DALLASTALK
presents
STARRING:
(in alphabetical order)
PATRICK DUFFY (BOBBY)
LINDA
GRAY (SUE ELLEN)
KEN
KERCHEVAL (CLIFF)
AUDREY LANDERS (AFTON)
SASHA MITCHELL (JAMES)
CATHY PODEWELL (CALLY)
VICTORIA
PRINCIPAL (PAM)
TED SHACKELFORD (GARY)
CHARLENE
TILTON (LUCY)
JOAN VAN
ARK (VALENE)
CO-STARRING:
OMRI KATZ (JOHN ROSS)
KIMBERLY FOSTER (MICHELLE)
SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY:
HOWARD KEEL (CLAYTON)
SUSAN SARANDON (MADELEINE)
and
JESSICA LANGE
as
BARBARA BAXTER
(Part 1: “PRE-NUPTIAL”)
One hour later, at the Dallas Memorial Hospital...
-My God, Cliff...What´s happened to Afton? – Pamela asked when she came in the waiting-room
with Bobby. Cliff embraced his sister and Bobby said hello to Becky, who seemed
to have been crying.
-I don´t know. We brought here ourselves, we were here
in just ten minutes, and we know nothing about her yet...maybe an ambulance...
- Cliff, you must not think that. You did the right
thing...
- Did she got any breathing problem?
- No Bobby, as far as I know. She always takes care of
her voice and her health in general, and swims in the pool every day...
A nurse came by to tell them the doctor who was at the
E.R. with Afton would be talking to them right away. Becky looked scared and
embraced her daddy.
Meanwhile, the recent news didn´t let the other women
to fall asleep. First Lucy, and then Val, pretending to borrow some soy milk,
sat at the kitchen table.
- Poor baby, it must have been rather a shock for
Becky...
-And Cliff too: he´s not the bravest man on Earth, if
I remember well. Changing of subject, what about Clayton´s new wife?
- Madeleine you mean? Well, she doesn´t look much like
Miss Ellie at all. Do you think she married him for his money? Oh sorry...
- Frankly mother, I hope not. Cause Clayton is not
only a billionaire but also co-owner of the ranch and the Ewing Energy Group.
What´s more, he invested part of his fortune on re-buying the Southern Cross
for your son Dusty and his wife Carrie.
- I didn´t knew he was such a wealthy man – a new visitor came into the Ewing kitchen,
Gary this time. He opened the fridge and took out a dish with half a chocolate
cake on it. Val and Lucy looked at each other guessing each other´s thoughts.
Gary took a big knife and was about to take home the cake. But Val and Lucy
rushed onto him and hold each one of his arms and made him join them at the
table. Bye-bye diet...
At the
hospital, Cliff was listening to the doctor: Afton´s condition was stable now,
but she had lost too much blood: next 48 hours would be critical and they would
call Doctor Anderson, the specialist she used to call on more often. She
remained unconscious, but seemingly she would get healthier soon: anyway they
had to wait for the results of the tests she had been done. They didn´t know
how she could have been knocked out at the pool, but one thing was sure: there
was no sign of being hit on his head. Cliff breathed out relieved and hold
Becky. Pam insisted on replacing him so he and Becky would be free to go to
sleep, but Cliff eventually made the girl to accompany Pam and Bobby to spend the night at
Southfork. He´d rather keep himself asleep, until Afton was conscious again...
The next morning, the Dallas was completely clouded,
full of white fast clouds and the wind blew strongly: it was going to be a
tough winter. James had come up with Cally to the roof of the Ewing Building. A
few days later, they would be a married couple.
- Amazing isn´t it? You ever came here before Cally?
- No never. I didn´t have been anywhere here except
where J.R. was, I mean where you and John Ross are now – Cally breathed in the air of that roof,
one of the highest of all the town, if not the highest of all. For an instant,
she missed the pure fresh air from her town Haleyville and the peculiar smell
of her farm. – Dallas is a sort of temp for everybody, especially for us,
people from little towns: it offers us all the material things you can ever
want and many ways to get them, but only for those who have the name and the
influence of people like the Ewings.
- Watch out babe: you´re about to marry one of them,
in a 50% at least.
- What I mean is, I could have never shown my
paintings without being married to J.R., for example. Neither I could have gone
out Haleyville neither, probably. Before being killed, April told me once that,
the very first time she met J.R. alone was right here: your dad made an
appointment with here, by sending her half a check, to make her trust him
faster. She told me that, at the time, she was feeling as if she owned the
whole town, but everything was just like a mirage: in fact it was the beginning
of a series of fights and court battles over the Ewing Oil control...She
confessed that, in a long term, she´d have been happier working as a shop girl
in her town, instead of being a rich woman thanks to the millions J.R. paid to
her. Only during the previous months to her honeymoon with Bobby were good
enough for her, before being kidnapped. Very little time, but lived so
intensely...
