The Holdin' Ground
Drama from Newfoundland, based on a story by Ted Russell. This tells the story of a stranger who returns to Pigeon Inlet for a last look at his roots. WalcottThe residents there, unaware of his personal tragedy, welcome him with open arms and give him the strength to face his ordeal. He asks to be taken to visit Muldoon's Cove, six miles down the coast. Muldoon's Cove has been abandoned for 60 years. Its families of Muldoons, Shannahans and Cassidys were forced to immigrate to the United States to find employment. Grandpa Walcott, age 80, the sage of Pigeon Inlet, and Eli Whitten, head of the fishermen's union local, take the stranger to the cove and are amazed when he takes the tiller of the skiff and pilots the boat expertly through the treacherous harbour entrance. In the cove he knows about Paddy Muldoon's old house and the abandoned graveyard behind it. When he tells Grandpa Walcott the exact date of the departure of the last family from the forgotten settlement, Grandpa recognizes the visitor as Michael Fergus Shannahan, the son of one of his closest boyhood friends. With the revelation of his identity, Michael is treated by Grandpa and Eli to one of the treats he came home to enjoy, fresh mussels boiled in their own seawater. Back in Pigeon Inlet, Grandpa takes Michael to visit Grandma. The old lady is almost stricken by the sight, recognizing him immediately as the son of her best childhood acquaintance, Maggie O'Rourke. She shows him a begonia plant she has kept alive for 60 years, since it was given to her by his mother before she left Newfoundland. Soon, Michael has to leave and catch the coastal boat, despite Grandma's pleas that he stay longer. A few months pass before a letter arrives to provide a surprise ending to the story. This the final program in the series THE WAY WE ARE.
