OOOO

Part 5

"Can I get you anything, Carol-Anne, sweetheart?"

Carol-Anne smiled up at the short, blond woman who sort of reminded her of a blond version of her own Mom.

"No thank-you, Harriet. I had a drink before we left the house."

"Well, Bud and Harm are out-back with the children, flying a radio controlled plane that AJ got for Christmas, if you want to see them," Harriet told her.

"May I, Mac?" Carol-Anne asked.

"Sure, sweetie," Mac ran a hand over her long, dark hair, "Have fun, but remember, we've got to get going, soon."

"Okay," Carol-Anne nodded and hurried out of the kitchen and into the back yard.

"How's she doing?" Harriet asked, once the child was gone.

"She's okay," Mac nodded, "Sometimes she has a bad day or two, but I think things are getting easier for her, now that her Mom's doctors are keeping her in the loop."

"And Mrs. Bailey?"

"She seems to have responded well to treatment, but we don't know anything for sure just yet," Mac told her, "I think Carol-Anne finds it harder that we're not seeing fast results, than anything else."

As a mother, Harriet could sympathize, because she knew what it was like to be separated from your child. She and Bud had lost their second child, their first daughter. She couldn't imagine how much it must upset Carol-Anne, as the girl was at such a critical age, the age in life where a girl really relied heavily upon her Mother.

OOOO

"Lieutenant?" Mac called out from her office, as Harriet passed the door, "Could I ask your opinion on something?"

"Sure, Colonel," Harriet came in and closed the door behind her, "What was it you wanted to know?"

"When you were twelve years old, how seriously did you take things like this?" Mac asked her, handing her a paper flyer.

"Valentine's Day dance," Harriet read the flyer, "Cute…I must say, I never passed up an opportunity to get together with my friends and gossip about boys. You got this from Carol-Anne?"

"Yeah," Mac nodded, "She didn't tell me about it, though. I found it when it fell out of her bag. At first I thought that maybe she just wasn't into things like that, but now I'm not so sure. I mean, I never took part in things like this when I was a kid. I tried my best not to attract any unnecessary attention, but I keep catching Carol-Anne looking at the clothes in the stores windows…"

"You think she doesn't have anything to wear?" Harriet asked.

"Maybe," Mac nodded, "I wouldn't mind taking her out shopping for something to wear, but I have no idea what is appropriate…"

"Attire for a twelve year old?" Harriet finished, with a smile, "Well, Mac, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure she wouldn't try to push the limits too much. I mean, she's a very pretty girl, but I don't think she's a sex bomb-rebel in the making!"

"And what about make-up?" Mac asked, now really beginning to worry, "What if she wants to wear make-up? How old do kids have to be these days before they're allowed to wear make-up?"

"I certainly didn't wear make-up when I was twelve years old," Harriet told her, "I doubt things have changed that much, but maybe that's just my opinion…Why don't you ask her?"

Mac's gaze jumped up and looked incredulously at Harriet, so she amended, "Okay, maybe not ask her…but maybe a Mom of one of the kids at Carol-Anne's school? How about that Mrs. McCafferty, who picks Carol-Anne up on Wednesdays and Fridays?"

"No," Mac shook her head, "her kids are all younger than Carol-Anne…"

"Carol-Anne's social worker? Is she in town, right now?" Harriet suggested.

"Great idea, Harriet!" Mac exclaimed, grabbing up the phone receiver.

Harriet watched with a smile as Mac called the woman and stumbled through the conversation. It was hard enough that she was trying to play guardian to a twelve year-old-girl, but she was doing so without being able to get advice from the child's mother. Harriet knew that Mac had spent many of her teenage years without the influence of her own mother, so could only guess how difficult Mac was finding all of this.

"Uh-huh…" Mac listened intently to Carol-Anne's social worker, "Yeah…so wait and see if she brings it up? Do you think she will? She hasn't said anything about this dance that's going on at her school…You think so? Yeah, I could do that, no problem…and the thing about make-up…Yeah, okay…Thanks…"

After Mac hung up, she turned to Harriet.

