Thursday - 7/25
PARK
MEADOW: I know that you can, too. What happened the other day, it hurt, I won’t lie. But, I’m glad you got more of your memory back, even though I’m sure learning that part of what happened was painful. And I still love you.
JOHNNY: Then, you’ll give me another chance?
Meadow put her hands in Johnny’s.
MEADOW: Johnny, there was never any chance that I was gonna break up with you. What kind of person would I be if I left just because you didn’t remember parts of your life?
JOHNNY: Nobody would have blamed you after the way I’ve been acting.
MEADOW: We’ll find a way to move past that. We did it once before, right?
Johnny nodded.
JOHNNY: I love you.
MEADOW: I love you, too.
Johnny and Meadow kissed. He stepped back and felt the back of his head.
MEADOW: What is it? What’s wrong?
DIMERA MANSION - FLASHBACK
E.J.: Stop wasting time and come! Do as your father says!
Johnny ran into the room. E.J. grabbed Sydney by the arm and started to walk her across the room.
SYDNEY: Ow! Daddy, that hurts!
JOHNNY: Hey!
E.J. stopped walking, but kept his grip on Sydney’s arm. Both looked over. Neither had noticed that Johnny had entered the room.
E.J.: So, the traitor returns.
JOHNNY: Just in time, it seems. What’s going on here?
E.J.: Nothing that concerns you, so stay out of this!
Johnny folded his arms.
JOHNNY: Is that true, Syd?
SYDNEY (shakily): He knows…he knows about the baby.
Johnny sighed.
JOHNNY: Well, I figured it would come out sooner or later. Okay, how about we all take a step back here and discuss this?
E.J.: I’ve nothing to discuss with you! You lost the right to discuss this the moment you decided to throw your child away! Needless to say, I will soon be rectifying that, as well as teaching your little sister here a lesson about not lying to her father.PORCH - WALDEN
Al sighed.
AL: What happened is that they died. Joseph and Ruth, they started their family young. But, time moves on, and eventually they died.
LIESL: Mr. Merritt was the one who went first. Poor Mrs. Merritt was heartbroken. They were true soulmates, Mrs. and Mrs. Merritt. I think it was…what was it, about a year or so after Mr. Merritt died that she went?
AL: Just over a year, yes. After that, the family fell apart.
LIESL: Oh, they fell apart before that, Al. But losing their parents was the final straw.
WILL: What do you mean?
LIESL: Oh, there was in-fighting among the kids. On the outside, the Merritts were the perfect family, but nobody’s really perfect, are they? Not even them.
AL: Francis, or Fannie as everyone knew her, she met a man in high school, Walter Barnes.
LIESL: Oh yes. Fannie was smitten with Wally Barnes from the day they met. She’d have done anything for him. The thing is, you see, Wally was known around town as a bit of a troublemaker.
AL: A bit? He was a little punk!
Al and Liesl laughed.
LIESL: That he was. So much so that Mr. Merritt forbade Fannie from seeing him. That didn’t stop them, though. Once Fannie graduated high school, she ran off and married Wally in secret. That’s the main thing that split the family up, you see.
AL: George was on Fannie’s side. He argued that she was an adult and could make her own choices. Jesse was a lot younger than the others, so he didn’t really have much to say in the matter.
LIESL: He was also a quiet kid, didn’t like to get into any family drama.
AL: Right. But Esther, she took their parent’s side. In fact, I think she took it harder than her parents did, she saw it was a personal betrayal.
WILL: Why?
AL: They were the two girls, they were closest in age of the four. For their whole childhood, it was those two and the boys. Not that they didn’t get along most of the time, but I’m sure you know how boys can be sometimes.
Will nodded.
WILL: I do, yeah.
AL: Well, then Fannie meets a man who her father doesn’t approve of and gets off and gets herself married. Esther saw it as Fannie abandoning the family. She didn’t, of course, they still came around for Christmas and such, but I don’t think Esther ever warmed to Wally, or his and Fannie’s marriage.
LIESL: Then, one by one, the other kids grew up, got married, and moved on with their lives. Then, the parents died.
AL: After a sufficient mourning period, it was time to figure out what would be done with the house. Fannie and George wanted to sell it, Esther didn't. Only this time, she found that Jesse was on her side. Neither of them wanted to live in the house, but they didn’t want to sell it, either.
LIESL: If you ask me, I think a big part of Esther not wanting to get rid of the house was trying to stick it to Fannie.
Al nodded.
AL: You’re probably right. So, they went to court, and for a long time, it got tied up in litigation.
WILL: Yeah, I know how that could go.
AL: Esther and Jesse finally won, but again, neither of them really wanted to live there, they already had their own homes. They just didn’t want the other two getting their way.
LIESL: George died a decade or so ago, then Fannie died a few years later. After they were both gone, Esther sold the house, and it’s owned by the county now. Though, that’s also been tied up in the courts for a while. No doubt the house will probably be condemned at some point.
WILL: But what about all their stuff? According to my daughter, it’s like it was frozen in time in the ‘60s, and there’s a whole bunch of stuff still in that house.
