Harley Foster and his son Jody are introduced in this episode and will be recurring characters throughout the series. Harley and Jody are black itinerant workers who come to Waltons Mountain to pick seasonal peaches. Nothing is said about Jody's mother nor his exact age, but he appears to be about the same age as, or perhaps a little older than Jim Bob. Harley loves his traveling life and relates that he is showing his son the world. The two have travelled to places such as Alaska, Wyoming, and Arizona, standing on glaciers and sticking their toes in the Mississippi river. He opines, "I always say, being in one place too long is like being stuck in jail". Jody, however, appears to be a little disenchanted with traveling, telling John and Olivia that he and his dad spent Christmas in a railroad boxcar and that he would most especially like to have a bed all his own to sleep in. Harley shows himself to be a fine auto mechanic by fixing the Waltons' truck and the Baldwin sisters' car. Jody can't read or write, but Harley defends his decision to keep his son out of school when he tells Verdie Grant that he was never able to make use of his own high school education even though he made good grades. Widow Verdie is sorry to see Harley and Jody prepare to leave the mountain when the peach picking is over, encourages him to search for work in the area, and sets out to win the "fine looking" man's affections.
When the Walton children line up to be paid for picking peaches, it becomes evident that the orchard's owner, Mr. Denton, is not going to pay anyone under the age of twelve. He bypasses a little girl saying "You're not twelve", and gives the money to her older sister standing behind her, telling them to split it between them. When Mr. Denton asks next-in-line Ben how old he is, Ben says he's twelve, although Mr. Denton questions the honesty of Ben's answer. Behind Ben, Erin has also heard Mr. Denton's comments and when he says to her "I suppose you're twelve, too", Erin simply nods, takes the money handed to her and says "Thank you, Mr. Denton". Since it probably would have been important enough to mention in the series, but it never was, it is highly unlikely that Ben and Erin are twins. It is possible that Ben and Erin are both twelve, but not twins, if one was born 9 to11 months apart from the other in the same year, ie. Ben in January and Erin in October, November or December. Or one of them was lying to Mr. Denton about his or her age, making sure each member of the family was paid for the hard work of picking peaches!
In this episode, we learn the name of one of Verdie's two sons, mentioned in season one, episode 21, "The Scholar". While showing Jody Foster a large seashell, Verdie tells him that it belonged to her son, Albert, who wasn't much older than Jody when her husband died.
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