The BSC Legacy - Book 1: Brave New World of High School
By: CNJ
PG-13
10: Bittersweet Thanksgiving, Part 1
Dawn:
"I can't wait to see you,
Mom," I told my mom that Tuesday afternoon when I called her from California.
I was already packing for tomorrow's flight to Connecticut. I also couldn't
wait to see Mary Anne and Richard as well as my Connecticut friends.
"Me either," Mom's voice
quavered a little and she cleared her throat.
"Just so you know..." I
lowered my voice. "Verna called and said yes she got her ticket and I'll
be meeting her at the airport tomorrow. Mary Anne doesn't suspect anything,
does she?"
"Not a thing," Sharon told
me. "And that's a feat because she is one perceptive girl who misses almost
nothing." We both laughed. It was lucky that Verna managed to get a ticket
to a flight from Iowa to arrive in Connecticut at two on Wednesday afternoon.
I'd be arriving from California at one-thirty and Verna and I would meet.
It was to be a surprise to Mary Anne because she is so kind-hearted and
the dearest, dearest stepsister that has ever lived. It had been my suggestion,
but last year in eighth grade, she had surprised Mom by arranging my flight.
"Hold on, she just got here..."
Mom said suddenly.
"Hi, Dawn..." Mary Anne's
voice came over the phone.
"Hi, Mary Anne!" I greeted.
"It's so good to hear your
voice!" Mary Anne gushed, then sniffed a little. "I'm counting the hours,
minutes when I'll see you."
"We..." I stopped myself.
Close! "Me too. Me too." There was a pause and I was afraid I'd accidentally
let a little of the cat out of the bag about Verna. I thought fast. "I
thought Jeff was coming, but he still wants to stay here with Carol and
Dad."
"Yeah..." Mary Anne said
softly. She sounded a little sad. "I just..." she paused again. "I just...I'm
going to miss Grandma. If only she'd been able to get a ticket." Mary Anne
sounded so sad I almost gave the surprise away...but didn't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
Tuesday night, after I'd
talked to Dawn and told her how sad I was that Grandma couldn't make it,
but was happy that Dawn at least could, Logan and I went out to eat. He'd
be going away with his family for Thanksgiving to visit relatives in Kentucky.
We went to Pizza Fest and had just started to eat when we saw three kids
from the journalism club, Kim Weston, Tim Hune, and Renee Weng. They waved
and came over to talk to us. I introduced them to Logan and him to them.
We talked for a few minutes. I tried to include Logan into the conversation
by bringing up the sports article in this month's Beacon and making sure
they all knew each other at least by name. But I could see that Logan was
getting bored and impatient. At one point, he rolled his eyes and became
quiet, then got up abruptly, muttering something about using the bathroom
and headed there. I tried to act like nothing was wrong, even though I
was embarrassed. Eventually, we would down our conversation and they went
to another table to eat. When Logan finally came back, I began to feel
angry. Why did he act bored and jealous? I wondered as our order came.
"Is the latest breaking
Stoneybrook special report over?" Logan asked with a drop of sarcasm.
"What?" I dropped my fork
on my plate.
"They sure didn't mind interrupting
us."
"Logan..." I was a little
stunned. "I tried to get you into the conversation, but you were the one
who acted bored and walked off. You know, the teams are in the paper..."
"Yeah, I know," Logan retorted.
"And so are you getting wrapped up in that Beacon...just like you're getting
more wrapped up in the BSC so we hardly have time together as it is. It
seems like that's all more important than me..."
"Oh, Logan, go to hell!"
I snapped. We stared at each other, so shocked that we couldn't speak for
two minutes. I could not believe I actually said that! We silently finished
our pizza. I could barely swallow. I hate tension and fighting. "I'm...sorry,
Logan," I managed to get out, fighting back tears.
"I'm sorry I got on your
case," Logan apologized back. "I had no right. It's just that I was feeling
jealous." We talked quietly, trying to smooth things over. I think neither
one of us wanted to part for Thanksgiving on bad terms. The acute tension
faded, but there was still light tension between us. We kissed without
much warmth, then parted. As I got ready for bed, I thought over tonight.
This has happened before...Logan becoming resentful of the time I spend
on other activities besides him. He has his sports teams and I have the
journalism club and the BSC. I've never been jealous of the time he spends
on sports. So why was he jealous of my involvement with the school newspaper?
