Feud for Thought

Eugene Meltsner tags along to the Walton family reunion - and gets ordered off the property the moment Grandpa Borealis hears his last name. Fifty years ago, Eugene's grandfather Hiram promised Borealis 2,025 pigs for $150, only 27 came off the train, and the old man lost his farm over it. Eugene can't walk away from a feud his own grandfather may have started, so he and a grumbling Bernard Walton chase the truth through an old roommate, a library's newspaper files, and a dusty railroad waybill. The evidence says guilty, and Eugene agrees to pay for 1,998 missing pigs... nearly $40,000. Then the real answer surfaces: Hiram had a lisp, and "2,025 pigs" was really "two sows and 25 pigs," delivered exactly as promised. But Borealis calls the proof one more Meltsner trick and throws them all out anyway. Driving home, Eugene and Bernard hatch a stubborn plan of their own - the reunion comes every year, and next year they'll be back.

Found on Meanwhile, in Another Part of Town Album 14 · 13 episodes

The run See every episode

0194 A License to Drive When Connie is challenged to prove she has what it takes to be a teacher, her first pupil is the last person she'd choose: Eugene, who needs to learn how to drive.

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.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 3 more roles

3 supporting roles

Ralph Reems Tom Williams Train station attendant Tom Williams Borealis Walton Bill Erwin

Made by

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

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

Eugene Meltsner has never been to a family reunion. He has never even seen one, so when Bernard Walton mentions that the Waltons gather every year in Connellsville, Eugene talks his way into the passenger seat and fidgets the whole drive down. The reunion is everything he imagined, right up until Grandpa Borealis makes his entrance and asks whose side of the family the stranger comes from. At the name Meltsner the old man erupts. "You Meltsners are nothing but thieves and liars," he roars, and Hiram Meltsner, Eugene's grandfather, was the biggest liar and thief of all. He wants Eugene off the property, and he means it.

The story comes out privately to Bernard. Nearly fifty years ago Hiram, a doctor, advertised pigs for sale after a patient paid him in livestock. Borealis phoned, was promised 2,025 pigs for a mere $150, begged and borrowed the money, and met the train to watch 27 scrawny animals strut down the ramp. Hiram had already left town. Borealis eventually had to sell his farm, and he vowed never to speak to a Meltsner again.

Bernard is ready to drive home, but Eugene refuses. He has lived most of his life believing he had no family at all, and he cannot walk away from a rift his own grandfather may have caused. Bernard grumbles his way into helping - "You've been nothing but trouble ever since I met you. But you're also family." Hiram's old roommate, Ralph Reems, swears Hiram was a man of his word; the library's newspaper files turn up the original ad, exactly as Borealis quoted it; and at the train station, after a maddening runaround with the lone attendant who staffs every window in the place, they unearth a waybill from a warehouse of boxes: 27 pigs, requested and signed by Dr. G. Hiram Meltsner. Eugene accepts the verdict and its price. As Hiram's only living direct descendant he will pay Borealis for 1,998 undelivered pigs, close to $40,000 by Bernard's arithmetic.

Borealis is asking how much Eugene can afford a month when Reems pounds on the door with the real answer. Hiram barely spoke, because he had a lisp and thought it made a doctor sound silly. He sent exactly what he said he was sending: "not 2,025 pigs, but two sows and 25 pigs," confirmed on the waybill as 25 males and two females, still a bargain at $150. Eugene's grandfather was innocent all along. Borealis will not have it. "I don't care if it's in purple with pink polka dots. I don't believe it," he snaps, calls the proof one more Meltsner trick, and orders everyone out.

Driving home, Eugene is despondent, not over the money but over a man who can cling to fifty years of anger in the face of plain facts. Bernard names it for him: that is what bitterness does, it destroys. Then he surprises them both. The reunions come every year, and if Grandpa can be stubborn, so can they; bitterness destroyed, and it is up to them to rebuild. Eugene, as Bernard admits twice in one afternoon, is family. The episode ends with the two of them plotting how to win the old man over next year.