Punky Brewster (1984) s02e12 Episode Script

-Why do trees have to change their leaves, anyway? -You wouldn't want to wear the same clothes all year.
Would you? -No, but when I do change my clothes, I don't throw them on somebody else's floor.
-Brandon, you missed a spot.
-Hey, there's that new girl.
-She looks lonely.
Let's invite her up.
Hi, Julie.
Want to play with Cherie and me? -You mean in your tree house? -Sure, come on up.
- I can't.
I promised my dad that I'd stay in the back yard.
-Julie, the tree house is in the back yard.
-Yeah, it's in the top of the back yard.
Here I come.
-Julie, get down from there.
-It's OK, Mr.
Whitney.
We invited Julie up.
She's not trees passing.
-I'm sorry, girls.
Julie has to eat her lunch now.
-I'm not hungry now, Daddy.
-Let's go, Julie.
Now.
-Bye, Punky.
Bye, Cherie.
-Bye, Julie.
-Boy, I feel bad for Julie.
Her father never lets her have any fun.
-Yeah, and he's always so nervous.
I wonder why.
-Well, my grandma says you can learn a lot about people from their furniture.
-Furniture? -Yeah.
We watched them move in.
They had almost nothing.
-What did she learn from that? -Almost nothing.
-You know what I think, Cherie? -What? -I bet Mr.
Whitney is a Russian spy.
I bet he came to Chicago to spy on the space shuttle.
-The space shuttle isn't in Chicago.
-He's from Russia.
What does he know? -You're going to just love it living in this building.
The people here are so nice, except for that nosey Mrs.
Holtschneider.
All she does is gossip.
-Betty.
-Just yesterday, she told me that the Whoppermans are going to a marriage counselor.
-Ooh, I hope he's a good one.
-How could he be? She met him at a singles' bar.
-Anyway, it's a lovely building.
-And everyone here minds their own business.
-Great.
-So what line of work are you in? -I'm in sales.
-I knew it.
With those good looks and that personality, I bet you're a crackerjack salesman.
-Daddy, do you sell Crackerjacks? -No.
No, honey.
-No.
No, honey.
No, honey.
Come on.
No, honey.
Come on.
We've got to hit the trail.
Let's go, partner.
-Mr.
Whitney, we're all getting together for dinner tonight.
Why don't you and Julie join us? -I'm cooking pot roast, and I always make too much.
-And I'm serving potatoes a la Warnimont.
-That's just a fancy name for Potato Buds.
-We really appreciate the invitation, but we just can't make it.
-Sure we can, Daddy.
I'm tired of TV dinners, especially without TV.
- Boy, these kids.
-So then you'll make it for dinner? -The girls are going to bake a cake for dessert.
-Julie, maybe you could give them a hand.
- Could I, Daddy? Pretty please.
-All right.
-Daddy, you're the best daddy in the whole world.
-OK, we got all the ingredients.
Now, let's get started.
-But Grandma, I thought you said we could bake this cake by ourselves.
-Well, you can.
Julie, did you ever help your mom bake a cake? -I don't remember.
It's been a long time since I've seen my mom.
-Well, I preheated the oven.
And I'll be in the living room if you need me.
-OK, Grandma.
-And try not to make a mess.
-We'll try.
-You know, girls, I remember the first time I baked a cake with my friends.
Half the fun was messing up my mom's kitchen.
Of course, when she saw it, she gave me a whooping I'll never forget.
-And don't you forget it either.
-There goes our food fight.
-So what do we do first? -I'll be the cake baker.
And Cherie, you be the icing maker.
-Well, what will I be? -You can be the assistant to the cake baker and the icing maker.
-Wow, my first cake and I'm already an assistant.
-Empty contents into bowl.
Add four tablespoons of flour for higher altitudes.
-That's us.
We're on the second floor.
-Right.
OK, hand me the tablespoon.
- Here.
-Are you sure that's a tablespoon? -It was on the table.
-Right.
-Isn't it gorgeous? -Yeah, but it needs another cherry.
-Coming right up.
-Perfect.
Now let's taste it.
-Yeah.
-We can't.
It's for dinner.
-Yeah.
-We could cut a little square off of the bottom layer.
-Yeah! -But it will leave a big whole on the side.
-Yeah, but we could fill it in with icing.
-Yeah.
-I'll get the milk.
You get the glasses.
-Next time, we should get two cakes.
One for dessert, and one for now.
-Cherie, look at this.
-What is it? -A picture of a missing girl.
Julie, this girl looks sort of like you.
-That's not me.
That girl has white hair.
-That's flour.
Now look.
It couldn't be her, Punky.
This girl's name is Jennifer Bates.
- I gotta go home.
-But Julie, you didn't even eat your cake.
Julie! - Just resting my eyes.
-Daddy! Daddy! -Honey, what's the matter? -Daddy, this is me.
Isn't it? -What on earth happened to Julie? Why did she fly out of here like a house afire? -We don't know, Grandma.
It was weird.
-All we did was show her a milk carton.
The picture on it looks like her.
-Well, shame on you.
She doesn't look like a cow.
-No, Grandma, the other side.
The picture of the missing girl.
-Kids, we've got a problem.
I'm calling Henry.
-See, Mr.
Warnimont.
Doesn't it look just like Julie? -Somewhat, but, you know, photographs are deceptive.
It all depends on the angle, the lighting, the focus, the shutter speed, the distance-- -Skip the lecture, Henry.
Now that missing child could be Julie.
-This girl's name is Jennifer Bates.
Of course, Julie Whitney could be a pseudonym.
-Yeah, or they could have just made it up.
-Henry, from the beginning I thought there was something fishy about that Mr.
Whitney.
He acts like he's got something to hide.
-That's merely conjecture.
It could be that he's just naturally closed mouthed.
