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)
CHRISTOPHER DEMETRAL (CHRIS)
KIMBERLY FOSTER (MICHELLE)
SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY:
HOWARD KEEL (CLAYTON)
SUSAN SARANDON (MADELEINE)
and
JESSICA LANGE
as
BARBARA BAXTER
(Part 2: “NUPTIAL MARCH”)
Cliff and Becky came home when the sun was already
down. He walked in holding his daughter´s hand and made her sit down at the
couch by him.
- Is that serious, dad? - he nodded.
- Your mama´s doc, Doctor Anderson, had been treating
her for months, but the decease has gotten worse, Your mother has a throat tumor, inoperable.
- But if she had known for months, why didn´t she
tell us? What´s more, why can´t she undergo some sort of treatment?
- It´s not as easy as it seems, sweetheart. Your
mama´d rather live her everyday life cause it only was a nodule - at first...just some disturbance in her
throat...
- Oh mine, so she didn´t take her tumor seriously and
gave more relevance to her damn show, did she?
- No more secrets between us. I have to tell you one
more thing, baby. Listen up: you´ll must keep it on mind from now on...always.
Clayton ´s black limousine was crossing over the
town, towards the way out to the
Braddock roadway. In it, Clayton and Madeleine were drinking a glass of
champagne after his attendance to the Board Meeting.
- Obviously, you´ve had some sort of trouble... - Right... – Clayton looked at
her new wife, with a sad smile in his face – Like in the old times, the family
business, oil business, has confronted us. I was afraid Gary and James were
goin´ to fight right there...
- James is J.R.´s older son, isn´t he? John Ross´s
brother and his associate at new Ewing Oil. - I´m worried about the
possibility of the boys repeating old sibling rivalries. Maybe we should visit Steven at Southern
Cross after the wedding...
- That´s a great idea. I have a son and a daughter
that don´t know yet...Do they have any kids?
- No, I´ve lost any hope of becoming a grandfather...
- But you got the boys...and Lucy´s.
- Yes. Lucy...
- We discussed it a few days ago darling: that was the
best voting choice...you know .
Vanessa parked James´s sportscar in his private
garage and both of them walked into he apartment. Cally was waiting for them
there. She got up and kissed him, as she asked: “That bad?”
He let himself fall onto the couch and caressed his
mother´s hand with his hurt hand. - I´m happy you could come over,
mother.
Vanessa was already 65 years old but her class and
elegance made her look younger and she cared about everybody around her to feel
comfortable. Redheaded, wearing a long fashionable hairstyle and a European
designer simple gown, she knew how to transmit confidence to other people.
- Darling, you knew that any of the other partners
might vote different from you...
- In fact the Southfork wells are gonna get closed,
just what I wanted to. Bobby, Barbara, Lucy, Christopher and Ray have all voted
for it. But there´s been a confrontation with Gary at the end.
- You didn´t come to blows, did you? They are your family, James. Unfortunately, you
have nobody else left from my branch or the Beaumont´s. And you are working
with your brother now.
Suddenly, the phone rang. James answered, listened
for a few seconds and said: “I´ll be
there in half an hour.”
- Who was it? –
Cally asked.
- The detective in charge of Michelle´s case...They
have new proofs and wanna talk to me.
Cally looked at him scared. Vanessa was surprised
since she didn´t have heard that name for ten years. Could it be the same
Michelle?
At the hospital,
Afton was apologizing to her husband.
- I´m sorry to be so weak, Cliff, but just wasn´t able
to bear the treatment´s secondary effects...
- It´s no use to talk about it. You have to decide
what to do now. Honey, I don´t think it helps, but yesterday I told Becky about
neurofibromatosis. And she reacted like an adult person. Actually, she had
assumed she was the one suffering a more serious sickness and was almost
relieved…
- We´ve done a good work with her...
- Better than you know. Nothing really happened
between her and that network bastard, she told me herself. She is a fine girl
and the merit of it is all yours.
Afton smiled and whispered : “I love you”.
That night, at Southfork, Bobby and Pam were
commenting on the meeting...
-Very clever from him to wait for me to walk out of
the room with Barbara, so they could start to argue openly...When they came
down, Gary and James almost came to blows at the building hall. It seems like a
nightmare, everything starting over...Only J.R. was missing there, he´d have
made things even worse, picking at each other…
- Please don´t overdo it, Gary is resented to James
and Lucy is jealous of the woman who´s just married her grandma´s husband. I´m
only afraid somehow this could affect the wedding...
- Whatcha mean? Gary told me they´d go off the
weekend to visit the twins...
- Awhile ago, Gary asked me to include them in the
guest list again, and promised there´d be no trouble.
- I don´t like this....Why do all the Southfork
weddings seem to be jinxed?
