10x24 - Dodie's Dilemma

[bunniefuu]

My Three Sons, starring Fred McMurray,
and his Uncle Charley, William Demarest.

And if you'll sign this.

And this.

Fine.

That does it.

Well, that's all there is to it?

That's all.

You are now Miss Dorothy Douglas, young lady.

Gosh.

I'd like to congratulate you, Mr. Douglas,
on the adoption of your daughter.

Oh, thank you, Judge Markham.

And I'd like to congratulate you,
young lady, on acquiring a fine father.

Thank you.

Mrs. Douglas, it would seem you were to be
congratulated as well.

I have to agree with you, Your Honor.

We're very grateful for your help, Judge.

Oh, it's my pleasure.

Goodbye, Miss Douglas.

That's you, Dodie.

Oh, bye.

That's right.

How'd you know about this before I got home?

Well, that's the way it works, Dodie.

Being adopted means you're a Douglas,
just like the rest of us.

Chip and Ernie, my real brothers now?

Right, and me too.

And Katie's my sister.

Sister-in-law, but that's just as nice.

How about somebody cutting the cake?

How about the babies?

Oh, you're a real aunt and they're all your nephews.

Hey, that's me.

Why doesn't somebody cut the cake?

Yeah, Charley, it looks almost good enough to eat.

With all this jabbering going on, I didn't
think anybody was ever going to get to it.

It's a lovely cake, Charley, and it was
very thoughtful of you to make it.

You don't want a piece, do you, Ernie?

I'll force myself.

Being adopted sure is neat.

Yeah, I'm adopted, too.

We're all Douglases.

Except for Uncle Charley.

He's an O'Casey.

Don't worry, Uncle Charley.

We'll adopt you, too.

Well, good, because nobody ever wants us older kids.

Look for.

My teacher.

What did you do?

Nothing.

Then how come your mother wrote the teacher?

To tell her my new name.

You got a new name?

Sure.

Dodie Douglas.

Douglas is a dumb name.

Huh?

I used to live next door to a real creepy
boy named Douglas.

I like it.

How come you got a new name?

Because my new daddy adopted me.

I'm glad I don't have to get a new daddy.

I think it's me.

I guess it's okay if they don't.

That's all you got.

But old daddies are twice as good as new ones.

They are not.

They are so too.

Give me that note.

No.

You give me that.

Try and get it.

Dodie, wake up.

Dodie, sweetheart, it's Mommy.

Oh, darling.

Oh, did you have another bad dream?

Oh, did something in your dream frighten you?

Oh, well, you want to tell me about it?

Well, it might help if you talk about it.

Well, what's the trouble in here?

Oh, she had a bad dream.

Oh, well, dreams aren't real, Dodie.

They can't hurt you.

You know that, don't you, Dodie?

Yes.

Douglas, can I sleep with you, Mama?

Well, honey, can I sleep with you?

All right, I'll sleep in here.

Oh, this bed isn't big enough for both of you.

Take her in our room, huh?

Yes, but honey.

Oh.

All right, come on.

Good night, Dodie.

Good night, love.

I forgot Myrtle.

I thought maybe that's what you came after.

Good night.

Good night, sweetheart.

Poor dear.

Sweetheart.

Honey.

Time to get up.

Oh, hi.

Honey, listen.

Dodie is going to sleep in here tonight, no matter what.

Well, we'll see.

How did she sleep in there?

Well, she slept like a rock.

What?

Steve, whatever is bothering her,
it really seems pretty deep.

Yeah, well, I don't think we ought to try
too hard to find out what it is.

I think maybe the more we talk about the
dreams, the more real they'll seem to her.

I don't know.

Maybe you're right.

Thanks.

You know, this whole thing has been a
pretty tough adjustment for her.

I mean, new family, new school, new friends.

I know that's true, but I don't know.

I just wish we could help her.

I stayed awake all night worrying about it.

You did, hmm?

I did.

You know, I'm not so sure Dodie's the one
who needs the help.

What do you mean?

Well, look who slept like a rock, and look
who spent the whole night worrying about it.

I'll see you at breakfast.

Yeah, okay.

Move over, Dodie.

How come?

You're in our place.

I always sit here.

This is our place, isn't it?

Yeah.

What kind of sandwich do you have?

I haven't looked yet.

It's deviled egg.

I'll swap you mine for egg.

What kind is it?

Cheese.

It's all dried up.

It's good.

My mother says it's full of vitamins and stuff.

Debbie, you want to swap your pickles for a Dota's banana?

