Toni
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- September 12, 2001 (poster formerly known as Pam's Twin Sister)
By people´s request (thank you dear @Karin Schill for your interest!) I´m going to re-post all my Ewing Empire episodes while I finish my last one. It reprises the Ewings´ story overseeing both TV movies and TNT "Dallas" too. The Character Guide can be read here:
https://sites.google.com/site/imperioewing/home/ewing-empire/character-guide
- Bobby James Ewing, I don’t believe you... - she said, as she put a lock of hair behind her ear, unsuccessfully trying the wind not to ruin her hairstyle.
Pamela Ewing was in her late forties, but she still looked like a young happy woman. Her husband Bobby was driving his black BMW on the freeway to Dallas. They had spent the whole week in a luxury New Orleans hotel. But they had been married for five years, and it was their third marriage to each other. However, they never could have a honeymoon trip before.
- And what is that so unbelievable? - He said, taking a quick look at her, while he drove on to a nearby gas station.
- I can’t believe we spent four years away from Southfork, and, what’s more, away from our son.
- Oh, come on, Pam: you perfectly know that Chris is not an ordinary boy. He became independent of us long ago...
- I guess a mother always has a hard time letting her son live his own life, even if his I.Q. is so high, and he’s not a minor anymore...
- And now, we are living our second youth all over again, and we’re going back to where our family awaits to make a celebration...and, this time, be sure my folks won’t throw you off the ranch...
The couple laughed out loudly, as they remembered a very similar conversation they had had, not far away from there, but twenty-two years ago...
Also far away, a car with a Ewing 8 plate was heading to Southfork too. That was the Ewing family home, located in Braddock. The driver was John Ross Ewing III, the heir to one of the biggest fortunes in Texas, who was already twenty years old and had everything he could wish...everything material. Except for his parents...
Suddenly, as if it came out of blue, a fancier sports car went after Ewing 8. The driver was a man in his thirties, wearing dark sun-glasses, who drove his car closer to John Ross’s. Unexpectedly, he tried to get him off the road.
- Who the hell must that mad guy be? - John Ross whispered, as he sped off and let him overtake him. But the other driver seemed to be determined to cause an accident....At last, he parked his car on the right place and, when he saw the other do the same thing, he got out of his car to face him bravely. He got quite a surprise when he saw that the driver was none other than his older brother, James Beaumont Ewing, whose rare sense of humor used to kick John Ross off.
- Hi little brother - he said, putting his sun-glasses off...
- You damned pig... - the boy answered, hugging the young man...
- I’ve just come back from Miami and thought you’d like to be the first to admire my great tan...
- You’ll never change, will you?
- Nope, but my little brother did, and I’m so proud of him... - James pointed out to the sports car with personalized plate and all...
- So, what are you doing here?
- I’ve got good news: I’m gonna marry.
What he didn’t say to John Ross was the bride’s name: the one to become his wife was...John Ross’s ex stepmother.
Those two guys were on their late fifties and seemed to be brothers, though they just were half-brothers, sons of the same father. Gary and Ray had settled down in Southfork forever, after a long time living far away: Gary, in a Californian suburban area called Knots Landing, and Ray in Switzerland, with her late wife Jenna and her breed.
Now, Gary lived in his independent ranch house along with wife Valene and their twin kids, Bobby and Betsy. Ray owned the next door’s house, with his wife Donna and their teenage daughter Maggie. Five years before, the best-known ranch in all Texas had been demolished after a one-week storm shook the Braddock area, near Dallas, and ruined the basements of the white house that had been the Ewings’ home for many decades.
- Sometimes, I still look up and see the old ranch, down there, shining as ever at the morning light...
- Me too, Ray - Gary nodded. - After I ran away home, when I was a kid, every time I thought about Southfork, I didn’t think of the fights with my dad or my brother, but of the image of that big white house, where my mother used to spoil me and taught me how to ride a horse...Now, Southfork means a lot of things, partly thanks to you and Bobby, who worked hard to renew the waste lands and find another purpose to those acres of land...The Southfork family resort, the last Southfork oil fields, placed where the ranch used to be, and the Southfork Stables, where the best breed horses in Texas are born...
- Too bad Jock and Ellie are gone now, I wish they could see all this; they’d be damn proud of the results, and of you too, Gary...
