The Big Time
The Waltons © Warner Bros.
While I was growing up on Walton's Mountain during the Depression, I never would have imagined that one day people around the world would care about the day to day struggles of me and my family. One Christmas, my father was late getting back from work in a far off town. Another Christmas, many years later, I was on a film set where they were making a movie based on a book I wrote about that night…
"John-Boy!"
A little surprised to hear himself referred to as "John-Boy" in this context (he'd gotten quite used to another name), he looked up with a flutter of excitement. Someone close to him must be here. A smile filled his face as he spotted who it was.
"Mary Ellen!" he called back, rising from the chair, walking across the studio recreation of the Walton's Mountain town square, and then pulling his sister into a tight embrace.
"It's so good to see ya," he said, as he gently shook her back and forth in her arms.
"It's good to see you too," she said, as she pulled away from the hug. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything by showing up unannounced. I just wanted to surprise you."
"Oh no, your timing couldn't be better," he said. "Come, take a seat and visit for a while. We're on a break right now." Although to look, you wouldn't have known it, there were so many people rushing about and doing different things around the studio.
"Thanks, John-Boy," she said, looking in awe at the movie set around them. "It makes me kind of nostalgic to see all these buildings from the past. Walton's Mountain looks nothing like this these days."
"Time marches on," he replied with a slightly sad smile, as the pair of them sat down in a couple of the chairs behind the camera.
"Of course, the real thing was different too," she said, adopting a slightly playful tone. "A lot dirtier. Rougher around the edges. I guess that wouldn't be glamorous enough for Hollywood."
"Well, it's hard, you know," said John-Boy. "We gotta get all these new props and things made for the movie, and there's the problem - they're new. They're not gonna look lived in until, they've actually been lived in."
"I was only teasing," she said. "It looks great. What would Grandma and Grandpa say if they could see this?"
"I reckon Grandma'd say 'Good Lord'."
The two of them laughed, and then Mary Ellen continued, "They'd be so proud. Celebrating the old ways, capturing them in story and passing them on for future generations like the storytellers of old. What you're doing here is really something special."
"Thank you, Mary Ellen," said John-Boy. "I just write about the old life we all knew. It's still hard to believe that so many people have read and loved it."
"Though tell me again why you have to introduce yourself as 'Richard Thomas' at the start? You're the movie's narrator, isn't that gonna confuse people?"
"Ah, that's my agent. It's some kind of branding thing. I don't rightly understand it, but something about wanting to have more distance between the author and the story."
"You're telling the story. Surely it makes more sense for you to use your real name?"
"Trust me, Mary Ellen, it's a conversation I've had a hundred times."
"And what about Ben?"
"Ah," John-Boy looked away sheepishly. "The studio thinks there are too many kids in the story. They said someone had to go, and they chose Ben."
"He's gonna be so disappointed."
"Well, I put him in the book," he said, sounding a little overly defensive. "It's not my fault he won't be in the movie. I tried to persuade them, I really did. If they ever let me write another of these things, maybe I can write it in that Ben was adopted at some point along way."
"Oh, he'd love that," said Mary Ellen, sarcastically.
"He would if we got a tall kid to play the part."
The two of them shared a little laugh.
"It's not all bad changes though," said John-Boy. "You remember back then how you wanted to come up on the mountain with me and Grandpa to get a Christmas tree? And how Mama said you had to stay back because it wasn't women's work?"
"Yes," she said, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.
"Well, in the movie you do get to go. I should have said something at the time, but I didn't and this gives me a chance to set that right."
"Don't you worry that you're changing things so much that it isn't true to our lives anymore?"
"I think it's still true in all the important ways," said John-Boy. "It's still a story about our love for each other, togetherness at Christmastime, showing kindness to everyone, and holding on to hope. In ancient times, back when they were telling stories around the fireplace, the details of every story would change with each telling, but the meaning of the stories endured. This is just the latest re-telling and I'm sure others will tell our story again in other ways in future."
"Feels kinda strange to think of ourselves as characters in a story," she said.
"Well, I figure the best any of us can ever hope to do is have the story of our lives be good story about a decent person."
"You never change," said Mary Ellen, giggling. "Always the super serious writer."
"Hey now, that's not true. I spend a lot of time being foolish too."
Shaking her head, Mary Ellen asked, "So how're Janet and the twins?"
"You call them the twins like they're still a pair of little kids," said John-Boy. "I'll be a granddaddy this time next year. But they're all doing alright. And how's Jonsey? You heard from John Curtis lately?"
"Yes, thank, God," she said, a slightly jaded look coming over her face. "You know that boy barely spoke a word to me after going off to college. But we see a lot of each other these days. He and his wife are trying for a baby now too. Heck, when did we get so old?"
"I don't know what you mean," he said with a grin.
"It just feels like one minute we were a couple of teenagers struggling to get by on the mountain, now almost our whole lives have passed us by."
"As long as we keep telling the stories and holding onto the memories, we'll always be a couple of teenagers on the mountain. That's how we keep Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy alive too. In our hearts, those days never end, and as long as they continue to influence us, and even other people, can we ever really say that they're gone?"
"That's beautiful, John-Boy," said Mary Ellen, wiping away a single tear.
A sort of alarm-like noise sounded throughout the set.
"Ah," said John-Boy. "Lunch break is over. We're about to start shooting again."
Lots of people started walking out onto the stage, including the handsome young actor who had the part of young John-Boy.
"Afternoon ma'am," he said, to Mary Ellen with a quick nod.
She gave him a big smile, but didn't say anything.
"Right!" said John-Boy. "The show must go on! We got work to do."