-1/1/55-1/31/55. Dick has taken the train to New York City and ends up renting a room at Mrs. Laury’s rooming house under the assumed name of Richard Edmonds. John comes to Los Angeles and Bart wants to replace Dick with him. Mrs. Laury tells another of her tenants, an art student from Iowa named Marie, that she’s worried about the new tenant she knows as Richard Edmonds. Marie discourages her from phoning the police, unaware that Dick has been mugged and is lying unconscious at the waterfront. Mike is jealous of the new baby. Even though Bill wants to name the new baby Frederick, after Papa, Bert wants to name him William Bauer, Jr. John agrees to join the staff at Cedars and move to Los Angeles. Kathy stops by the Grants and Laura blames Dick’s disappearance on Kathy and orders her out of her house. Kathy admits to Bert she’s still in love with Dick. Dick ends up in the hospital and Mrs. Laury, who is lonesome for her son in a VA hospital indefinitely, takes a maternal role with Dick.
-2/1/55-2/28/55. Kathy admits to Jim that she’s still in love with Dick and has to admit to herself that she’s lost Dick. The psychiatrist at the hospital tells Mrs. Laury that Dick is suffering from MDD and gets her to start worrying that he’s suicidal and that’s why he was down at the waterside when he got mugged. Dick goes back to Mrs. Laury’s rooming house and meets fellow tenant Marie. Mike feels like his world is crumbling even more when Papa has to go to the hospital for a hernia operation. Marie tries to bring Dick out of his shell.
-3/1/55-3/31/55. Marie wants to paint Dick’s portrait. Mrs. Laury tells Dick that Marie has lost the vision in one of her eyes. Nobody can figure out Bart’s favoritism and controlling of John, including John. With Bunny expecting in San Francisco and having lost hope of Dick ever returning to Los Angeles, Laura persuades Richard to move back to San Francisco. Jim warns John that Janet is a trouble-maker. Marie starts asking questions to Dick and he gets nervous as she gets too close for comfort. Dr. Baird tells Bart that John isn’t working out, which makes Bart panic for fear of losing John.
-4/1/55-4/30/55. Mrs. Laury and Marie find out Dick’s real name, that he’s a doctor and Marie remembers the story of him being missing. After listening to an Easter sermon on the radio, Dick is inspired to finally write his parents a letter. Bill and Bert urge Kathy to forget about Dick and not let Jim slip away. Dick starts to come out of his depression. Bert takes the baby and heads to Arizona after she learns her father is having an emergency operation.
-5/1/55-5/30/55. Bart tells Dr. Baird that John is his son. Dick confesses to Mrs. Laury about his real past and he learns she and Marie have known the truth for a while. Everyone tries to convince Kathy to give up on Dick but she won’t. Dick mentally prepares to return to Los Angeles. John’s mother, Liz, comes for a visit and angrily tells Bart to stop meddling in their son’s life. John decides to move back to San Francisco.
-6/1/55-6/31/55. Bert’s father dies. John and Jim can’t understand why Bart ran Dick away and brought John to Cedars to push John into plastic surgery even though John really wanted to go into psychiatry. John feels manipulated and maltreated by Bart. Bert brings her mother Elsie back with her to Los Angeles to live, much to Bill’s dismay. Papa Bauer moves in with Joe and Meta to give Bill and Bert more room for Elsie. Mrs. Laury and Marie lament about how they’ll miss Dick when he goes back to Los Angeles. Elsie is already getting on everyone’s nerves. Kathy has decided to go stay with Bob’s mother indefinitely. Dick leaves New York City for Los Angeles at the same time Kathy says goodbye to Jim and leaves Los Angeles for New York City with Robin. John and Janet are involved in a car crash. A frantic Bart blurts out to Jim that he has to save John because he’s Bart’s son.