- Honey you´re right: we gotta live our life together
very intensely, but nothing about Ewing Oil will affect us. We got two swell
kids, and maybe we´ll have another baby soon...Our wedding will be held at the
Southfork garden, with our family and friends there...and everything´s gonna be
just fine.
- I know you´ll think I´m nuts but you feel the same
way I do: Michelle is back and alive, and wanna get even. She was the elusive
woman at the velodrome, talking to Bill, though she was dark-haired now, and
was wearing sun-glasses. I am a painter and a photographer, and I got a great
visual memory. Actually, I think I wasn´t sure of it, until now. Besides,
probably she was the woman pretending to be April at the morgue...
James couldn´t help but holding her:
- I know. I´ve been a few days thinking of that too.
What´s more, Bill told me that my car was such a wreck because somebody had put
a mini-explosive inside...that blew out when I jumped off the window...There´s
somebody out there who wishes us the worst honeymoon...But we´ll win Michelle,
sweetheart, we´ll gonna be smarter...
Cally gasped, as she put her left cheek on James´s
strong chest. She should be strong too, for James, for their kids and, above
all, for herself.
(Fade out)
Meanwhile, Clayton and Madeleine were flying over the
Southfork lands, far away from the manor.
- Good heaven, I never imagined you owned so many
acres...it seems there is no limit to them...
- That over there could be considered as one of the
limits...That is the Southfork Resort,
a dream come true by Bobby just before Miss Ellie died.
- Is it a
kind of Spa? – she asked.
- Well, something like that, I guess. It´s a place for families to enjoy an
atmosphere without pollution and learn how to ride and shoot the plate, very
quietly. Miss Ellie was opposed to it initially, she was very hurt for being
away from home when her son died...
- You’ re talking about the infamous J.R., aren´t
you? I wish I had met him...
- And he´d
have loved meeting you! That´s for
sure. Wherever he was, J.R. always had a kind word for a good-looking woman...
At the hospital, Afton was coming to. By her side was
Cliff, who had not slept at all in the last hours. When she called him in low
voice, he jumped out of his chair and wide-opened his eyes. The couple kissed
each other lovingly and then she said:
- I´m so sorry to get you both upset...
- Don´t be silly, darling. We´ve been very worried
about you, but only because we wanted to take you on a picnic and you´re the
girl who makes the best sandwiches in town...
Afton started to laugh but ended up coughing...
- Tell us what happened to you at the pool.
- Where´s Becky? – she demanded. She was longing for
seeing her daughter. Cliff went out of the room for a minute and Becky came
back in with him. Mother and daughter embraced and cried joyfully. Suddenly, a
nurse came in to report Cliff about Afton´s doctor returning from his trip the
next morning. Soon she could be fully
diagnosed and her tests could be checked out. Afton looked away, her mind
getting lost somewhere far, far away...
It was dinner time at Southfork, six o´clock, and everyone was ready for table. However
Bobby called Clayton apart, and took him to the library, in order to speak with
him alone.
- Any trouble Bobby? Hope it´s nothing about
Madeleine...
- Well, yes...and no. I mean, yes, it´s about her,
and no, it´s no real trouble...without a solution.
- You are beating´ around the bush...for a Ewing.
- It´s about the wedding. I´ve been talkin´ with the
girls: Pam, Val and Lucy, and they´re a bit bothered by Madeleine wanting to
organize the wedding inside the house. Cally´s wish was celebrating it at the
garden yard, including the post-nuptial banquet. Remember that it began to rain
when they said “I do” at her “other” Southfork wedding?
Clayton laughed out loudly...
- Yes, and your mama insisted to make all the guests
sleep in the house. Never can forget “the night J.R. and Cliff slept under the
same roof”.
- This is the point: the wedding´s organization has
been at charge of the girls since the beginning, and Madeleine can cooperate if
she likes, but respecting the previous plans: we´re not an Egyptian Dynasty,
but a family.
- All right, Bobby, I think it´s o.k. Maybe she was
too much thrilled to meet the Ewings from Texas...
The next
morning, James arrived at the Ewing offices promptly. He had set up an
important appointment with Sue Ellen and was sure of her being late, so he got
quite a surprise when he found her in her office already.
- Good mornin´ James! – she ironically said.
- Hi good mornin´. I´ll lay my suitcase on my desk
and we´ll speak. – She nodded and took a portfolio out of one of her drawers,
when he left.
