Subj: Grammar Story
Date: 3/6/00 11:06:39 AM Central Standard Time
From: Beverly LaCroix

Barnabas and Josette are sad, because Sarah is missing. The little sister of Barnabas Collins has been missing for three weeks, and no one knows where to look anymore. Josette feels responsible, because she was in charge of her while Joshua and Naomi were gone on a trip to the Orient. Barnabas promised his father she would be safe with them, and Josette promised Barnabas she would look after the little girl while he was at the shipyards.

Barnabas was angry with Josette for not watching Sarah as well as she should have, and Josette didn't know what to say to her husband's accusations of irresponsibility. Neither could have known that watching and laughing was the spirit of Angelique. Angelique knew where Sarah was, and she was angry at herself for not thinking of this plan before. If she could get Barnabas angry enough with Josette, and Josette in enough despair to either end her useless life or leave her angered husband, the master promised she could come back and try to relive her passions with Barnabas. She didn't care if she was his wife or his mistress, she only needed to be in his arms again.

Josette screamed from pain as Barnabas gripped her arms in rage. He shoved her in the cell in the basement, and said, "Maybe next time you're given a duty that calls on you to show some sense of responsibility, you will put your mirror down, and tend to your duties as a woman, not as some silly girl. You are not in your father's house on the Island of Martinique, Josette, where you can do as you please and your father will pick up the pieces and straighten out the havoc you wreak to those around you. You don't have the Countess DuPres here to baby you while you cry, because your father might have raised his voice to you.

No, my dear, you are now Mrs. Barnabas Collins, and the first time you were given something responsible to do, you failed. And, unfortunately, you are not able to fix it or have someone fix it for you. You have allowed my sister to go about on her own, and now she's lost," Barnabas shouted.

Josette flinched as he raised his voice, and cried out in pain as he raised his hand, and hit her across the face. Her nose began to bleed from the intensity of the blow, but as much as it hurt physically, now she was panicked as Barnabas closed the door and locked it. Blowing out the candle, Josette said meekly, "where are you going? You can't leave me here."

Her questions were met with silence as Barnabas walked away, not needing a light, he knew the catacombs of this house well. He had explored down here since it had been built. He needed to shut out the cries of his beloved, it was upsetting him, but he could not give in. He stopped as she was now sobbing, and screaming.

"Bring back the candle. Please. I'm afraid of the dark." Josette sobbed, and kept repeating "I'm afraid of the dark until her voice grew hoarse, and she fell asleep. Startled, she opened her eyes as something ran over her foot. Her shoe had fell off, and her bare foot was on the floor. She screamed as she saw the glowing eyes of a large rat. Barnabas was able to make out her screams as he walked out the front doors of the old mansion to resume his search for his little sister.

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Barnabas was angry, angrier than he had been when Angelique had tried to come between him and his Josette. Now, he wondered if she hadn't had some insight to the foolish woman he had married. She tried to run his house like the Countess ran her estate in Paris. Their cook was unsatisfactory to Josette. The poor woman couldn't even pronounce the dishes that Josette would order. Silly girl had written a menu, and had given it to her personal maid to give to the cook, Mrs. Lang. Mrs. Lang had been ready to walk out in tears, until he had intervened, and told her to cook what she wanted, as she always had.

Josette wouldn't speak to him for two weeks, and had written her father, and her father had imported a French chef. The household had been in chaos for months. Fortunately, the man could speak some English, and with his and Josette's help had come to a peaceful understanding. Mrs. Lang would be the housekeeper in charge of everything, but Jean Luc's kitchen. Ben Stokes had spent weeks in New York purchasing new kitchen equipment. Josette had actually wanted the kitchen to be removed from the main house, and with Jeremiah's help, one had been designed with a covered walkway to transport the food. Josette said women were of a delicate nature and didn't need to spell the preparations in a kitchen. He had been angry, but she had cajoled, kissed, stroked, and finally got him to see it her way. Now, her silliness and vanity had gone to far, Sarah was nowhere to be found. And Angelique, he knew would never had wrought the havoc on his house that Josette was constantly creating. There was a trio of musicians always on call for Madame Collins to play at any given moment for events the Collins family would give, social entertaining. To play the classics, Millicent Collins Forbes or any of the other girls in the community simply would not do for Josette DuPres-Collins. Only the finest, and the best for her. And if he did not give in to her, she would call on her father and her aunt, and voila it would appear.

Angelique, in her peasantry, and earthy manner seemed a delight to him, as he remembered her gathering herbs, mending clothing, taking care of Sarah-- she would never allow Sarah to disappear like this. He would do something about Josette as soon as Sarah was found. Divorce? No, his father would never allow it. Well, he'd just see about that. To his chagrin, his mother was awed by Josette, and the two of them were causing him and his father to grow closer if nothing else. Ah, for Angelique, would he marry her if he had a chance -- His thoughts were broken by a sound, like a child crying.

