Route 66/Ten Drops of Water

Ten Drops of Water
Season 1, Episode 6
Airdate	November 11, 1960
Written by	Howard Rodman
Directed by	Philip Leacock
← 1x05 The Strengthening Angels	1x07 → Three Sides
Route 66 — Season One

Guest Star: Burt Brinckerhoff (Vergil Page)

Introducing: Deborah Walley (Helen Page)

Featuring: Robert F. Simon (Mr. Pepperell), Sara Haden (Mrs. Pepperell)

With: Oliver McGowan (Payson), Don Beddoe (Owen Moorcraft)

Also Starring: Tony Haig (Homer Page)

Plot Overview

Tod and Buz drive into the remote desert farming community of Kaneb, Utah, to work for a local farmer. While the duo are still learning the ropes of their new job, a young boy named Homer Paige arrives from a neighboring ranch. Homer has come to sell his pet mule Overjack.

Tod and Buz are moved by the plight of the boy whom hardship has forced to sell an obviously beloved pet. After Homer starts for home, Tod and Buz buy the animal back from their boss, thinking they have done their good deed for the day.

When they bring the mule back to the Paige ranch, Homer is indeed delighted to see his mule again. However, Tod and Buz are stunned when Homer's older brother Virgil reacts in anger towards their action. Their sister Helen offers an explanation. The duo did not realize that the true reason the boy had to sell the animal was that water was scarce at the locality and the old animal could no longer pull his weight at the farm.

The three Paige children are all orphans, their parents having died at young ages due to the rigors of working to maintain the farm. They maintain pride in the fact that their family has been able to keep their land for over a hundred years in spite of the drought-plagued region.

As Tod and Buz are visiting the Paiges, the well machinery suddenly stops working, leaving them with but a day's worth of water. The Paiges have already spent their life savings in drilling the well deep enough to get the precious fluid.

Refusing to borrow water from his neighbors, Virgil rides into town with Tod to attempt to borrow the needed funds from the town bank. The bank manager says he cannot extend any more credit to Virgil unless he puts up his land as collateral. Virgil refuses, saying that he will work to repair the well himself. This decision means that most of the Paiges' cattle will die for lack of water in the meantime.

Tod and Buz attempt to help Virgil raise the pipe from the ground, using the corvette's motor as a pulley, so that it may be repaired. A dust storm blows in as they work through the night at the Herculean task.

In the morning Tod appeals for aid to a neighboring farm owned by a man named Pepperall, since Virgil is too proud to seek assistance. Virgil's nearest neighbor informs Tod that the local code among the desert farmers mandates that Virgil must ask for help himself before it can be offered.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Virgil chases Overjack away when the parched mule attempts to drink some of the indispensable water. Homer runs after him into the dust storm.

Buz tries to point out to Virgil that the Paige family is fighting a losing battle against a hostile climate. Virgil proclaims that he is part of a family tradition, and it is his duty as part of that tradition to do his part to maintain the land that his ancestors have held for generations. Buz counters that the Paiges are in control of their own destiny and should be free to live their own lives without being bound to the traditions of a dead past. Helen, Tod and Buz then leave the farm to search for Homer while Virgil stubbornly continues to work on the well.

Homer in the meantime has caught up to the exhausted Overjack, and leads the beast into a sheltering canyon to attempt to protect him from the ravages of the storm. Despite the boy's efforts, the spent and dehydrated mule dies. The searchers find Homer huddled next to the dead animal, refusing to leave his side.

A defeated Virgil finally staggers onto the Pepperalls' land. Falling to his knees before the other farmer, he tearfully begs for help. With the assistance provided by the neighbors, the well is soon running again. However, the cost of the effort to get through the latest crisis has told on Helen, who finally convinces Virgil that their attempts to maintain a life of any worth on their family homestead are ultimately doomed. Virgil finally must face the inevitable: the time has come to sell their land and escape the dead-end life that Kaneb offers them for a more fertile area.

As Tod and Buz prepare to return to their job to work off the price of Overjack, the Paige children motor out, seeking their own adventures on the road and a new life.

Notes

This is one of only two episodes of the series in which the regular series theme is not played over the closing credits. Instead, we hear a much slower arrangement of that theme with more of a big band sound.

Trivia

The Show

• In the DVD release of this episode by Infinity Entertainment Group, the 1960-63 Screen Gems "Torch Lady" closing logo at the end of the episode is plastered over by the 1988 Columbia Pictures Television "Torch Lady" closing logo (with the credit "Distributed by" above and the byline "A Unit of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc." below the Torch Lady), but with the voiceover announcement "This has been a Screen Gems film presentation from Columbia Pictures, Herbert B. Leonard, Executive Producer" left intact to play over the CPT logo.