- My agenda is full, I gotta pick my mother up from
the airport and then I gotta attend an excusable meeting. Please let´s work
this out as soon as possible, Sue Ellen. What is it about?
- It´s about this – she said, showing him the
portfolio. He read the Ewing Oil name on the cover, along with the company´s logo.
At first sight, it was nothing unusual – My wedding present for Cally and you.
- A present? Don´t get it. This makes me owner of
another third of the company, so I would become a major shareholder .
- James, when
we funded this company, I told you this wasn´t just a business, but also a
family matter. You are co-owner of Ewing Oil with your brother John Ross. But
he can´t still run the company on his own. Partly because he´s not experienced
enough, partly because J.R.´s will demanded his college graduation to happen
before he would get his inheritance. If everything works out correctly, John
Ross will be a graduate in a few months and the president of Ewing Oil, just
like his daddy always wanted, just like he wanted himself.
- What part will I play then? – James asked.
- You and he will be equal partners, as good
brothers. Irony apart, you have many talents: you have a special ability to
make relations in the Dallas business world, you´ve been very useful to the
Ewing Group. You´ve always been interested in all the energy sources, not only
oil, and know them well. That´s something John Ross lacks. You´ve enjoyed being
rich and...you´ve been working as a mechanic in a car shop. You´ve formed a
family and you must want to make your life stable, therefore. Maybe I´m wrong,
but I feel Cally´s gonna be a good
influence to you.
- I had no idea you knew her so well...
- ...I´m used to be undervalued...and do my
homeworks. If, when my son gets a degree, your running of Ewing Oil seems to me
the best possible, this document will be validated and you´ll be your brother´s
only legal partner. I´ll exit the scene discreetly and keep on working on my
other companies.
- And what if not? What if, hypothetically, I turned
out to be the most horrendous oil man in Dallas...
- If things go wrong, I advise you to resume your
friendship with Gary Ewing: you´d might need a job, again.
- All right – he signed and gave the woman the
document back, already signed by both parties.– But, maybe the truth
is...you´re feeling guilty for slapping my face in our last discussion?
Sue Ellen got up, kissed his cheek and added: “I wish
you to live happily ever after...”
A few hours later Pam was entering Scalini , an italian
restaurant where she and Bobby had an appointment for lunch. She had spent all
the morning at town, getting the wedding organization finished, and wanted to have a nice lunch with her
husband, before to return to the family strain.
- Thanks for work it out with Madeleine – she said.
- Not at all, ya know that Clayton is a very sensible
man. What about Afton?
- This afternoon Cliff has to talk with Afton´s
doctor, who had been treating her before, he´s the right person to give a
diagnose…
- You think it´s real serious, don´t you?
- As it seems, she began to get suffocated as she was
swimming. She didn´t have time to get out, lost conscience in a minute, and
Cliff and Becky found her...thanks God.
- Yeah, we´ve already had our long long bad age and
deserve some happiness.
- By the way, did you notice Clayton´s happy face?
His new marriage becomes him. And don´t lie to me, Bobby Ewing, because I
know you´re thinking the same way…
- About what, the reason of his happiness or
Madeleine´s sincerity?
Pam was strangely, maliciously pleased to hear her
husband say the same thing she had been thinking about the newcomer. – We have no right to interfere in their
lives and the age difference doesn´t matter…
- True. Hopefully, when we ´re as old as Clayton is,
we´re gonna be so in love as now...Let´s drink to that.
Later that day the last official meeting of the EEG
Managing Board was held, in order to
vote if the Southfork wells should be closed forever or not. Among those present were: Bobby, the
chairman in charge, Gary, Lucy, James, Clayton, John Ross, and, last but not
least, Barbara Baxter, who had just returned from Houston...
- Sorry I´m late, the air traffic was plain horrible
and I didn´t wanna drive…
Barbara looked
still better than she looked in her last visit. She wore a shorter hairdo that
made her look younger and her white tailored suite made her outstand in that
room, maybe also because she was the only woman, together with Lucy.
- Folks: as you know, this is our last meeting as a
family corporation. The Ewing Energy Group will cease to exist, the way we know
it, in a couple of months, but we must decide about our last fields, the
Southfork wells.
- The ones under my old room, aren´t they?
They all laughed her joke and Bobby talked on:
- If we sep on drilling these lands, even only one
more year, they won´t be recycled at all and expenses won´t be met by their
benefits…Drilling those lands helped us
to save our home and the Southfork Resort. Besides, they kept us on the
business, all of us. But now it´s time to vote and decide the best way out.
Let´s begin with you Lucy.
