Subj: DS:Ally 5
Date: 3/23/02 12:01:15 PM Central Standard Time
From: Aesgaard

"Who knew someone like Angelique Collins could cook ?!" Elaine whispered to Ally as their genial hostess welcomed them into the Old House parlor to sit and talk after dinner.

"Angelique has always committed herself to everything she does." Barnabus responded with a secret glance to his wife. They shared a private grin and a memory as William and Ally sat by Angelique on one side and Elaine on the other. William's sister, Sara, had excused herself moments before for her date with Joe, but as Angelique reached for the family album, her firstborn son cringed at the site of the family heirloom he called "The Book From Hell." The four of them sat back as Barnabus pulled out his glasses in the chair by the fireplace to read his book.

"Guess who's bare little bottom that is ?!!!" Angelique cried out loud with a devilish grin to one of the first pictures." Ally and

Elaine cooed out loud as William winced at the embarrassment.

"Oh, he's so cute !" Ally mentioned. "Like one of the Little Rascals !"

"Guess who called him Spanky ?" Barnabus alighted a fact as Angelique turned a page.

"Is that a Coast Guard jacket on him ?" Elaine noticed.

"Uh-huh," Angelique grinned. "William was eight when he, Jamison and J.R. found an old canoe on the property. They dragged it to the water under Widow's Cliff and were soon taken by the current down to Portland. Their fathers drove half the night to bring them home."

"Dad," William looked up. "Can you please stop mom from embarrassing me ?!"

"I'll try," Barnabus rested his book. "Angelique.........."

"That's him with his first broken bone." The proud mother reminisced. "He and his friends tried to build a tree house and he crashed through it."

"I tried, son." Barnabus rose his book.

"Wait a minute," Elaine picked up a red ribbon pinned behind a picture. "Second Place High School Talent Show ?"

"William used to sing in a band." Angelique revealed. "That's how he raised the money to go to college. We got him interested in it to keep him and his cousins from becoming felons."

"You used to sing ?" Ally turned to William.

"It's a part of my life I'd just as soon forget." William tried to block the memory.

"We are putting you on the stage when we get back to Boston." Elaine was enjoying the pictures as Angelique turned to more baby pictures. Ally's eyes widened on one with a very teenage William with his arm around a very Marilyn Monroe-like blonde cheerleader.

"Who is that ?" Ally's eyes widened.

"Tricia Haltom." Angelique revealed. "His first love. She's the hussy who broke his heart." She turned the page to more baby pictures and adolescent pictures with William and his cousins. Amanda Collins with her flaming red hair was in one smiling ear to ear with William in a high school play. Shady J.R. Loomis was in another sticking his fingers behind William's head, and Sara started appearing in quite a few more as a deadly serious little pixie with pigtails.

"That's Sara, right." Ally braced her chin in her hand.

"That's right." Angelique admitted. "She always adored her big brother and he was always fiercely protective of her. She was sort of his first best friend."

William had sighed out loud and rose to the liquor cabinet. He opened it up as he looked back to his mother embarrassing him.

"William had a twin brother ?" Elaine asked out loud at two twin images.

"No, that's his cousin, Jamison." Angelique responded. "They only looked alike as kids. Jamison's actually a year younger and very athletic and out-going."

"He's also a self-proclaimed ladies man." William added as he popped open the bottle of sherry and poured himself a drink. The popping noise had attracted his father's attention.

"William, you've never drank sherry." Barnabus observed.

"I've never had a reason to." He commiserated as his mother flashed more baby pictures.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.