AN: The lyrics at
the end are by Beth Nielsen Chapman, from her song "Sand and Water."
Saturday night,
Lorelai was watching Walker: Texas
Ranger and eating popcorn. Rory was reading Dancing for Someone. She had borrowed it from the Stars Hollow
library. Written by Bernadette Royal, Dancing for Someone told the story of Lindsay Moynihan, a
stunning ballet dancer who was sadly paralyzed in an automobile accident. She had relearned how to dance, in a
different way, after her accident.
The phone rang then, and Lorelai
stood to answer it. "Hello? Yes, this
is she. Oh, Maire, is something wrong?"
Rory looked up.
"Okay. Yes, I'll tell her. I'm
sorry, Maire. Yes, it was good to know
you, too. Yes, okay. All right. Take care. Bye."
"Mom?" Rory asked confusedly, as
Lorelai came into the living room.
Lorelai turned off the TV. "That was
Maire Ecclesall."
"Is something wrong?"
Lorelai took a deep breath. "Kid,
there's no easy way to say this. Um. Annie, um, went into a coma
last night after she had a seizure. She
died, Rory."
Rory sat on the couch, trying to
comprehend what Lorelai had said. Her
eyes filled with tears. Lorelai sat
down next to her and held her daughter tight. "Shh, it's okay. It's okay to cry, you know. That's what Maire said on the phone."
"She was a really good friend," Rory
sobbed.
"It's okay, shh," Lorelai said,
trying to console her daughter.
At that moment, something hit the
window with a flapping of wings and a fluttering of a bird-like body, and a
white bird flew away from the Gilmore house.
Rory walked slowly along the pathway
leading to Amorus Hall, on the south part of Chilton. As she walked, she was thinking. Her thoughts were, as usual, about Annie.
I only wish there was something I could do, some memorial type thing…
After an exceedingly boring history
class, Rory walked alongside the small channel of the Westbrook River that ran
along Chilton's east boundary. A small
flower, perfect in shape and form, fell from a tree above and landed neatly in
the water. As Rory watched it sail
away, she realized something.
"We are all sailing on the river of
life," she said aloud. It felt good to
hear her own voice. "We are all sailing," she repeated. "And we never sink, we
just… well, we just sail off into the distance." A pause. "Goodbye, Annie. And… thank you."
With that, Rory turned from the
water and headed back up to Chilton's main building. We are all dancing
for someone. Who are you dancing
for?
All alone I sat and
cried
All alone I had to
find some meaning
In the center of the
pain I felt inside
All alone I came into
this world
All alone I will
someday die
Solid stone is just
sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by