"There comes a time in a young man's life, when he begins to wonder how he fits into the world around him." "When that time came for my brother Jim-Bob, it brought the unfolding of a long-kept secret." "Hey, Jim-Bob." "I can't believe it." "Ever since Grandpa made him that yo-yo, it's all he's been doing." "I think it's grown onto his fingers." "Well, Mrs. Fordwick had to take it away from him at school today." " I know." " Stop teasing him." "He has to practice for The Yo-Yo King." "Well, I don't know who The Yo-Yo King is, but as far as I'm concerned, Jim-Bob's king of the yo-yos!" "You think you're so smart, Ben Walton." "Well, I don't know how to explain him to my friends." "It's embarrassing." "I don't know." "I just tell them that he's no kin to me." "Well, he doesn't belong to me, either." "Jim-Bob belongs to all of us." "He's our brother." "I wonder about that." "What if Mama found him under a cabbage leaf?" "Maybe he was left by some gypsies." "Why not?" "You know, a lot of them did pass through here." " Tell us our fortunes, Jim-Bob." " Dance for us, Jim-Bob." "I'll go jump in the lake." "Watch out!" "He may cast a spell on us!" "Jim-Bob couldn't be a gypsy." "He doesn't even look like one." "He doesn't look like a Walton, either." "Jim-Bob, wouldn't it be exciting if gypsies or somebody did leave you?" "Just like in the book I'm reading." "Forget it, Elizabeth." "It was about a girl named Daphne." "She was abandoned." "Elizabeth." "Her parents were too poor to keep her, so they left her on the beach." "Look, I don't want to hear any more of your dumb story." "Then a lighthouse keeper found her just before the tide came in." "Jim-Bob, don't you want to be a gypsy?" "Right now, all I want to be is an only child." "Hey!" "Maybe you are!" "Yeah, that's fine." "Wish we could afford to buy new curtains." "Well, they don't look like they shrunk any." "We've washed the shrink right out of them." "Elizabeth, that door's only got so many slams in it, and you've used up most of them." " Sorry, Mama." " Chores done?" "All except for gathering the eggs." "Mama, if you and Daddy were too poor to keep me, who would you abandon me to?" "Mrs. Fordwick, I suppose." "Why her?" "Well, you'd be brought up in a good Christian home." "She'd see that you get to be a proper young lady." "I'd rather be abandoned to a circus." "Good Lord, where did she ever get an idea like that?" "I guess I ought to be stricter with Elizabeth." "And Jim-Bob, too." "He's driving everybody crazy with that yo-yo." "Well, they're the last of your babies." "Nobody can blame you for..." "Well, for making them special." " See, Mary Ellen, just look at him." " What's he doing up there?" "Ben and Erin were teasing him." "Mary Ellen, do you think Jim-Bob was abandoned?" "Oh, yeah." "He was left on the doorstep." "Where do you think we got the basket?" "Ready to go, John-Boy?" "Yeah." "There's nothing more I can do with this mess." "You sure got a lot of junk." "Yeah, well, don't complain about it." "Some of this junk is yours." "My junk?" "Yeah." "Here's this essay that you asked me to write for Mrs. Breckenridge." "You wrote it?" "Well, that's what you wanted me to do." "What did you think I was gonna do with it?" "That's great." "Thank you." "This is really good." "You did it so fast and it's so professional." "I don't know how you do it." "Just a garden-variety genius." "Well, when Mrs. Breckenridge reads this to the ladies at the Historical Society, they're gonna be bowled over." "Of course." "Come on, let's go." "Do you remember those days when we actually hated going to school?" "Sure do." "In spring." "The first warm days." "That time we decided to cross the creek without using the bridge." "Like Tarzan swinging from a tree." "I will never forget the teacher's face when we walked in dripping wet all over the place." " You sure looked funny." " Yeah, you should've seen yourself." "We had fun, though." "You gonna put all that stuff into your novel?" "Every bit of it." "It's gonna be something, you know." "When it finally gets published and we're all reading about ourselves." "You'd probably come after me with a stick." "Probably." "I can just see the whole family now chasing old John-Boy down the road." "Well, a big laugh for you, sure, but for me it might