Talk To Me: The Dance Thriller, Part 1

Part 1 Finale: I Can See That Expression When The Phone Rings

Santa Monica, California
Wednesday, May 28, 1997
(5:00 pm)
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Stevie's first memory of television happened when she was four years old.

She had been put to bed at eight o'clock, but she'd sneaked out of her room and hidden in the hallway behind the living room so she could try to catch a few minutes of I Love Lucy. It was January 19, 1953, and Lucy Ricardo was about to be the first character on television to have a baby. That night, Jess and Barbara Nicks had joined almost every television owner in the United States as Little Ricky was born, and little four-year-old Stephanie had seen most of it, hidden near the linen closet in a ball on the floor and trying hard not to make any noise by stifling her laugher in her tiny hands. It had been particularly hard to laugh when Ricky Ricardo, full dressed in costume and makeup for a performance at the Tropicana as some kind of tribal leader, scared a passing nurse in the waiting room who screamed at the sight of him and tossed a handful of folded towels in the air before running away. Little Stephanie had hidden herself successfully, watching as the baby boy was shown to everyone through the glass partition at the end of the episode to Ricky, Ethel, Fred and Ricky fainted over the stress of it all before the credits rolled, but her cover had been blown some time later when Barbara had gotten up from her seat on the couch to put some laundry away and had found her four-year-old daughter, dressed in her little pink nightgown and matching quilted robe with snaps down the front, curled up in a ball by the linen closet door, sound asleep.

The next thing Stevie remembered after the ending song of I Love Lucy was her mother's face hovering over her as she tucked her back into bed.

"You could have told me you wanted to see it, Teedee-bird," Barbara said in a voice barely louder than a whisper, trying to put her back to sleep. "Daddy and I would have let you see it. It was a big deal, the baby being born."

"Was it a big deal the day that I was the baby born, Mommy?" Stephanie looked up at her mother through sleepy brown eyes.

"It was the biggest deal ever," Barbara said with a smile. "Everyone came from all over - your grandad, your aunts and uncles...everyone who wanted to come and see you. You were the first new baby, you know, the first grandchild for your Grandpa A.J. It was very special."

"Are you going to have another baby some day, Mommy?"

"Maybe some day. Babies cost a lot of money, sweetheart. If you have a little brother or sister, we'd have to buy him or her all the wonderful things we buy for you."

"I don't think I want a baby brother," Stephanie told her mother in a fading little voice. "Little Ricky is cute, but what if he doesn't look like Little Ricky?"

Barbara laughed and finished tucking her daughter in. "Oh, Stephanie...all babies are beautiful! Baby boys and baby girls are all special, and when it's your own baby, you'll think it's beautiful no matter what."

"I don't think I want a baby, Mommy. I want a puppy instead."

Barbara laughed again, and then bent to kiss her daughter's forehead. "Oh, you'll change your mind when you get older, Teedee, you mark my words. You can have babies, puppies, kittens...whatever you want. Remember, all babies are beautiful. Baby animals are beautiful too."

"Like Nicky," Stephanie said of the family cat she had named when Jess had brought him home last year on her birthday.

"Exactly, sweetheart. Now, you close your eyes and go to sleep, okay? Little girls need to rest a lot so when they grow up they can be strong and take care of all of the babies and puppies and kittens." She kissed her daughter's little head again and said, "I love you, my beautiful baby."