- Thanks Ray. You are a good brother...Remember that Clayton will come back in a couple of weeks... - After that, they rode back to the ranch, where their families were waiting for them, at six o’clock, when the Ewings usually have dinner...
Bobby and Pamela had made a break by a road café, and were about to continue their way to Southfork. But they wanted to talk to his son Chris before. Finally, she got him to answer his cell phone...
- Hello honey. I find you at last...How are you?
- Mama, I am glad to hear from you, finally. Since you are on your honeymoon, it’s not been a surprise though...
Pam got slightly blushed up and then smiled at his husband.
- Chris, son, don’t be insolent to your mama... - she mocked - We decided to go to New Orleans anyway...Why that? Your daddy and I got married there the first time and...we were following the same route we did then...
- So it is a sentimental journey...You 20th Century parents are incorrigible. Everything’s fine here, though I haven’t been at the ranch for a few days...John Ross seems to be planning something, and plays the mystery man...
Then, Bobby firmly but tenderly took the cell phone away from his wife:
- Hello Chris. Are you still on your own? I thought you’d be bored to death and back to Southfork by now...
At that minute, an urgent message appeared on Chris’s computer screen. The sender was a familiar key name from which he expected really important information...
- Dad, I’m sorry, I must leave now, call you later...
Chris switched his cell off and clicked on the mail message, whose sender was "Illegal Eagle"...The contents of the message let him open-mouthed...
"KREBBS QUITS EEG: A COMPANY TO SINK, ANYONE?" - read the "Dallas Press" headlines. Donna had put the newspaper on her desk, for her husband Ray to read that malicious hint, as he was sitting in her armchair.
"Why, after so many years, cannot they understand what I did?" - She asked, expecting no answer.
"Very simple: out of ethics, ´cause you are an honest woman and had the chance to uncover one of the biggest cases of corporative fraud in Texas history..."
Ray, that simple ex Southfork foreman, had become a philosophical cheerful annalist of anything related to his family, the Ewings. Four years earlier, Donna Krebbs had discovered a number of secret files, hidden by the late family lawyer, Harv Smithfield, which exposed the dark reasons the biggest oil company of the State, WestStar Oil, went on uphill for, though it had to let behind a lot of murders, attacks a wide net of prostitution and gun traffic...
Donna had to choose between keeping the file secret or sharing it with the media, and let the people responsible for that pay for the crimes they committed every day. 95’s court trial following that was such a turning point for that year’s critical economy, and such a good business for the Ewings, who had just found oil in the house’s basement land, that Donna Krebbs, married to two State Senators but a proud mother and a cowboy’s proud wife, was immediately marginated from any public charge, political or administrative. After she overcame a depression, Donna concentrated on her family: Ray and little Margaret, and now, they all lived with the rest of the Ewings in the new Southfork mansion...
"Hold me...- she begged to her husband - ...and promise me that the world will forget it, some day..."
(Fade out)
Now a strawberry blonde, full of energy and owner of a singing voice adored by the Dallas audiences, Afton Cooper was the big star of one of the primetime shows of the local network. She finished her song and introduced her next guest, to act after the commercial break.
"And, how was I? - Afton asked to a blonde young woman who turned out to be her daughter. "Like always, mum. You are the best..." "Every time I mention the sponsors’ name, I have the feeling that someone just made it out, it sounds so fake..."
Afton was a very insightful woman and her long singing experience had made her a sly business woman who didn’t need an agent. Even so, it was so tremendously easy to her to find a sponsor for her show...The Afton Cooper Show was a talent-searching weekly program.
"Mum, when will you realize that your voice is worth a million dollars?" - "Why do you think I married her for? - Both women heard to say. It was Cliff Barnes, happy father and happy husband. "Sweetheart, why didn’t you call me before coming? I’m sorry, I have to be on air in a minute..."
The make-up girl came to give her the last touch. Beckie accompanied her mother on stage as Barnes was using his cell phone to make an urgent call: "Lloyd, get my wife’s contract renewed for two more years...no conditions. Anything she asks for, give it to her. Afton deserves that and much more..."
James Beaumont parked his car in front of his luxury apartment and came in, ready to have a cold shower as soon as possible...He began to take his clothes off vigorously and, once naked, he went to his equally well-equipped bathroom...His muscled body, marked by a few scars and a tattoo on his arm saying "I Love Mum", revealed what that good-looking young man had went through, since the death of his father, J.R. Ewing.
