April 14, 1986
4:30 PM PST
While many people dreaded Mondays, this wasn't usually the case for actor Michael Andrew Fox, who was more professionally known as Michael J Fox. For Michael loved his job as an actor, whether it was in a sitcom or on the big screen. He also loved all of his co-stars on Family Ties - and their affection towards him was mutual.
Or at least, that usually seemed to be the case. However, today was a really bad day for him. Of course, the day started off well enough. He believed in waking up with a cheerful mood, and resolving to make this a nice day.
As soon as he stepped foot into the studio of where Family Ties was filmed, Michael Gross immediately yelled at him about how he had placed the wrong order for the doughnuts last Friday. Then Justine Bateman began to yell at him for accidentally causing her to stain her shirt last Friday. Being yelled at by two co-stars within ten minutes was enough to make Mike feel like crying. However, he knew that the show must go on.
All throughout the day, Mike was so distraught by how two of his co-stars were angry with him, that he kept flubbing up his lines. That had only proceeded to make the cast angry with him. By lunch time, Mike was feeling very miserable. He decided to grab three fish sandwiches, and load it up with tarter sauce - and he grabbed two cans of Diet Pepsi for himself. By the time, the rest of the case was angry with him for hogging up the fish sandwiches - because there were only two left.
Mike smoked half a pack of cigarettes, hoping that it would help calm his nerves. It was at the point that Tina Yothers complained about the cigarette smoke getting in her face. Mike apologized and offered to move, but Tina was not pacified.
After spending the afternoon flubbing up many of his lines, Tracy Pollan yelled at him about how self-centred he was being. To make matters even worse, when Mike was blinking hard to keep from crying - Tracy then yelled at him that there was nothing to cry about, and that Mike should get over himself.
It was at that point that Mike could no longer take it. He quickly ran out of the studio and headed towards the park. It was at that point in time that Mike finally allowed himself to cry. He wasn't sure how long he was crying, when he felt a gentle hand touching his shoulder.
"Is that you, Mr. Fox?" asked a young female voice. "Michael? What's wrong?"
"Oh, everything is wrong," Mike sobbed. "Everyone is so mad at me, and I don't even know what I did that was so wrong. Gary Goldberg might even fire me."
"Hey, uh, Michael," the teenage blonde asked, nervously, "do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, I guess not," Mike replied, weeping. "Oh, I don't know what's wrong with me. I guess I'm just a very lousy person."
"Michael! Don't say that!" protested the blonde. "You are not a lousy person. I always admired your acting, ever since you made your first appearance on Family Ties. Many of us really love you, Michael. You were excellent in Back to the Future, and I really loved you in Teen Wolf. How could the whole cast of Family Ties be mad at you? Michael, I could never be mad at you."
"That's because you don't really know me," Mike insisted, sobbing. "You only admire me from a distance. I'm maybe not as nice of a person as everyone things. After all, nice people don't do things like order the wrong doughnuts, make other people spill ketchup on their shirt, hog up the fish sandwiches, smoke near little girls, or flub up their lines. I really am a failure, aren't I?"
"Hey, we all make mistake in life, Michael," the blonde said, softly. "That's what Lea Thompson said near the beginning of Back to the Future, remember? I am sure you were not making all those mistakes on purpose, or to be rude."
"Yeah, well," Mike sobbed, "then why is everyone so mad at me?"
"Well, uh," the blonde said, gently, "maybe they were all having bad days, too. Try not to lose all hope, Mike, okay? I'm sure they'll get over it, soon."
"Yeah, I hope so," Mike mumbled, as he threw his arms around the blonde's neck and wept brokenly. It didn't matter that he barely knew this girl. He was badly in need of some comfort.
"Just let it all out, Mike," the blonde said encouragingly. "Just know that there are many of us who admire you. You're very kind, you have a good sense of humour, and you are so cute. It really breaks my heart to see you so distressed, Michael."
Mike just wept on the blonde's shoulder for about the next ten minutes or so. He then lifted up his tear-stained face, and took a close look at the girl. The girl reached into her purse for a handkerchief, and she used it to wipe away the tears that were on Mike's face. It was such a sweet gesture, Mike almost felt like crying again.
"Do you feel all better now, Michael?" the blonde asked, softly.
"Yeah, I feel much better," Mike replied, as he gave the blonde a soft smile. "Thank you so much for letting me cry on your shoulder."
"Hey, it's my pleasure," replied the blonde, smiling. "Well, why don't you go try to have a good rest of today - and know that you are a wonderful person."
"Thank you, uh... what is your name?" Mike asked, smilimg at the girl.
"My name is Melody," replied the blonde. "I'm Melody Barnes."
"Well, thank you so much, Melody," Mike replied, as he hugged the blonde. "It's nice to know that you're not mad at me. I hope the cast isn't still mad at me tomorrow."
"I don't think anyone can really stay mad at you, Mike," Melody said, softly.
"Maybe we'll run into each other again soon," Mike said, as he flashed Melody one of his famous lopsided smiles. Melody smiled back.
Just as Mike was about to leave the park, he saw Tracy Pollan walking up to him.
"Hey, uh, Mike," Tracy said, softly, "I'm sorry about how I yelled at all. We all are, in fact - and we all would like tomake it up to you."
"Oh, really?" Mike asked, a bit stunned.
"We would like to throw a little party for you tonight," Tracy replied. "We were all talking about what happened today, and we all agreed that we were very unfair to you. So, I hope you can forgive us all."
"Of course I can," Mike replied, smiling. "I was worried that you guys didn't like me anymore, but I guess you were just having a bad day."
"Well, then, Mike," Tracy continued, "why don't we head back to the studio?"
Mike smiled at Tracy, as the two of them headed back to the studio.
Yeah! :) I actually wrote this story when I myself was having a bad day.