The Long Way Home

Aubrey Shepard can't wait to escape the Timothy Center - she misses her old friends, and a Saturday trip to the Connellsville Fun Park with Lisa and Mandy sounds perfect. There's just one problem: it costs twenty dollars, and money is tight. So Aubrey gets to work, selling old books, babysitting wild kids, mowing a lawn, even singing on the sidewalk for spare change - until Tom Riley pays her fifteen dollars for mucking out horse stalls and she finally has enough. But when the bus rolls out Saturday morning, the youth leader drops the news: the fun park is closed, and the group is headed to... the Timothy Center. Just as Tom offers to drive her into town instead, Aubrey meets Billie, an orphan who thinks the Center's woods, creek, and horses are wonderful - and who badly needs a friend. Aubrey gives up her afternoon in town to show Billie around, and by day's end she's seeing her home through new eyes.

Found on In Your Wildest Dreams Album 34 · 17 episodes

The run See every episode

0433a The Treasure Room When rumors spread that Whit is hiding a fortune behind a closed door at Whit's End, a girl weary of hand-me-downs decides she has to see the treasure for herself.

0433b Chain Reaction A boy's decision to cut corners on a simple lawn-mowing job quietly sets off a string of mishaps that ripples through the entire town of Odyssey.

0434 B-TV: Redeeming the Season A live holiday broadcast from the Odyssey Mall asks whether Christmas customs with tangled pagan and commercial roots can be given back to Christ - weaving in the imaginative tale of a young man named Nicholas who tries to run from wealth and position to find a humble life of faith.

1 of 2 0435 A Look Back As the millennium draws to a close, a nostalgic tour of Whit's End revisits the beloved characters and moments that made Odyssey feel like home.

2 of 2 0436 A Look Back Phil Lollar's retrospective tour of Odyssey revisits its funniest names, the Imagination Station's greatest journeys, and the quiet moments that changed lives forever.

0437a Sunset Bowlawater When a little girl's beloved goldfish turns up dead, a bumbling detective takes the case - but the fish himself has been telling the story all along.

0437b The Long Way Home Desperate to escape her family's new home for a day of fun, a girl works odd jobs all week to earn her way onto a church youth group trip.

0438a The Lyin' Tale A trip to the dumpster leaves Aubrey with a scratch, a crowd of curious kids, and a story that keeps getting bigger every time she tells it.

0438b The Telltale Cat When Mandy's new cat makes David Straussberg's life miserable, his desperate scheme to get rid of it comes back to haunt him.

0439 B-TV: Grace A free downtown lunch giveaway sparks a B-TV broadcast about grace - God's undeserved favor - told through Scripture, comedy, and the story of a farmer's son who trades his inheritance for Hollywood dreams.

0440 I Slap Floor When two kids ask why Whit is home recovering from Odyssey's strangest week ever, Bernard spins a tale of a mysterious returning visitor and a town where everyone suddenly starts acting like their opposite.

0441a What Do You Think? Desperate to know what people really think of her, a girl uses one of Whit's inventions to hear the private thoughts behind everyone's polite words.

0441b Idol Minds While Whit is away for two weeks, the kids of Odyssey turn to Eugene's technology to fill the void - with results no one anticipates.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 2 more roles

2 supporting roles

Lisa Mulligan Nicole Myers Billie Actor Unknown

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Jim Ware Writer Phil Lollar Director Rob Jorgensen Sound Designer

The story

Read the full synopsis 1 min

Aubrey Shepard feels trapped by life at the Timothy Center. She misses her old friends and longs to go somewhere without her parents or little sister. When Lisa and Mandy invite her to spend a whole Saturday with their church youth group at the Connellsville Fun Park, the trip seems like the perfect escape - until Aubrey learns that it costs twenty dollars.

Because money has been tight since the Shepards moved, Aubrey decides to earn the fee herself. She tries selling used books, babysitting several unruly children, mowing a lawn, and singing for spare change. Each attempt brings more trouble than money. At the end of the week, Tom Riley rewards her hard work cleaning horse stalls with fifteen dollars, giving her enough to join the trip.

Aubrey boards the church bus early Saturday, thrilled to be leaving the Timothy Center for an entire day. Then the youth leader announces that the fun park is closed for renovations. The group’s replacement destination is the very place Aubrey has worked so hard to escape: the Timothy Center.

Tom understands her disappointment and offers to drive her into Connellsville for shopping, miniature golf, or a movie. While he seeks her father’s permission, Aubrey meets Billie, a girl from the Connellsville Orphanage. Billie’s mother has died, and she has lived at the orphanage since she was six. To her, the Timothy Center’s woods, creek, horses, and trails seem wonderful.

When Tom returns ready to take Aubrey into town, Billie thinks Aubrey is abandoning their conversation. Aubrey realizes that this lonely girl has trusted her and needs a friend more than she needs an afternoon of entertainment. She postpones the Connellsville outing and spends the day showing Billie around instead. The two have such a good time that Aubrey begins seeing her home through Billie’s eyes and discovers that the place she wanted to escape may be remarkable after all.