Silent Promises 1/5

(1980) Laura’s sign language pupil (Alban Branton) falls in love with her.

We open this episode as school is letting out in Walnut Grove. Willie is trying to pull Albert away from a riveting game of catch. Willie acquired some firecrackers and wants to set them off to scare Old Man Dunsworth. Meanwhile, I prepare myself for an episode about the challenges of life in the 1800’s after you lose your fingers. Thanks, Little House. Albert is hesitant but eventually agrees to go with Willie after he’s offered some free licorice.

At the Mercantile, Nels walks in on Willie as he is rummaging through some drawers looking for the licorice. When his father asks what he is doing, Willie lies about looking for the catalog. Nels leaves and Willie asks Albert to be a better lookout. He starts to rummage again as Albert browses through the catalog. He stops on an ad for dog houses and muses over the idea of building one for Bandit. Willie gives him some grief about the project and tells Albert he can’t have any licorice, now clutched in his hand, if he runs off to work on the project. At this point Nels walks in and Albert says that he doesn’t want to take any licorice without permission. Narc. Willie runs out of the store before Nels can yell at him.

A man and his son are riding into town. The man slowly tells his horses “whoooooa” as they pull up to a building. The son is looking off into the middle distance, but unlike Mary it appears that he is actually looking at something. “Now you stay here,” the man says very slowly, patting his seat. The boy nods, distracted by the kids playing baseball in front of the school. The kid hops off the wagon and walks over to get a better look. In the meantime, Mr. Dunsworth is closing up the bank and hitching up his team to go home. Willie is nearby lighting the firecrackers. He throws them on the ground near the wagon that Mr. Dunsworth is about to mount. Surprise, surprise, the explosion freaks out the horses and they bolt knocking the banker to the ground. Willie, honey, there’s a distinction between a prank (i.e. scaring Mr. Dunsworth) and second degree murder (i.e. what is about to happen).

Laura is chatting with Almanzo when she notices the commotion. She sees the horses, she sees the new boy, she sees the new boy in the path of the horses, and she sees that the kid does not seem to realize that there is a runaway buggy about to mow him down. Laura runs over and pulls the kid out of the way just in time, tackling him to the ground. The kid is knocked unconscious, so that’s a fifteen yard penalty against team Ingalls. Almanzo carries the kid off to Doc Baker.

After the examination at Doc Baker’s, the diagnosis is that the kid had the wind knocked out. That doesn’t really explain the non-responsiveness, but I’ll defer to the doctor on this one. Nathan, the father, regrets bringing his son to town since “he can’t hear, he can’t think,” but Baker interrupts him, saying that the kid can think even though he can’t hear. “He’s like a baby,” Nathan claims. “All babies learn, they just need teaching,” replies Doc Baker. Nathan says that he can’t provide the special teaching that Daniel requires and then asks if they can go home. Laura asks Baker what kind of teaching Daniel would need. Baker explains that communication is the first step and tells her about sign language. As Doc Baker grabs some reading materials on the subject, Daniel and Nathan come out to the lobby. Daniel is obviously a smitten kitten for Laura and smiles. Laura looks on with pity then heads home to study the books Doc Baker hands her.