|
Ben arrives on a ship back in America and is concerned what the family will think of his news upon his return.
Erin prepares to leave for a week’s vacation in Atlantic City. The phone rings for Cindy and it is Ben who wants her to meet him in Norfolk and then head up to Washington DC to see his Mama. Cindy worries how she will get there without any gas coupons. Erin forfeits hers that she was going to use for her vacation to Atlantic City. Cindy packs and the family sees her off. Erin plans to still take her week off to stay at home and postpone her trip to a later date. Daddy and Jason move a desk into the Mill office for Ben as John hopes that Ben will be excited to get back to the business of the mill upon his return.
Ben and Cindy find each other outside the Naval Base in Norfolk. That night in their hotel room he tells her that he wants to go to college to become an engineer. When they arrive home John shows Ben his ideas for the business and how he has made him a partner. Later he shows him how he wants to alter the shed to make it more like a real home with a Front Porch. Ben and Cindy tell him about their new plans which involves Ben becoming an Engineer. His Daddy is shocked by the news but then asks to hear about his plans.
Erin answers a knock at the door while relaxing in her housecoat and J.D. Pickett storms in needing her to help him with a meeting with an Army procurement officer, stating that she is the only one who knows anything about such matters. She refuses and runs upstairs.
John stops by the next day for some gas at Ike’s and tells him about his troubles. Cindy’s father arrives. He is a Colonel. He gives Ben some advice on what to expect when he goes to school. He then goes and talks to John in the Mill. They discuss things over some of the “recipe” John has hidden away in a filing cabinet. The Colonel learns that John doesn’t want Ben to feel beholden to the Mountain. John then leaves to see Olivia in Washington who has still been working with the Red Cross.
J.D. Pickett arrives with the Army procurement officer hoping that Erin will reconsider. She wants nothing to do with it as this is her first vacation she’s had since she started working for J.D. doing 10 to 12 hour days an even bringing work home. The officer invites Erin to dinner to fill his time while he waits for her to return to work Monday morning. J.D. suggests a cute little Inn on Monticello Mountain in Charlottesville.
Ben gets a call from Cindy’s Dad, the Colonel who tells him he has been accepted into University. Daddy comes home with the bad news that their Mama’s Tuberculosis has relapsed and that he will drive her to Arizona for treatment. Ben talks to his Daddy later in the Mill office. Ben says that he can delay his plans but his Daddy has to decided to sell it instead.
Elizabeth comes in to see her Daddy while he packs his suitcase. She is in need of comfort having first lost her mother and now him while she recuperates. Corabeth brings a prospective buyer to inspect the Mill but Ben doesn’t agree with his plans to turn the operation into a factory. The kids all want to visit their Mama in Washington before she goes to Arizona. He consents that they will leave in the morning. The Baldwin sisters arrive and give John some of the “recipe” as a going away gift. Corabeth calls to John and says he is needed to discuss a partnership with the Mill. Ben has hung the sign John made that states both of them as partners. His Daddy is confused but Ben says that selling the Mill to an outsider would be like selling a part of Grandpa and the rest of the family. He says that he doesn’t have to go away to build bridges.
|