- Sure it´ll be a dream wedding. A perfect couple like
James and Cally, each with one child of their own, and their own fortune too,
deserves a proper wedding...
Before Pam got into bed, her cell phone laying over
her night table rang. It was her brother. A few seconds later, she hung off,
after saying: “All right”.
Bobby looked curious about it and she lay by his
side, wearing just a pink-colored nightgown…
- Was Cliff, he wanna meet me tomorrow for breakfast.
It´s about Afton...Bobby, it can´t be, not once again…
- Take it easy babe – he said, as he caressed her
beautiful brown hair – Sleep now. Tomorrow is another day…
The next morning, Cally was having her dress fit,
accompanied by her friend Lucy. They were in Cally´s apartment. James had gone
at the doctor´s to get his wrist checked out for the last time before the
wedding. -
You look too upset for a woman who´s gonna marry her Mr. Right, honey - Lucy,
said, anxious to know what was worrying her friend. – The weather reports
doesn´t announce storm this time…
Cally smiled – You know me well Lucy. For a long long
time, you´ve been my only link to the Ewings of Southfork and one person to
rely on. You kept me the secret about little Ellie being J.R.´s daughter as
long as I asked you to. Without your moral support, I´d never shown my
paintings or my photographs…
- Wow wow...This sounds like a preliminary to the
pre-nuptial nerves. Be careful with that, love. Cally, what happens to me with
you is the same thing that happened with Pamela and, above all, Sue Ellen: I´m
not able to understand why you wanna marry a Ewing again after experiences
so…”peculiar.”
- I love James since the day I first met him, he
became my best friend and supported me at 100% when his father kicked me off,
pregnant and all. I´ve been dating James for one year and I know he´s nor
perfect: he lacks matureness and always gotta fight his father´s memory.
Everywhere he goes, being an Ewing opens a lot of doors, not being a Beaumont .
But then he´s compared to his father and he´s not a man without scruples like
J.R. was. He´s a swell daddy for Jimmy and Ellie, and working with his brother
will help him to grow up too.
- You´re right Cally. Anyway, I think I just want you
to be sure: I don´t wanna see you hurt, as I have been...Maybe I´m the one
who´s worried about other problem, about my new “granny”: Madeleine. I can´t
help the feeling she´s continuously pretending, trying hard to be somebody she
is not. One thing is for sure: if that woman wants to take advantage of Clayton
and the Ewing fortune, I´m gonna find it out…
At the same time, at the Southfork Mansion, Barbara
was telling the family about her latter experiences in Houston...
- Oh, God... – she laughed – I just couldn´t believe
that man wanting to sell me a building of ruined condos...But let´s change of
subject: had you ever been here in Texas, Madeleine?
- No, not actually, but I did spend awhile in L.A.
and then, I went to Aspen for a ski weekend...
- Oh that´s really interesting... I prefer horse
riding. Bobby and I became partners in a horse raising business years ago... - I thought Bobby´s partner was
Ray...
Barbara was fond of Lucy, but she wasn´t her favorite
Ewing. She sipped her drink. “At the beginning, but Ray quit the business
afterwards…” - When he married Donna by
second time... – Lucy tended to be sarcastic anytime she got bored.
Barbara finished her tonic water and Pam interfered
to soften the atmosphere. Ray and Barbara had had an affair just before he make
up with Donna. The issue was taboo but they all knew about it. Except the
newcomer Madeleine, of course.
Clayton got up and invited his wife to accompany him
to the porche and wait for dinner time.
- What a surprise, isn´t it Barbara? – Pam remarked, looking outside.
- You say so, darlin´. Funny, this woman looks very
familiar to me. She reminds me of a friend I had when I was working at a L.A.
law firm, her name was Reggie, Reggie
Love. We became a sort of celebrities at the Hollywood nights...when I still
though that the world was gonna end tomorrow…
- What did Madeleine for living in Switzerland? –
Lucy finally asked, after some days of thinking of the best way to make the
question...
- I think she mentioned she was the manager of the
hotel where Clayton was having his holidays at – Bobby said.
- Love at first sight: one month later, they were
married – Pam took a sweet look at Bobby. – Those things happen, sometimes...
- So I haven´t been so lucky... – Barbara said as she
served herself another tonic.
- Neither I... – Lucy bitterly said.
- Come on girls, I want tomorrow to be the happiest
day for the bride and the groom – Pam stated – and for all the guests too, so
let´s go outside and join Clayton and Madeleine...
Early on the next morning, Pam was driven from
Southfork by Bobby, who left her at the Wentworth manor.
- Hi Cliff. How is Afton? You said it was an
emergency...
- Afton is upstairs, with Becky. I have to talk to
you...I...- Cliff began to stammer.
