Christmas Comes Home to Canaan

1

Lately, I've been thinking

of a lot of things...

To truly understand

the soul of canaan, Texas,

you'd first have to start

with the story

of two young boys...

Rodney?

Best be going.

Mwah!

That boy and his books.

Dj!

I'm comin'!

Boys, who were once

sworn enemies,

one white, the other black,

and bandit,

the puppy they found,

whose life they'd saved,

and, by that act,

became friends.

And there was Daniel Burton,

who, despite struggling

to raise his family

on his own...

It's beautiful, papa.

Rodney.

...took the black boy in

when there was

no one else to do it,

an act of courage

in a town divided...

...and, then,

the accident,

that left his youngest boy,

bobber, crippled...

And, finally,

it's the story of a promise

one boy...

Cheers.

...now a writer,

made to the other,

a promise to return to canaan,

and, with him,

he brought a gift,

offered by a stranger,

a gift with the power

to change so much,

in ways

few could have ever imagined.

You sure you packed

enough clothes?

I've packed most

everything I've got.

What about socks?

Here you go.

This enough for you?

Besides, it's a big city.

If I need anything,

I can just buy it new,

right, Rodney?

Anything you want.

And just what are you

proposing to use for money,

your good looks?

I'll pack some

of these for you.

Don't know for sure

how long we're going to be gone.

You might have to handle

the harvest yourself this year.

Well, Rodney'll pitch in.

Between the two of us,

we'll manage.

Anything else needs doing,

you're in charge,

and, don't forget,

there's a little bit of cash

hid in the corner of the shed,

just for emergencies.

We'll get along fine.

You just take care

of bobber.

Daddy!

Dj!

You need to hurry.

You'll miss your flight!

We wouldn't be the burtons

unless we was fixin'

to miss something.

All right, buddy,

kiss your sister goodbye.

Bye.

And be sure

and thank Rodney.

If it weren't for him,

we wouldn't be goin'.

Thanks, Rodney.

Just make sure you do

what those doctors say, okay?

I will.

Hey!

Just so's you all know,

I'm not driving you

all the way to San Jose.

All right, let's go.

You ready,

bobber?

California,

ready or not,

here they come,

y'all got any gum?

What do we need

gum for?

Keep your ears from poppin'

on the plane.

We can stop

at shoup's.

Let's do it.

We got time.

I'll be right back, boys.

All right, well,

hurry it up.

Hello?

Ah, Mr. Burton!

Can I help you find something?

I need some chewing gum.

Juicy fruit, if you've got it.

Juicy fruit.

Spearmint. Chiclets.

Complete assortment.

How's that brave,

young Mr. bobber?

Hope he's well.

Oh, fair to middling.

We're actually

on our way to California

to see about gettin' him

fixed up right now.

California!

Oh, if I had any sense,

I'd close up

and move to California myself,

the way things are goin'.

Really?

Business been slow?

Slower than slow.

It's dead.

You're my first customer

all day.

Well, I wouldn't worry

too much about it.

You know, money's

always tight around here

come the end of the month.

No, it's more than that.

The whole town's changing.

Old folks are moving away.

New folks

are shopping elsewheres.

Yeah.

You know what,

if the town's changing,

maybe you oughta change

right along with it.

And just what would you

suggest changing exactly?

Oh, I don't know,

maybe try something new.

I heard about some boys

putting in a big company farm

South of town.

That'll be needing

some farm supplies,

save 'em the trip to clarksboro.

Hmm.

Farm supplies...

And just exactly

what am I supposed to know

about farm supplies?

Hi.

Can I help you?

Yes, ma'am.

I'm Daniel Burton,

this is my son.

We have an appointment

to see Dr. hanson.

Just one moment.

Yes?

Dr. hanson,

the burtons are here.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

You're welcome.

Please, come in.

Have a seat.

I'm Daniel Burton.

This is my son, bobber.

Bob.

Bob.

I'm Marcus hanson.

Well, I'm glad

to finally meet you.

As you know,

I learned of your case

after reading

Rodney Freeman's book,

and approached him

with my offer to help.

As I told Mr. Freeman,

the medical school here

has a very advanced

neuro-orthopedics group,

and some good advances

have been made

in the whole field

of spinal injury

rehabilitation,

so when I heard about

your story,

well, I thought you'd make

a good candidate.

As for the procedure itself,

we'll use special pins

and screws

to realign and stabilize

the damaged vertebrae.

Then, there'll be

an intensive period

of physical therapy,

now, you'll be doing

most of your work

right in here...

Oh, good, there's Dr. adair.

She's head of

our of post-op rehab.

Dr. briony adair,

I want you to meet

Daniel Burton.

Pleasure to meet you,

Mr. Burton.

Thanks.

It's nice

to meet you, too.

This is my son,

bobber.

It's Bob.

I've been looking forward

to meeting you.

You've got a lot

of admirers around here.

I've been giving them

a tour of the facilities.

Do you have time

to show Bob

the therapy rooms?

Sure.

Come on.

The doctor,

what's her name?

Dr. adair. Briony adair.

Briny?

That's right.

Right. Hmm...

Level with me, doc.

I mean, you really think

this is gonna work?

Well, we've had

some success in the past

with similar cases,

so there's a good chance

he'll see some improvement.

So, what's

the best-case scenario?

Well, the best-case

scenario

is that once we relieve

the pressure on the nerves,

he'll regain

full use of his legs.

Well, what's the worst?

Hello?

Sissy?

Daddy?

Everything okay?

Yeah.

Um, I just got done

talking to the doctor, and, uh,

things may not be as rosy

as we had hoped for.

The doctor says the surgery

may not help all that much.

As a matter of fact,

it could even make things worse.

How's bobber takin' it?

Well, I haven't

told him yet.

To be honest,

I was kind of wondering

whether I should or not.

He oughta know.

Well, if he knows,

then he might not

go through with it.

Then that's his choice.

Yeah, but

this might be

the only chance he has,

and if bobber gets wind of this,

then he loses that chance,

and it's likely to be

the only one he has left.

Oh, here he is now.

You wanna say hi to sissy?

No.

Hey, listen, he says

he'll speak at you later.

Okay.

Well, take care.

All right.

Love you.

Just catching them up

on the latest.

So I heard.

Be real nice

if you told me, though, first.

I don't want the operation,

not if it could

make things worse.

But, Bob,

I also told your father

that there's a good chance

that we would

see improvement.

But you don't know for sure.

No, no, we don't,

not for sure.

Well, I wish you'd have

told me that

before everyone got

their minds made up,

and then I'd have told you

I wasn't interested.

I'm sorry, son.

It's just, I was just afraid...

Afraid you couldn't find a way

to fix what happened?

How many times

I gotta tell you,

the accident wasn't your fault,

so it's not your job

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