I went to bed, remembering the time last year that we'd temporarily broken
up over this very issue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn:
I glanced at my watch on
Wednesday afternoon as I waited at the airport. Good. I'd told Mom and
Mary Anne to come at two-fifteen. Sure enough, people poured out of the
two 'o clock flight from Iowa and eventually...there was Verna.
"VERNA!" I yelled waving
at her. She looked around, a little bewildered, then spotted me.
"Dawn!" she called and we
hugged.
"They should be here in
fifteen minutes." I told her. "Oh, won't Mary Anne be surprised!" Verna
and I went over to the luggage belt and grabbed our bags, then wave through
the crowd and tried to find a place to sit, but it was too crowded. It
seemed like half of Connecticut was here with family and friends.
"We already got a little
snow last week," Verna told me. "It's already winter in Iowa." I nodded
and thought about out west where it was still around seventy degrees, but
the trees had changed. It's really pretty the way they light up in burnt
orange, mahogany, and brown against pale green cacti. Oh, there...I knew
the threesome in the distance was Mom, Mary Anne, and Richard. I waved.
They wove through the crowd and saw us.
"Oh, Dawn!" Mom cried.
"Mom...Mary Anne...Richard!"
I called as we headed toward each other with arms out.
"Dawn!" Mary Anne's eyes
welled up. "Oh...Dawn! Oh...Grandma!"
"Mary Anne, darling, it's
so good to see you!" Verna's dark eyes welled up and they both burst into
tears and hugged. Verna's very sensitive like Mary Anne. Mom and I hugged.
"Operation Surprise successful,"
I told Mom.
"It's wonderful seeing you
too, sweetheart." Mom's eyes were damp..
"How are you, Dawn?" Richard
hugged me too. "You've grown another inch..."
"Hello, Richard," Verna
wiped her eyes, one arm still around Mary Anne as we started out of the
airport.
"Hello, Verna," Richard
and Verna seemed a little awkward and I saw Mary Anne glance between the
two of them. Richard then looked down at Mary Anne and added, it seemed
for Mary Anne's benefit, "It's good to see you again." Then Verna reached
over and hugged Mom.
"Thank...you," she whispered.
Once we got home, Mary Anne and I went up to her room and talked for a
long time. I updated her on the latest happenings at Vista High and with
my California friends.
"So, when is Carol due?"
Mary Anne asked about my stepmom Carol's pregnancy.
"Late April, early May,"
I told her. Odd that I'm going to have another brother or sister this spring.
I knew she and Logan had gone out the night before and I asked how it went.
I don't think it went well, because Mary Anne tried to smile, but her brows
puckered into this tense frown with a small vertical line between them.
I think since Mary Anne joined the journalism club, Logan's been jealous.
Mary Anne didn't come right out and tell me this, but I gathered from his
reactions to whenever she brought up the Beacon. It seems that when some
of the kids from the journalism club came over to talk, Logan got all huffy
about it. It reminded me of the other time when they'd had serious problems
back in eighth grade when he was becoming too possessive and tried to hog
up all her free time. They'd temporarily broken up over it, but re-united
a month later. Now I wondered if he was trying to take over her time again,
trying to pressure her into giving up her free time for him. If that's
happening again, Logan has some growing up to do or he could lose Mary
Anne!
"YOOOOOO-hooo!" a voice
called from downstairs. "Girls...do you want to eat out tonight?"
"Hey, Granny and Pop-pop
are here!" I jumped up, happy to see them again. Mary Anne relaxed and
got up too and we headed downstairs. It was great seeing them. Sure enough,
we headed out to eat at a new Vietnamese place which was almost out in
the rural area of Stoneybrook where they live.
Mary Anne:
It's so great seeing Grandma
and Dawn again! After I'd talked to Dawn about the terse exchange Logan
and I had Tuesday night, I felt better. I wasn't expecting Grandma, but
Sharon and Dawn decided to surprise me. After we got back from dinner,
Dawn and I went back upstairs, talked and played Uno upstairs. Grandma
and Dawn's grandparents talked in the living room. As Dawn and I were playing,
I became aware that it was quiet in the living room. Then I heard low voices
arguing.