not be so much fun." "Hey, I still gotta get this essay over to Mrs. Breckenridge." "Think we got time to stop?" "Well, I'm late, but, yeah, we'll take it over there." "Okay." "Great." "This looks lovely, Jason." "You will thank John-Boy on behalf of all the ladies in the Historical Society, won't you?" "Yes, ma'am." "Surely." "He enjoyed it." "Well, perhaps he'll do another one for us." "You see, Professor Breckenridge was enchanted with the early settlers on the Rockfish River." "He was born and he was buried at Crabtree Falls, you know." "Here are all his notes." "If John-Boy could sort of weave them together." "Well, I don't know, ma'am." "You see, he's been awfully busy lately and..." " Well, I'll ask him." " There's no hurry." "There would be ample time if I had it by Saturday." "Saturday." "All right." " Is your music going well?" " Yes, ma'am." "Just fine." "Thank you." "I'm so proud of you, Jason." "The scholarship at the conservatory couldn't have gone to a more deserving and talented young man." "Well, I'm mighty grateful to you, Mrs. Breckenridge." "I expect a front row seat at your first concert." "Well, I'd surely want you to be there." "I really have to hurry." "John-Boy is in the car waiting for me." "By the way," "I wonder if John-Boy has carbon paper." "I reckon so." "Why?" "Well, it would be so convenient if the essay on the early settlers could be done with three copies." "One for me, one for the library, and one for the file." "All right." "Three copies it is." "You're a dear boy, Jason." " Bye-bye." " Bye-bye." "Elizabeth, I'm in the bathroom." "I know." "But you're just washing up." "Will you quit staring at me?" "I was just noticing, you even look like Skeezix." "Skeezix?" "You know, in the funny papers." "Uncle Walt found him on the front porch in a basket." "So?" "Well, Mary Ellen says that's where they found you." "In the egg basket." "Well, she was just kidding you." "You sure don't look like the rest of us." "Your eyes are different and so is your hair." "That doesn't mean anything." "And you got nobody's nose." "Of course not." "It's my nose." "Elizabeth!" "Jim-Bob!" "Elizabeth, now, when I sent you after your brother," "I didn't mean for you to disappear." "Now, hurry up, you two." "Supper's on the table." "Grandma, was Jim-Bob left on the doorstep?" "Now, what kind of a question is that?" "Mary Ellen said I was." "Jim-Bob, now, wouldn't your mama's feelings be hurt if she knew that you believed such nonsense?" "At your age, too." "Come on, everybody's waiting." "Whose nose does he have?" "You see, that proves it." "They wouldn't admit it to Daphne, either." "You just can't ask grownups." " Let's get out of here!" " Let's get out..." "I'm gonna beat you!" "Jason!" "Jason!" "You got yourself a late passenger, huh?" "Yes, I certainly do." "Whoever said that professors were absent-minded never lived with a musician." "We got it." "Just don't get in a dither." "Grandpa, I've got a week's worth of work." "I've got two days to do it in." "I got deadlines I'll never make." "Deadline." "Well, at least you won't get yourself shot." " What?" " Deadline." "That's what it used to mean before you writing fellas took over." "There's a line drawn outside of a military prison." "Anyone who stepped across that line got shot, dead." "Well, it's not that bad, but it seems like it." " Are you ready?" " Yeah." "You sure you didn't forget something like the piano maybe?" " We'll see you later, Grandpa." " Yeah." "Hop in, son." "We gotta move." "Jim-Bob?" " Thanks, Mama." " Getting too grownup for a kiss?" " Bye, Mama." " Have a good day at school." "That boy seems more quiet than usual." "Yeah." "He's a deep one." "I'm just never sure what he's thinking lately." "Airplanes, trading cards, that fool yo-yo." "Yeah, I suppose." "Surprise!" "What are you doing here?" "Waiting for you." "Why didn't you come with the rest of us?" "Didn't feel like it." "Are you still mad at Ben and Erin for saying that you were brought here by gypsies?" "Well, I kind of forgot about it." "If I thought I was left on a doorstep, I wouldn't forget about it." "I'd probably look for clues like Daphne did in my book." "Elizabeth, don't start that again." "What kind of clues?" "Old letters." "My picture in the family album." "Hers wasn't in