Chapter 7
July 30th, 1997
Annie and Ella were standing five feet in front of a two hundred pound black bear. Annie really wished she had paid more attention to the instructional video on black bear encounters that all the campers had to watch the first night. The only thing she remembered about it was that Billy, the camper in the video's scenario, had did everything wrong and had been killed. Annie had thought the video was boring and a waste of time, since no one had ever seen a black bear on the campgrounds. She knew from one of her Zoobooks that black bears tended to avoid humans.
Ella was standing beside Annie trembling. She had tears running down her face.
"W-We're going to e-end up l-like B-Billy," Ella cried.
"No, we ain't. Billy was an idiot, we're going to be smart," Annie said. "Tell me what you remember about the video."
"I-I n-need to t-think," Ella said. "Um…D-Don't play d-d-dead, it w-will e-e-eat you."
"No one's getting eaten," Annie said.
Annie kept her eye contact with the bear. The bear's ears went back and it charged them and swiped Annie's shoulder with its paw, digging its claws into her skin. Annie and Ella screamed and backed up against the wall.
"D-Don't l-look at its e-eyes," Ella said.
"Now you tell me," Annie looked at her shoulder, it was bleeding and it hurt a lot. "What else?"
"T-Throw s-s-something at it," Ella said.
Annie saw rolls of toilet paper stacked next to the wall. She winced as she tried to reach them with her injured arm. They were too far away. Annie sidestepped slowly against the wall towards the toilet paper. Ella followed Annie and did the same. The problem was that as they did this they were getting closer to the bear.
The bear charged them and Ella screamed. Annie threw Ella behind her and shielded her, but did not move from her position. Annie finally remembered something from the video: don't run. Annie stood her ground, the bear was bluffing. The bear backed away from them.
"P-Put your arms up above your h-head and w-w-wave them around." Annie said. Annie put her arms up and did the same.
Annie and Ella continued sidestepping against the wall towards the toilet paper rolls. Annie reached out to grab one when the bear, which was still cornered, charged again. Ella screamed.
Annie grabbed a roll of toilet paper and threw it at the bear's face. The bear backed away towards the open door. The bear had an escape route now that Annie and Ella had moved away from the door. Annie was hoping the bear would leave. Ella trembled behind Annie.
"M-Make loud n-n-noises," Ella said.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Annie asked. There was nothing Annie could see that she could make noise with.
Ella started singing a song that Annie learned in Kindergarten: If You're Happy and You Know It. Annie joined in and soon they were both clapping and stomping their feet. The bear retreated out the door.
"Are you okay," Annie asked.
"Yeah, but there's blood on Minnie," Ella said.
"Lift your shirt up," Annie said.
Ella lifted her shirt up. She didn't have a scratch on her.
"It's my blood," Annie said.
Annie's shoulder was badly injured. She needed to get to the nurse. Annie walked over to the sink and grabbed a bunch of paper towels and got them wet before she pressed them to her wound.
"Hurry up and go to the bathroom, so we can go to the nurse," Annie said.
"It's too late, I already went," Ella said crying.
"It's okay, so did I," Annie said. "Don't cry about it."
"But you're a big kid," Ella said. Ella wiped the tears off of her face.
"Well, my mom told me once that sometimes grown-ups have accidents too. It's okay if it happens to big kids too, besides we couldn't make it because of the bear."
"I hope my mommy won't be mad at me," Ella said.
"Don't worry about it. She'll be happy you're alive. I'm sure she won't care about it and you're clothes can be washed. Mom's now how to get stains out."
"How do they do it?"
"I don't know, I think its magic or something."
Ella's eyes got big. "Wow!"
Annie and Ella heard footsteps approaching the bathroom. Katie came in with Ella's counselor, Michelle.
"I saw a bear come out of here. Are you two okay?" Katie asked.
"She's fine, but the bear got my shoulder," Annie said.
"Let's go to the nurse." Katie led them out of the bathroom.
After Colorado, Natalie made stops in Salt Lake City and Seattle. Now Natalie was in Los Angeles, California. Her line was getting shorter. The store manager had already capped the line off. Just a few more people and she could go back to her hotel and relax. A skinny, blonde, woman wearing sunglasses and a hat was next in line. Natalie knew who she was right away, even though she was trying to disguise herself. Blair had every magazine that featured her face on the cover.
"Cindy, it's so great to see you," Natalie jumped up and ran around the table. "How are you?"
"I'm doing great. I hope no one else recognizes me." Cindy said adjusting her hat. "It's always a zoo if someone spots me."