Gary and Lucy looked at each other, and she smiled
openly.
- I vote for what Grandma would have wanted if she
were alive. No more damn oil!
Then it was Barbara´s turn, sitting by Lucy.
-Of all of us, I am the one least used to oil
business. Not even seen my hands dirtied with crude...or gas. I vote with Lucy
and say no. Let´s look at the future instead of the past.
- Gary... – Bobby staring at his older brother.
- My vote is positive, prices go up and down but here
in Texas, an oil field will always be the best deal.
- Clayton...
At that moment Clayton looked at John Ross, and then Bobby
and Gary. He eventually smiled at the women, as his mind couldn´t help but
remember the past, when he refined oil himself.
- I vote... – he paused and Lucy thought she was
guessing his decision. But was wrong. – My son Steven and I – he said as he was
taking a document signed by Dusty out of his jacket´s pocket – we vote for it:
not only keep on drilling there, but also explore other lands of the state.
Lucy tried to repress what she was feeling…
Since the atmosphere was beginning to get edgy, John
Ross didn´t wait to be named and voted for it too. Bobby passed the turn to
James, and he looked at his brother, as he was quickly weighing pros and cons,
once again.
- I think the fields should get closed. My vote is
negative.
The air was getting edgier every minute, and Bobby
decided that the voting and the meeting should finish as son as possible. ....
- Ray and Donna trespassed me their vote rights, as
did Christopher. Therefore, I have three votes...and these votes will decide on
behalf of...the closing of the fields and any oil business, linked to the Ewing
Group.
After saying goodbye to everyone, Bobby walked out of
the room with Barbara, chatting in a cheerful tone. But inside, hell was
breaking loose: .
- Who the hell do you think you are to decide
anything at all in this company? We don´t even know for sure if you were J.R.´s
son.
- Gary, I´m as much his son as you can be your
father´s – James counterattacked. John
Ross tried to make a joke about the remark.
- Maybe it´s a joke for you, John Ross, because you
own your own company to play the oil baron, but the Ewing Group is history
without oil...And did you come back to improve our relationship Lucy? That´s a
good proof of fidelity and family togetherness.
- Time to grow up father! We´re in Dallas, not in
California any more: we need to protect land as long as we can, the Texan land
is ruined enough...
- Lucy, we might drill other fields far away from
Southfork...
- Boys, we´d better calm down and go home... –
Clayton said, standing between Gary and the youngest Ewing brothers. They left,
one by one...until there only were Lucy y Clayton, face to face.
- Never thought you´d do this to my Grandma, Clayton.
- When you say “this”, you mean my marriage, not my
vote, don´t you Lucy?
She walked away and wide opened the door, then she
bumped into a surprised Madeleine...
- I hope not to be intruding – she said…
At the Dallas Memorial Hospital, Cliff was sitting in
front of Doctor Anderson.
- How´s my wife, doctor?
- I thought she had told you about it, Cliff.
- About what? You´re making me nervous...
- Cliff, listen to the me, please do: about six
months ago, Afton came on because she was frequently feeling throat ache, as
well as light hemorrhages. We had a number of tests done, including a biopsy...
- What about the tests she was done some days ago,
what do they say? - About six months ago, I said
to Afton that she had a nodule in her threat and should undergo under treatment
as soon as possible…
- But why the hell didn´t she?
- She had to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy,
and the show she was hosting was a big hit. She was afraid of being so
physically affected that she had to be put away of the show…
- She´s so damn stubborn...but now, she will undergo
the therapy, I´ll take care of that.
- It´s...too late for her...the nodule has become a
tumor and it´s spreading fast…to the her lungs…
- What about...an extirpation?
- I´m terribly sorry, Cliff. We can´t do anything else
for your wife, but calming her pain and taking care of her when she´ll get
worse…
- Worse...How much time left, doctor?
- Six months, if we´re lucky...Afton is going to
really need you from now on, you and Becky.
Cliff was astonished. The doctor tried to encourage
him holding his arm and left him alone for awhile...
- Six months, if we are lucky... – he put his hands
together and his head down. Then he started to pray in silence…
Guest Star:
SETH PETERSEN (Bill)
"EWING EMPIRE" is a
web-based Fan-Fiction written and edited by PAM´S TWIN SISTER and TONI DÍAZ.
The main characters of this net super soap were created by DAVID JACOBS for the
shows "DALLAS" and "KNOTS LANDING".
This episode is dedicated to the friends from
knotslanding.net who helped us to confirm the information necessary for the
storylines starring GARY, VAL and the twins on EWING EMPIRE: abbylexis, gregorysumner73 and Daniel Avery. Thank you
all.