"James, I was waiting for you..." - a sexy deep voice yelled, from the Jacuzzi at the end of the bathroom. She stood up, lather all over, and exposing her exuberant, still youthful body...
James smiled openly and walked on her way, making slow but self-assured steps..."Maybe you don’t know, but I’m gonna marry soon...and you are a temp..."
"And, your would-be wife, what’s her name?"
"Cally" - he said. "You liar... - she joked mischievously.”You perfectly know that her name is Calpurnia...and that’s me."
The two bodies melt together and the couple made love for hours...
Far away from there, at the Texan island of Galveston, a sailing ship dropped anchor. Two blonde teenagers, a male and a female, got out of it and ran away, after warning their parents about it: "We are going for a drink, meet you at the marina club..."
Following them, came a mature blonde couple: she was utterly slim and her name was Valene. He was healthy, still attractive and almost sixty, as she was. He was the one considered, at a time, as that loser son of the Ewings, the family’s black sheet who, ironically, had become one of the richest Ewings on his own and, indeed, the one who had a most fulfilled personal life...
"Gary, it was a great idea to buy this ship, the boys are just crazy about it..."
"I wish Lucy came along with us once in awhile..."
"You know she is an independent woman, and her dear child comes first to her..."
"Little Pete...how old is he, three or four?"
"Five. Gary Ewing, you never were good at Maths..."
"I hope the kids will fit in the new high school, it’s uneasy to accept their parents’ decisions at their age...though they know best..."
"I do know what best for me is..." - she added, kissing passionately her husband, ignoring the fact that Bobby and Betsy were watching them from a distance, with a big smile in their faces...
John Ross had to return to college too, but there was a very important deal for him to close before...
"No, I won’t let it go - he assured as he was driving, talking to someone hands-off - I want that office, at any price, and IIII want it for this week. You say the amount and you’ll get it. And remember we the Ewings don’t forget our friends..."
John Ross Ewing III, though still was at S.M.U., had already learnt part of the advices his father J.R. had given to him since he was a child, including the one saying "Get close to your friends, and still closer to your enemies..."
John Ross was preparing a surprise for a very special person who was coming back to Dallas two days later...
The new Ewing mansion proudly raised fifteen miles away to West from the place where old Southfork Ranch had sheltered the Ewings. Presided by a high six-column portico, white and blue colored, with three independent wings belonging to Gary, the Farlows and the Krebbses...Leafy trees near the main house were a protection from the weather inclemency and its basement was the strongest ever built on lands like those, which had fed cattle for long decades...
A lonely woman in her fifties was staring at the house, suddenly feeling melancholic and missing it already, as if she were abandoning what she at long last achieved: her own roots and a family to count on. The woman’s name was Barbara Baxter, and she was the natural daughter of Ellie Southworth Ewing’s brother, Garrison, and, besides, now she was a co-owner of the wealthy Ewing estate, which included that house...
A couple of hours later, at a quarter to seven, the mansion opened its doors to the members of the family who gathered for the ritual, more unusual but not less important than it used to be. The Southfork family dinners were held at seven o’clock since ages and pity anyone who discussed business at dinner.
"Boys, I don’t want Bobby and Pam to be uncomfortable before your fights, so please behave yourselves, won’t you? - Valene begged with a smile.
"If I remember well, my youngest brother defends himself at the home front as he does in a bar quarrel with several drunken cowboys..." - Gary mocked, as he stared at John Ross’s new portrait on the mantelpiece.
"By the way, shall we count on our dear John Ross this evening?"
"John Ross called awhile ago - Beckie explained, since her parents Cliff and Afton also agreed to attend the dinner in honor to the prodigal couple.” He had some unfinished business in Dallas, and asked me to make excuses for him."
"John Ross is a nice boy, despite of his parents..." - Lucy honestly remarked, but she regretted that when she had time to think about it...
Donna came over and joined her husband and her beautiful daughter Maggie. "Teresa says today’s dinner will be very special, she has made Bobby’s favorite meal..."
"I can’t wait to see them...- Afton said - It’s been a year since we visited them up there in Toronto."
"Why did your parents moved so far away, Chris?" - Beckie asked.
"Some people hear the call of the wild; he seemed to hear the call of the crude..."
"Well, and speaking of liquid, what about a drink? - Cliff proposed. Afton’s look made him feel guilty...
