The Gift

"The Gift" is the eleventh episode in the second season of Punky Brewster.

Summary
The school's new cleaning lady, Linda (Bonnie Urseth), is a sweet, dedicated worker who is mentally challenged. Mike admires her spirit and Punky mentions how unfair it is that people like Linda sometimes get mistreated by other people. Mike teaches his class about classical music and plays a recording of the violin solo from "Träumerei" by Robert Schumann.

Linda, who was in the hallway, tries to picture herself performing and follows along, but her impersonation is spotted by Allen, who laughs uproariously at her and leads the class in jokes of "Linda, the Amazing Spray Bottle Musician". Enraged, Mike disciplines Allen by assigning him a three page report on the Special Olympics, while Punky seeks out a mortified Linda by saying Punky herself did some "dumb stuff" too. Linda says it is more than being foolish, she believes she is limited by life. The next day, Mike is setting up some musical instruments for a lesson when a conversation with Linda reveals that she may have a greater gift for music than even she realizes. Later that day, Mike brings in a person to play a violin solo...it's Linda, who plays for the class the solo from the previous day.

Trivia

 * This episode focuses on intellectual disabilities.
 * This is the first episode to feature a character with special needs followed by What's Your Sign?.

Cast

 * Soleil Moon Frye as Punky Brewster
 * Cherie Johnson as Cherie Johnson
 * George Gaynes as Henry Warnimont
 * Susie Garrett as Betty Johnson
 * T. K. Carter as Mike Fulton
 * Ami Foster as Margaux Kramer
 * Casey Ellison as Allen Anderson
 * Sandy as Brandon "the Wonder Dog"
 * Bonnie Urseth as Linda
 * Molly Chance as Molly