by YellowRoseOfTexas
"Hello?"
"HI DAWN!!!" shouted seven or eight voices. It knew could only be the Babysitters Club.
I laughed. "Hi, you guys! Having a slumber party?"
"We sure are," answered Mary Anne. "It isn't the same without you, though. We sure do miss you, sis. Can't wait for you to visit us for the New Year." I heard a collective murmur of agreement in the background, which made me smile.
"Me neither," I agreed. It sort of sucked, having to spend Christmas in California and New Years' in Connecticut. If it were possible, I'd celebrate both holidays in both places. Split myself into two people somehow...
"Hey, Dawn, you remember when we had that slumber party at Kristy's over the summer and we talked about our most vivid memories?" Mary Anne asked. "Well... we're discussing Christmas memories now! And the reason I'm calling is that we need to hear yours. Do you have a story to share? We'll put you on speaker phone."
I took a brief moment to think about that. It came to me quickly, and I knew it would interest my friends because it took place in Stoneybrook before I knew any of them. Before moving to Connecticut, finding my future sister, and reuniting our parents, the only reason I went to Stoneybrook was to visit my grandparents who lived there. Usually, though, they had to visit us because it was a lot less trouble for the two of them to fly in to see us. I'll never forget my first Christmas in Stoneybrook, and the only Christmas that I spent in Stoneybrook before actually living there.
"Well," I began, "when I was ten years old, we got a chance to visit my grandparents in Stoneybrook over the Christmas holidays for the first time ever..."
As soon as the idea was brought up, all I cared about was the snow! The only times I had visited my grandparents in Connecticut were during the summer. During the winter, in fact, they usually liked to come to California. Seventy degree weather, they said, was a miraculous blessing. Also, Pop-pop got a break from shoveling all the snow. In Stoneybrook, apparently, there were piles of it. I'd seen pictures. Inches upon inches of soft snow that fluttered down from the sky...
"...And I'm going to make a snowman. And a snowangel. And a snow igloo," I told all about it Sunny over the phone.
"Gosh," she sighed dreamily. "You're going to have so much fun."
"Not that much fun," I told her. "Pro'lly the only person who'll play in the snow with me will be Jeff."
"Sounds more like babysitting," Sunny commented. I agreed. Seven-year-olds do not make interesting playmates.
"I'm glad we already exchanged presents," I said. "Because I won't be back until after New Year's Day."
"Write me a letter," Sunny insisted. "And stick some snow in it."
"It would melt."
"Oh, yeah..." Sunny giggled, though, probably aware of the fact already and just being silly.
Mary Anne chuckled, interrupting me with a comment. "So excited over snow!"
"Well, we'd never seen it before!" I reminded her. "On with my story..."
Granny and Pop-pop were (and still are) pretty wealthy. I guess that's part of the reason why they were typically the ones flying out to see us in California. Their house is this large, beautiful old farmhouse with lots of land and big trees. (It wasn't not nearly as old as the farmhouse we'd eventually move into in Stoneybrook though.) I had seen pictures of their property covered in heaps of brilliant snow, but pictures really didn't do it justice. We arrived on Christmas Eve...
"Wow..." Getting out of the car and setting my duffel bag down on the ground, I breathed heavily, my foggy breath showing up in the air in front of me.
All around, nothing but gleaming white powder as far as the eye could see. Trees topped with white. Granny and Pop-pop's house at the end of a long driveway. Neighbors' houses could be seen far in the distance. There was even a pond frozen over that I wondered if you could skate on.
Mom gently scolded me for setting my bag in the snow and getting it wet. I hardly noticed. And suddenly, Granny had me in her arms. She had a strong grip for an older woman; her hugs were tight. And snug.
"You're here!" she exclaimed. "Come right in this instant. It's dreadful out here. I've got a big lunch ready for you to eat."
"Oh, okay, but..." I trailed off as Mom gave me a Look. I knew what it meant. I had plenty of time for snow, and I shouldn't complain. Knowing better than to be rude to Granny, I bit my tongue.
"But I wanna play in the snoooo-oooo-ow," Oblivious to the Looks he was getting from both of our parents, Jeff whined, giving the word 'snow' three syllables. Pop-pop scooped him up before he could start the pouting and the complaining that he was so good at back then (and is still known for today). Pop-pop was pretty strong himself.
"I'm with ya, Scooter," Pop-pop said, his teeth whistling as he called Jeff by one of the many affectionate nicknames he had for his only grandson. "But we'd better make your grandma happy and not let that lunch get cold!"
Jeff laughed, forgetting to complain about the snow.
"A pond, huh?" Kristy interrupted me this time. "Do you think we could really skate on it?" Sounded like she had an idea. I had to break it to her that it wouldn't work.
"Uh-uh," I said. "I brought the idea up to Granny and she said absolutely not. Then she told me a really frightening story about how my mother's best friend, Rhonda, once tried to walk on the ice and fell through! Luckily, they got her out fast."
"Gosh..." that was Kristy, obviously talked out of her idea. "Okay. Sorry, Dawn. Continue!"
After eating a wonderful lunch of tofurkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, and homemade bread, my parents and Granny and Pop-pop all sat around in the living room to talk. I, on the other hand, helped Jeff back into his huge puffy jacket, scarf, gloves, and hat. (He looked like a marshmellow.) Then I put on my coat, scarf, gloves, and hat, and we were ready. From her spot on the couch, Granny said something about us having ridiculous amounts of energy. We received a few instructions from Mom, and one more severe reminder from Granny not to go near the pond. Then off we went.
