lurks about.
He appears at the door, and Jason chases after him, followed by the other boys.
They catch him, as John-Boy and Olivia closely follow. Olivia calms the boy, who
she thinks is scared to death. He whistles, saying nothing else. Olivia and
Grandma give him cookies and milk. Grandpa says, “That’s your vicious,
night-stalking monster!” Mrs. Hadley rushes in, as her son helps to construct
Elizabeth’s birdhouse. She says that he is mute, from the day he was born to
today, eighteen years old. She said they came to the Mountain to escape the
torment of the city. The family looks on relieved to know he is harmless. John
says that he knows of work that he can do. The Baldwin sisters admire his work
on their wicker chairs, and listen to him whistle at their bird,
Caruso.
The dance is held to a full house, as the
community is relieved that the mystery of the stranger has been solved. A small
boy who wants to dance with Erin interrupts John-Boy. John brings the Hadleys,
and they are warmly welcomed to the dance. Miss Emily dances with Lorin as
Grandpa, Grandma, and the others look on.
"Lorin Hadley became a valued member of our community, and his
skills supported his mother and himself from that day on. Jason didn't get rich
from that dance at Godsey's Hall, but it did provide an unforgettable milestone
in our memories of those lean, but wonderful years".
Elizabeth: All
girls like dancing better than boys!
Erin: Because girls are more
romantic!
Ben: Is a boy supposed to talk to a girl when they're
dancing?
Erin: You're supposed to whipser in her ear.
Jim Bob:
Nobody does that!
Elizabeth: Oh Daddy does!
Jim Bob: He
does not.
John: Yes he does!
Elizabeth: What does he say,
Mama?
Olivia: Goodnight....
Notes:
The year
is 1937.
The Hadley’s has moved into the old Montgomery Place from
Buckingham County. Lorin is eighteen years old. Mrs. Hadley’s husband left her
earlier. Her mother is the daughter of Sarah Montgomery’s
sister.
Zack Roswell has a barn that he rents out for six dollars a
night.
Old, tall Paul Tucker killed cattle when Zeb was younger,
and the men in the community were forced to kill him.
Jason and fellow musicians (Lou, Tex, and
Eddie) play at the dance as “Jason Walton and the Rhythm
Kings”.
The musicians practice with Shuffle off to
Buffalo, whose lyrics can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/8636/shuffleoff.html.
Grandpa sings The Lady in
Red, whose lyrics can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/8636/ladyinred.html
The Baldwin sister’s parakeet is called Caruso, for opera
singer Enrico Caruso.
Also appearing:
Ike and Corabeth Godsey (Joe Conley and Ronnie Claire Edwards); Miss Mamie and Miss Emily Baldwin (Helen Kleeb and Mary Jackson); Sheriff Ep Bridges (John Crawford); Mrs. Eva Hadley (Peggy Webber); Lorin Hadley (Gary Tomlin); 'The Rhythm Kings': Lou on saxophone (Brian Longley), Tex on banjo (Larry McNeely), and Eddie on drums (Ralph Henley).