39-12-xx Rush Is Getting On In Years

STARRING: BERNARDINE FLYNN AND BILL IDELSON

14 year-old Rush has come to the conclusion that he is "getting on in years." After telling his mother about how he's getting older and more tired - at the end of the show the phone rings and without hesitation, accepts an invitation to go and play on a trapeze and then play Fox and Geese, a winter chase game.

MIS' CROWE SAYS:
Rush reflects upon entering his golden years with Sade.

RUSH: But, ya know, Mom, I never laughed at that.
SADE: Didn’t ya?
RUSH: No. And that’s another reason why I think I’m gettin’ on in years. I’m more serious, grasp the angle I’m attemptin’ to put across?
SADE: Uh-huh.
RUSH: A year or so ago I woulda let out a great big haw-haw at Smelly and Leroy makin’ fun of Mildred Tisdel. But not anymore. Nowadays I monkey around with deep topics.
SADE: Mm.
RUSH: I leave foolishness to the children.

Oh, Rush. He appears to be entering that most wonderful period of adolescence, where he feels everything much more deeply than everyone else, and no one understands the brevity and futility of life but him. He is about to start wearing all black and writing sad poems and reading lots of Dostoyevsky. Between trips to the YMCA to goof off, of course.

Sade quietly humors Rush throughout this episode. Once again, it’s just her and her son — no Vic, no important adult stuff to attend to — so she listens to him ramble on and on and feels no need to correct him. I love it when we get to hear Rush go on for so long uninterrupted.

SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)

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Obviously, Rush is confusing the fact that he's getting older with the fact that he is maturing. But he hasn't quite matured enough to turn down a go at a trapeze or play Fox and Geese!

There's really not a not a lot going on in this episode. For one thing, there is no Vic around to chortle in calling him, "Grandpa" or some such names.

Trivia:

+ Some of the reasons why Rush he's is getting older: felt like taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon, didn't laugh or make fun of Mildred Tisdel's unusual analogies, wasn't dazzled nor didn't laugh at the comical colors or clowns in Yamilton's window, resigned to go to the store and no longer complains,

+ The courthouse is mentioned for the first time.

+ Sade's Uncle Steemer from Dixon is mentioned for the first time. His hair was turning white at the same time he was going bald.

+ Mis' Tarman is mentioned for the first time. She had borrowed Sade's fancy .98 cent apple peeler 3 months prior and just returned it.

+ Mildred told Rush she felt like a violin and a rainbow.

+ Ed Miller is mentioned for the first time. He is 17. Acts like a kid.

+ Rush and Rooster Davis make plans to use the trapeze at the YMCA.

+ Chuck Myers is mentioned for the first time. He is a boy at Rush's school; he makes plans on the telephone with Rush to play Fox and Geese with Rush and Rooster.

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