Valene was the first one to get up and serve her husband a glass of...mineral water. With a slice of lemon.
Once everybody was served, Ray made a toast raising his glass of champagne: "As J.R. used to say, let’s toast...to the Ewings’ tradition...
"Can we toast too?" - the whole family turned around to the hallway and, 0over there, like two teenagers in love, holding each other’s waist, the best of the best of the Ewings and the Barneses was standing there: Bobby and Pamela.
Each and every one of them hugged the newcomers warmly. Despite of the journey’s fatigue, they were happy to be back home...Bobby and Pam only had lived in that house for one year, though they had helped to build it up after the tragedy of ‘95. As anyone else felt, it symbolized a new beginning and the fact that all their misfortunes could be left behind and they could look ahead. Shortly after, they were sitting at the dining-room, sitting at the big table, full of all kind of tasty dishes, cooked by the Ewings’ faithful servants, Raul and Teresa.
"So we went to the New Orleans City Hall and almost got married for the fourth time! in the same place where we celebrated the first wedding..." - Pam told happily.
"At last, I don’t know why, we thought that might be a bit over-the-top..." - Bob added.
"I could never live with a woman I wouldn’t marry at least thrice - Gary said, looking into Valene’s eyes.
"On a rainy day, I’ll tell you all about what we went thru before our very last marriage..." - Val said, appealing her sons’ interest. Was it due to your riding accident, mother? - Bobby asked. "Due to that and a hundred other nonsense things..."
"We lived a couple of years together, before...making apart." "Though, thanks God, - Afton slightly blushed up - our ways crossed again, and thanks to a little beauty called Pamela Rebecca..."
"Oh, you know I’d rather be called Beckie, that name is so affected..."
"You’d remember I named you after your father’s mum, an outstanding woman." - Pam put her hand over Afton’s, expressing affection and thankfulness for those words..."She would be so proud of the woman you have become, honey" Pamela said.
"Anyone here married the same person only once?" - Ray asked.
"Yes I did..." - a voice from the hallway said.
Another couple had just come in and joined the conversation. They were Cally Harper, J.R.’s ex wife, and James Beaumont.
"We knew you were having a special celebration this evening and thought the family reunion would be the best occasion to announce our marriage. Within a month exactly..."
(Fade out)
To Be Continued
https://sites.google.com/site/imperioewing/home/ewing-empire/character-guide
Episode 1:
BACK TO SOUTHFORK
BACK TO SOUTHFORK
- Bobby James Ewing, I don’t believe you... - she said, as she put a lock of hair behind her ear, unsuccessfully trying the wind not to ruin her hairstyle.
Pamela Ewing was in her late forties, but she still looked like a young happy woman. Her husband Bobby was driving his black BMW on the freeway to Dallas. They had spent the whole week in a luxury New Orleans hotel. But they had been married for five years, and it was their third marriage to each other. However, they never could have a honeymoon trip before.
- And what is that so unbelievable? - He said, taking a quick look at her, while he drove on to a nearby gas station.
- I can’t believe we spent four years away from Southfork, and, what’s more, away from our son.
- Oh, come on, Pam: you perfectly know that Chris is not an ordinary boy. He became independent of us long ago...
- I guess a mother always has a hard time letting her son live his own life, even if his I.Q. is so high, and he’s not a minor anymore...
- And now, we are living our second youth all over again, and we’re going back to where our family awaits to make a celebration...and, this time, be sure my folks won’t throw you off the ranch...
The couple laughed out loudly, as they remembered a very similar conversation they had had, not far away from there, but twenty-two years ago...
Also far away, a car with a Ewing 8 plate was heading to Southfork too. That was the Ewing family home, located in Braddock. The driver was John Ross Ewing III, the heir to one of the biggest fortunes in Texas, who was already twenty years old and had everything he could wish...everything material. Except for his parents...
Suddenly, as if it came out of blue, a fancier sports car went after Ewing 8. The driver was a man in his thirties, wearing dark sun-glasses, who drove his car closer to John Ross’s. Unexpectedly, he tried to get him off the road.
- Who the hell must that mad guy be? - John Ross whispered, as he sped off and let him overtake him. But the other driver seemed to be determined to cause an accident....At last, he parked his car on the right place and, when he saw the other do the same thing, he got out of his car to face him bravely. He got quite a surprise when he saw that the driver was none other than his older brother, James Beaumont Ewing, whose rare sense of humor used to kick John Ross off.
