06x15 - Summer Shade

[bunniefuu]

Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

Do you have the feeling that we
are moving ahead too swiftly?

That in our quest for fame,
for material wealth,

we are neglecting some
of the old traditions,

the old customs from whence
we once drew our strength?

This, for example.

This may look like a
see-saw built for one,

but it is a docking stool.

In Puritan times, if a woman
were a scold or a gossip,

she was placed here.

The seatbelt was
fastened securely

and a number of
brave men and true

proceeded to dunk
her in a pond

as though she were a doughnut.

It was most invigorating,
I'm sure.

Unhappily in modern days,

we have no such convenience.

Today, if a woman is a gossip,

she isn't docked,
she's syndicated.

Tonight's story has a connection

however remote
to the proceeding.

While our sponsor has
a connection, however,

obviously to the following.

Thanks again.

Maybe we'll have
better luck next time.

I'm inclined to agree
with Miss Grimalkin.

- I didn't like her.
- Neither did I.

Ah, but she had one
irrefutable point.

To find a house a hundred
years old with a...

modern kitchen for you...

a study for me and a
tree for Kate's swing,

three bedrooms and central
heating all for $ , down

would take Miss Grimalkin's
entire staff of witches

plus the wizard of Oz.

No, we've got to look
for something smaller.

We're going to find just the house
we want, I'll guarantee it.

- How do you know?
- I've got a feeling.

Had it all day.

Turn right at the
next intersection.

- What?
- Turn right at the next intersection.

What for?

Well, I don't know why.
Let's just try it.

Go on, dear.
Don't be an obstructionist.

FOR SALE
to discriminating buyer

There you are,
what did I tell you?

Honey, I don't like that
'discriminating buyer'.

What does that mean?

- Expensive.
- Positive thinking now.

Don't be a pessimist.

Look, mom.
There's a creek down there.

Oh, you be careful, Kate.

Just what I dreamed about.

You suppose it's really
a hundred years old?

- Looks like it.
- A hundred and seven.

Oh. I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to startle you.

I'm Amelia Gastell.

Oh, how do you do?
We're the Kendalls.

- We saw your sign and...
- We're inquiring within.

- You're house hunting?
- Indeed we are.

- Oh.
- Mom!

Mom!

Mom, it's the most wonderful
creek with frogs and everything.

Kate, darling.
You interrupted Miss Gastell.

Not at all.

- So, this is Kate?
- Yes, ma'am.

Kate's nine.

Nine?

Oh, that's a wonderful
age to be, isn't it, Kate?

Haven't tried many others.

Wait till you tried
seventy-four like I have.

Eh, that's why I'm
selling, you see.

Going to move into the village.

I'm getting too old to be running
back and forth all the time.

Oh.

Well, for a minute, I thought
you changed your mind.

About selling?

Nonsense.

Uh, why do you suppose
I put up the sign?

Well, you'll want to
look over the house.

- Come along.
- Ah, just a minute.

Maybe before that
we'd better talk about...

- About terms?
- Yes.

Well, if you like it,

we could always
find a way to manage.

There's always a way, you know.
Come along.

SALEM
Van and Storage Co.

Now I'm not just saying that,
you know.

If there's anything I can do
to help you get settled

you call on me.

Well, you report
tomorrow morning at .

We'll put you to work
painting the kitchen.

Haha, I paint a pretty
good kitchen.

You'll be careful, Reverend,

he has a contract
in his back pocket.

It was wonderful of you to call.

- Thank Miss Gastell.
- She's a wonderful old woman.

Yes, isn't she?

You know, she's quite an
institution around here.

Her family goes straight
back to the Puritans.

A lot of them are buried
in our own church yard.

- Really?
- If you have any time to come down

I'll give you a personally
conducted tour.

Oh, dear.
I must get along.

Well, I shall hope to
see you on Sunday.

We'll try to be there.

Bring Kate.
We'll try and her find a play mate.

Okay. Bye, Reverend.

- Good bye.
- Good bye.

You know, that's the only fly in
an otherwise beautiful ointment.

- Kate?
- Mm hmm.

He says there isn't another family with
children the whole length of this road.

Could be little lonesome for
her before the school starts.

That's only a couple
of weeks away.

Well, shall we tackle the kitchen?

What are you up to, young lady?

How much water does a frog need?

Well, usually a creek-full.

Where did you find it?

I didn't. Lettie did.

Who?

Lettie.

The little girl I was playing with.

Well, now there you are.

That Lettie is a little girl about
nine and a half just like you?

How did you know?

You see?

Where does she live, honey?

I don't know.
I didn't ask her.

Why didn't you invite her in?

She had to go to a meeting.

She said her mom had the gig ready.
And they didn't dare be late.

The gig?

Yeah.

What is a gig?

Some kind of car?

- What do you suppose...?
- Well, it's a...

It's kind of a buggy people used
to ride around in years ago, Katie.

Lettie ride in hers all the time.

They always go to a meeting in it.

I'd better take him outside.

Tomorrow you bring
Lettie up to me.

Sure.

A gig here?

Sounds like some kind of a
religious sect or something.

