Fair-Weather Fans

A sweltering heat wave has hit Odyssey, and a new kid named Derek rolls in with a wheelbarrow full of miracle fans that blow cold air - twenty dollars apiece. All he needs is a partner everyone trusts, and Isaac Morton fits the bill. Soon the fans are selling all over town, even to Whit at Whit's End, and Isaac is counting money he hasn't actually been paid yet... until one morning Derek doesn't show, the fans start breaking down street by street, and a neighbor finds cheap plastic inside his. Isaac's been scammed - and worse, the whole town trusted him the way he trusted Derek. A trail of quarters leads Isaac to the water slide park just in time to hear Derek's cold goodbye: "I can't afford friends in my line of work." So Isaac stays behind to repair the broken fans himself, and when the police finally catch Derek and his con-artist father, Isaac asks for just one thing - to see Derek again, because he was his friend.

Found on A Place of Wonder Album 15 · 13 episodes

The run See every episode

0195 Father's Day When Connie's estranged father breezes into town for one night with an invitation and a suspicious hesitation, she hatches an elaborate scheme to rekindle her parents' old flame.

0196 Harlow Doyle, Private Eye When a girl at Whit's End confesses she's lost her faith, Odyssey's eccentric new private eye takes the case - determined to find it like any other missing item.

0197 The Midnight Ride At Whit's End, Whit sets the record straight on Longfellow's famous poem, telling Marsha the fuller, stranger, and truer story of Paul Revere's midnight ride.

0198 Treasure Hunt A charity treasure hunt turned water-pistol war game collides with a manhunt when an escaped convict stumbles back into the one town he swore he'd never see again.

0199 The 'No' Factor When everyone in Odyssey suddenly wants Connie Kendall at once, her enthusiastic yeses pile into a schedule no one could survive.

0200 Feud for Thought When Eugene discovers he's related to Bernard Walton, his first family reunion turns sour as a fifty-year-old grudge over a pig deal puts his grandfather's honor - and his newfound family ties - on the line.

0201 Fair-Weather Fans When a heat wave hits Odyssey, Isaac partners with a smooth-talking new kid to sell miracle fans door-to-door - and learns that easy money always comes with a catch.

0202 Timmy's Cabin When the state moves to bulldoze his orchard for a new highway, a grieving farmer's last hope may rest with a mysterious wandering stranger and the old cabin his late son left behind.

0203 Double Trouble A famous actor's arrival in Odyssey sends the town into a panic when he turns out to be the spitting image of its most notorious villain.

0204 Wonderworld A reluctant Jimmy Barclay, convinced he's outgrown make-believe, gets strong-armed into babysitting Lawrence Hodges - a kid whose imagination refuses to take an afternoon off.

0205 Flash Flood Eugene's over-prepared debut on a camping trip tests the patience of his fellow campers just as a mountain storm threatens more than anyone bargained for.

0206 Pen Pal A girl's excitement about finally meeting her beloved pen pal face-to-face turns to confusion when the visit reveals a secret the letters never mentioned.

0207 The Case of the Candid Camera When a boy's camera vanishes at Whit's End, bumbling private eye Harlow Doyle takes the case - but the theft may be tangled up with the town's upcoming Bible Bowl.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 11 more roles

11 supporting roles

Doc Morton Diane Michelle Ralph (b) Bob Luttrell Jerry Morton Jerry Houser Derek (a) Chad Reisser Ralph (c) Bob Luttrell Isaac's neighbor 2 Bob Luttrell Water slide park employee Jerry Houser Derek's father Walker Edmiston Fred Ferdinand Walker Edmiston Mrs. Jorgensen Actor Unknown Isaac's neighbor Lynn Luttrell

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Charlie Richards Writer Phil Lollar Director Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Paul McCusker Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

A heat wave has settled over Odyssey, and Isaac Morton's dad is out on the porch fighting a losing battle with the family air conditioner when a boy Isaac has never seen wheels up with a wheelbarrow full of fans. His name is Derek, he is new in town, and the fans are special - they blow out cold air, and they sell for twenty dollars apiece. What Derek needs, he explains, is a partner. Isaac has lived in Odyssey all his life, Isaac knows everybody, and people trust Isaac. Two dollars a fan, take it or leave it. It beats the paper route, Isaac's dad is charmed by the young entrepreneur, and just like that the partnership is born.

Business booms. Mrs. Jorgensen does not usually buy door to door, but she knows Isaac, so she takes one. A neighbor hesitates over the price until Derek improvises a guarantee on the spot - the lifetime of the fan, for the lifetime of her house. Even Whit buys for the library at Whit's End. Derek raises Isaac to three dollars a fan and calls him a natural, and Isaac does the math at breakfast: forty fans, a hundred and twenty dollars, more money than any kid he knows could make in three days. His mother is uneasy. Derek's stories do not quite line up - didn't he say something had happened to his mother, before Isaac mentioned she works at a hospital? - and after six days of money pouring in, none of it has actually reached Isaac. Derek keeps forgetting to bring it. He pays for his milkshake from a pocket bulging with change, then announces he must visit his supplier alone and takes the day off.

The next morning Derek never comes to the street corner. Mrs. Jorgensen stops by to mention her fan has quit working, and Isaac's dad arrives with worse news: the phone has been ringing all morning, the fans are breaking down all over town, and one neighbor found cheap plastic inside his. At Whit's End, Whit admits he has already had to fix his own. Isaac's dad puts it gently - congratulations, son, you've been scammed.

The only clue Isaac has is Derek's claim that his father sells boats, so father and son drive to Trickle Lake, where Fred Ferdinand runs the only boat dealership in Odyssey and has never heard of any Derek. But Ferdinand remembers something: the water slide park across the lake has boats too. The ride there runs on quarters - and Isaac suddenly remembers Derek's pocketful of change. A park employee knows the kid, all right. His dad helped set up the boat ride, finished the job last night, and the two of them are staying in a cabin out back, leaving today. Isaac runs and catches Derek packing. He begs him to stay and help fix the fans, and asks what happened to their partnership, to being friends. "Isaac, I can't afford friends in my line of work," Derek tells him. "It's business. And business is over. Goodbye."

Nobody would have expected Isaac to make it right, but he spends the days that follow at Whit's End repairing broken fans with Whit, because everyone trusted him the way he trusted Derek. Whit reminds him of an old saying - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is - and of the warning in Proverbs against chasing fast money and choosing friends carelessly. Then the phone rings. The police have picked up Derek and his father near the county line; the father has been running scams across the state, and the confiscated money will go back to the people who bought the fans. Isaac's answer is not relief but a question: could he see Derek? Talk to him? Whit wonders why in the world he would want to, after everything. "Because he was my friend," Isaac says.