- Hi little brother - he said, putting his sun-glasses off...
- You damned pig... - the boy answered, hugging the young man...
- I’ve just come back from Miami and thought you’d like to be the first to admire my great tan...
- You’ll never change, will you?
- Nope, but my little brother did, and I’m so proud of him... - James pointed out to the sports car with personalized plate and all...
- So, what are you doing here?
- I’ve got good news: I’m gonna marry.
What he didn’t say to John Ross was the bride’s name: the one to become his wife was...John Ross’s ex stepmother.
Those two guys were on their late fifties and seemed to be brothers, though they just were half-brothers, sons of the same father. Gary and Ray had settled down in Southfork forever, after a long time living far away: Gary, in a Californian suburban area called Knots Landing, and Ray in Switzerland, with her late wife Jenna and her breed.
Now, Gary lived in his independent ranch house along with wife Valene and their twin kids, Bobby and Betsy. Ray owned the next door’s house, with his wife Donna and their teenage daughter Maggie. Five years before, the best-known ranch in all Texas had been demolished after a one-week storm shook the Braddock area, near Dallas, and ruined the basements of the white house that had been the Ewings’ home for many decades.
- Sometimes, I still look up and see the old ranch, down there, shining as ever at the morning light...
- Me too, Ray - Gary nodded. - After I ran away home, when I was a kid, every time I thought about Southfork, I didn’t think of the fights with my dad or my brother, but of the image of that big white house, where my mother used to spoil me and taught me how to ride a horse...Now, Southfork means a lot of things, partly thanks to you and Bobby, who worked hard to renew the waste lands and find another purpose to those acres of land...The Southfork family resort, the last Southfork oil fields, placed where the ranch used to be, and the Southfork Stables, where the best breed horses in Texas are born...
- Too bad Jock and Ellie are gone now, I wish they could see all this; they’d be damn proud of the results, and of you too, Gary...
- Thanks Ray. You are a good brother...Remember that Clayton will come back in a couple of weeks... - After that, they rode back to the ranch, where their families were waiting for them, at six o’clock, when the Ewings usually have dinner...
Bobby and Pamela had made a break by a road café, and were about to continue their way to Southfork. But they wanted to talk to his son Chris before. Finally, she got him to answer his cell phone...
- Hello honey. I find you at last...How are you?
- Mama, I am glad to hear from you, finally. Since you are on your honeymoon, it’s not been a surprise though...
Pam got slightly blushed up and then smiled at his husband.
- Chris, son, don’t be insolent to your mama... - she mocked - We decided to go to New Orleans anyway...Why that? Your daddy and I got married there the first time and...we were following the same route we did then...
- So it is a sentimental journey...You 20th Century parents are incorrigible. Everything’s fine here, though I haven’t been at the ranch for a few days...John Ross seems to be planning something, and plays the mystery man...
Then, Bobby firmly but tenderly took the cell phone away from his wife:
- Hello Chris. Are you still on your own? I thought you’d be bored to death and back to Southfork by now...
At that minute, an urgent message appeared on Chris’s computer screen. The sender was a familiar key name from which he expected really important information...
- Dad, I’m sorry, I must leave now, call you later...
Chris switched his cell off and clicked on the mail message, whose sender was "Illegal Eagle"...The contents of the message let him open-mouthed...
"KREBBS QUITS EEG: A COMPANY TO SINK, ANYONE?" - read the "Dallas Press" headlines. Donna had put the newspaper on her desk, for her husband Ray to read that malicious hint, as he was sitting in her armchair.
"Why, after so many years, cannot they understand what I did?" - She asked, expecting no answer.
"Very simple: out of ethics, ´cause you are an honest woman and had the chance to uncover one of the biggest cases of corporative fraud in Texas history..."
Ray, that simple ex Southfork foreman, had become a philosophical cheerful annalist of anything related to his family, the Ewings. Four years earlier, Donna Krebbs had discovered a number of secret files, hidden by the late family lawyer, Harv Smithfield, which exposed the dark reasons the biggest oil company of the State, WestStar Oil, went on uphill for, though it had to let behind a lot of murders, attacks a wide net of prostitution and gun traffic...