it." "Well, I'm in ours." "Come on." "We're gonna be late for school." "Wait up!" "Jim-Bob." "Well, Son, you get the notion that a pair of ladies are trying to force us back to work?" "Now this is the quickest midday meal we ever had." " Pa, did we eat?" " Hush, you two." "Livie and I have to cut out some baby things for Rosemary Fordwick." " And this table has to be spotless." " Right, Ma." "Sorry to rush you, John, but I've been putting it off for too long." "They had their baby already?" "No." "But Rosemary's getting everything ready, and I promised I'd do some sewing for her." "I smell a sewing spell coming on." "We'd better stage a retreat." "Once Livie gets that sewing look in her left eyeball, she's like a high-stepping mare heading for the barn." " A mare!" " Well, a thing of joy, beauty to behold but don't get in my way!" "You don't know the first thing about sewing." "Now go on." "Go on." "All right, Pa." "Let's go to work." "Yeah, we can work on the furniture tonight." "We're not gonna get anything out of those two." "Like father, like son." "And two like those is about all anybody can take." "I took a vote today during recess." "I asked everybody if they thought that you looked like a Walton." " Do you want to know what they said?" " No, I don't." "Well, only two says you do." "That new girl who wears glasses and Mary Ellen." "Elizabeth, this is dumb." "Four said you don't." "Jenny Marie says you look like her cousin Norbert who lives in Richmond." " Bumper..." " She's always talking about him." "Bumper O'Donnell says you look like a dill pickle." "Well, who cares what he thinks?" "Rowena says you look like Nelson Eddy." " Nelson Eddy?" " I think she likes you." "Don't you ever tell that to anybody!" "Never!" "Okay, well, that makes two to seven." "Somebody didn't vote." "I didn't have time to ask everybody." "The bell rang." "I'll ask them tomorrow." "Forget it, Elizabeth." "Just forget it!" " Hi, Jim-Bob." " Hi, Grandpa." "Hey, pot of gold." "For a boy who did nothing but play with his yo-yo yesterday, you're having a nice change of pace." "I'm gonna buy a new one from The Yo-Yo King tomorrow." "The one I made for you wasn't good enough, huh?" "Well, I have to buy one to enter the contest." "That figures." "Nothing's free these days." "Glad to see you're reading." "Learn a poem everyday." "Well, that's the family photograph album, huh?" "Well, I was looking at some pictures when we were little." "There you are." "You didn't have much hair on your head, but you were cute as a button everywhere else." "Are all the family pictures in here?" "As far as I know, yeah." "It seems like some of them are missing." "Well, your grandma was always mooning over the photographs." "Here, press this one for her." "No, I think they're all there." "I just wouldn't know, Jim-Bob." "Mary Ellen." "Mary Ellen." "Mary Ellen." "Ben." "You see, there aren't many pictures of you in here." "Well, that doesn't prove anything." "It did for Daphne." "I'm gonna go look somewhere else." " Look for what?" " Your missing pictures." "Elizabeth." "Pa, I'd rather send you out here." "It hasn't got any handles in there." " Looks to me..." " Well, now..." "It's the same way it will save us some money." " Yellow poplar..." " Run it straight down." "Straight down here, we got it." "I mean, I've already written one essay for Mrs. Breckenridge." "I like her and everything." "She's a nice lady." "But she must think I have nothing else in the world to do." "Well, I reckon she liked the first one you did so much, that it just made her head spin." "Jason, how can I stop everything and write an essay on the Rockfish settlers?" "I mean, look at that desk over there." "Look how much stuff I've got to do." "Yeah." "You are up to your neck." "Up to my neck?" "I'm over my head." "Well, it's all my fault." "I never should've told her that you'd do it without asking you first." "That's true." "I guess she'll just have to get someone else." "Well, that's the trouble." "She doesn't want anybody else to do it." "I'm sorry, Jason." "Well, I can't say that I blame her." "I mean, you have a way of saying things about this country and the people that..." "Well, it just makes them come to life." "I appreciate that." "Thank you." "I really wish I could help you." "Well, I