-7/1/55-7/31/55. John dies as a result of his car accident, never having known that Bart was his father. When Bart learns that John had been drinking before he wrecked his car, he blames himself for the death of his son. A repentant Bart welcomes Dick back and says he wants to treat him the way he should have treated John. Helen wants Kathy and Robin to go to Europe with her. Marie is feeling lost and alone after the doctor told her she has to give up painting due to her eyesight and is missing Dick. Kathy sees Marie’s painting of Dick, Dark Echo, and tracks down Marie. Kathy tries to get information out of Marie but she’s reticent. Kathy can sense, however, that Marie is the new woman in Dick’s life. Mrs. Laury doesn’t like Kathy and tells Marie to stay away from her. Elsie’s hypochondria and loneliness comes to a head and she decides to move into the Bauer home. A newly confident Dick tells off Janet for her past behavior with Kathy.
-8/1/55-8/31/55. Dick is nervous as he’s called to perform his first surgery since he froze up during surgery a year ago. Out of guilt for the way he treated Dick and John, and loneliness after John’s death, Bart begins to try to smother Dick in a paternal manner. Marie tells Mrs. Laury that there’s nothing left for her now in New York and she’s going back to Iowa. Mrs. Laury recounts the whole story of Dick’s stay at the boarding house. She thinks Dick and Marie are in love with each other and tells Kathy that Dick is back in Los Angeles. Kathy thinks she’s still in love with Dick. Dick sets Marie up with an eye specialist in California and sends her an airplane ticket. Mike doesn’t like Elsie.
-9/1/55-9/30/55. Kathy arrives in Los Angeles the day after Marie does. Marie finds out from a letter Mrs. Laury wrote to her that Kathy is back in Los Angeles but Marie hides that information from Dick, although she confides in Laura. Marie gets hopeful news from the eye specialist. Laura and Kathy have a catfight and Laura lies to her that Dick and Marie are engaged. Dick finally makes it over to the Roberts’ house to see Kathy but she’s gone.
-10/1/55-10/31/55. Marie starts sketching a woman she sees at the park named Lila, meets her, and asks her to model for her. Kathy leaves for Europe with Helen and Robin. Dick thinks since Kathy left Los Angeles without seeing him that that’s a sign that he can now completely get over her, not realizing that her departure was due to Laura’s lies and manipulation. Marie is afraid the treatment isn’t working on her eye and the doctor thinks her fear of completely losing her sight is hindering her recovery. Her fear starts to consume her. Jim and Lila get interested in each other.
-11/1/55-11/30/55. Laura asks Marie not to tell Dick that she met Kathy in NYC and tries to make her feel indebted to do so because of the help she’s given her. Marie calls her out on trying to play God in people’s lives and her emotional upset from Laura’s intimidations causes her eyesight to worsen. Janet has moved to New York and gotten married. Marie feels guilty that even though Laura has tried to keep her from telling Dick about Kathy coming to Los Angeles for him, she knows that she has already kept that information from him anyway. Joe and Meta are back from their long stay in Washington D.C. The Bauers celebrate Thanksgiving, missing Kathy who they get a telegram from. Meta mentions to Papa how she misses Chuckie and Mike asks who Chuckie is. Dr. Kelly is over at the Bauers checking up on Michael when he gets called over to the Roberts because someone is sick. Bill and Bert worry that it’s Papa but it turns out to be Joe.
-12/1/55-12/31/55. Joey returns home just after Joe gets wheeled into surgery. Joe has some sort of obstruction. Kathy has left Paris and is heading toward Switzerland but nobody has a forwarding address. She’s finally located in Geneva. Joe Roberts dies while waiting for Kathy to arrive from Switzerland. Bill and Bert are discussing what to do for Christmas since Meta is grieving. Meta and Kathy talk about Kathy and Robin’s life in Europe and Kathy’s feelings towards Dick. Bill and Bert argue about Elsie’s favoritism towards Ed and her treatment of Mike. Dick and Kathy are reunited and Kathy and Dick realize Laura’s lie to keep them apart. Kathy tells Dick she’s met Marie, shocking him even more. Though the air is finally cleared between them, Dick and Kathy decide there’s no future for them at this point. Bert and Kathy talk about maturity and the transient nature of romantic love. Kathy goes back to Switzerland.
By
Reverend Ruthledge ·
