Pen Pal

Melanie Jacobs can't wait to finally meet Jenny Roberts, the pen pal she loves trading letters with - but when Jenny arrives for dinner, Melanie discovers the one thing the letters never said: Jenny is blind. A weekend visit turns awkward fast as Melanie stiffens up at the soccer game, snaps that Jenny is just a pen pal, not a friend, and even her mom's gentle advice can't fix things. Then Jenny, tired of being treated like she might break, dares Melanie to race her through the carnival maze of mirrors and slips out alone, leaving Melanie searching in a panic for twenty minutes. That night, Jenny announces she's called her parents to come get her... but first she asks Melanie to close her eyes and listen while she reads, in braille, the letter she'd been writing all along. Hearing just Jenny again - the friend from the letters - Melanie finally sees what her fear had hidden. By the time the car pulls away, the two aren't pen pals anymore. They're friends.

Found on A Place of Wonder Album 15 · 13 episodes

The run See every episode

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.

0208 Pipe Dreams When a nervous kid passed over for his dream Government Day assignment gets stuck in the county's least glamorous office, a storm gives him more excitement than he bargained for.

0209 Columbus: The Grand Voyage A time-traveling boy lands in fifteenth-century Spain, where his dream of sailing with Christopher Columbus tangles him in royal intrigue on the eve of history's most famous voyage.

0210 On Solid Ground When Kids Radio's call-in show about foundations is interrupted by a "breaking news" broadcast from the 21st century B.C., OT Action News reporters cover the unfolding saga of Abram and his nephew Lot live from the ancient Middle East.

1 of 2 0211 The Mortal Coil When Whit programs an Imagination Station adventure meant to show that death holds no fear for a Christian, his creation proves far more powerful than anyone at Whit's End is prepared for.

2 of 2 0212 The Mortal Coil When a heart attack leaves Whit hanging between life and death, the people who love him must reckon with what he built, what he believed, and who else may have paid the price for it.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 4 more roles

4 supporting roles

Jenny Roberts Natalie Babbitt Mike Roberts Tom Williams Linda Roberts Vaughn Taylor Circus announcer Bob Luttrell

Made by

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

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

Melanie Jacobs has been trading letters with a pen pal named Jenny Roberts, and after a whole week without a reply she is dying for word from her. She gets far more than a letter. Jenny and her parents happen to be in the area, and Melanie's mother has invited the whole family to dinner - tonight. Melanie dashes off to get ready before her mother can finish telling her the one thing Jenny's letters never mentioned, so she learns it at the front door instead: Jenny is blind. Jenny admits she should have said so, but writing to Melanie was so much fun that she didn't want to spoil it.

Over dinner the families warm to each other. The Robertses have been interviewing at a school for the blind near Odyssey, which means Jenny's family may move close by, and Melanie's sister Robyn talks everyone into letting Jenny stay for the weekend. Jenny checks first: does Melanie want her to? "Sure, if you want," is all Melanie can manage.

That night Jenny cheerfully answers Robyn's stream of questions. She could see until she was seven, when a disease took her sight. She builds a picture of a room piece by piece, and after the morning she woke up unable to remember her own mother's face, she has kept it by touch. Melanie cuts the conversation short, and once Jenny is out of the room she tells Robyn what is really wrong: "What am I going to do with her until Sunday night?" You have to be able to see, she insists, to do the things she likes.

Jenny keeps proving otherwise. At the soccer game she cheers, eats hot dogs, and points out that four out of five senses isn't bad. But Melanie stays stiff and distant, and when the sisters quarrel about going to the carnival, Melanie snaps that Jenny is not her friend - she's her pen pal. Jenny hears every word and quietly asks to be taken home. Melanie's mother gets the truth out of her afterward: the Jenny who showed up isn't the Jenny from the letters, and it was easier when she was just normal. Ann tells her Jenny isn't abnormal either, and asks her to look at everything special about Jenny instead of letting the blindness get in the way.

The carnival almost works. Then Jenny, tired of being treated like she might break, bets Melanie she can beat her through the maze of mirrors, plunges in alone, and slips out the exit with a stranger's help - leaving Melanie to search the maze for twenty minutes, terrified her guest is lost inside. Melanie storms home.

In the bedroom that evening Jenny announces she has already called her parents to pick her up in the morning. "I'm blind, Melanie, but I'm not stupid. You've been miserable ever since I got here." Then she asks Melanie to close her eyes and just listen while she reads, from braille, the letter she had been writing before the visit: how scared she was to tell the truth, how she has nightmares about people who feel sorry for her but avoid her, how she doesn't want anything to change between them. She wanted Melanie's eyes shut so she could hear just Jenny - "so you could see me the way I see you." Melanie finally admits it is pretty dumb to like the person who wrote the letters but not the same person face to face. Jenny asks one last favor: to touch Melanie's face, so she can feel what her friend looks like.

When the Robertses load up the car, Melanie asks Jenny to write soon. Robyn hopes the family moves to Odyssey, and their mother teases that then Melanie couldn't be pen pals with Jenny anymore. Melanie says they already aren't. Now they're friends.