"Tessa said that I should spend some time trying to get Carol-Anne to open up to me. If she doesn't tell me anything about this dance at her school, then she thinks maybe it doesn't really men that much to Carol-Anne. As for the whole make-up thing, Tessa doesn't think that it's all that unusual for a kid Carol-Anne's age to want to experiment with make-up."

"At twelve years old?" Harriet was surprised, commenting wryly, "I guess things have moved on since when you and I were young…"

"Well, she said not to let Carol-Anne take it too far. Just for the night and not to school or on an everyday basis. Maybe just let her use a product or two. And she thought that taking her out shopping was a good idea, because she never had new clothes before she went back to school, this semester. But I'm not so sure how I feel about letting her wear make-up…"

"How about getting her some of that tinted lip-gloss…or maybe a light colored eye-shadow?" Harriet suggested, "I mean, it is make-up, but it's still very subtle. She's certainly not old enough to start worrying about anything else. I doubt she even knows how to put on eye-shadow."

"Yeah," Mac nodded, trying to feel more confident, "and Tessa said that as long as I dropped her off and picked her up, then everything should be fine. These things are usually chaperoned and it won't run too late. And I should just tell her that I'll pick her up whenever all of her friend's parents are showing up."

"You definitely don't want to show up before everyone else's parents do," Harriet confirmed, "She won't thank you for that."

"Maybe I should take the time to sit down with her so that we can go over the rules again," Mac shook her head, feeling the pressure beginning to get a bit much, "I'd hate to embarrass her in front of her friends. And I'd like to put a few of my own into effect, now that I think about it…"

Harriet smiled and nodded, "Maybe that would prove helpful. Is there anything else you need, Ma'am, or could I get back to work?"

"That's fine, Harriet," Mac smiled in thanks as she dismissed her, "and thanks for all your help."

OOOO

"Hey there," Mac greeted Carol-Anne, as she waited in her SUV to pick her up outside the school, "Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah," the girl seemed strangely subdued, "It wasn't too bad. How come you're here

and not Mrs. McCafferty?"

"I just thought I'd take the afternoon off and we'd do something," Mac told her, "You feel up to going shopping at the mall?"

"That sounds good," Carol-Anne nodded, asking, "Can we get ice-cream?"

"Sure," Mac nodded, starting up the car once Carol-Anne had fastened her seat-belt.

They passed the afternoon pleasantly then Carol-Anne finally came out with what

She had been mulling over.

"Mac?" she asked, "When you were my age, did you go to any of the dances that your school organized?"

"Sometimes, yeah," Mac answered, although the truth was that she had usually stayed away from things like that, but she didn't want to influence Carol-Anne's decision.

"Well, there's this thing going on at my school next week and I wasn't sure if I would go."

"Why not?" Mac asked.

"I kinda don't have anything to wear," Carol-Anne replied, "I mean, everybody has seen me in every outfit I own because I wear them to school. I wish I'd thought to put some things aside, before I started back at the beginning of the semester."

"But then you'd be wearing the same things all of the time," Mac pointed out.

"Yeah," the girl nodded, "I guess…and that wouldn't have gone down real well. Some of the girls in my year are really snotty. Their parents can afford to buy them new clothes all of the time, but money was really tight for while, when it was just my Mom and me."

"Yeah," Mac commiserated, " 'Queen Bee Syndrome.' Believe me, I know all about that. But it doesn't last forever, I promise. One day every one of those girls is going to grow up and realize that other kids are good people, despite the amount of money their parents bring home. You're a great kid, Carol-Anne and I promise one day people will grow out of their own insecurities and see that. But in the meantime, I think we should formulate our own battle-plan."

"What kind of a battle-plan?" Carol-Anne asked.

"How about we get you some new clothes?" Mac suggested, "Tessa just happened to mention that you didn't get any new clothes before you went back to school last semester."

"My Mom didn't feel up to going out shopping," Carol-Anne confirmed.

"Okay," Mac nodded, then continued, "Well, let's go shopping, then. We'll pick out something for you to wear to the dance and a few other outfits for you to wear to school."

OOOO