"Blair grabs all the magazines with you on the cover, whenever she's out shopping," Natalie said. "You're popular right now. I think she's a little jealous."
"That sounds like her, what's she doing now that she's better?" Cindy asked.
"She's a stay at home mom."
"She's not a lawyer? I thought she was going to law school."
"She never finished law school after she bought Eastland. Then she got married and got pregnant, and then she got hurt and recovered, so she's a stay at home mom now. She doesn't talk about finishing law school ever. I don't know if she wants to."
"So she still owns Eastland?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah, she does. Since she found a new headmaster and hired more staff, she doesn't go over there much anymore. She still goes to board meetings and signs the checks though. Her father took care of Eastland and the community center while she was gone. When everyone found out Tad and Blair survived the crash, Blair's father signed both properties back over to her, when he felt she could handle them again."
"So how many kids does she have?"
"Two girls, Kelsey and Amanda,"
"I wish I had kids, but I'm not married and having a baby would probably ruin my modelling career."
"You could always adopt, that's what I did," Natalie said. "My daughter, Annie is ten now." Natalie walked around the table and started signing Cindy's book.
"It was nice seeing you," Cindy said taking her book back. "I'll let you take care of the rest of these people. I need to get out of here, before I'm spotted."
Cindy left and Natalie took care of the rest of the line.
It was 4:45 when Natalie finally made it back to her hotel. She went to the front desk to see if she had any messages. The guy at the front desk was waiting for her.
"Mrs. Robinson, you have a message from Blair. She says call the camp, it's an emergency."
Jason had left messages at all the emergency contact numbers listed on Annie's medical form. He hadn't been able to reach anyone. He hoped someone would call back soon. They had taken Annie to the hospital, where she had gotten eleven stitches in her left shoulder. She was back at camp now sitting in his office in a chair next to a pink duffel bag with Hello Kitty's face on it and a pillow and sleeping bag with Minnie Mouse on it.
Ella's parents had also been called. Her mother had driven from Pennsylvania and pulled both Ella and her seven year old brother, Ethan, out of the camp early. Ethan was sitting next to all of his stuff crying, because he didn't want to go home yet.
"It's not fair," Ethan cried. "Ella's fine. Why do I have to go home?"
Jason wrote a refund check to Ella's mother for the last two weeks of camp.
"Hush, Ethan," his mother said. "Get up, its time to go."
Ethan reluctantly got up and followed his mother and sister out the door with all their stuff.
Annie hoped her mom wasn't going to make her come home too. She wanted to stay for the square dance. Other than the stitches in her shoulder, she was fine.
Jason's phone rang and he answered it. He explained everything and then gave the phone to Annie.
"Your mother wants to talk to you," Jason said.
Annie grabbed the phone.
"Hey Mom, I'm fine."
"I'm canceling the rest of my book tour and coming home. I'm picking you up from camp."
"No, Mom please don't, I'm fine. I want to stay here."
"You got attacked by a bear, you have eleven stitches. You're coming home."
"But Mom, the square dance is in two weeks. I want to go to it. Please Mom? It's just a little scratch on my shoulder. I'm fine," Annie pleaded.
"Did the other girl go home?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah, but she is five. I'm ten, I'm not a baby. Please let me stay, I don't want to go home," Annie cried.
"Alright, Annie, you can stay as long as you take care of your shoulder and don't get the stitches wet. You let the nurse look at it every day. If they call me and say it's infected, you're coming home."
"Thank you, Mom. I promise I'll take care of it," Annie said relieved.
"I thought black bears avoided people. What was it doing in the bathroom?" Natalie asked.
"Someone threw food in the bathroom garbage," Annie said. "Everyone's going to get a lecture at dinner."
"Alright, put Jason back on the phone."
Aug 2nd, 1997
Mrs. Garrett, Blair, and Amanda were at the airport waiting for Bruce's plane to arrive. Mrs. Garrett had her suitcase packed. When Bruce arrived they would have two hours to wait at the airport, before she and Bruce got on a plane to Florida. There they would board a cruise ship for the next two weeks.
Blair was trying not to show it, but she was freaking out inside. Seeing planes take off and land brought back bad memories. She didn't want Mrs. Garrett to know that she was about to have a panic attack. Mrs. Garrett would probably cancel her trip with Bruce and Blair didn't want to be the reason that they didn't go on the cruise.