Pam hold his brother tightly as she tried to help him
to say all he wanted to tell her... - Is Afton too ill? It wasn´t an
aphonia or a cold, nor she slipped at the pool, didn´t she? – Pam´s eyes began to get tearful. Cliff
denied. – Tell me what you´re gonna do...
- Pammy, Afton will need us a lot during the next
months: she was diagnosed a throat nodule long ago and didn´t wanna undergo a
treatment. Now…she´s got a tumor and the doctor says... - How
long will she...?
- Six months, maybe less...- Cliff began to cry
hopelessly. A few minutes afterwards, he walked away from Pam and told her
about their plans. – We´ve decided not to go to James´s wedding. Tomorrow we´ll
fly to Biloxi to spend some time with Afton´s mother, the three of us. I´ve
already got time off from the Bank and I want you to promise me that, if
something happened to any of us, you´d take care of Becky...
Pamela held her brother as tightly as she used to when they were kids: under his arms and
very very strong…
That night, Vanessa was enjoying the still of the
night sat in one of the hammocks by his son James´s pool.
- You´re gonna get cold mama – James. She smiled. The
comment used to come from her not so long ago.
- I shall go inside in a minute. I want to make you a
question, son. Do you have any doubt about your marriage to Cally?
- No, not at all.
- Therefore, what is wrong?
- Mother: I´m gonna tell you something. I don´t want
you to be scared nor tell anyone. It´s gotta do with tomorrow, with our
wedding. With our future…
- If you are sure of marrying her, please don´t let
her go as I did with your father, with J.R. Maybe if I wouldn´t have left him,
he would be alive today...
His memories of those times got mixed with his
current fears and James felt a chill, as if someone were watching them...
The morning after James drove to the Southfork
mansion since Cally would arrive by limousine from Dallas. She had spent the
night with her daughter in her old condo. James´s best man was his brother John
Ross, though his friend Bill was going to accompany him to the ranch as a
guest. Cally stayed at James´s with Vanessa, the modiste and the rest of the
crew who was helping her to get ready for the ceremony.
At John Ross´s room, in the main building, he was
giving his brother the finishing touches. James was wearing a dark blue tuxedo with
a tie, designed by a friend of Cally´s. Bill showed up and gave him his
present: a leather glove with his initials marked on, fit at the plaster´s
size, instead of his hand´s. He would be an elegant groom that way…
At next door´s room, Christopher was talking on his
cell.
- Hello, yeah, can you hear me? – a distant voice
seemed not to know who was calling her.
At last, the communication improved: it was a woman´s
voice speaking through the line: - Who is that? I can´t hear
you... – she said.
- Lisa Farraday? I am Christopher Ewing...your nephew.
I´d like to meet you again...
Sue Ellen had arrived in a luxury limousine and rushed
to say hello to Pam and Barbara:
- I´m so glad to see you again, you look
wonderful…Where´s the bride? - At James´s. She´ll come with
Vanessa.
- James´s mother? I never thought I´d have the chance
to meet her...I´ve heard so many things about her...Oh, there is Bob, I´ll say
hello to him…
At next house, belonging to Gary and Val, they were
about to join the rest of the family... - Please honey, imagine John
Ross is the one to marry instead of James. Do it for me...
-Of all the ranches in Texas, they had to come to
marry in this ranch´s garden...Don´t worry Val. Today we´ll make a truce, but
tomorrow it will be Day One of the “War of the Ewings”. -
You´re hopeless Gary Ewing. Let´s go...
Pam had hired several maids for the cocktail service
previous to the wedding and for the post-wedding lunch. One of the maids,
dark-haired, blue-eyed, got close to Jimmy, who was playing with Ellie and
Peter in front of the nanny...
- Oh, these children are so nice... – the unknown
woman said – Let me guess your names. You are Jimmy Beaumont and you are little
Ellie, aren´t you?
The kids nodded as the nanny smiled.
- And where´s your mama?
- My new mama has stayed in our real house, in
Dallas. But she´ll come here soon with my grandma...
The nanny interrupted them: “Pardon if the kids are
bothering you. You and the other maids are recalled...”
The maid turned around and went outside the house.
Then she hid at the backside of the white mansion. At a shadowed corner she put
her maid uniform off and threw it into the garbage. Dressed in a sleeveless
shirt and leather pants, she walked for a minute and, behind some oaks close to
the house, she found her bike in the same place she had left it. She had come
with concrete plans, but the plans were different now...
Inside the mansion, Pam softly knocked on her son
Chris´s door. He walked out dressed up and her mother fit his tie.
- Where´s dad? – he asked Pam. “At the living-room,
with Lucy”, he answered. The two of them went downstairs to join them and
Christopher made a surprising announcement: - After the wedding I´ll call on
Lisa Farraday, my natural father´s sister. I just wanted you to know...and
understand, though maybe it´ll be a bit hard to…
Lucy got up and kissed him: “Be lucky darlin´. But
don´t forget us...” Then she walked out of the room, taking his nephew Chris
along and leaving Bob and Pam confused...