"....You left her
with me after Alma died," Grandma was saying emphatically. "Then a year
and a half later, you hired this lawyer and had her taken from us!"
"Verna..." Dad sounded tense.
"I tried to call you when she was five and you were the one that hung up
on me..." I cleared my throat uncomfortably, hoping Dawn wasn't hearing
that. But that was wishful thinking, because she could hear as well as
me.
"Are you all right?" Dawn
asked. I nodded, fighting back tears, my stomach twisting into a knot.
What a long strange evening it was. We were all a bit tense by the time
we went to bed. Granny and Pop-pop were spending the night with us and
sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room. Pop-pop tried to relieve the
tension by joking around. "So goes the Spiers' great traditions of feuds.
"
"Dad!" Sharon told him.
"Just...shut up!"
"What?" Pop-pop asked when
Dawn's grandmother, Verna, and Dad gave him a big LOOK. "Sorry..." he muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn:
Mary Anne and I both like
to sleep in on non-school days, but on Thanksgiving morning, I woke up
early to my own surprise. Mary Anne was still asleep, so I was careful
not to wake her as I got dressed. I was reading a Goosebumps book
when Mary Anne slowly stirred, then sat up, her dark eyes bleary.
"Hi..." I whispered, surprised
to see her up before ten. She groaned softly and clutched her stomach.
I hoped she wasn't still upset about the argument between her dad and grandmother.
"Are you all right?" I asked.
"Ohhh, it's here again,"
she whispered. I looked down and saw what she meant when I noticed a small
red splotch on her nightshirt.
"Need a tampon?" I asked,
heading for the bathroom.
"Yeah...thanks," Mary Anne
nodded. I went into the bathroom, got the necessary, and brought it back.
"Know how to put one in?"
I knew she'd only started her period last August. Mary Anne nodded.
"This is only my second
time," she told me once she got it in. "I'm still not regular."
"It took me a while to get
regular too," I told her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
I had the feeling that this
was going to be a long Thanksgiving. I slowly got dressed, fighting cramps.
I flushed as I remembered how embarrassed I'd been to be that last of the
BSC to get my period.
"Feel all right enough to
go down?" Dawn a while later.
"I guess..." Might as well
face the day. We headed down. Dad and Grandma were civil and by noon, all
of us were getting the meal ready. I could feel tension between Dad and
Grandma. I could also sense tension still lingering between Sharon and
Pop-pop. Sharon and Dawn put together sweet potatoes and the vegetarian
dishes that they liked while Dad, Granny, Grandma, and I got the turkey
ready. Almost everyone chatted on about everything from international relations
to the environment to pets, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. Grandma
made the stuffing and bit by bit, handed it to us. She was mostly quiet
like me and I knew she was still upset over last night. As she handed over
the last bit, her eyes met mine and both of our eyes filled up. I think
she knew I'd heard the argument and was silently saying how sorry she was
about everything...long ago and last night. Once the food was ready, and
we were getting ready to sit, I saw Grandma's eyes filling up again and
her mouth contorted as if she were about to burst into tears. I reached
over and held her hand and her tears seemed to recede...until we were seated
and Dad, Sharon, and Grandma couldn't decide who should carve the turkey.
"You may as well, Verna,"
Dad told Grandma pointedly. "Just as you wanted to take over before." Grandma
winced, then fresh tears welled in her eyes.
"Oh...Richard...let's..."
Her mouth contorted and quivered again. I couldn't stand it anymore and
burst into tears.
"Stop...grow up...all of
you!" I pleaded. Grandma started to cry for real and Dad and Dawn's grandparents
and my dad looked stricken and contrite.
"Oh, Mary Anne, we're sorry,"
my dad came over and we hugged. I could tell he felt bad for his part in
this fight.
"Can you forgive us?" Verna
sobbed, hugging me also. "For yesterday...and long ago?" I thought it over
and saw Dad and Grandma look at each other and could see that they were
mutually calling a truce. I nodded. Grandma then really wept.
"It's okay...it's okay..."I
soothed her. Dawn handed us tissues. "I forgive you...it's all right."
The tension evaporated; things felt almost normal again and we sat and
started to eat. We went on talking and joked around, managing to even laugh
again. Grandma seemed to feel better. I think Dad and Grandma hadn't forgotten,
but the anger was gone and I was relieved...and thankful.