The first thing I noticed when I went outside was not the massive amounts of snow or the new powder fluttering down from the sky and tickling my nose. It was a girl in the distance, walking by with what looked like an Alaskan Husky. She looked to be about my age. Perfect, I thought, someone to play with! I turned and told Jeff to stay put. He was already squatted down, playing in the snow.
"Hey! Hi!" I ran towards the girl who froze in her tracks, giving me an odd look.
"Hey..." she said, warily. I then realized how odd it was for me, a complete stranger, to be running towards her.
I stopped and jogged like a normal person. "Hi, erm, I'm Dawn. I'm visiting my grandparents for Christmas."
She nodded, still looking a little weirded-out by me. "Marguerite," she said, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you. Oh, and this (she gestured to her dog) is Princess."
I pointed to my brother. "That's Jeff, my little brother. I'd rather have a dog."
She giggled. "Where are you from?"
"California," I answered. "Palo City, California."
"Cool," she said. "Have you ever been to Hollywood?" (That was what everyone always asked!)
"Yeah, a couple of times," I said. She nodded, approvingly.
"It doesn't snow there, does it?" she asked. I shook my head. "No wonder your brother likes it so much!"
I looked back at him. He was merrily making a snow angel. I grinned at the sight of him.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Kristy was shrieking into the phone. "Back up. Marguerite?"
"Huh? Yeah. So what?"
"As in Marguerite Mason," she said, meaningfully. I didn't follow. "COKIE. Dawn, that was Cokie Mason. Her real name is Marguerite. Your little playmate was none other than the BSC's biggest enemy!"
"Oh, my lord!" I cried, using Claudia's favorite catch phrase. "You really think it was her?"
"She didn't used to call herself Cokie," Kristy went on. "I don't know where Cokie came from, actually. If I were her, I'd stick with my real name but whatever. But yeah, Dawn, how many other Marguerites do you know? It had to be her. What did she look like?"
"Um..." I tried to picture her. "Brown hair. Worn in two ponytails that were curled into ringlets. It looked like she slept with her hair in rollers or something. Uh, her jacket was red with black furry trim. It was pretty fancy for a kid's coat."
"That's her," Kristy laughed. "Oh, my lord, that's her. Too weird. I remember that fancy coat. And that's how she wore her hair, too. Her mother always curled it.
"I never realized that in all these years!" I exclaimed, laughing. "Well, may I finish my story now?"
"Go right ahead," said Kristy. Then she burst into another fit of laughter, and I had to wait for her to settle down before I could go on.
Marguerite (Cokie!) called her mother and asked if she could stay over. After she was given permission, we then played together for hours. She taught Jeff and me how to build an excellent snow fort. Then we ran inside to retrieve a carrot and some black buttons from Granny's sewing kit to build The Best Snowman in the World. Later, we went inside to sit by the fire and drink the warm apple cider that Granny had made for us. The one thing we didn't do while Marguerite was with us was have a snowball fight. She insisted that there was too much dirt in the snow, and it would get her jacket all dirty. (Jeff and I waited until later when Pop-pop and Dad joined us for Ultimate Snowball, as Pop-pop liked to call it.)
When it was finally time for her to leave, she just told Jeff and me goodbye, and she and Princess went on their way. I wonder now what would have happened had I exchanged addresses with Marguerite. Would we have written to each other? Become penpals? Remained friends until I came to Stoneybrook? If that had been the case, I might have hung out with Cokie and her gang at SMS and never become friends with Mary Anne or joined the BSC. Mary Anne's dad and my mom might not have even gotten married had I been friends with Cokie instead of Mary Anne! That's a lot of consequences for one "what if."
The rest of my Christmas was a magical Christmas that will be forever imprinted on my memory as my first real White Christmas. It was also special to me because I spent it with my grandparents. Grandparents have a way of bringing out the true magic of Christmas. I think Christmas is largely about family, and I was fortunate to have such a wonderful family to share it with.
Now my family has certainly changed. It has split in half and grown from there. I have a wondeful sister and stepmother. Unfortunately, I've also got two homes and still only one Christmas. And always being separated from someone I love has been a difficult adjustment for me.
But Christmas hasn't lost its magic.
"Beautiful," Mary Anne sniffed, and I just knew that she was on the other end of the line wiping tears away. Kristy was probably emptying a box of Kleenex for her. "That's soooo sweet, Dawn."
"Thanks," I grinned. "I still can't believe that was Cokie Mason, can you?"
"That's definitely bizarre," Mary Anne agreed. Then, knowing we'd need to hang up soon, Mary Anne passed the phone to every single person there so that they could wish me a Merry Christmas and tell me goodbye. Suddenly, I couldn't wait to be back in Connecticut for New Year's Eve. After I talked to each person, Mary Anne got the phone back. "Okay, we should probably let you go. We have to call Logan to get his memory."
"Take good notes!" I said. (I knew Mary Anne would be doing just that. She isn't the BSC secretary for nothing.) "Call me tomorrow and tell me all about it."
"I will!" she said. "I love you, sis! Bye!"
"Love you, too," I said. "Bye!"
YellowRoseOfTexas is a long-time writer in the BSC category of ff.net. She is
best known for "Janine's Story," and it's sequel, "A Tale of Two Sisters." Additionally,
she wrote "BSC: The New Class", "The Mystery
of Sabrina Bouvier", and "Nobody Knows It But Me". She plays two characters in the babysit RPG.
...There's more to come. The rest should be up tomorrow! Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! (Oh, but hey, we've put a lot of work into this. So if you've read this, would you give us a Christmas present, too, by reviewing? Thanks a bunch!)