Both Your Houses

“Love her until her hurt passes. Keep trying to reach her. If thee give up, Opal will, too.” – Alice Henderson

Without setbacks in life, we would fail to see our blessings and our mistakes. Isaac McHone comes to inform Christy that his newborn sister has died. He pleads with Christy to come visit his distraught mother, Opal. She believed her newborn was liver-growed. Opal’s remedy was to force the baby’s hand to touch its heel. Sadly, this resulted in a fatal injury, breaking the child’s back. If that wasn’t enough to bear, her husband Tom was away because he was caught in the middle of the Allen and Taylor blood feud and in the process, shot. It was all connected to the moonshining. All of this resulted in a domino effect, with it pouring down to Dr. MacNeill, David, and essentially the entire cove.

Miss Christy assigns her class to prepare and perform a play of “Romeo and Juliet.” As to Ruby Mae’s surprise, all the words in Shakespeare’s master play were painfully hard to understand. I think that’s something we can all sympathize with. Creed Allen wins the comedic role of this episode. The boys make everything so humorous and tease Ruby Mae. He also playfully declares to his friend, “You rat-catcher!” from the play. Thankfully, we all have distractions like this to get our minds off stress, whether it be reading, watching a film, or playing a game. However, this example also shows the innocence and lack of understanding that children have over certain stressful situations.

Miss Alice reprimands Christy for going ahead and letting Ruby Mae board for the month. She is right; Christy tends to take actions on impulse. They stumble upon an injured Tom McHone in the middle of the night. If it isn’t disease or dangerous work, you have Bird’s-Eye and his clan banging at your mission door to get Tom McHone. Miss Alice, Christy, Ruby Mae, and Ida are all in the mission on a full moon night. It’s pretty cowardly for anyone to bust out someone’s window in anger just to get an enemy. By faith, Miss Alice walks out of the mission to peacefully dissolve the matter. As they retreat and the noise settles down, the mission sees that Tom has left their safe haven.

David had left to get supplies from Knoxville, but he returned early because Ben Pentland’s axle broke on the wagon. Neil lashes out in anger against the Preacher, and vice versa about the moonshine nightmare. The truth is, their arguments are both valid. However, they can’t manage to discuss it peacefully nor can they soundly come to a conclusion in solving the problem. Sadly, in most cases, things never are, especially in our society today. Humor is always placed in the right spot; after their argument, Christy leaves stating her distain of the two. Quoting Miss Alice: “She has more sense than the two of you put together.”

As you can see, I began to mention everyone’s problems except Opal’s. She is where the true source of pain should be focused upon and be taken seriously. Sometimes things get so out of order we refuse to see those who are truly hurt among us. We’ve focused on the Taylors, Allens, David, and Dr. MacNeill’s arguing and feuding.

As Christy goes to see Opal, she’s stopped by Bird’s-Eye. He’s keen on waiting for Tom to come back home. It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when Bird’s-Eye coldheartedly does not care where his son Lundy is. His son does briefly make an appearance in this episode. He’s downtrodden by the fact that it’s trouble enough to get a meal from his own father.

It turns out Opal and Bird’s-Eye were once courting each other long ago. Eventually, Tom came into the picture and became her husband. One time, Bird’s-Eye and Opal were out hunting, and he shot down a deer. After the kill, he threw a rock to kill its fawn. She was upset that Bird’s-Eye had no heart. But Opal eventually pierced through his armor and saw that he did have a hidden heart of gold. She had him fix it and splinter up the fawn’s leg. Opal’s idea was to mention his experience that they had about the doe and fawn. Hopefully, this would bring an end to the feuding and get Tom back home. She most wisely explains that fixing things is hard, but tearing them down is so easy. That’s the truth, whether it be a building, a family, or someone’s emotions. It takes a lot of time to build and so little to destroy.

The children continue to rehearse for their play, Romeo and Juliet. Creed Allen never gets old in this episode. He’s stuck on the phrase, “You rat-catcher!” He’s always a rambunctious, fun-loving child. However, the child he’s rehearsing with is kin to one of the Taylors, and they themselves end up fighting. So, even the feud boils down to the children. The parents set the example. It’s one of the foundations of raising a good child. If you don’t put in the work for success, you suffer the consequences. So goes our society into a spiral of disarray.

As Christy is fixing up a bath for Ruby Mae, Opal drops by to give her some gingerbread. However, she overhears Christy explaining how ignorance and superstition brought upon her baby’s death. Eventually, her son Isaac returns with the news of Opal’s shock. She blames herself. At the same time, she is in severe emotional shock. Neil blames Christy for meddling in everyone’s situations, but it was ignorance that killed the baby, as Miss Alice so eloquently puts it. Even so, he knows Christy’s true intentions are noble. With such a sad turn of events, the death of Opal’s baby and Bird’s-Eye’s feuding, it affects everyone in the cove. In today’s society, things are so harsh it bleeds outside, not only among family and friends but the entire world. Well, this cove of Cutter Gap is their world.

Miss Alice reassures Christy that she must continue to nurture Opal, who won’t sleep or eat. She emphatically points out that Christy got herself into it, and she must continue to love to fix it. A lot of times, we don’t want to “man up” to our mistakes and take care of the problem that we created. This resonates within the whole episode as Opal says, fixing is hard, tearing down isn’t.

David brings in a Marshall to take Bird’s-Eye in for questioning for the shooting of Tom McHone. Bird’s-Eye is adamant he didn’t do it. County Squire of the cove for 18 years, Uncle Bogg, demands to take over the situation and does. He’s quite revered in the cove as he’s the judge and the justice of the peace. In real life, this county of the state is in Cocke County, Tennessee. Due to Bird’s-Eye’s nature, they’re afraid he’ll be hanged no matter if he’s guilty or not. Just one thing, whether it be good or bad, can define a person. It illustrates how our actions can persuade someone, or how someone can perceive us. It’s not our place to judge; it’s Uncle Bogg’s, but most importantly, God’s.

Tom eventually arrives back to his wife Opal and tries his best to bring her back to a sense of awareness. Christy wants Tom to forgive Bird’s-Eye to stop a lynching. But he can’t. To him, it’s the acquainted blood feud handed down, generation after generation. Uncle Bogg readies for the hanging of Bird’s-Eye despite David’s pleading to take him to Knoxville for sentencing. Opal eventually clears his sentencing, stating she heard the gunshot. She didn’t get a good enough description to tell who it was, but clearly, it wasn’t him. The man was crying, and for certain, she’s never seen Bird’s-Eye cry in his life.

Opal did this because it was the right thing to do. It set an example for her children to be peaceful, with the hope that they could grow and see the fruit of their own children. David walks away from Christy, she seems to be upset about his approach in dealing with Bird’s-Eye. As Christy states, miracles are from God. Believe it or not, Dr. MacNeill, the atheist, gives Christy the compliment that God helps those who help themselves.

Although anger and fighting in the cove are everywhere, so is love. Isaac comes to give Christy his most prized pumpkin. Parents set the example, and Opal and Tom must be some of the most loving people in Cutter Gap. Ruby Mae most charmingly, arrives at the school to play her part as Juliet. As Christy puts it, small victories make all the heartache worthwhile. Joy accompanies accomplishments. All of our pain, setbacks, failures, and sorrows bring everything into focus. We have blessings all around us. Sometimes we see them. Sometimes we don’t. So be aware, and be thankful for both your house, and home.