ANDY AND BARNEY ARE IN THE JAILHOUSE READING DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTY NEWSPAPER.

Hey Ange, I bet you didn't know that old Mary Jones got herself married.

Nah, I didn't know that. Who'd she marry?

Says here, "she married Roger Butler, wealthy coal mine owner from Kentucky".

I'll be dern.

Yeah, old Mary might be in her 80's but she might start spending like she was in her 30's!

BOTH MEN LAUGH.

Well, here's something that I'm sure you didn't know: "Opie Taylor was the only witness in the robbery of the Mount Pilot Bank".

Whaaaat?!

(very urgently)

You reckon there is another person named, Opie Taylor?!

(getting up to go to his house)

Well, I doubt it, but I am going to find Opie and see what's going on!

(following)

I'll go with you!

THEY HUSTLE OUT TO THE POLICE CAR AND GET IN AND TAKE OFF TOWARD ANDY'S HOUSE.

BEFORE THEY GET TO HIS HOUSE, THEY SEE A GROUP GATHERED ON THE SIDE OF THE STREET, AND THEY SEEM TO WATCHING A FIGHT. ANDY AND BARNEY HEAD OVER.

(finding his way to the center of the brawl)

Whoa! Now, hold on you kids! What's this all about?

ANDY SEES ONE OF THE FIGHT PARTICIPANTS IS OPIE.

Opie Taylor! What in the world is going on here?!

Gosh, Pa. Billy was telling everybody I was afraid to turn the bank robbers in the other day.

ANDY AND BARNEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER.

Opie, come over here.

(taking Opie aside)

I saw in the paper you had witnessed a bank robbery. Why didn't you tell me about that?

Gee, Pa. If I had told you, then you would have known I was skipping school and thumbed over to Mount Pilot.

Thumbed??

Opie, I don't know what's going on with you. Why did you skip school?

You remember that piece of lemon pie Aunt Bee put in my lunch the other day?

Yeah, I think I do.

Well, I ate it for lunch.

So? What's that got to do with skipping school?

Well, nothing, I guess. But after lunch that day, this big kid came up to me and said he and his gang needed a fence to drop some loot on after they robbed the bank. He said if I didn't do what they said, they would mess Aunt Bee up.

This boy. What did he look like?

Well, he looked a lot like Gomer. I think. I'm really not sure.

A fence? Loot?? Mess up Aunt Bee?? Oh, Andy this is big time serious!

(calmer)

But, you said you thumbed to Mount Pilot. I don't get that part.

Well, I had to be there at 2pm. That's what the big guy said.

The Gomer-looking boy?

Yeah.

So, when I got over there, after they robbed the bank, they handed me a backpack full of stuff and told me to thumb back to Mayberry and they would find me and get the backpack.

So, where is the backpack now?

A guy who looked a lot like Floyd came and took it. This morning.

Where did that happen?

Over by the barber shop.

ANDY AND BARNEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER.

Hey, I saw Floyd earlier today in a new suit. His shop has a new red and white pole, too.

Come on, Barney. Let's pay Floyd a visit.

ANDY AND BARNEY HUSTLE OVER TO THE BARBER SHOP WHERE THEY FIND FLOYD SITTING IN ONE OF HIS CHAIRS IN AN OTHERWISE EMPTY ROOM.

Floyd. How're things today? I mean, except not busy.

Yeah, pretty slow. Say, do either of you need a shave or haircut?

Say, boys. Did you notice my new clothes?

Nice. When did you get that, Floyd?

Just today.

BARNEY SPIES AN EMPTY BACKPACK OVER IN THE CORNER. HE POKES ANDY TO ALSO LOOK.

Say, Floyd. Whose backpack is that over there?

You know what? A guy who looked a lot like me came in this morning and asked me to keep it here for a while and he'd come back to pick it up when he got a trim.

BARNEY WALKS OVER AND PICKS UP THE BACKPACK AND LOOKS IN IT.

It's full of useless Woolworth's house paint coupons!

Let me see that!

ANDY TAKES THE BACKPACK AND TURNS IT UPSIDE DOWN AND ALL THE COUPONS FALL OUT.

Are you going to clean that up, Andy?

JUST THEN, OPIE COMES IN THE BARBER SHOP AND EXCLAIMS:

(pointing to Floyd)

That's him! That's the guy who looks like Floyd! The guy who took the backpack that I thumbed back from Mount Pilot with. It's him!

This is Floyd, Opie! You know Floyd!

(hesitating, looking hard at Floyd)

Aren't you Floyd?

Sure I am. Who else would I be? You can't believe a little kid like Opie.

I don't know what to believe, now! I think that I need to go back to the jail and sit down and think about all of this.

Ange, mind if I take off early today? Thelma Lou said she wanted to eat at that new Haitian place up in Raleigh. She thinks they got some new, delicious kind of hot dogs.

Pa, can I go home now? I have a lot of homework. And, I want to make sure Aunt Bee hasn't been messed up.

OK, run along. Oh, and tell Aunt Bee to save me a slice of that lemon pie she's been hiding. If she ain't been messed up, I mean.

Hey! Who's gonna clean all these papers up? Hey!