Like those people who
won't wear buttons.

Well, buttons or no buttons,
she's nine and a half and...

likes frogs.

I give you... Lettie.

Hear, hear.

Katie.

Katie, where are you?

Down by the creek.

It's lunch time.

Can't we go on playing?

You come up right this minute.

Katie, do you hear me?

Why she always have to call me
right in the middle of something?

Katie.

Mom.

Lettie and I are building a dam.

Can we finish it, mom?

Would Lettie like some lunch?

She says no thanks.

All right, dear.
I'll bring yours down to you.

Where's Lettie?

She had to go home.

Why?

I don't know.

Ask Lettie.

Come on, honey.
Let's go and change those clothes.

You said I could eat here.

Well, I know.
But Lettie's gone

and I don't like you
to play here alone.

Come on.

What do you and Lettie
talk about mostly?

I don't know, daddy.
A lot of things.

Well, give me a sample.

Oh, lots of things.
School and...

- Lettie go to school?
- Yeah.

Funny kind of school
if you ask me, though.

They don't use real books,
just horn books.

What's a horn book?

I don't know.
Ask Lettie.

Honey bun.

You keep telling us to ask Lettie.

But we can't seem to get
the same ballpark with it.

She just likes me, I guess.

Well, now, can't you
do a selling job?

Tell her what tremendous
people your parents are.

We kinda like to meet her.

- I'll ask her, daddy.
- Okay.

Where did this come from?

A child's history of New England.

You remember.
Miss Gastell left it here.

Oh, yes.
Have you been reading it?

I just look at the pictures.

Honey bun.

You mind if your old man tells
you a secret about little girls?

What?

Well, you see...

sometimes they get lonesome

and they start wishing they had
someone to play with and...

they wish it so hard they
begin to think it's true.

You think I'm making Lettie up?

Oh, no. Not exactly. No.

Well, I'm not.

I only said you might have
thought about it so much.

She was here the day we came.
Down by the creek.

She was lonesome and she
saw we bought the house.

And she was down
there waiting for me.

I didn't draw this.
She did.

- When?
- Yesterday.

Well, who is it?

Lettie's aunt Bridget.

What's her last name?

Same as Lettie's. Bishop.

Lettie's real, daddy.
I didn't make her up.

What's the matter?

I think you've got a little fever.

Go on now, it's after .
It's time you hit the sack.

Still think I made her up?

Now we'll talk about that tomorrow.

Go on. Hop into bed.

What did the doctor say?

She's running a fever all right,
but it's just a cold.

We'll have to keep her
in for a day or two.

She's telling him all about Lettie.

Yeah, well it's all here.

Church meetings, Cotton Mather.
Gigs and horn books.

This is where she got it.

Why didn't she say so?

I don't know.
You're a girl. You tell me.

Nothing to make jokes about it.

Well, now, look. It's nothing
to get upset about either.

Alice in Wonderland grew up
to be a fine, normal woman.

And so okay.

Alice in Wonderland?

Oh, Mrs. Kendall's a little upset
about Katie's friend Lettie.

What do you think, doc?

Well, I'm afraid Lettie
is a bit out of my field.

But, I could refer you to a good
child psychologist in Salem.

You think she's imagining it?

I would say so, yes.

Have you run into this before, Doc?

I have two daughters myself.

I wish I was confident.

Now, Phyllis.

I'm sorry.
I just can't help it.

Well, this is Lettie's aunt Bridget.

- I'm sure Kate didn't draw that.
- Now Phyl. You're not making sense.

But you aren't either.

Kate, nine and a half.

She doesn't care a hang about the
history of Puritans or even books.

We couldn't even get her
to read the Sunday funnies.

Now what makes you think
she's suddenly sat down with a...

...a dry old tome like that
and bone up on the Pilgrims.

- Puritans.
- All right, the Puritans.

Well, maybe she's tutoring with
Lettie's aunt Bridget Bishop.

- I don't know.
- Who?

Oh, that's Lettie's Puritan aunt.

Name is Bridget Bishop.

Katie probably invented her too.

No, I don't think so.

Why not?

Well, I'm not up too much
on my local history, but...

that name rings a bell.

Bishop, Bridget,

page .

Yeah, here she is.
There's a picture of her. She...

She what?

The trial of Bridget Bishop
of Salem Village

by the Elders of the church.

Convicted of witchcraft
and hung, June .

Hey, don't try and kid
your old man's muscle.

I couldn't sleep.

Neither could I with
the light in my eyes.

Do you know it's after midnight?

I was just thinking.
That's all.

Well, uh... fever has gone down,
but it could come back.

Now look, you... you keep that light
out and log a little sack time, okay?

What kind of beads are these?

They're buzzard bones.
Lettie gave them to me.

Buzzard bones?

To keep off the pox.

- What?
- That's what Lettie said.

Now look, Katie.

You may not realize it, but...

you've upset your mother
pretty badly with all this...

this talk about Lettie.

Now it's time you... you stop making
things up and started telling the truth.

- But, daddy.
- Now let me finish.

Now when we were cleaning up
around here the day we moved in,

there was a pile of knick-knacks
and junk Miss Gastell left behind.