Mrs. Garrett looked at her watch and then at the arrival board. Bruce's plane should be arriving in five minutes. Mrs. Garrett looked at Blair. She saw dark circles under Blair's eyes. Something else was wrong too, Blair was tense. She was white as a sheet and was holding Amanda in a death grip.
Amanda started crying and trying to get off of Blair's lap.
"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Mrs. Garrett asked.
Uh-oh, she knows something is wrong. Blair loosened her grip on Amanda. "I'm fine. I'm just going to go sit over there." Blair stood up and walked over to some chairs that were facing the wall. Now she didn't have to see the planes take off and land.
Mrs. Garrett watched Blair trying to coax Amanda to talk. Amanda was almost sixteen months old and hadn't said her first words yet. The baby books had said that most babies have uttered their first words by now. Amanda's pediatrician wasn't worried yet though, not all babies develop at the name pace. Mrs. Garrett noticed Blair seemed more relaxed now sitting over there.
Mrs. Garrett looked at the arrival board and saw that Bruce's plane had landed. He would be coming through the gate any minute. The doors to the gate opened and people started coming out.
Mrs. Garrett called over to Blair. "Honey, he'll be coming out soon."
Blair stood up, put Amanda on her hip and walked over to where Mrs. Garrett was standing. Bruce came out of the terminal and Mrs. Garrett ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. Blair watched as Bruce kissed Mrs. Garrett. Blair had tears running down her face, it was so romantic. It was just like in the movies she used to watch where sailors came home from the Navy and kissed their wives at the airport.
"I missed you so much, Edna."
"I missed you too, Bruce." Mrs. Garrett pulled away from Bruce and gave him a once over. "Brucie, you're so thin."
"I'm okay, Edna. I'm sure I'll fatten up when I eat your home cooking." Bruce saw Blair standing behind Mrs. Garrett. "You're Blair, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"And this must be Amanda?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah, this is Amanda," Blair said. Blair felt like she was intruding on Bruce and Mrs. Garrett's reunion.
"Where are the rest of them?" Bruce asked. "Edna talks about all of you all the time."
"The other girls are all out of town and the all the children are at summer camp." Mrs. Garrett said.
"I was hoping to meet everyone else," Bruce said. "I've heard so much about everyone."
"You'll see them when we get back from our cruise," Mrs. Garrett said. "They'll all be back by then."
"I'm going to go take Amanda home, it's almost nap time," Blair said.
"Honey, are you sure you're going to be okay alone at the house?" Mrs. Garrett asked.
"I'll be fine, Mrs. Garrett," Blair said. "You guys have fun on your cruise. Don't worry about me."
"We'll have fun and you promise me you'll try to get some sleep."
"I'll try," Blair said. "I'm glad you're home, Bruce. We'll see you in two weeks."
Blair hugged both of them and waved goodbye, before she left the airport.
Natalie was in Las Vegas, Nevada. She had signed books in Vegas all day the previous day. Now she had the weekend to herself, so she had invited Tootie to meet her at her hotel. A cab pulled up in front of the hotel doors and Natalie saw Tootie get out of it with a small suitcase.
The doorman opened the door for Tootie and Natalie ran over to her and gave her a hug.
"How was the flight?" Natalie asked.
"It was quiet, no screaming babies," Tootie said.
"I'll take you up to our room." Natalie said. Natalie pushed the button for the elevator.
"So what do you want to do tonight?" Tootie asked.
"I was thinking we could have dinner at the casino, get some drinks, and maybe gamble a little."
The elevator came down and opened. They got in the elevator and Natalie pushed the button for floor 11.
"So Annie got attacked by a bear?" Tootie asked.
"Yeah, she has eleven stitches in her shoulder. I wanted to pull her out of camp, but she begged me to let her stay and she said she was fine."
"She's lucky she wasn't killed," Tootie said.
They stepped off the elevator and Natalie led Tootie to the room and opened the door.
"I know," Natalie said. "How did pilot filming go?"
Tootie sat on the bed. "The network didn't pick up the show. The network kept telling the director to change actors in the cast. I didn't think the show was going to make it anyway. I would've never watched it myself. It wouldn't have made it into the Fall line up anyway, since the network released the schedule months ago. It could've been a show for next year though."
"I'm sorry, Tootie. What are you going to do now?"
"I'll just keep going to auditions. Maybe I can get another show."
"Do you want to head to the casino now or do you want to wait."
"I'm starving. All they had on the plane were those little bags of peanuts. Let's go to the casino."