guess it was a dumb idea me asking her anyway." "Reckon it was just because I could never write and I was proud of my brother who can." "Just have to go back and tell her she's out of luck." "Jason, wait a minute." "I can write the thing for you." "No." "You don't have time." "No, I'll make time." "I can make time." "That sure takes a load off my mind." "And I want you to know that there's no hurry, just as long as it's done by Saturday." " Which Saturday?" "This Saturday?" " Yeah." "And if it is not too much trouble and if you have some carbon paper," "Mrs. Breckenridge would like three copies." "Thanks a million." "Look, Jim-Bob, I found a bunch of old snapshots." "Come on." "Help." "We'll have to use Virginia pine here for the side pieces." "Good idea, Pa." "Or yellow poplar." "What's going on upstairs?" "It's late and they're still milling around." "I'll go take a look, Ma." "I'd go myself, but the iron's just right and I hate it to cool down." "Well, they should be getting ready for bed." "I'll tell them, Ma." " I wish somebody'd tell me to go to bed." " Go to bed." "You gonna tuck me in, Esther?" "Don't I always?" "What's going on up here?" "We're just looking for some pictures." "What brought this on?" "Well, you know, there aren't many of Jim-Bob in the album downstairs." "Is that so?" "Are there many of you, honey?" "I guess there aren't." "How come, Daddy?" "There are lots of pictures of John-Boy and the others." "I guess with the first few children we had more time for pictures and things like that." "We should have been born sooner." "I wish we'd taken more pictures of all our children." "Except for you two." "You both are so ugly you'll probably break the camera." "Daddy." "Can we go downstairs and paste them in the album now?" "You can paste them in the album, but not now." "It's bedtime." " Please, Daddy." " Come on, scoot." "Let's go, Son." "Jim-Bob." "Good night." "Good night, Daddy." "Wherever did this come from?" "Jim-Bob and Elizabeth found those up the attic tonight." "It's hard to believe Jim-Bob was ever this small." "Yeah, he's grown 6 inches this year alone." "Now he's got a voice like a man." "Grandpa says he was looking in the album this afternoon." "All the children do that from time to time, Liv." "The others have, but never Jim-Bob." "He's been so quiet." "Now, Liv, don't let it upset you." "Tomorrow, he'll be playing with his airplanes and his yo-yo again." "Liv?" "Liv." "Come on." "Let's get some sleep." "Come on." "Come on, give me a hug." "All right." "Make the yo-yo loop once around." "All right!" "All right." "Now you want to see it sleep." "All right, here we go." "Just going to sleep." "There he is." "Wake up." "Now." "Now, we're gonna take the dog for a walk." "Okay, walk the dog." "There he goes." "Okay." "Now I'm gonna show you another one." "In case you get hungry, a yo-yo is always good for eating." "Watch." "This is called spaghetti." "Okay, now we're gonna take the baby and put him in the cradle." "And there's the baby in his cradle." "Now, this one's really tough." "Watch this one close." "This one is called a handcuff." "Throw it down and you get it right in your hand and they take you away." "That's it." "All right, kids, so all you have to do is practice." "That's good." "Jim-Bob, I wanna go get some gum." "Pretty good." "All right, now tomorrow, we're gonna have a big yo-yo contest right here." "Every one of you can win a prize." "Some kind of a prize." "Don't worry about it." "All you have to do is buy a genuine professional yo-yo." "Step right up." "Get your yo-yo." "Come on, kids." "Easy now." "Okay, which kind do you want?" "You want this one?" "Okay." "Put your money right here." "You want a red one?" "Little girl, there's one red one left." "Elizabeth, gum is gum." "Ike, but there are gumdrops, and bubblegum, and stick gum, and peppermint gum, and licorice gum." "I know that, but why don't you chew them all at once?" "I only have a nickel, but I'd try it if you give it to me." "Jim-Bob, hey, how is that new yo-yo working out?" "Well, it's not as good as the one grandpa made for me." "I don't know." "The Yo-Yo King says that's about the best yo-yo made in the world." "They should've made it out of good Virginia pine like grandpa did." "Well, don't you worry about