DS:Ally
From: Aesgaard
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 11:30:18

In her time, she had been called many names. Among them, witch, demoness and harlot. In recent years, her favorite titles were wife, mother and novelist. Her novel based loosely on her adventures in 1795 had become a best seller and a short-lived TV series in the 1990s starring Ben Cross and Joanna Going. She picked through the mail as she went to the kitchen in back of the Old House and sat by her beloved Barnabus.

"Was that Sarah racing out of here at six o'clock this morning ?" He looked to Angelique as she sipped her coffee.

"Yes," She looked up. "She and Lizzie left for Bangor to get William's birthday presents."

The prodigal son came down the back stairs. Tall and handsome, even if he didn't agree, he had the face of his mother and the eyes of his father. Clad in a black sweater and jeans, he poured juice and ate his traditional breakfast: one hard-boiled egg and a slice of toast. Angelique rose behind him to fix him something to add to it.

"Bangor," he spoke. "Is that where the crap store is ?"

"I beg you pardon." Barnabus looked up. His goatee was almost entirely silver now.

"She never gets me anything I'd like." William added. "Remember the clock-radio with the sounds of a babbling brook ? The Cher album ? The video copy of the best of George Carlin ?"

"Darling," Angelique looked up as she made him a sandwich. "You are very hard to buy for."

"Hard ?" William disagreed. "I like books about mythology and ghosts. She could get me a brand new leather jacket. She could replace the lava lamp she smashed when she was eleven years old. What I'm probably going to get is a t-shirt that says, 'Honk if you're...'"

"William !" Barnabus interrupted his first born son. "Your sister loves you. She gets you things she thinks you will like."

"She gets you things you don't have." Angelique handed her only son a sandwich. "She tries to put a little laughter in your life."

"Ally makes me laugh." William spoke of his girl in Boston. "Which reminds me. I want to spend my birthday with her."

"You are not leaving town on your birthday."

"Why not ?" William ate the sandwich. "Aunt Carolyn says that for the longest time you didn't even celebrate birthdays."

"That was before you kids were born." Barnabus stood up. "So many things kept us from them."

"Whatever." William rolled his eyes. "Another thing, mom, make me a ham sandwich once in a while. You've been giving me PB & J since I was a kid."

He turned on his heel out the back door. Angelique could only sigh as she glanced to Barnabus.

"Remember how we used to long for him to talk ?"

"Yes."

"How I long for those days."

Collinsport seemed a million miles away as Sarah Collins sat on the train reading one her her mother's romance-horror novels. Blonde and pretty, she barely responded as her vivacious cousin raced down the aisle and dropped into her seat. Curly haired Lizzie Loomis sat pensively for a second as she stared out the window as the Maine scenery whirled past them. The porter turned to them.

"Tickets ?" He watched her hand the tickets over.

"Aren't you Sara Michelle Gel...."

"No," Sarah had been confused with the actress often enough.

"Yes," Lizzie grinned. "I am Madonna." The porter chuckled at her. She couldn't be too much older than eighteen. Despite the obvious similarity, she was just too young to be the rock star. Lizzie took the tickets back as he continued through the car.

"Hey," She looked up. "These are for Boston. I thought we were heading for Bangor. What's in Boston ?"

"William's girlfriend." Sara looked up. "He's complained about my gifts for the last time. This is one gift he's going to like."

"That's sweet." Lizzie beamed. "I wish J.R. would do something like that for me. What's she like ?"

"She's a lawyer and supposedly very beautiful." Sara gasped as the stateline for New Hampshire whirred past. "He was introduced to her through his Internet pen pal."

"What's her name ?"

"Ally McBeal."

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.