Jo was cooking dinner in the kitchen of the cottage they rented. The cottage was two stories. It had three bedrooms, one with a double bed and two with bunk beds. There was plenty of room to bring Jamie along sometime. Jo knew Jamie would love it here. She could go fishing with her dad and go out in the row boat.
Rick was sitting in the living room tying lures to his fishing pole. The little TV was on playing the news. The news anchor said something about Peekskill that Rick and Jo couldn't hear, because the volume wasn't on high enough.
"Turn that up, Rick."
Rick grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.
Another robbery in Peekskill, New York has residents on edge. Peekskill resident Sally Birch told Channel 7 that she was getting ready to go to bed last night, when a man with a gun came out of a closet he was hiding in. The culprit got away with her jewelry and is still on the loose. He is considered armed and dangerous. This is the third robbery in the past week. Birch was lucky she got away from the man with only minor injuries.
"Doesn't Sally Birch live a few houses down from Mrs. Garrett?" Rick asked.
"Yeah, she does. Mrs. Garrett was supposed to leave with Bruce today. I'm worried about Blair though, she's at the house alone." Jo flipped the fish in the pan.
"Jo, you always worry about Blair. You don't like her being alone even if there isn't an armed robber on the loose. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. Besides she has the dog."
"Sammy is not exactly a good guard dog. He's too friendly, he likes everybody. He won't even bark at the mailman. He'll probably show the robber where the jewelry is."
"Isn't Tootie around?"
"She was supposed to meet Natalie in Vegas," Jo said. "Jeff might be home though. I guess she could always call him if there's a problem."
Rick finished with his fishing rod. "I'm going fishing tonight. They say there's a big bass in the lake that has eluded everyone. I'm going to try to catch it."
"While you're gone, I'm going to go walk down to the payphone and see if I can call Jeff and ask him to keep an eye on the house."
"Why don't you just call Blair?"
"Because, she'll just think I'm checking up on her."
"Well you are, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but I don't want her to know that."
"You can always call the station and ask them to watch the house. I'm sure they'll do it."
"They're probably watching the neighborhood already, but I want to call and see what's going on anyway." Jo put the fish she was cooking on two plates. "Dinner's ready."
Blair was finally alone in the house for the first time in ages. She had just put Amanda to bed for the night. Now she was bored.
Blair lay on the couch and turned herself so that her feet were on the back of the couch and her head was dangling off the edge upside down. She wanted to do something she would never do in front of the girls, something that her mother would never approve of, and something that may be considered a little crazy and out of character. This would probably be her only chance for a long time and she didn't want to waste the moment.
Blair thought to herself for a moment while her head hung off the back of the couch, her long blonde hair touching the floor. A smile spread across her face as she figured out what she wanted to do. Blair righted herself on the couch. She stood up and ran upstairs. She was going to act like a child again. No one was here to stop her from having the fun she wasn't allowed to have when she was growing up.
An hour later, Blair came downstairs all dressed up in a pink silk ball gown with a skirt made out of yards and yards of pink tulle. She had completed her outfit with pink ballet flats and a diamond tiara. Her long blonde hair was left loose along her shoulders.
Princess Blair had arrived.
Blair sat on the couch. She would never wear this outfit around the house just for kicks in front of the girls. Jo teased her enough about acting like a princess. She didn't need to see her dressed like one too for no other reason except that she wanted to.
Blair thought for a moment. Now that she was dressed all fancy, she wanted to do something that her mother would never approve of. She remembered when she was at Tad's birthday party in Kindergarten and they were having pizza. Mother wouldn't allow her to have any, because she was afraid Blair would get it on her pretty dress. Blair smiled mischievously. She picked up the phone and called the pizza place.
Blair hung up the phone after ordering a pizza with extra sauce, extra cheese, pepperoni, pineapple, anchovies, black olives, bacon, sausage, etc. Whatever you could find on a pizza, Blair ordered it on hers. Maybe she would go wild and eat the whole thing too. Mrs. Garrett was worried Blair was getting too skinny again, so she would probably be happy if she ate the whole thing.
Blair wanted to do something reckless while she waited for her pizza to arrive. She wondered if all their boxes that were in the attic years ago were still in the garage where they were put when they turned the attic into a loft for Natalie and Tootie, the room that belonged to Kelsey and Amanda now. Blair stood up and walked across the living room and opened the door that led to the garage.
Blair turned the light on in the garage. The light shined bright on her candy apple red Porsche. Blair spotted a stack of boxes in the corner. She walked over to them and started digging through them, she couldn't find what she was looking for.