Donna had to choose between keeping the file secret or sharing it with the media, and let the people responsible for that pay for the crimes they committed every day. 95’s court trial following that was such a turning point for that year’s critical economy, and such a good business for the Ewings, who had just found oil in the house’s basement land, that Donna Krebbs, married to two State Senators but a proud mother and a cowboy’s proud wife, was immediately marginated from any public charge, political or administrative. After she overcame a depression, Donna concentrated on her family: Ray and little Margaret, and now, they all lived with the rest of the Ewings in the new Southfork mansion...
"Hold me...- she begged to her husband - ...and promise me that the world will forget it, some day..."
(Fade out)
Now a strawberry blonde, full of energy and owner of a singing voice adored by the Dallas audiences, Afton Cooper was the big star of one of the primetime shows of the local network. She finished her song and introduced her next guest, to act after the commercial break.
"And, how was I? - Afton asked to a blonde young woman who turned out to be her daughter. "Like always, mum. You are the best..." "Every time I mention the sponsors’ name, I have the feeling that someone just made it out, it sounds so fake..."
Afton was a very insightful woman and her long singing experience had made her a sly business woman who didn’t need an agent. Even so, it was so tremendously easy to her to find a sponsor for her show...The Afton Cooper Show was a talent-searching weekly program.
"Mum, when will you realize that your voice is worth a million dollars?" - "Why do you think I married her for? - Both women heard to say. It was Cliff Barnes, happy father and happy husband. "Sweetheart, why didn’t you call me before coming? I’m sorry, I have to be on air in a minute..."
The make-up girl came to give her the last touch. Beckie accompanied her mother on stage as Barnes was using his cell phone to make an urgent call: "Lloyd, get my wife’s contract renewed for two more years...no conditions. Anything she asks for, give it to her. Afton deserves that and much more..."
James Beaumont parked his car in front of his luxury apartment and came in, ready to have a cold shower as soon as possible...He began to take his clothes off vigorously and, once naked, he went to his equally well-equipped bathroom...His muscled body, marked by a few scars and a tattoo on his arm saying "I Love Mum", revealed what that good-looking young man had went through, since the death of his father, J.R. Ewing.
"James, I was waiting for you..." - a sexy deep voice yelled, from the Jacuzzi at the end of the bathroom. She stood up, lather all over, and exposing her exuberant, still youthful body...
James smiled openly and walked on her way, making slow but self-assured steps..."Maybe you don’t know, but I’m gonna marry soon...and you are a temp..."
"And, your would-be wife, what’s her name?"
"Cally" - he said. "You liar... - she joked mischievously.”You perfectly know that her name is Calpurnia...and that’s me."
The two bodies melt together and the couple made love for hours...
Far away from there, at the Texan island of Galveston, a sailing ship dropped anchor. Two blonde teenagers, a male and a female, got out of it and ran away, after warning their parents about it: "We are going for a drink, meet you at the marina club..."
Following them, came a mature blonde couple: she was utterly slim and her name was Valene. He was healthy, still attractive and almost sixty, as she was. He was the one considered, at a time, as that loser son of the Ewings, the family’s black sheet who, ironically, had become one of the richest Ewings on his own and, indeed, the one who had a most fulfilled personal life...
"Gary, it was a great idea to buy this ship, the boys are just crazy about it..."
"I wish Lucy came along with us once in awhile..."
"You know she is an independent woman, and her dear child comes first to her..."
"Little Pete...how old is he, three or four?"
"Five. Gary Ewing, you never were good at Maths..."
"I hope the kids will fit in the new high school, it’s uneasy to accept their parents’ decisions at their age...though they know best..."
"I do know what best for me is..." - she added, kissing passionately her husband, ignoring the fact that Bobby and Betsy were watching them from a distance, with a big smile in their faces...
John Ross had to return to college too, but there was a very important deal for him to close before...
"No, I won’t let it go - he assured as he was driving, talking to someone hands-off - I want that office, at any price, and IIII want it for this week. You say the amount and you’ll get it. And remember we the Ewings don’t forget our friends..."
John Ross Ewing III, though still was at S.M.U., had already learnt part of the advices his father J.R. had given to him since he was a child, including the one saying "Get close to your friends, and still closer to your enemies..."
John Ross was preparing a surprise for a very special person who was coming back to Dallas two days later...
