Abandonment. Could there be any worse fate for a child? As you'll see in today's story, two young boys were abandoned by their parents and made to live in the orphanage. It was a nice facility, but it stands to reason these two boys should be given a loving home with caring people, and in the case of young Michael and Josh, it wasn't so easy, mainly because Josh was unable to speak. Whether or not it was a medical disorder, nobody knew, but because of this fact, the Rooney family, who had come to the Sleepy Eye orphanage to adopt the two boys decided only to take Michael. They're making a huge deal of Josh's inability to speak. I should think this was a golden opportunity for would-be parents: you get a kid who won't talk back to you or bore you with uninteresting tidbits or anything like that. But no, the boy couldn't speak, they didn't want him. So, despite the protests of the boys present caregiver, Miss Mason, it looks like they would be split up by the two bigots who couldn't stand for no silence. After all, children should be heard and not seen. I guess Michael and Josh wouldn't stand for that, because later that night kindly old Houston Lamb found them hiding and invited them back up to his place. Back at the orphanage, Mr. Case, the proprietor, notices them gone and Miss Mason confesses to knowing they would run away. Why didn't she do something? She hated to see them split up after all they'd been through. It was for their own good. So...running away and being lost in a strange city and possibly being killed is better for them? This orphanage sucks!
Case and Mason enlisted help from Jonathan in finding the lost ones. Houston happened to overhear the whole situation, realizing he's got the runaways at his place and he hated to see them split up, nor did he want to part with them, becoming as attached as he was, so Houston took them to his cabin near the lake and taught them the art of fishing. Things seemed to be going fine, until one afternoon during a delivery run, Charles and Albert spotted the boys and, knowing Jonathan was searching high and low for them, went to confront Houston, who asked Charles to keep their secret. He needed a little more time. So, being the good man he was, and knowing that the orphanage would break up Michael and Josh, Charles agreed to keep it under his hat. Yep, the bond with the boys was growing stronger each day, so I'm thinking, why couldn't Houston legally adopt them? He goes to see Mr. Case about the matter and unfortunately because of his age, single status, lack of finances and the fact he didn't have a working farm, Case blew him off. In order to rectify at least one qualification, Houston set to work on bringing his farm up to speed. Meanwhile, Charles finally broke it to Jonathan about the situation with the boys. While they went to inform Mr. Case, in ran Michael trying to get help for Houston, who had apparently fainted from exhaustion. Case was none too sympathetic and it looks like the circumstances regarding the boys remained unchanged. Despite Charles and Jonathan trying to talk some sense into Case and the Rooneys, they wouldn't budge. Just then, in walked Houston, having made a miraculous recovery. Right then and there that old man talked a good deal of sense into those people, pointing out what judgmental creeps the Rooneys were, not wanting Josh because he couldn't talk. Oh, but he could talk, just not with words... actually, he could talk it seems, for when Houston turns to leave, Josh runs after him and says he loves him. Sure enough everybody in the room heard, and now the Rooneys want both boys. What a couple of fickle bastards. But at least Houston would still be able to see them every day after school so I guess it all worked out.
This is one that will really tug at your heart strings. Big props to Dub Taylor who was wonderful as Houston, showing what a great guy he really was, how he took in those boys and cared for them like they were his own, despite what the bureaucratic bastard Case thought. Ivan Bonar really pulled off that jerk nicely, however in subsequent appearances Case does lighten up. We'll be seeing him again in Season 8 dumping Nancy onto the Olesons. David Hollander and David Faustino were adorable as Michael and Josh, and as you may all know, David Faustino would go on to play Bud Bundy on Married With Children. Yep, he went from the adorable little mute boy to the hopelessly horny teenager. Now as for the ending of this episode, I'm sure most of the viewers, myself included, wanted the boys to end up with Houston. I guess they felt it would have been considered too "Hollywood" if they did, and the Rooneys clearly didn't deserve them, biased as they were. I guess they did it this way to show how realistic a scenario this can be: usually something of great importance goes to an undeserving asshole instead of the nice guy who has nothing. Crazy world, and it sure ain't getting any better. Anyway, if you like kids and you like Houston, then The Silent Cry is for you.
Case and Mason enlisted help from Jonathan in finding the lost ones. Houston happened to overhear the whole situation, realizing he's got the runaways at his place and he hated to see them split up, nor did he want to part with them, becoming as attached as he was, so Houston took them to his cabin near the lake and taught them the art of fishing. Things seemed to be going fine, until one afternoon during a delivery run, Charles and Albert spotted the boys and, knowing Jonathan was searching high and low for them, went to confront Houston, who asked Charles to keep their secret. He needed a little more time. So, being the good man he was, and knowing that the orphanage would break up Michael and Josh, Charles agreed to keep it under his hat. Yep, the bond with the boys was growing stronger each day, so I'm thinking, why couldn't Houston legally adopt them? He goes to see Mr. Case about the matter and unfortunately because of his age, single status, lack of finances and the fact he didn't have a working farm, Case blew him off. In order to rectify at least one qualification, Houston set to work on bringing his farm up to speed. Meanwhile, Charles finally broke it to Jonathan about the situation with the boys. While they went to inform Mr. Case, in ran Michael trying to get help for Houston, who had apparently fainted from exhaustion. Case was none too sympathetic and it looks like the circumstances regarding the boys remained unchanged. Despite Charles and Jonathan trying to talk some sense into Case and the Rooneys, they wouldn't budge. Just then, in walked Houston, having made a miraculous recovery. Right then and there that old man talked a good deal of sense into those people, pointing out what judgmental creeps the Rooneys were, not wanting Josh because he couldn't talk. Oh, but he could talk, just not with words... actually, he could talk it seems, for when Houston turns to leave, Josh runs after him and says he loves him. Sure enough everybody in the room heard, and now the Rooneys want both boys. What a couple of fickle bastards. But at least Houston would still be able to see them every day after school so I guess it all worked out.
This is one that will really tug at your heart strings. Big props to Dub Taylor who was wonderful as Houston, showing what a great guy he really was, how he took in those boys and cared for them like they were his own, despite what the bureaucratic bastard Case thought. Ivan Bonar really pulled off that jerk nicely, however in subsequent appearances Case does lighten up. We'll be seeing him again in Season 8 dumping Nancy onto the Olesons. David Hollander and David Faustino were adorable as Michael and Josh, and as you may all know, David Faustino would go on to play Bud Bundy on Married With Children. Yep, he went from the adorable little mute boy to the hopelessly horny teenager. Now as for the ending of this episode, I'm sure most of the viewers, myself included, wanted the boys to end up with Houston. I guess they felt it would have been considered too "Hollywood" if they did, and the Rooneys clearly didn't deserve them, biased as they were. I guess they did it this way to show how realistic a scenario this can be: usually something of great importance goes to an undeserving asshole instead of the nice guy who has nothing. Crazy world, and it sure ain't getting any better. Anyway, if you like kids and you like Houston, then The Silent Cry is for you.