it." "It'll work out." "You'll get used to it." "Besides, it's not that serious." "It's not that, Ike." "He's mad at me because of a vote I'm taking at school." "Come on, Elizabeth, hurry up." "Okay, I'll take this and this." "Those are excellent choices." "What vote are you taking?" "To see whether or not he looks like a Walton." "You mean, you need to take a vote to tell you that?" " You see, he thinks he was abandoned." " I do not." "Child, what kind of nonsense is that?" "You know, left on the doorstep." "Well, you don't have to worry about that, 'cause I can remember the very day you were born." "You do?" "Your daddy came by with all the kids and took them all over to Mrs. Brimmer's." "What for?" "Because he was gonna take your mama into Charlottesville to the hospital." " Didn't you know that?" " No." "Why Charlottesville?" "It seems to me that we were fresh out of babies that day, and so John and Olivia went into town so that they could shop for one there." "Come on, Ike." "Don't you really know why?" "No, Jim-Bob." "It's been quite a while and I don't rightly remember." " Thanks." " Yeah." " Bye, kids." " Bye." " Jim-Bob certainly is full of questions." " Yeah." "But I think it's just his age." "Hurry." "Charlottesville." "Isn't that exciting?" "Yeah, you go on home." "I got to see somebody, okay?" "Where are my keys?" "John-Boy, is that the way you ask?" "I'm sorry." "Mama, please, where are my car keys?" "I've seen Jason's ocarina and Elizabeth's coloring book, and a lipstick Erin doesn't know I know she's using." "I realize that you have to clean up after all the children." "I'm sorry about that." "But could you just come out and tell me whether or not you've seen my keys?" "John-Boy, are you mad at me or something, or do I just happen to be handy?" "No, I am not angry with you." " Just angry." " Why?" "Because I've got too many things going at the same time." "More things than I can possibly do." "I'm doing this for this person, I'm doing that for that person." "Everybody's pulling me in a different direction." "I don't know what to do about it." "Did it ever occur to you to say no?" "Your keys are on the rail of the front porch where you left them." "Thank you." "Well, I don't know how they got here." "Hey, John-Boy." "Wait." "Your paper on the Rockfish settlers sure made a big hit with Mrs. Breckenridge." "I'm glad she liked it." "Yeah." "Not only that, she liked it so much, she's sending a copy of it to the library in Richmond." "Oh, really?" "That's wonderful." "And she's picked you to write a paper on the life of Professor Breckenridge." "What do you mean she's picked me?" "Well, it just shows you how much she thinks of you." " What did you tell her?" " Well, what can I say?" "It's such an honor for you." "I couldn't turn her down." "She says you'll record a notable chapter in the academic history of Virginia." "She wouldn't trust it to anybody else." "She's got all the material and it's just the kind of thing you're so great at." "Jason, you've been handing me a lot of soft-soap about what a good writer I am just so you can get me to do these things for Mrs. Breckenridge." " But you are." " Jason, I can't do it." "Why not?" "Because I have work of my own that I can't even take care of." " But I promised her." " Well, you shouldn't have promised her." " I know, but I'm obligated." " Why?" " Well, the Conservatory." "The scholarship." " Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "Jason, she got you that scholarship because you have talent, because you deserved it, not because she wanted anything from you." "You're not beholden to her because of that." "Well, I guess so." " What am I gonna say to her?" " Be honest with her." "Tell her I'm very sorry but I'm too busy and I can't possibly do it." "I don't know." "Maybe she ought to write the life of the Professor." "She probably knew him better than anybody else did." "All right." "That's what I'll do." "I gotta go." "...the old gentleman signals." "Well, be sure to be listening tomorrow to Backstage Wife, the story of Mary Noble and her husband Larry Noble." "Jim-Bob!" "Come on in." "All right." "Come on." "Mary Noble and I were just having a good cry." "Those soap opera people do have a hard time of it." "How come you listen to it?" "Because there's