The Homecoming

A phone rings at the Odyssey Police station, and while Patrick O'Ryan handles the calls, a young man walks up to the desk to report in. His probation officer has told him to check in with the police when he arrives in town. He explains that he got out of the Campbell County Detention Center a couple of months ago, that arson was one of the things that put him there, and that he has come to Odyssey to visit family and friends. Then he gives his name: Richard Maxwell.

Word travels fast. Tom Riley hurries to John Whittaker with unsettling news. While walking down Main Street with a friend from the city zoning committee, Tom watched crews clearing away the burnt-out castle that once belonged to the man who brought so much trouble to Odyssey - and then a bus rolled past with Richard Maxwell sitting inside. Whit is not surprised. A note has come in the morning mail asking him to meet Richard at the old castle at 2:30. Tom does not like it one bit. He has not forgotten that Richard burned down his barn and nearly killed his horses and Tom himself. Whit gently reminds him that Richard has served his time and has every right to come back, but Tom is certain Richard is up to something.

The news reaches others too. At the college, Jeff tells Eugene Meltsner that Richard Maxwell has been searching the campus for him. Eugene remembers all too well the grade-changing scandal from two years back, when Richard's scheming exploited a fellow student and very nearly got Eugene dismissed. And at a shop counter, Lucy Cunningham-Schultz pays the cashier for a magazine, turns around, and comes face to face with Richard himself. Flustered and upset, she hurries away before he can say more than hello.

At the demolition site, a construction worker tells Richard they are tearing down the old castle. Whit arrives, and Richard finally explains why he has come. He did a lot of thinking in the detention center, and he wants to apologize to the people he hurt. He has a plan, and he needs Whit's help. Whit is glad to hear it, but he presses deeper: saying you are sorry only tells people you feel bad, while asking for their forgiveness admits you need something from them - their pardon. Richard agrees to try, and he starts with Whit himself, who forgives him freely, explaining that forgiving others the way God has forgiven him is a big part of what being a Christian is all about. Whit adds that God belongs at the top of Richard's list, but Richard is not ready for that and asks to stay with mere mortals for now.

Richard has already made peace with a friend who cried and hugged him and said many of the same things Whit did. Eugene is a harder case. Stunned that Richard would apologize at all, he finally offers a carefully worded, conditional yes, and Richard takes it. Lucy is harder still. When Whit brings them together in the park, Richard tells her he wanted to do at least one thing right in his life and asks her to forgive him for using her and lying to her. Lucy breaks down in tears, says she does not know if she can, and runs off confused. Hardest of all is Tom Riley. At the farm, Tom orders Richard off his property before he can even finish a sentence. Richard apologizes anyway and hopes Tom can forgive him one of these days, but Tom only tells him to get out.

Discouraged, Richard decides there is no life for him in Odyssey and asks Whit to drive him to the bus station. Just as the bus to Chicago is announced, Lucy comes running. She has thought about what Richard said and prayed hard, and she wants him to know that she does forgive him - for everything. Richard is deeply moved. With the driver calling him aboard, he thanks Lucy and Whit, says goodbye, and rides away, leaving the door open to return someday. Lucy tells Whit it felt like the only thing she could do, because it would have hurt more not to forgive him.

Later, Whit visits Tom at the farmhouse. Tom admits that he could not forgive Richard, and that knowing he should but cannot leaves a sick feeling in his stomach. Whit understands. Forgiveness, he says, is sometimes a process, one we go through not only for the other person but for our own sakes, and for Jesus' sake. Tom asks Whit to pray with him, that God will give him the strength to forgive - and together, that is exactly what they do.