Episode
15 - The Victims
(19 March 1981)
Writer: Juliet Packer.
Director:
Music: Alexander Courage.
"With the war over, my family settled down to a
more normal routine of life, but occasionally this was to be interrupted by
echoes of the war. Such was the case when we encountered a young man who was
still struggling with war wounds, not to his body, but to his spirit and mind.
Though he crossed our lives for only a short time, that memory would remain
fresh with us always".
Inside Ike’s store, Laurie Ellis picks up
groceries from Corabeth, while her husband Kenny checks under his truck’s hood
as Ike fills the gas tank.
At the supper table, John-Boy discusses
revising his current book. Then, Jim Bob tries to convince the family to pitch
in fifty dollars to buy war surplus supplies at the Rockfish Depot. They
decline, but
Jim Bob attempts to convince Ike and Corabeth
to join him in his venture. Corabeth flatly refuses but Ike tells him to stop
by before going to the auction. John-Boy returns home in time to overhear a
telephone call to Mary Ellen. Ann Galloway, who lives next to her house, is
hearing loud noises from inside the house. John-Boy and Mary Ellen leave to
investigate. Laurie comes to the door, admitting she hit her head on a
cupboard. When she returns inside, Kenny grabs her hair, demanding she tell him
about John-Boy. She pleads not to hit her again. Suddenly, the mood of Kenny
changes as he becomes subdued and compassionate.
The next morning, Laurie receives violets
from Kenny, his apology for yesterday’s outbreak. He doesn’t understand his
actions, feeling he was standing outside himself when the anger happened. He then
says goodbye as he prepares for another long trucking job.
Jim Bob enters the store as Corabeth asks Ike
about the Zeller house. Corabeth agrees to loan Jim Bob the money if he
promises to return their investment if the enterprise doesn’t succeed. At the
Dew Drop, Laurie asks Jason if he has seen her husband. She is worried about
Kenny who was fired after arriving late to work. Later, Jim Bob returns to the
store with an unexpected load of gas masks and helmet liners. Ike doesn’t
believe he will be able to sell them and asks Jim Bob to return their money by
the end of the week.
John-Boy answers the telephone, finding that
Jason is worried about Laurie. John-Boy and Erin drive over to find the place a
shambles and Laurie unconscious on the floor. Back at the house, Mary Ellen and
Erin tend to her wounds, while Laurie explains what happened. Rose and John-Boy
listen to her story, with John-Boy suggesting they call the sheriff. Upset at
the idea, Laurie says no. Rose suggests that Laurie rest. Later Mary Ellen
explains the medical consequences of Laura’s bruises to the Deputy Sheriff, who
hasn’t yet located Kenny. Laurie refuses to file charges, believing her husband
is a ‘fine and gentle man’.
Ben tells Jim Bob to pay back the Godsey’s,
who are upset about not being paid back. Jim Bob doesn’t know what he could
sell; but Ben adjusts the mirror on his hot rod, as a hint.
The next morning, Rose realizes that Laurie
is pregnant. Just then Kenny drives up, once again apologizing for his shameful
actions. Laura is convinced that he will not repeat his angry behavior. But, as
Jim Bob enters the store wearing a helmet and
gas mask and pays Corabeth the money he owes them. Outside, Buck Vernon sees
Jim Bob’s outfit, interested in buying the equipment. Later, Ben congratulates
his younger brother for paying back the money he owed. Ben learns that Jim Bob
sold his hot rod for two hundred dollars and sold the war surplus supplies for
another two hundred dollars. After paying off his loan (fifty dollars) and
buying an old junk car to fix up (twenty-five dollars), Jim Bob announces he
still has three hundred, twenty-five dollars left as profit. Jim Bob thanks Ben
for his good advice.
Hendricks receives a call telling him Kenny
has barricaded himself inside his house. He drives John-Boy, Jason, and Laurie
to the site as the police surround the armed man. Kenny fires at the uniformed
men, thinking they are German Nazis. John-Boy and Jason decide to enter the
back of the house, hoping to convince Kenny that he is no longer in the war.
Jason convinces him that they are on his side, and that Laurie is outside
waiting for him. He finally recognizes his wife’s name and gives up his gun. He
opens the front door, crying out to his wife.
“Kenny and Laurie moved to Richmond where he could be
close to the V A hospital. Laurie's letters indicated that treatment helped
Kenny forget the violence of the war and he became a gentle loving husband and
father to her and to Kenneth Ellis Junior".
Rose: Goodnight John-Boy, goodnight Mary Ellen.
Mary Ellen: Goodnight Rose, goodnight
John-Boy: I don't think you'd like it.
John-Boy: No whipperwills, the city lights black out most of the stars at
night.
John-Boy: What?
Notes:
Laurie and Kenny
Ellis pay two dollars for gas and three dollars, sixty-four cents for
groceries; for a total of five dollars, sixty-four cents.
Kenny Ellis drove a
truck during the war.
The license plates on
Deputy Sheriff Henricks’ car are 98-964 VA.
Also appearing:
Ike and Corabeth Godsey (Joe Conley and Ronnie Claire
Edwards), Rose