Here.

Look here.

You can have the cookies.

Sweetheart, you better get up.

Don't be late for school.

What's the matter?

I don't feel good.

I don't feel well.

Do you got a headache?

Not exactly.

Is your tummy upset?

No.

Well, what is it?

I don't feel good.

Well, well, it has to be a reason why you don't feel well.

What do you hurt?

Sort of all over.

Well, is it a sharp pain or a dull pain?

Um, kind of in between.

Now, come in.

Well, look who's the lazy bones this morning.

I don't feel good.

Oh, that's too bad, Dodie.

You think it's anything serious?

Well, I don't think it's anything too serious.

Maybe we ought to call Dr. Osborne.

Well, honey, I think maybe we could handle this ourselves.

Dodie, now you tell me if I touch you if it hurts, okay?

Okay.

Ouch!

Huh?

Yeah, just what I thought it was.

Uh, school it is?

I don't think we're going to have to call Dr. Osborne.

Well, what do you recommend, Dr. Barbara?

Well, in cases like this, I think the best
cure is a big dose of castor oil.

I think I'll get better pretty soon.

Well, congratulations.

Congratulations.

I will say that's one of the fastest cures on record.

Well, she does have to go to school.

Yeah, I know.

You don't think maybe school has something
to do with those nightmares, do you?

Oh, well, honey, she can't stay out of school indefinitely.

I mean, whatever it is, she's just going
to have to face it sooner or later.

Yeah, I suppose.

Hey, come on, Ernie.

We've got to go talk to Dodie.

How come?

Well, she doesn't want to go to school.

Who does?

Yeah, well, she knows she has to.

Then she's either sick or somebody's picking on her.

And she's not sick.

Come on.

It's nothing to be ashamed of if
somebody's been picking on you.

Sure.

It happens to everybody.

It does?

Sure.

Now tell us who it is.

It's a big old girl named Victoria.

What does she do?

She picks on me.

Well, straighten her out.

You will?

Well, sure.

You should have come to us first thing.

What do you think big brothers are for?

I don't know.

Well, come on.

We'd better get down to breakfast.

I'm starved.

Me too.

There she is.

You go ahead and we'll catch up to you.

Did.

I pick it?

No.

You made me kick it on a crack.

I did not.

You did too.

Something wrong, Dodie?

No.

These are my big brothers.

Hi.

Hi.

Is this the girl you share your lunches with?

Yeah.

This is Victoria.

I hear you swap food at school and everything, Victoria.

Yeah.

Well, that's good.

Because Dodie's kind of little.

Well, we want to make sure she gets plenty to eat.

And that's what big brothers are for, huh, Chip?

You could do us a favor, Victoria.

Okay.

Well, Dodie's kind of new at school and everything.

We'd like you to see that nobody picks on her.

Yeah.

Well, we don't really know what we do to
anyone that picked on our little sister.

We'd probably have to cream them real good.

Nice to meet you, Victoria.

Yeah.

You want to kick the block?

Yeah, we came here first.

And we've been waiting a long time.

You can go to the end of the line like everybody else.

My big brothers wouldn't like that.

My really big brother's Robbie, and if he
heard about this, he would do terrible junk to you.

It's okay, Dodie.

Oh, honey, why don't you get it?

I'll put these away.

Okay.

Yes, this is Rob Douglas.

What?

Me?

Where'd you get that idea?

Hey, who is this?

Wait a minute.

What kind of a conversation was that?

Who was that?

She wouldn't tell me her name.

It sounded like a little girl.

What did she want?

She wanted to know what terrible,
awful things I do to people.

Well, it must have been a gag.

Yeah, some kooky kids will do anything for a laugh.

Me, Jack the Ripper.

Brother.

Says I can sit anywhere I please.

Better move.

My big brother says I don't have to.

What a week here.

Let her sit there.

How do we know she has any big brothers?

I saw them.

I've got another big brother who's already
grown up and married and had three babies at once.

What's so big about that?

I bet my daddy's bigger than he is.

I've got a daddy, too.

He's bigger than a giant, almost.

My daddy isn't that big.

But he sure can.

Yell now.

Nobody yells at me.

I'm the only little girl in the family.

I don't have any dessert.

Pauline Lewis, Mrs. Douglas, Victoria's mother.

Oh, yes, we met at the PTA.

Won't you come in?

Thank you.

Would you like to sit down?

Can I get you some coffee?

Oh, no, thank you.

I hardly know where to begin.