-Closed mouthed? Well, Mrs.
Holtschneider couldn't get a thing out of him.
And she can get the life history out of an artichoke.
-I do remember something that struck me as odd, at the time.
-Well, what is it? -He wanted to pay his rent by the week.
-Sure he did, so he can make a fast getaway.
That's why he's got no furniture.
-Punky, does Julie have many friends at school? -She doesn't go to school.
-What? -She says she doesn't have to.
Her father teaches her at home.
-That's strange.
-I'll say.
If you go to school at home, where do you go when you go home from school? -Henry, we got to report this.
Let's calls the number that's here on the carton.
-But what if we're wrong? What if this girl isn't Julie? -Well, what if we're right? If it was Cherie and Punky, wouldn't you want someone to get involved? -Of course.
But if we make that call, we're accusing Mr.
Whitney of a very serious crime.
So before we do that, I want us to think this thing through.
What's that number? -1-800-- - I'll get it.
-Is Julie here? -No, she isn't.
She said she was going home.
-Yeah, didn't she get there yet? - She came home a little while ago and went to her room.
I went to check on her, and the window was open.
She wasn't there.
I think she's run away.
-Why would she do that? -We had an argument.
She was upset.
What difference does it make? I've got to find her.
-We'll help you.
-She doesn't know the neighborhood.
It's getting dark outside.
She could be sick, or lost, or God knows what.
-Why take it easy, Mr.
Whitney.
I'm sure we'll find her.
We'll check the building first.
-Maybe she went to the park.
-Yeah.
Cherie and I will check there.
OK? -Good idea.
Betty, stay here in case she comes back.
-I'll call the neighbors and ask if they've seen her.
-Fine.
Let's go, Mr.
Whitney.
-Wait, Cherie.
I've got an idea.
Maybe Brandon could help us find Julie.
Brandon, come on, boy.
-Brandon isn't a bloodhound.
-We're not looking for blood, Cherie.
We're looking for Julie.
Brandon, find Julie.
Julie.
-You haven't seen Julie all day.
Are you sure? Mrs.
Holtschneider, I don't have time to gossip with you about the Whoppermans A divorce lawyer? In the same singles' bar? Gotta go.
-We couldn't find her.
-There's no trace of her.
-Are Punky and Cherie back? -Not yet.
-Mr.
Whitney, I think we've done all we can.
We'd better call the police.
-No, no police.
-But Mr.
Whitney.
-No, I don't want you calling the police! -Because of this? Maybe you'd better tell us about it.
-My ex-wife was trying to keep Julie-- Jennifer-- away from me.
She even tried cutting down some of my visitation rights.
And then one weekend, I picked up Julie, and I didn't take her back.
-You kidnapped her.
-No.
No, I didn't plan it.
She's my child.
I didn't like being cut out of her life.
-But you stole her.
-No.
No, you don't understand.
I did it out of love.
-What you did was not an act love.
It was pure selfishness.
-Listen, my child is missing.
I have to find her.
I can't stand not knowing where Julie is.
-Now you know how her mother must feel.
Julie.
Julie.
-I don't think Brandon knows what he's doing.
All he's found is every fire hydrant on the block.
-He's just warming up his nose.
-That's not what it looked like to me.
-The tree house! -Do you think she's up there? -Brandon does.
It wouldn't hurt to check.
You look in the laundry room.
-OK, Punky.
-Julie! Julie, are you up here? Well, I guess you're not here.
I might as well leave now.
Here I go.
Julie.
-Why didn't you answer me? -Why didn't you leave? -What's going on? Why did you run away? -I don't want to talk about it.
-But everybody's looking for you.
Your dad's real worried.
-I'm mad at him.
-Why? -I told you.
I don't to talk about it.
-Was that you on the milk carton? -He told me my mom didn't want to see me anymore.
He lied to me.
If she didn't want to see me, then why would she put me on milk? -You're right.
She must be trying real hard to find you.
-Why would my dad do this to me? -I don't know.
Why don't you ask him why? -I'm not talking to him after what he did to me.
Every time I make a friend, we have to move.
And every time we move, I have to change my name.
I've been Joan, and Jane, and Janet.
-Listen, Julie.
-It's Jennifer.
I never want to see my father again.
I'm going to live up here for the rest of my life.
Here's my first week's rent.
-Boy, your mom wants you with her.
Your dad wants you with him.
-Yeah.
Isn't it rotten? -I think it's wonderful.
-You do? -Yeah.
See, Henry's my foster dad.
I don't know where my real dad is.
-How come? -He walked out on my mom and me.
Then my mom started acting real weird.
She drove me to a shopping center and never came back.
-Why would she do that? -I don't know.
What really bothers me is that I never get the chance to ask her why.
-That would be awful.
-But you still got that chance.
Your dad's still here.
You can ask him why.
What do you say? Want to talk to him about it? Great.
-Thanks, Punky.
You're a real good friend.
-No problem.
Here's your rent back.
It's on the house.
-How long have you been on the run? -About a year and a half.
It's been a nightmare.
Moving from town to town, afraid that someone would find out my secret and take my daughter away from me.
-Look who we found.
- Jennifer.
-I need to know something.
Why did you lie to me? Why did you take me away from Mommy? -Honey-- -Why did you do it? -Jennifer, when your mother got married again, I was very, very scared.
-Of what? -Well, you didn't know about this, but Mark and your mother were planning on moving to the west coast.
Do you know what that means? Gosh, that means I'd hardly ever get to see you again.
And I was so afraid.
I was so afraid you'd forget me.
-That couldn't happen.
You're my daddy, and you always will be.
- Jennifer.
May I use your phone? -Be my guest.
-Roberta, it's Richard.
There's somebody here that wants to talk to you.
-Hello, Mommy.