"Sarah." Barnabas shouted.

Angelique, what is this place?" Sarah asked happily.

"It's a special place for you, Sarah." Angelique answered, giving the girl a hug.

"It's so beautiful. The colors of the birds, and all the different butterflies, and flowers, I feel like I'm in a fairy tale or a dream." Sarah said.

"Oh, it's no dream, Sarah. You need to see the beautiful things of the world, because you are such a pretty little girl," Angelique said softly, holding her hand as they walked along a clear blue spring that went all the way to the lagoon.

"I'm glad my mother and father won't be back for a long long time," Sarah told Angelique.

"Yes, I know. That's why I'm taking care of you." Angelique replied.

"Does my brother know where I am?" Sarah asked Angelique distractedly. It was the first time since Angelique had taken her from her room at the Old House that she had even mentioned Barnabas. Angelique had felt sorry for the girl, and that's when her idea came to fruition or at least the inception of it.

"No, he doesn't, sweetheart," Angelique said as they reached their destination.

"He'll be worried," Sarah said.

"Will he really? Sarah, I brought you here, because you were crying, and seemed so lonely and afraid. What were you afraid of?" Angelique asked her, pushing the big wooden swing that was tied to a coconut tree, and it swung out over the turquise-colored lagoon. "No, he won't be worried. All he cares about is Josette. He never hardly even talked to me. I was afraid, because Ben had left, and I was alone. I would hear things at night, and Josette told me never to come to hers and Barnabas' room again. I was being a baby, and upset my brother. I shouldn't be so selfish. But I would still see things, and hear ghosts. I was so scared, Angelique, until you came. This place is so pretty. Can I tell my mother about it, and maybe my father?" Sarah asked, changing the subject without warning, the way children will do.

Angelique laughed, and pushed Sarah hard, and they were both laughing, and Angelique said, "of course, you can tell your mother and father when they come home." Angellique was laughing from joy as she watched Sarah jump into the warm water below, and she took the swing and swung out over the lagoon, and jumped in and joined the little girl. Laughing, happy with innocence, Angelique wouldn't allow herself to think of her Master, her obsessive need of Barnabas, her murderous rage towards Josette, no, she just gave in and played with Sarah in the lagoon. Later would be plenty of time to dwell on darkness. Her thoughts were broken when Sarah splashed her in the face, and Angelique laughed and told her, "I'll get you for that," and dove underneath the water.

The rotting carcass of the large rat had ceased to bother Josette, she had killed it with the candle holder that some unfortunate victim of this cell had tossed aside years before, of that Josette was certain. She had stopped screaming when the bold rodent wouldn't go away. She had stayed very still hoping it would leave. She could barely make out its shape in the darkness of the cell, but once she had she didn't take her watchful eyes off it. It was an enemy. It had moved, and she had groped about and had found the old candle holder, and had a lucky hit and she had killed it. Knowing it was dead, because she watched it for what seemed like hours. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and now that the rat was dead, she didn't dare think that others could be lurking in the dark shadows. She would lose her mind if she started thinking like that, but now she had another problem, she needed to relieve herself, Waiting had no longer been an option when she had to use the little cell for her most private acts.

Ben Stokes was defying Barnabas' direct order not to go to Josette, but it had been two days, and he wasn't gong to have any part of such behaviour to a lady like Miz Josete. She had always treated him kindly, and he had seen her try to adjust to this way of life, but Mr. Barnabas, and his father weren't giving her a chance. Always criticizing her, scolding, and always angry, Mr. Barnabas left her in tears more often than not. Ben had hoped things would begin to change, but this latest left little if any hope.

Holding the candle, approaching the cell door way down in the catacombs of the house, he opened the door, calling to Josette softly, not wanting to scare her. Then the odor from the cell assaultd him, and he felt his insides begin to revolt and to churn, gagging, but not throwing up, he took a deep breath, and entered the room.

Finding her way out of the catacombs had been one of the hardest things Josette had ever been faced with, but she had made it. Now, where was she? She heard the surf pounding the shore, and she was cold, but she couldn't think about that right now. Adjusting her vision to the night, she knew where she was she was at the caves beneath Widow's Hill. She felt a momentary sense of defeat, but quickly suppressed it as her desire to escape this rugged mean landscape took over. She shivered from the cold winds coming off the relentless waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but kept going until she reached the entrance of a cave. Feeling a moment of triumph, she smiled a small smile, but it was replaced by fear as she heard the sound of a bat overhead.

Knowing from her studies the bats would not hurt her, she squelched the fear that was now becoming a staying part of her soul, and tried to find some warmth, but there was none to be found. It had begun to mist, and the winds were blowing the mist insider the entrance of the cave, and she wasn't brave enough to go further inside the depths of the cave. Maybe this is where it would end for her at the cliff of Widow's Hill was her last thought as a crashing wave assaulted her.

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