nothing like a good cry to cheer a body up." "As a matter of fact, you look like you need some cheering up." "Here, sit down." "Have a cookie." "Oatmeal, applesauce." "Just feel around in there and get what you want." "No, thanks, Mrs. Brimmer." "Don't you want to grow up and be a strapping man like your grandpa?" "Maybe just one." "Well, that's better." "You know, I remember when John-Boy used to come by for cookies." "And now, look at you." "You're all grown up, too." "Mrs. Brimmer, do you remember when I was born?" "I sure do." "John-Boy and all the others came over to stay here." "Even Ben and Erin had tonsillitis at the time." "They came, too." "Why didn't Grandma and Grandpa take care of them?" "Well, now, as I recall, your grandpa had influenza, and your grandma was busy with your mama." "It was your daddy that brought them over here and they stayed the whole night." "My, Mr. Brimmer did enjoy those children." "That Mary Ellen used to put her hand on her little hip and say "Hello, hello, hello!"" "It was so cute." "Mrs. Brimmer, Ike says Mama went to Charlottesville for me." "Why wasn't I born at home?" "Well, your mama had a little trouble and they had to take her to the hospital." "How come nobody ever talks about it?" "Perhaps there's no need for it." "What's the difference where you were born as long as you're here?" "Come on." "Have another cookie." "No, thanks, Mrs. Brimmer." " Come in, Jason." " Thank you." "May I fix you some tea?" "Yes." "Thank you." "That would be very nice." "Good." "Sit down, Jason." "I'll just get another cup." " Here we are." " Thank you." "I hope you told John-Boy how delighted we all were with his lovely paper on the early settlers." " Thank you." "Yes, ma'am, I did." " Good." "I'm so looking forward to showing him all the letters and records in the Professor's file." "You see, the life of the Professor was crowded with people and events, just the sort of thing that John-Boy writes about so beautifully." "Well, Mrs. Breckenridge, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." "John-Boy and I were wondering if maybe you shouldn't be the one to write about the Professor's life." "Me?" "Good gracious, no!" "I'm not a writer." "No, Jason, that's John-Boy's field." "I wouldn't think of taking it away from him." "Well, I really don't think he would mind that much." "Does John-Boy not want to do it?" "Well..." "We just thought that it would be more personal if you wrote it." "You knew the Professor better than anyone else." "I wouldn't know where to begin." "You just put it down the way you told me about him." "Now, those stories about your husband were wonderful." "And the thing that made them special was the way you put the words together." "Not even John-Boy could come close to the way you do it." "I'd never thought about it." "Talking is one thing, but writing..." "Think how much more it would mean to your friends coming from you." "I know we'd be proud to have a copy." "Jason, I'm gonna think about it." "I'm really going to think about it." "Hey, what are you doing out here?" " Nothing." " That's pretty much what I've been doing." " No, you're writing." " Thinking, mostly." "What's going on with you?" "Nothing." " Are you sure about that?" " Yeah." "Jim-Bob, what's on your mind?" " You won't laugh?" " Of course I won't laugh." "I don't think I'm a Walton." " What?" " I don't think I'm born a Walton." "What makes you say something like that?" "I don't look like a Walton." "You don't look like a Walton." "Do I look like a Walton?" "I don't know." "I always thought you and me looked a lot alike." "Anyway, what about your mama?" "She wasn't a Walton before she married your daddy." "If you look at it, every one of us, we're a little bit different." "I guess you're right." "I sure hope that settles that." "Ike says Mama went to Charlottesville when I was born." "Me and the rest of the children stayed over at Mrs. Brimmer's." "I went over there today and she wouldn't tell me why they went to Charlottesville." "Why don't you ask your mama about it, Jim-Bob?" "Well, if I am a Walton, I'd feel stupid if I asked." " It might make them feel bad." " And what?" "Suppose it's true, John-Boy." "I couldn't stand that." "You are a Walton, Jim-Bob!" "Is there someplace where it's written