Adventures in Odyssey Home Page

The Last Great Adventure of Summer

Album: Gold Audio 02: Stormy Weather

Episode: 42

Lesson/Theme: God's protection; Dad as a hero.

Bible Verse: Proverbs 23:24

Characters: Whit

Writer: Phil Lollar

Sound Designer: Dave Arnold

Original Air Date: September 3, 1988

Last Air Date: March 11, 2008

Description:
Terry Johnston is having the worst summer of his life. He tells Whit that all he and his overprotective dad have done is go to church, the library, and Whit's End. Whit sympathizes with Terry, then Dad picks him up to go see an educational film. Whit asks if they would drop some garbage bags in the dumpster on the way outside. But as they approach the dumpster behind Whit's End, a strange man suddenly steps out of the shadows. He greets Dad as "Catspaw" and demands that he hand over "the formula." Dad looks frightened until the stranger takes a step toward Terry. Suddenly, Dad springs into action, dropping the stranger to the pavement with some karate chops. Then Dad tells Terry to run. They hop in Dad's car and race away. Terry can't believe any of this is happening. He is even more stunned when his dad reveals that he's with the CIA. Unfortunately, the stranger after Terry's dad is hot on their heels. He ends up chasing them into an open boxcar at the train depot. There, Terry and Dad are knocked unconscious with sleeping gas. They wind up in London, trapped in the penthouse apartment of an evil man named Maxim. Maxim is their strange pursuer's boss. The room is filled with aquariums. Maxim enters and demands the formula. When Dad refuses, Maxim threatens him with a tank full of piranhas. This time Terry takes action, stomping on the stranger's foot, then smashing the piranha tank. Dad grabs Terry, and they escape to the roof. Maxim and his henchmen clamber up after them. Dad and Terry are trapped! . . . Or are they? Just in the nick of time, Scotland Yard and the CIA appear to capture Maxim and his cronies. But Maxim won't be robbed of his revenge. He suddenly pushes Terry's dad off the roof. The agents drag Maxim away as he laughs at his "victory." Once Maxim is gone, a horrified Terry discovers that his father is safe-on a window washer's scaffolding just below the roof. The window washers were also agents. Terry finds that everything that has happened was planned from the start. Now that Maxim thinks Catspaw is dead, Terry's father can retire from the agency and spend more time with his son! But the irony is, because everything is top secret for security reasons, Terry can't tell anyone about his adventure.

Questions:
Should Terry's dad have kept his profession a secret from Terry? Why or why not? How would you feel if your mom or dad were a secret agent? Can you think of something heroic that your mother or father has done? How about caring for you, providing for you, and loving you? Are those things heroic? Explain.