Well, is there something I can help you with?

I really don't know.

We've been having quite a time with Victoria.

Oh?

She's been having nightmares, waking up at night terrified.

Well, I can sympathize with you.

The same thing happened to Dodie a few weeks ago.

What did you do about it?

Oh, nothing.

It just disappeared.

It suddenly disappeared.

Well, in Victoria's case, it's as if she were
deathly afraid of something or someone.

Someone?

I hate to say this, but I'd really come to
the conclusion that it must be Dodie.

Dodie?

Victoria has cried out Dodie's name in her
sleep several times.

But Victoria is so much bigger.

How could Dodie be a threat to her?

Well, frankly, that's what I was hoping you could tell.

Me?

Well, I'll certainly ask Dodie and see what I can find out.

Good.

And I'd appreciate it if you let me know what you find out.

The thought of anybody in his family being
afraid of anything is doing something to her father.

Well, as soon as I find out, I'll let you know.

Certainly appreciate that.

We're in the telephone.

Well, kind.

Bye.

Thank you.

Where are the babies?

Uncle.

Charlie has them outside.

He thinks that rugged outdoor men start
with rugged outdoor babies.

Something bothering you?

I'm a little upset.

I just had a very strange conversation
with a very upset mother.

What happened?

Well, Mrs. Lewis thinks that Dodie is
threatening her daughter.

That's odd.

I mean, I just don't understand it.

Victoria is so much bigger than Dodie.

What could she possibly threaten her with?

Me.

Me.

What?

Last night I got a phone call from a little girl
who thinks I do terrible, awful things to people.

You think there's any connection?

Well, there's only one way to find out.

Dodie, how could you do such a thing?

She was picking on me until I told Chip and Ernie.

Oh, you told Chip and Ernie about Victoria?

Sure.

Chip and Ernie, would you come in here, please?

Dodie tells me you two knew about Victoria picking on her.

Yeah, we did.

We fixed her wagon.

And your solution was to scare a little girl?

Well, she's not that little, Dad.

We did lean on her a little.

But it was all sort of psychological.

Was it psychological for Dodie to threaten her?

Threaten her with Robbie?

Well, we didn't know she was going to do that, Dad.

Of course, you know what you've done.

You've treated Victoria worse than she treated Dodie.

You understand that, don't you, Dodie?

I guess so.

Dodie, always try to remember that most people are going
to act towards you just about the way you act towards them.

Okay, Daddy.

Now, have you fellas any idea how to straighten this out?

Why don't we just ignore it?

Now, quiet, Ernie.

We'll figure something out, Dad.

We psychologied our way into this.

We'll psychology our way out.

Come on, you guys.

Let's talk it over.

Well?

Steve, I just don't understand her.

I mean, Dodie has always been such a
sweet-natured little girl.

Well, honey, what Dodie did was strictly
basic human behavior.

She was pushed, so she pushed back.

But our civilization is so... supposed
to have progressed a bit beyond that.

Unfortunately, that's not true.

Dodie discovered the old principle of
strength in numbers, and she applied it.

Come to think of it, so did I.

How do you mean?

Well, I waited till you got home before I talked to her.

Oh.

How was your golf?

Well, I had a very good front nine.

I had four double bogeys and five triple bogeys,
and then, for some reason, my whole game fell apart.

Oh, come on.

I had a 61.

Oh, come on.

All right, 82.

What makes you think she'll come by this way?

She gets into the store a lot.

See, I told you.

Okay, you stay here until we call you,
Dodie, and then you do what we said.

Okay.

Hi, Victoria.

Want to do us a favor?

A favor?

Yeah.

We got a little problem we thought you might help us with.

You happen to be going to the store?

Yeah.

All by yourself?

Yeah.

Well, Dodie's not allowed to go to the store by herself,
and we were wondering if you'd let her go along with you.

How come?

We think it'd be nice if she had a friend
who's allowed her to go to the store by herself.

And if anyone picks on either one of you,
we'll cream them real good.

Hey, no kidding?

Well, sure.

As long as you don't have any brothers,
we'd be glad to do the job for you.

Okay?

Okay.

Hey, Dodie.

Victoria says you guys can go to the store together.

Hey, Nate.

You want to go, Dodie?

Sure.

Oh, and don't forget.

You guys got to take turns and stuff.

Okay.

I was thinking something, Dodie.

What, Victoria?

Douglas isn't a dumb name.

Thank you.

You know something, Ernie?

What?

Sigmund Freud would have been proud of us.