down?" "Well, of course, there's some place where it's written down." " Come on." " Where are we going?" "The County Courthouse." "They'll have it on record down there." "Here it is, right there." "January 13, 1923, the day you were born." "Michael Paul Allister, boy." "It's A, B, C..." "There you are." "Right there." "James Robert Walton, boy." "There's another name." "Joseph Zebulon Walton, died at birth." "What does it mean, John-Boy?" "I don't know." "It means I had a twin brother, doesn't it?" "It could have been another family." "Excuse me, sir." "Thank you." "We're finished." "Jim-Bob." "I swear to you." "I didn't know anything about this." "How come they never told me?" "I don't know." "Here you go, sweetie pie." " Afternoon, Corabeth, Ike." " Good afternoon, Esther." "Good to see you, Esther." "What brings you here?" "Well, a pile of shirts that need mending." "I'm down to my last couple of buttons." " How many do you need?" " A dozen ought to hold me for a while." "And a dozen of those little baby buttons." "You know, we don't see you very often anymore." "How come you didn't send one of the kids over?" " Now we..." " Thirty cents, Esther." " Will that be all?" " Yes, thank you." "Livie sent Jim-Bob in here the other day for a spool of green thread and some coffee beans." "Well, he was gone a whole hour and he came home with a pound of green beans." "Well, I think we can understand why a boy of Jim-Bob's age would have a spell of absentmindedness." "It could be a little more than that." "Elizabeth told us he seems to have some notion he's a foundling." "A foundling?" "Now, that's the second..." "I think that, that was just Elizabeth's idea of a joke." "I don't know." "He seemed to me to be awfully interested in where he came from." "I mean, have you explained to him..." " Well, you know, about..." " About what?" "Well, boys of that age begin to be curious in regard to certain things." "I mean, why else would he be wondering about the details of his birth?" "Corabeth, I think that Esther's in a hurry." "John and Livie don't beat around the bush with their children." "They come right..." "Unless that boy was asking for other reasons that..." "Esther, have you heard the story about the traveling button salesman that wrote all his business on his cuff!" "I'll tell you, Esther, a good tonic wouldn't hurt that boy." "Thank you, Corabeth." "Esther!" "Esther Walton?" " I need a word with you." " Hello, Flossie, but I'm in sort of a hurry." "This won't take but a minute." "This won't take but a minute." "I think you should know that, well," "Jim-Bob dropped by after school today." "He was asking some troubling questions." "What kind of questions?" "About the time he was born." "It's all right, Flossie." "It's all right." "He'll get his answers." " John?" " Hi, Ma." "What's for supper?" "You're gonna have some hungry men on your hands pretty soon." "It'll be on the table at the usual time." "Now, will you hold up with what you're doing, please?" "Go ahead, Ma, I'm listening." " Now, would you pay attention to me?" " Ma, I can pay attention while I'm working." "John, it's time you and Livie told Jim-Bob what happened the night he was born." " What brought this on, Ma?" " Well, he's asking questions." "He's worried and he's going to keep asking questions till he gets some answers." "And I think the answers should come from you." "You haven't said anything to Livie about this, have you?" "Of course not." "All right, Ma." "I'll take care of it." "I understand how you feel." "I sure would have expected them to tell me about it." " What I can't figure out is why." " I can't answer that." "You think they blame me 'cause my brother died?" "That's crazy." "Are they ashamed of me?" "Jim-Bob, you're getting yourself all mixed up about this thing." "Whatever the reason is that they haven't told you, it's not because they're ashamed of you or they blame you or anything like that." "How would you feel?" "I don't know." "Probably about the same as you." "John-Boy, I never told this to anybody before, but sometimes I wake up at night and I feel there's somebody else just like me." "I don't know who he is or where." "Maybe you should've mentioned that." "I don't know." "They think I'm crazy enough as it is." "Will supper be ready