Blair looked around the garage. It was getting darker outside, she could see the sunlight fading through the windows on the big garage door. She spotted a plastic, round, sled hanging on the wall on the left side of her car. Blair was pretty sure the sled belonged to Natalie, but Natalie wasn't using it right now and she would never know.
It was perfect.
Blair grabbed the sled and took it in the house. She took it to the top of the stairs and sat down on it. She tucked her dress in under her. She used her hands to push off the top step. She flew down the stairs and landed in the kitchen. She almost crashed into the cabinets. It was fun. Overprotective, Jo would never have allowed her to do this. She would've had a fit if she knew what she was doing. Mrs. Garrett wouldn't be too thrilled either. They were all afraid she would get hurt again doing the simplest things that all children did growing up, like riding a bike. Mother never allowed her to even sled on snow. She always felt that it wasn't ladylike.
Sledding down the stairs was fun, but Blair wanted to do something faster and more dangerous. Maybe if she looked again, she could find what she was looking for in the first place.
Blair went back in the garage. She dug through the boxes again determined to find what she was looking for this time. Then she saw it, a box with Tootie's name on it stacked on top of a box with Jo's name on it. She was glad she found the boxes. She was afraid if she got into anymore boxes she would find the stuff she didn't want to see, the things that would bring back all the sadness and memories of losing 'Baby B,' the smaller twin.
Blair pulled the boxes from the stack. She opened Tootie's, inside were Tootie's old roller skates. Blair slung them over her shoulder. Blair opened Jo's box wither free hand, inside was Jo's old motorcycle helmet. It still had a piece of paper taped to it.
Touch this and you're dead where you stand.
Jo would never know. Blair was never planning on telling anyone about any of this.
Blair took the helmet and skates into the house and set them on the floor next to the door. She went back in the garage and looked for something that she could use as a ramp. She found a big piece of plywood leaning against the wall.
It was perfect. It looked like it would work nicely.
Blair took it in the house and placed it on the stairs. She moved the table and chairs out of the way, before she took the skates and helmet into the kitchen. She went up the kitchen stairs and appeared on the landing in the living room, right at the top of her plywood ramp.
Blair sat on the steps and pulled her ballet flats and tiara off and put on Tootie's skates and Jo's helmet. She stood up, she was a little wobbly. She stepped on the plywood.
Blair rolled down the ramp fast and crash landed into the wall. She would have bruises later, but they were worth it. She was having fun. The doorbell rang, the pizza had arrived. Blair picked herself up off the floor and skated to the door.
The young delivery boy looked at her strangely as she paid for her pizza. She knew she probably looked ridiculous. She didn't care though, she wasn't likely to ever see him again and he probably didn't know who she was. They didn't even use her name on the pizza box, it was Beverly Ann's. Beverly Ann must have been the last one to order pizza. That must have been a long time ago. The pizza delivery boy would probably go back to the shop and tell everyone that that Beverly Ann lady sure is weird.
Blair put her pizza on the coffee table. She sat down on the couch and pulled the helmet and skates off. She put everything back in the garage and closed the door. Her hands were all dirty, so she went and washed them in the kitchen before opening the pizza box.
Blair grabbed a coloring book and crayons out of the drawer. She turned to a random page and began coloring with her right hand while she ate pizza with her left. It didn't take long for Blair to get pizza sauce on her dress. She reached back and unzipped the back and stepped out of it. Now down to her matching, satin, bra and panty set, she took her dress into the kitchen and opened the basement door.
As soon as she opened the door, Sammy barked and growled. He had been lying next to the door before she opened it. Blair had never heard Sammy growl before. He was clearly agitated as he followed Blair down the stairs. Sammy pulled on Blair's panties trying to get her to stop going down.
"Stop it, Sammy." Blair pulled her panties back up. "There's nothing down here, we're alone."
Blair took her dress to the sink and started looking at various laundry products to see what would work to remove the tomato sauce stain from her dress. She would have to take it in to the dry cleaner in the morning, but she wanted to get as much of the stain out as possible.
Sammy walked around the basement for a while and then he ran upstairs. Blair guessed that he was satisfied that there was nothing down here. Blair looked over her shoulder. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. All she saw was the dark, creepy, unfinished, concrete, basement. She really hated being down in the basement at night, but she had to get the stain out of her dress. She went back to work on the stain, she opened a box of cornstarch that was on the shelf and poured it on the stain.
Blair got goose bumps, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and a chill went down her spine as she heard a man's voice behind her.
"You're not alone anymore."