James was driving his fashionable sportscar fast on
the road to Dallas, even though he had his right hand plastered. He had had a
feeling: in his mind, he couldn´t stop hearing the voice of the detective who
had investigated Michelle´s case:
“Upon our ADN analysis, the person buried in
Springdale was, beyond any doubt, a woman called Sheree, Michelle Stevens´ cell
mate...” “They had schemed to kill you out when they could get out of prison,
Mister Ewing...”
“Do you mean they had a sort of plan that went wrong
and one killed the other?” – he´d asked, with a lump in his throat.
“If I were you, I´d call the wedding off, take your
wife and elope to marry her in Bahamas...”
“Do you have any doubt about your marriage to Cally?–
his mother had requested him a few hours before. “Please don´t let her go as I
did with your father, with J.R. Maybe if I hadn´t left him, he would be alive
today...”
His memory
went two more days back, to the conversation he had had with Cally at the Ewing
Building roof: “You feel the same way I do: Michelle is back and alive, and
wanna get even on us.” James stepped on the accelerator
and reaffirmed his left hand at the wheel...
The pre-nuptial cocktail was a big success and Sue
Ellen was feeling like the queen of the party, like in the old times, though
she didn’t have had a chance to talk to Madeleine...so she walked by her and
introduced herself:
- Hello, it´s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Sue Ellen
Lockwood. Clayton is one of my best friends.
- The Sue Ellen who was married to J.R. Ewing? The
one who was about to marry my stepson Steven? I thought you´d be younger...-
Madeleine had already had a couple of drinks and was beginning to say just what
she was thinking, with no courtesy
adornments at all.
Sue Ellen´s look was unspeakable but she immediately
changed it, smiled and answered: -
Well I though you’d be much older, since you´re married to Clayton. Miss Ellie
was a challenge for any woman coming after her. Keep it on mind dear
Madeleine...
Sue Ellen exited silently as Madeleine was whispering
to herself: “Sue Ellen Ewing, co-owner of new Ewing Oil and the wealthiest
woman in all Texas...A real lady...and a menace.”
At James´s apartment, Cally was ready to leave.
Vanessa called Southfork to report them about it. Before that, she confided to
the young woman: - Darling, I wish you all the
happiness you deserve. You and my son. Take care of him, don´t let his roughness
confuse you. I always felt you and he
made a better couple than you and J.R.
- I thank you your honesty. Forgive me for the
unpleasant time I caused you when I knew you´d had a son with J.R.
- The Ewing family awaits. You look beautiful. I´ll
call the chauffeur... – Vanessa said, before walking out to the doorway...
At Southfork, Barbara was beginning to get tired of
hearing so many congratulations and hellos from strangers, and decided to pour
herself a drink: a special occasion deserved to break off her abstinence. She
went upstairs and walked into her room, where she kept a small bottle with
bourbon. Then she heard voices coming from the next room. Somebody was talking
by phone: it was Madeleine speaking.
“Love – she said – listen up. That man has had two
heart attacks and enjoys one of the biggest fortunes in the State of Texas. Our
plan is working out but I need more time. He´s slowly getting weaker by the
family pressure and wants us to visit his son at his ranch...Oh, wait, I think
I´m hearing some noises. I´ve got to hung off. Ciao.”
Barbara heard Madeleine walking downstairs. She looked
through the window: she had joined the party and was kissing Clayton lovingly.
That woman was scheming something and, if she was right, that would eventually
affect everyone…She had to do something about it…
Meanwhile,
downstairs, Pam and Val were beginning
to get nervous, theorically the limo bringing Cally and Vanessa should be there
yet. They called on them, but the phone gave no signal…and their cells were
off. Suddenly, somebody realized that James´s car was gone and decided to go
for them at his apartment...Maybe there had been a car accident on the
road...Bob, Gary and Bill got into Gary´s luxury Porsche and he stepped on the
accelerator.
Once there they were shocked to see the police had
cordoned off the area belonging to the apartment’s entrance. Just when Bob
identified himself, they were allowed to go inside. The apartment was completely ruined, the glass doors that led to
the terrace were shattered and the pictures at the walls had been scratched
with a cutting object. “It seems like somebody gone
crazy and wanted to destroy absolutely everything...”
Bob, Gary and Bill tried to go into the rooms but only
Bob did. Down there, on the ground, there was a dead body about to be driven to
the morgue. The closer he got, the better he knew who that person was...
- Did you know that woman? – a policeman asked.
- Yes. – he gasped, in a shock. – Any other victims?
The policeman looked at him, with no expression on
his face. One more time, a violent death crossed over the Ewings´ path...
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: Seaviewer,
owenwarland and Laura Avery-Sumner. Thank you all.