soon, Grandma?" "About as soon as you can get that table set." "Where's Mama?" "She's upstairs trying to find some baby ribbons." "John-Boy's not here and I haven't seen Jim-Bob all afternoon." "Maybe the gypsies took him." "Now, you leave Jim-Bob alone, and you stop that kind of talk." "Mary Ellen, will you get our good tablecloth out, please?" "I'll help you." "Company coming?" "No, I just want the place to look nice tonight." "What's going on around here anyway?" "How should I know?" "They never tell me anything." "Thank you, Ben." "I don't know why Jim-Bob couldn't do his own chores." "Well, he didn't, so there's no sense in complaining." "There's a lot of people around here that get by with murder!" "Hi, Grandpa." "Incense." "What heavenly odor pervades our humble kitchen?" "What's cooking?" "Nectar or ambrosia?" " What's ambrosia?" " Ambrosia's food for the gods." "Makes an ordinary human immortal." "I suggest you go wash that mortal face." "Go on." "Oh, you big baby." "Daddy?" "Son, where you been?" "Jim-Bob and I went over to the Hall of Records." " Is that so?" " Yeah." "He wanted to see some kind of written proof he was a real Walton." "You know, so we went over there and took a look in the book." "I didn't know what to tell him." "I was just as surprised about it as he was." "I think you got some kind of a problem on your hands." "He's pretty confused." "Why didn't you ever tell us about that?" "It's not like you." "I know it's not, Son." "It's been bothering me all these years." "Listen, John-Boy." "That time was so bad for your mama." "When I first brought her home from the hospital I wanted to protect her." "So we didn't talk about it." "Over the years it's somehow gotten easier not to talk about it, you know?" "Even today, I can see a hurt look come into her eyes," "I know she's thinking about that time." "It just isn't easy to talk about." "I understand that." "But I don't know about that little fella over there." "Son." "Listen, Jim-Bob, I know you're upset." "I never meant to keep it a big secret, it just happened that way." "I could have handled it." "I know you could, Son." "You see, the point is, I don't think your mama could've." "You see, the doctor wanted her to go to the hospital back then, but all your brothers and sisters were born here in the house and your mama wanted you to be born here, too." "It was only toward the last when we knew there was a real problem that we rushed her to the hospital in Charlottesville." "How come he died and I got to live?" "Well, Son, I guess he just wasn't strong enough and you were." "But you see, your mama could never accept that." "She kind of blamed herself." "And rather than bring back all that grief, we just never talked about it." "I suppose we should have, but we didn't." "I'll tell you this, though." "Because of what happened, you've always been especially dear to your mama." "Here they come." "Let's eat." " It looks better if you put it here." " It goes here." "Jim-Bob, would you say grace, please?" "We thank you for the food on the table and for making today special in many ways." "Like Mrs. Fordwick didn't call on me in spelling for once." "I saw an airplane after school." "I think it was a De Havilland biplane, but it might have been just an old Jenny." " Amen." " Amen." " The chicken here's hot." " Chicken." "Chicken, chicken, chicken!" "Where's the bread?" "Can you pass me the bread, Grandma?" "The most valuable truth that all of us learned when that secret was finally revealed, is that belonging to a family has less to do with being born than being loved." "And with all the hurts and fears and wants, we might remember from those Depression years, being loved is what we remember the best." "I told you Jim-Bob would win the yo-yo contest." " Who are you talking to, Elizabeth?" " Anybody that's still awake." "I think I'm the only one and I never said he wouldn't." "Well, he did and he's a real Walton!" "Sounds to me like you're feeling sorry about trying to convince him he wasn't." "I told him I was sorry." "So did Ben and Erin, for teasing him." " Well, then just forget about it." " Good idea." " John-Boy?" " Yes, Elizabeth?" "Do you think I could have been left by the gypsies?" "Red-haired ones?" " Good night, Elizabeth." " Good night, John-Boy." "English"