The new Ewing mansion proudly raised fifteen miles away to West from the place where old Southfork Ranch had sheltered the Ewings. Presided by a high six-column portico, white and blue colored, with three independent wings belonging to Gary, the Farlows and the Krebbses...Leafy trees near the main house were a protection from the weather inclemency and its basement was the strongest ever built on lands like those, which had fed cattle for long decades...
A lonely woman in her fifties was staring at the house, suddenly feeling melancholic and missing it already, as if she were abandoning what she at long last achieved: her own roots and a family to count on. The woman’s name was Barbara Baxter, and she was the natural daughter of Ellie Southworth Ewing’s brother, Garrison, and, besides, now she was a co-owner of the wealthy Ewing estate, which included that house...
A couple of hours later, at a quarter to seven, the mansion opened its doors to the members of the family who gathered for the ritual, more unusual but not less important than it used to be. The Southfork family dinners were held at seven o’clock since ages and pity anyone who discussed business at dinner.
"Boys, I don’t want Bobby and Pam to be uncomfortable before your fights, so please behave yourselves, won’t you? - Valene begged with a smile.
"If I remember well, my youngest brother defends himself at the home front as he does in a bar quarrel with several drunken cowboys..." - Gary mocked, as he stared at John Ross’s new portrait on the mantelpiece.
"By the way, shall we count on our dear John Ross this evening?"
"John Ross called awhile ago - Beckie explained, since her parents Cliff and Afton also agreed to attend the dinner in honor to the prodigal couple.” He had some unfinished business in Dallas, and asked me to make excuses for him."
"John Ross is a nice boy, despite of his parents..." - Lucy honestly remarked, but she regretted that when she had time to think about it...
Donna came over and joined her husband and her beautiful daughter Maggie. "Teresa says today’s dinner will be very special, she has made Bobby’s favorite meal..."
"I can’t wait to see them...- Afton said - It’s been a year since we visited them up there in Toronto."
"Why did your parents moved so far away, Chris?" - Beckie asked.
"Some people hear the call of the wild; he seemed to hear the call of the crude..."
"Well, and speaking of liquid, what about a drink? - Cliff proposed. Afton’s look made him feel guilty...
Valene was the first one to get up and serve her husband a glass of...mineral water. With a slice of lemon.
Once everybody was served, Ray made a toast raising his glass of champagne: "As J.R. used to say, let’s toast...to the Ewings’ tradition...
"Can we toast too?" - the whole family turned around to the hallway and, 0over there, like two teenagers in love, holding each other’s waist, the best of the best of the Ewings and the Barneses was standing there: Bobby and Pamela.
Each and every one of them hugged the newcomers warmly. Despite of the journey’s fatigue, they were happy to be back home...Bobby and Pam only had lived in that house for one year, though they had helped to build it up after the tragedy of ‘95. As anyone else felt, it symbolized a new beginning and the fact that all their misfortunes could be left behind and they could look ahead. Shortly after, they were sitting at the dining-room, sitting at the big table, full of all kind of tasty dishes, cooked by the Ewings’ faithful servants, Raul and Teresa.
"So we went to the New Orleans City Hall and almost got married for the fourth time! in the same place where we celebrated the first wedding..." - Pam told happily.
"At last, I don’t know why, we thought that might be a bit over-the-top..." - Bob added.
"I could never live with a woman I wouldn’t marry at least thrice - Gary said, looking into Valene’s eyes.
"On a rainy day, I’ll tell you all about what we went thru before our very last marriage..." - Val said, appealing her sons’ interest. Was it due to your riding accident, mother? - Bobby asked. "Due to that and a hundred other nonsense things..."
"We lived a couple of years together, before...making apart." "Though, thanks God, - Afton slightly blushed up - our ways crossed again, and thanks to a little beauty called Pamela Rebecca..."
"Oh, you know I’d rather be called Beckie, that name is so affected..."
"You’d remember I named you after your father’s mum, an outstanding woman." - Pam put her hand over Afton’s, expressing affection and thankfulness for those words..."She would be so proud of the woman you have become, honey" Pamela said.
"Anyone here married the same person only once?" - Ray asked.
"Yes I did..." - a voice from the hallway said.
Another couple had just come in and joined the conversation. They were Cally Harper, J.R.’s ex wife, and James Beaumont.
"We knew you were having a special celebration this evening and thought the family reunion would be the best occasion to announce our marriage. Within a month exactly..."
(Fade out)
To Be Continued