We swept it into a corner
in the keeping room

and I remember
you playing there.

Now, that's where you
found these, isn't it?

- I'm sleepy.
- Katie, answer me.

Can I keep them?

If you tell me where
you found them.

Yes, daddy.
It was in that pile.

Well...

All right.

Now look. No more making
things up, understand?

- Good night.
- Good night.

Lauretta Bishop.

That would be Lettie
for short, wouldn't it?

Yes, I should think so. Why?

Died of the... pox.

Oh, there must have been a terrible
epidemic of smallpox at that time.

It took awful lot of the children.

I didn't realize that.

Yes, medicine was about on a par with
the methods of an African witch doctor.

You know, charms, fetishes, broths
of lizards' tails and fingernails.

Buzzard bone necklaces.

Yes. Against the pox.

Also, they practiced
exorcism of demons.

- Exorcism?
- It was ancient rite of the church.

Driving out an evil spirit.

How did they do it?

Well, as I recall, it was a
pretty involved sort of ritual.

Is it still done?

Oh, fairly rarely nowadays.

Could you do it?

Aye, but my dear child,
why would I?

Well, I... I mean if there
were a real need for it.

Well, I'd have to investigate
for this thoroughly before...

But if it is possible, I mean,
you could do it or have it done?

Yes, I suppose so.
But why?

I can't tell you.
Not yet anyway, but...

I may have to ask for some help.

Thanks for the tour.
Goodbye.

Curious, isn't it?

No idea where it came from.

It turned up from somewhere
at moving time,

and I just tossed
it off the scrapy.

Do you suppose
it's really Puritan?

Well, I don't know.

And I don't really care.

I think, you know what our
problem is, Miss Gastell,

Kate's alone all day.

Hmm, she should
have a playmate.

Yeah, we realized that
when we first moved in.

I... I guess we didn't appreciate
how important it was.

She didn't have one,
so she made one up.

- Dear me.
- A little girl named Lettie.

Lettie?
That's an old-fashioned name.

Oh, she's an old-fashioned girl.

Strict Calvinist.

Goes to church meetings
everyday in a gig.

Listens to "Cotton Mather" preach,

knows all about the stocks
and the ducking stool.

And wears this buzzard bones
to keep away the pox.

Katie got it all out of that old
history book you left here.

You know, I don't think I could get
her to study that book for $ .

But if this keeps up
much longer, she's...

she's gonna be the world's
youngest PhD in Puritan history.

Did you find out about it?

It's just as I said.

Was is it yours?

Well, of course, I should have
gotten rid of that trash.

She's asleep now.

Make sure she keeps
covered, will you?

Don't worry.
We'll get along just fine.

But we'll have to find
her a little playmate.

It isn't right for a child
to be alone so much.

Well, if you hear of an agency
that rents out little girls

you let us know, won't you?

I'll put on my thinking cap.

Okay. Come on now.
Come on.

Have a good time.

Oh, thanks a lot
for being our sitter.

We won't be too late.

And don't count on that either.

- Goodnight.
- Goodnight.

- Mom?
- Yes, dear.

What's exorcism?

What's what?

Exorcism.

Why do you ask that?

- I don't know.
- Katie.

Now, Katie, tell me.
Where did you hear about that?

On TV last night.

What is it?

Well, it's kind of hard to explain.

If you exorcise somebody,
does it hurt?

Oh, no. Of course not.

It's just a ceremony.

A very serious one that has to do
with driving away something harmful.

And they never come back?

The person you make go away?

We hope not.

Did uh...

Lettie tell you?

Lettie?

Your little friend, Katie.

Oh, daddy.

You know, she wasn't real.

I just made her up.

Can I have sliced banana
in my cereal?

Wow. Good morning.

Good morning, good morning.

This is Judy Davidson.

Judy. This is Mrs. Kendall.

How do you do, Judy?

How do you do?

- Please come in.
- Oh, thank you.

Kate. Come here.

Judy's father is my new milkman.

She'll be taking the same
school bus with Kate.

Kate? This is Judy Davidson.

- Hi, Judy.
- Hello.

Uh, Judy may stay
all day, if you like.

And then I'll take
her home tonight.

Katie. Why don't you take Judy
upstairs and show your play room.

Sure. Come on, Judy.

Miss Gastell. If my wife
weren't a jealous woman,

I... I think I give you a great
big hug right here now.

Well, I told you, Mr. Kendall.

I told you.
I'll put on my thinking cap.

Well, thank you.
Bye bye.

Good bye.

Twas a fine notion, mistress Kate.

Would we have thought
of it sooner.

"I wish we had thought
of it sooner."

I wish we had thought
of it sooner.

Listen, Lettie.

If I can remember
to call you Judy,

you should remember not to
talk in that old-fashioned way.

Do you want to get
yourself exorcised?

Then who am I going to play with?

I hope you enjoyed our
story Summer Shade.

Because that will give you
strength to face this next item

after which I'll return.

That is all of tonight's entertainment.

We shall return next week
with more of the same.

Now I must hurry up.

I'm sh**ting a picture.

Good night.