*All Ages
DISCLAIMER & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I do not have permission to use these characters, which are the property of Western Publishing. I do not have permission to quote from the song "Que será será," written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. I do not have permission to quote from The Breakfast Club, written by John Hughes. I do not have permission to allude to Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane by P.L.Travers, or to Betsy was a Junior by Maud Hart Lovelace, or to The Wrong Rite by Alisa Craig, or to The Simpsons. You get the picture. I am not making any profit off of this. This is just for fun. All of the folklore described in this story is true, in that various scholarly people who wrote weighty tomes have said that people actually practiced/practice them on Midsummer's Eve and other times. And yes, I still do the apple stem thing, even though it's silly. Aren't you curious to read this now?
A Midsummer Night's Sleepover
By Ellen
The notes of the song floated in through the third floor window of the Manor House:
"Que será, será,
Whatever will be, will be;
The future's not ours to see.
Que será, será,
What will be, will be."Honey Wheeler sighed as she recognized the song as one of Miss Trask's favorites. It also played over the opening and closing credits of one of her best friend's favorite movies, Heathers.
How appropriate, she thought glumly. The future's not ours to see. That's the problem. Well, maybe not THE problem. This one seems to just be MY problem.
Honey and her two best friends, Trixie Belden and Diana Lynch, had graduated from Sleepyside Junior-Senior High School only a few weeks back. Though it had been a happy occasion, with party after party to attend, the excitement was wearing off, and--for Honey at least--the anxiety was setting in. The reality of what that ceremony really meant was just hitting her. She thought back to the words of their class valedictorian. "Tonight is not in reality the end, but merely the end of the beginning. One chapter of our lives has ended, but blank pages stretch ahead of us, waiting to be written by our actions. As I look at my classmates, I am confident that the best is yet to come." Honey frowned. Easy for Monica to say, she thought. She knows exactly what she wants to study, exactly what she wants to be, and she has the brains and confidence to get it. What do I want, really? Her frown deepened. All I know is that I don't want this to be over. I don't want us to be split up.
Her face brightened a little as she thought back to the beginning--the beginning of the BWGs, that August just after she had met Trixie and the two of them had met and befriended Jim. After she and Trixie had found Jim, and her parents had adopted him, they and the Beldens had decided to form a club. "Oh, do let's have a club. When I was at boarding school, I was always reading books about boys and girls who were members of secret clubs and had such fun. I never thought the day would come when I might belong to one." It's all like a dream come true. I can't believe it! A secret club and--well, just everything I always wanted. But that day had come, and it had been even better than she had imagined it. Coming to Sleepyside changed my whole life. I can't imagine who I'd be if Daddy hadn't bought the Manor House. This is the only place that I've truly been happy. And now…now I'll have to leave. I know it's just for college but…things will never be the same again. Ever. The BWGs will never be the same.
For the past two years, it was true, the BWGs had been split up--sort of. Brian and Jim had been the first to leave for college, but since their college was a little more than a hour away from Sleepyside, they made frequent visits home on the weekend. That adjustment had not been too bad. She missed the boys, but on most weekends it had been as if nothing had changed. Dan and Mart leaving next had been just more of the same; sure, they were gone during the week, but they, like Brian and Jim, had been good about making weekend visits and inviting the girls to college events. Plus senior year had been so busy, what with the SATs and college applications, that she hardly had time to notice the changes. And she still had Trixie and Di. But now…it was true that she and Trixie would be attending the same university as the boys, but Di was going to Julliard to study acting. I know this is her dream, and she was ecstatic when they accepted her, and I am happy for her, but this was my chance to get us all back together again, the way it used to be. Honey thought miserably. But who am I kidding? We can never be the same as we were. College is too different. We'll all be too different.
Part of the problem lay in the fact that too many decisions were ahead of her, and she had no clue what to do. I don't even have a major yet. How can I not know what I want to do with my life? For the past few years I've been surrounded by people who know exactly what they want to do with their life--have known in fact for years--and I still don't know what to do. Of course, I will always be a part of the Agency, but is that my ultimate goal in life? That's Trixie's, and I always want to be a part of it in some way, but it's her dream--I'm part of her dream, but I don't have my own.
Trixie was going to study Criminal Justice, a decision that surprised nobody. That senior internship at the police station only confirmed what everyone always thought--Trixie was born to solve mysteries. Even Molinson agreed; he wrote her that great recommendation letter after he got out of the hospital. