MUNDO DALLAS Productions presents

 

EWING EMPIRE

 

STARRING:

(in alphabetical order)

 

PATRICK DUFFY (BOBBY)

LINDA GRAY (SUE ELLEN)

SUSAN HOWARD (DONNA)

STEVE KANALY (RAY)

KEN KERCHEVAL (CLIFF)

SASHA MITCHELL (JAMES)

CATHY PODEWELL (CALLY)

VICTORIA PRINCIPAL (PAM)

TED SHACKELFORD (GARY)

JOAN VAN ARK (VAL)

 

CO-STARRING:

 

OMRI KATZ (JOHN ROSS)

CHRIS DEMETRAL (CHRISTOPHER)

DEBORAH KELLNER (BECKIE)

DAVID MARSHALL GRANT (WILL)

 

 

Episode 2: “DIGGERīS NEPHEW”

 

               

The limousine was crossing the streets of Dallas as the lights keep changing the profile of the city. Sue Ellen and John Ross had a table reservation at one of the fanciest restaurants in downtown... 

- I really wanted to see you, my son... - she said, as they were served a refreshment. 

- But if we met last month in Albuquerque, at grandmaīs funeral...

- Yes... -  the woman glanced away and remembered the image of her mother, for a few seconds.  Soon, she smiled at his son tenderly. 

- You didnīt wanna stay for her last willīs reading.  Was Ewing Oil what required your attention calling you from here...?

- Partly.  In any case, Iīm not interested in her money at all.  Hope she had visited us more often in the last years...

- Your grandmother was a very special woman... and full of surprises.  This is one of the reasons I have returned to Dallas for... and you are first.

 

Cliff Barnes woke up of the half-sleep he was immersed in since the beginning of the meeting. The "First Commercial Bank" Management Board Meeting was then closing its first session with the new Chairman, Mr. J.W. Monahan... 

- How are you doing, cousin Cliffie?  - All the other executives had left and the newcomer put his hand upon Cliffīs shoulder while he stretched out the other hand to him.  Both men shook hands as Cliff tried to guess who that self-assured man was.

- Donīt you remember your cousin? I am James Willard Monahan, formerly known as Jimmy.  You can call me Will now.

Cliff disguised his surprise and gave a hug to cousin Will.

 

                Bobby and Pam had driven Lucy to the airport and had just arrived at the house, now desert. 

- Poor Val... - She said - It seems that she and Lucy had a few words before leaving and Val is depressed... and Gary, out at a business supper...

- Yes, I hope that Lucy makes up with them once and for all, even if they do it only for little Peterīs good.

- We have hardly seen Christopher since we arrived, we should spend more time with him... 

- Yes, itīs  time for us to talk to him about his natural mother...

- I canīt believe what you are saying... - Pam told him nervously.  - We are his parents and talking to him of Kristin will just cause him problems... him and us!

 

Sue Ellen and John Ross already were at desserts.  In spite of the excellent food they had ordered, neither of them had emptied their dishes. 

- Grandmother wanted my sister and me to live the life she never could live... or so we thought.  When she phoned me, shortly before his death, she was living in a great mansion in Beacon Hill, and seemed to have everything she wanted.  But, the day of the testamentīs reading, we knew that she had many debts, due to her very last addiction:  stock-market options. She  wanted to be able to leave something to her grandsons when she would die...

- Her grandsons?  So, am I not her only grandson?    

Sue Ellen held her sonīs hand with affection, and stared closely to him: 

- No, darling. Your Aunt Kristin had a son before she died...Promise me to keep it secret...for a few days.

 

At one of the Dallas suburban areas, a group of homeless people was  having their own celebration. Apart from that group, one appears was curled up in a dark corner. She was a young woman, in her thirtysomethings, dressed in an old hat and a still more abraded raincoat, who tried to protect herself from the cold of the night.

She finished up the bottle of cheap she had been hiding in her pocket and, when took it out, a small purse fell down. She opened it and checked that there only were a couple of dimes left.  She took a folded photo from the bottom: the man was James Beaumont-Ewing. 

"Damn, damn, damn..." - she shouted as she threw the bottle against a fence...

 

(Fade out)

 

Donna and her daughter Margaret had finished their breakfast.  It was then when Ray Krebbs appeared at the kitchenīs door with a sleepy face... Young Maggie volunteered then to prepare a special breakfast for him, leaving her parents alone at the patio.

 - We have the best girl we ever could wish...

 - Yes - she agreed -. She fit to her health condition so quickly...For a diabetic person, she is as healthy as she can be... 

- And as pretty as her mama...- he said enthusiastically, kissing Donna... 

- We can offer her a lot of things to compensate her for the years we lived in Washington...and to compensate you too. 

- Thereīs nothing to compensate for, baby... I love you, and we gotta forget our past.  These holidays will help us to overcome bad times... Within one week, weīll be down under, in Australia, and youīll only think about the kangaroos...

-Whatīs gonna happen with the Ewing Group?  Do you think Gary is ready to run his part of the company?

- You seem to have forgotten that Bobby is back. Besides, Gary is a fine guy...

 

At the Ewing Group Offices, Gary was chatting with his friend and ex workmate Frank Williams...

- Thatīs good news, Frank!  So you are going to be a granddaddy...Iīm afraid I won you in that race...

- I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to get experienced in Commercial Law when you hired me as a legal adviser of the EEG... 

- Weīd already worked together and been neighbors for many years... Iīm sorry you gotta leave Dallas for L.A., to live with your daughter Julie and her family...

- I will give regards to Mack and Karen from you...They are the only ones left from the old gang living in Knots Landing. I guess Iīll come around... 

Frank looked suddenly sad: he wasnīt able to forget his wife Pat had died there...

- You deserve to have your piece of happiness, pal...and thanks for recommending me that lawyer you worked with at the Chicago office...Whatīs his name? 

- Beam, Alan Beam... 

 

Christopher parked his car a couple of apples away of his destiny and walked to an old abandoned warehouse.  Right opposite, there was a bench where he expected to meet somebody... 

He realized he was prompter than the other person but, a few minutes later, he came up: he was a twentyniner with messed hair and thick glasses, dressed in a black leather jacket...

The young man, whose nickname was "Illegal Eagle", accompanied Chris into a wrecked car parked in the backside of the building. He switched his portatile computer introduced the diskette he was holding in his hand, that he intended to sell Chris. 

Chris began to read its contents onscreen:  it was a transcription of a trial:  "Lisa Alden Farraday versus Bobby James Ewing, trial for the custody of minor Christopher Mark Shepard."

Christopher had his eyes wide open and gave to the man the package he had brought, containing a huge sum of money.  "Eagle" counted it and returned the diskette to him. Chris got out of the car and took a roundup before walking back to his own auto, the one with the plate Ewing 9. 

 

Donna looked up to the attractive man she had in front of her:  blonde, thin, blue-eyed and smart-looking.  He was her psychiatrist. 

- What are you thinking about, Donna? 

- Just about our plans for when we return from Australia... - she said after thinking for a few seconds. 

- It is very important to me that everything works out fine.  I have spent these last years watching over my brother-in-law at the company, just to do a favor to his brother...and now, I go back to where I was before: no work, no reputation, no future... 

- There is a lot more aside from work, Donna...

 - Yes, I do know, Oscar.  But I always put my career in the first place, until I met Ray. From the day I married him, loyalty to him and his family came first, and the things kept changing bit by bit. And when I got pregnant, I felt that way for the first time:  I felt I had lost my identity and had to choose between being a mother and having a career.  And I chose both things, but I let Ray go...

- But Ray and you are together again, and have a daughter you are very proud of...

Donna felt obligated to be true. Actually, she had been thinking about little Jimmy.  She explained to the doctor the situation.  They had just given the boy back to his family... 

- When he looked back and returned to embrace us, Ray started to cry and I thought...that, thanks to that boy, he had been able to feel what to grow up a son is... Something I cannot give him anymore... 

- Enjoy your holidays, Donna.  When you come back, everything will be back to normal. But, if you need me, you know where I am... 

 

Cliff and Will were having a drink at the Oil Baronsī Club... 

- Great thing youīre coming home, Jimmy, I mean, Will...I suppose youīll not want to be called J.W., hehehe... - Cliff laughed out loudly, thinking about the irony: for a brief instant, he had thought that the newcomer could be a secret son, called just as the illegitimate son of his deceased but eternal archrival J.R. 

- I really want to see.  How is she?

- Oh, very well...  When did you meet her for the last time? 

- At motherīs funeral. Your absence there surprised me...

 - I just couldnīt, completely impossible. My baby daughter was ill, so... you already know that I have a beautiful daughter, donīt you? Her name is Pamela too, Pamela Rebecca, although we call her Beckie. My sister and I used to visit your mother in Tennessee, she was so alone... But, tell me more about you.  How have you made your way to the "First Bank"? 

- When Digger died, my mother kept on pressing me to improve myself and make a future and not to waste my life, so I began to work in anything and, after a couple of years, I could afford college.  I graduated in Harvard and was hired by a financial advising company...Sorry I wasnīt told I was going to find you there. Dennis seemed to be in a hurry to retire and find a substitute.

Cliff changed his face expression but chatted on:

- What about girls?  Have you ever married?

- No, in fact, that Ewing barbecue I accompanied you at, marked me somehow.  I remember that  Ewing granddaughter...What was her name, Boozie?

- No, Lucy...She still looks very pretty but she is as insolent as her uncle J.R. was. That was a very sad day for Pamela, I donīt know if you can remember that she miscarried her baby then...

 - Letīs toast to this reunion...and to get back the lost time.

 

At the opposite end of the city, a woman was being carried into the Emergency Rooms of the Dallas General Hospital.  She was the same woman swelling in that dead end, the previous night.  She had swallowed a mixture of alcohol and synthetic drugs that had led her to the verge of death... 

But, in a dark corner of the ambulance, her small purse was lying on the ground, with the young womanīs only belongings inside... including  Jamesīs photo...

 

(Fade out)

               

Ray Krebbs was watching his wife without being noticed:  she looked emotionally fragile and he wished, deep in his heart, that she could recover and be the strong, independent and happy woman she always was. 

All the family had gathered to say good-bye to the Krebbses. The day of leaving had arrived.  Ray, Donna and Maggie were leaving to Sydney, where they would spend one week, and later would visit other parts of Australia. 

Bobby, Pam, Gary, Val and the twins were standing there. They embraced the couple warmly.  Val gave Donna an old clock that had belonged to her grandmother and a gold chain for Maggie. Pam asked her to buy her a couple of things, while Ray checked that Bobby had the right data of the Sydney hotel... 

Both couples were left behind, and Donna strongly grasped her daughterīs small hand, as she took a deep breath...

 

James had a meeting with his brother John Ross at the old Ewing Oil offices. What he didnīt expect to find was the same name at the entrance... 

Once inside, he was welcomed by Sue Ellen, in an executive suit and a surprisingly friendly attitude.  Both of them had had their disagreements in the past, mainly when James tried to manipulate John Ross to control his inheritance, even if Sue Ellen had to drive off the wagon again...

But also Sue Ellen had learnt to act following some of her ex husbandīs rules, and, after all, James was her sonīs brother... and John Ross had no more brothers.  James hugged his brother tightly and, soon, the three of them went into John Ross Ewing IIIīs brand new office. 

- Well.  Whatīs your plan? 

- We want you... - Sue Ellen said somewhat mischievously.  - We want you on our side.  We have founded the new Ewing Oil and we want you to be our partner. 

John Ross and Sue Ellen smiled at each other, as a surprised James shook his head...

 

                Christopher looked at the screen of his computer for a few seconds, verifying the page numeration of the document he had just bought  illegally.  Suddenly, he noticed that, when his aunt Sue Ellen and his uncle Bobby were going to testify, several pages of the transcription were missing. Any other reference to any of them had disappeared, as well as the final verdict of the judge... 

Chris contacted "Illegal Eagle" via Internet. 

- You conned me, half pages are missing...

- Thatīs the whole file, dude... 

- Itīs unintelligible. Itīs not worth what I paid you for it...

The other guy ignored the message and got disconnected from the net...

               

At the Dallas General Hospital, a life had come to an end. The young blonde who had come in hours before, had eventually died.  

The doctor who had tried to save her was talking to a nurse. 

- Where are the blond girlīs belongings? 

- Here - the nurse said, as she put out the purse found in the ambulance. 

- A couple of dimes, a folded photo... and a certificate of marriage...

The nurse united two halves of the photo and said:

- I know that guy: heīs a Ewing, James Beaumont...

 

(Fade out)

 

James Beaumont-Ewing turned his head to Sue Ellen.

- Whatīs the knack?  - He asked.

- No knacks, no tricks - John Ross answered unhesitantly.  - We need somebody experienced in oil business.  You worked with dad at Ewing Oil, with Cliff at Barnes-Wentworth and, then, you passed to alternative energies...and now, you are one of the biggest chief executives of the Ewing Group.

James smiled and, when he noticed Sue Ellenīs ironic expression, decided to avoid the roundups... 

- All that is for sure, but also that, years ago, our relation was not friendly at all.  What is more, we could say we were almost enemies...

Sue Ellen decided it was time for her to speak. She didnīt either love roundups...

 - This is our proposal:  we want you to help us to turn the new Ewing Oil into a powerful company fit to the new times.  The Ewing Group will soon  be closing its last fields, and the oil price is stabilized again... Without  WestStar  or Barnes-Wentworth, we can only be winners... 

James looked askance at his brother and soon he looked back to Sue Ellen.

- Besides, you belong to this family:  you are John Rossīs only brother. - She added.

- Just gimme a couple of days to think about it...- James asked, self-assured. 

Sue Ellen knew that, the following day, an extraordinary meeting of the Management Board of the Ewing Group was going to be held.  Mother and son looked at each other, and agreed.

- One more little thing:  - Sue Ellen softly added - Like in old times, this is not only businesses, but family too.  If you betray this confidence, nobody in this city will remember who James Beaumont was... 

 

Next morning, at the main offices of the Ewing Group, Bobby, as the Chief Executive of the corporation, had gathered all the members of the family with a say and a share in the company: 

Founded after they found oil in the subsoil of Southfork, it was born as a way to keep the family united in a time when the atmospheric misfortunes and the personal revenges had sunk the family down, being symbolized by the demolished house.  Several fortunes had merged to create the company:  on one hand, Bobby and Pamela, married again;  on the other hand, Gary, whose inheritance had become a number of ambitious but unsuccessful business deals;  thirdly, there were the estates of Lucy, John Ross and Christopher, inherited from Ellie, which had been controlled by Bobby and Pamela until now; the Farlows, Clayton and Dusty, also were other partners, and Dusty, now co-owner of the ranch, who, along with Barbara Baxter, had really kept the property in the family.  James was part of the business too, he had invested the rest of Ellieīs inheritance to support the family morally. 

- Iīm not gonna bore you with any formal speech:  this always has been a family company and we know each other better than weīd like to...- The Ewings present there couldnīt help but smile - so we are going to go to the point:  within a month, thereīs gonna be the Meeting of the Management Board and weīll deal with two issues: first, the re-organization of the company after my return and Ray and Donnaīs resignation, and second, the issue of the Southfork fields. Weīll gotta decide if they stay open or they are closed forever, and with them, the oil business associated to the Ewing name.  When Clayton returns from Switzerland, weīll vote for the first issue and, within three months, for the second.  Until then, be happy. Iīll be waiting for you all at James and Callyīs wedding, to be celebrated within three weeks in Southfork. 

 

Chris was driving his sports car through the streets of Dallas: he retired his left hand off the wheel to press a button in his free-handed cell phone.  The female voice that answered at the other side was his auntīs...

- Hello, Auntie Sue Ellen. My mother asked me to invite you tomorrow to have lunch at Southfork, so youīll can update your gossip... 

- All right, honey...Iīll be there.  But I would like to see you too...

- Do you have anything in particular to talk to me about?

- No, just family talks... 

 

Cliff received his cousin Will friendly...

 - What a surprise, didnīt know you were coming, Will...!

Will stared at him and punched the desk off. 

- And I didnīt know I had a lousy warp as a cousin...

Cliff blinked pretending to be the victim.

- What the hell are you talking about?

- I am talking about the detective that you hired to investigate my past, beginning with my college years in Harvard. A good friend said to me that somebody begun to make questions about my private life to the professors and some career fellows still living in Boston...!

- Jimmy, I believe that you are mistaken... 

- Do not call me Jimmy, now my name is Will. Mr. Monahan for you.  You have deceived me, Cliffie.  I thought that, at heart, you worried about my mother, though you didnīt visit her in her last ten years...Only Pamela  remembered her on her birthdayīs day and always called her.  I ought to have seen through when you talked about Tennessee, because my mother never lived there, but in Kansas. 

- This is not what you think.

- No, itīs much worse:  you are such a manipulator as was that enemy of yours who won you so many times, what was his name, J.R.? 

- I was the one who won him, once and for all... - he assured as he got up  of the chair and tried to strike back.

- I have just presented my resignation. Funny enough, when we were kids, Maggie insisted on Pammie, you and I blessing the table before lunches.  You always began to eat without waiting for us and got up when you had finished.  I hope you can remember some of the prayers that Maggie taught us because you are going to need them... the day that our roads will cross again...

Cliff gasped for air when Will left, leaving the door open... 

 

Sue Ellen had checked in the best suite of the most expensive Dallas hotel, as her mansion was getting re-opened for her to live in.  She had decided to switch off his cell phone and not to be bothered with business calls...She had a ticket for the Metropolitan Opera House, presenting Bizetīs  "Carmen". 

Before the end, Sue Ellen left her seat and walked outside. She walked along the gardens of the site, elegantly dressed, wearing a green handkerchief to protect herself from the summer cold of Dallas.

When she reached a pond, she looked away in the distance and thought about every time she and J.R. had attended that same theater, when they still behaved like a happy couple.  Everything was past, he already was dead and Sue Ellen clung to her life fiercely.  But she could not help not to drop a tear. It was going to be hard, returning to Southfork. The opera finished, inside the theater.

 

James, Cally and little Jimmy were ready to have dinner, when the doorbell rang.  James got up to open.  When he found two cop-looking strangers  in the threshold, he got astonished...

- James Beaumont?

- Yes, I am.  Whatīs wrong?

- We want you to come with us to the police station,  the first man said, after identifying itself by his Dallas Police plate.

 - We gotta talk to you about the murder of your wife - the other policeman said, while Cally appeared from behind, looking even more surprised than James.

-What is all this about?

- Itīs about the murder of your wife, Michelle Stevens Beaumont.  She died yesterday in the Dallas General Hospital.

                 

Pamela was waiting for his son Christopher in the main house, savoring a cup of tea and reading one of her favorite books.  The previous day, he had called to tell he wanted to meet her at Southfork to talk with her.  She was glad of him being the one who wanted to see her instead the opposite, more frequent.  His only son,  19 years old, adopted by her and Bobby in 1981, had a high intellectual coefficient and had spent several years in a special school for gifted young people. She had enough reasons to be proud of him, but she knew that the future would bring pleasant surprises to her about Chris... 

A car was parking at the entrance of the mansion.  It was a gray-color Mercedes, from which prompt Sue Ellen got out. She gazed at the house and looked up and down the facade of that mansion she had never been living in.  She breathed out relieved.  "How  different this would have been if I had returned to the old Southfork..." 

Right then, Chris was driving and parking his motorcycle at the back patio of the house, and entered by the door in front of the swimming pool...

Pamela walked downstairs when heared the car, first, and then his sonīs bike roaring and breaking the silence of the house.  Nobody else was there, at that moment.  Halfway, Pamela stopped, when recognized her former sister-in-law... 

- Hello, Pamela - Sue Ellen said, smiling shyly...

- What a surprise, Sue Ellen...

- Surprise?  But if Chris told me you invited me for lunch...

The arrival of the young man dissipated their doubts:

- Donīt worry, Aunt Sue Ellen.  You have come on time...

- On time, what for?

- For you to tell me all the truth about my true mother, your sister...about Kristin Shepard.

The two women stared at each other, in such a way that the young Ewing thought that one of them was going to faint right there at any time... 

 

 

END OF EPISODE 2

 

 

NEXT EPISODE: “TIME TO DIE”

 

 

Guest Stars in Episode 2:

LARRY RILEY (FRANK WILLIAMS)

DEBORAH TRANELLI (PHYLLIS)

 

"EWING EMPIRE" is a web-based Fan-Fiction created, written and edited by TONI DÍAZ. The main characters of this net super soap were created by DAVID JACOBS for the shows "DALLAS" and "KNOTS LANDING".

 

This episode is lovingly dedicated to all the actors from the 80īs Super soaps who, like Larry Riley (KNOTS LANDINGīs Frank), Dack Rambo, Rock Hudson, Timothy Patrick Murphy or Tom Fuccello, disappeared due to aids.

 

 

 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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