Well, let me tell ya ’bout them two girls, Melissa Sue Anderson and Melissa Gilbert. They was on that Little House on the Prairie show, you know, the one with all them kids runnin’ around in bonnets.
Them two, they played sisters, Mary and Laura. Started way back when, in the early seventies. Imagine that! Little bitty things, pretendin’ to be sisters. Folks loved it, though. Ate it up like candy, they did.
Now, from what I hear, things weren’t always sunshine and roses between them girls. Jealousy, you know? It’s a nasty thing. Melissa G, she got a bit green-eyed, seems like. Melissa S, well, she had her mama with her all the time. And that mama, she saw things, heard things. Didn’t like some of what she saw, I reckon.
- Jealousy’s a real snake in the grass, I tell ya.
- Mamas always know best, even if you don’t wanna hear it.
Then there’s this Alison, writin’ a book, callin’ herself a “Prairie Bitch.” Can you believe that? Anyway, she says her aunt, Marion, was friendly with Melissa S’s mama. So, you see, it’s all connected, like a big ol’ spiderweb.
Secrets, they had secrets too. Like that game, two truths and a lie. You ever play that? Folks say, “two can keep a secret if one of ’em’s dead.” That’s a grim thought, ain’t it? But it’s true, I guess. And then they say, “as long as you got family, you ain’t alone.” That’s the biggest lie of all, they say. Family can hurt you just as bad as anyone.
It’s like this. You say three things about yourself. Two true, one false. Folks gotta guess which one’s the lie. Sounds simple, but it ain’t. ‘Cause sometimes the truth is harder to believe than a lie. And sometimes, the lies we tell ourselves are the worst kind.
So, them Melissa girls, they had their secrets, just like everyone else. Maybe they told each other some truths, maybe some lies. Maybe they played that game, who knows? But one thing’s for sure, that show brought ’em together, and it tore ’em apart, too. Like a family, you know? Love and hate, all mixed up together.
And that’s the way it is with most things in life, ain’t it? Nothin’s ever simple. Nothin’s ever black and white. It’s all just a big ol’ mess of gray. But that’s what makes it interesting, I suppose. Keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure.
Friendship, it ain’t always easy. Especially when you’re young and famous and everyone’s watchin’ you. Jealousy, secrets, family drama – it all gets in the way. But maybe, just maybe, them girls learned somethin’ from it all. Maybe they learned that even when things get tough, you gotta keep tryin’. You gotta keep fightin’ for what’s important. And maybe, just maybe, they learned that family ain’t always blood. Sometimes, it’s the people you choose. The people who stick by you, through thick and thin.
So, that’s the story of them Melissa girls, as far as I know it. It ain’t a fairy tale, that’s for sure. But it’s real. And that’s what matters, ain’t it?
Tags: [Melissa Sue Anderson, Melissa Gilbert, Little House on the Prairie, Friendship, Secrets, Jealousy, Family, Two Truths and a Lie, Television Series, 1970s]