None of this is mine.
I dressed at midnight. OK, it was more like quarter to one (I'm not what you'd call punctual), but you get my drift - it was early. I flung a few essentials into a bag (along with the Letter) and slipped out of my room and into my sister's.
"Cathy?" I whispered. No reaction. "Cathy?" Still nothing. I went over and shook her violently. "Cath-Cath!"
"Piss off, Becky! It's too early!" Ya don't say.
"We gotta go! Hurry up!" We might have our differences, but she was my sister and I wanted her to come with me,
"Go where?" She muttered grouchily.
"Crabapple Cove!"
"I don't even know where the hell that is. Now scram!"
"It's in Maine." By now I was getting the distinct impression she wanted me to go away. (I wonder why...)
"Becky, I have never had the slightest desire to visit Maine, especially not at one in the morning!" She paused. "Are you doing that thing you did as a kid where you stuck a pin in a map and wondered what it would be like to live wherever it ended up?"
"No." I looked her straight in the eyes. "D'ya remember that letter from Hawkeye I wasn't allowed to read?"
"Yeah, so?"
"I read it."
"Your point being?"
Wordlessly, I passed her the Letter. She scanned through it - she's always been a fast reader - and looked at me with wide, stunned eyes.
"Becky...do you know what this means?"
"Yes." Then., after five and a half years, the Theory finally came pouring out. "So you see, there's only one thing for it."
"Pretend none of this is happening, go back to sleep, and never breath a word of it to anyone?"
"No!" I was shocked. How could we ignore something like this?
"Figures. Your plans are never that simple or reasonable, are they?"
"They so are!"
"Your plan to ensure we didn't have to entertain Erin Hunnicutt in 1955 involved a catapult, orange peel, and ten buckets of water. And we still got stuck with her."
"OK, maybe some of my plans are a little crazy, but this one makes perfect sense."
"Let's hear it, then." She didn't sound so convinced.
"We gotta get them together!"
"Please tell me that by 'them', you do not mean Dad and Dr. Pierce."
I nodded. "Yep! I do!"
She stared at me. "That," she said finally, "is an exceptionally crap plan, even for you."
"That's why I need your help! You're the smart one! The one people listen to! You gotta come with me, Cathy!" I pleaded.
"NO, Becky! We can't! This is gonna screw everything up for all of us! And I, for one, do not wanna end up a child of a broken home."
"We're already children of a broken home! What have we got to lose? If we don't do this, the five of us are gonna end up spending the rest of our lives in complete misery. It's the only option, Cathy!"
"Becky, try to be rational here. Firstly, if anyone finds out, there's gonna be serious consequences and we'll just be worse off-"
"No-one will find out." I said with total certainty.
"Secondly, have you even considered how you're gonna actually get there?"
I hadn't.
"I'll hitchhike." Well, why not? It's as good an idea as any.
"You're an idiot." That stung.
"You might be the brains here, Cathy," I held her gaze, on the verge of tears but determined to stand my ground, "but I'm the heart. If the brain dies, the body is still alive, because the heart doesn't stop. But when the heart gives in you're screwed."
"Meaning?"
"I can do this solo. Tell Dad where I went, and tell him to come pick me up. And don't tell Mom a thing." Then I turned and left. Crabapple Cove, here I come.
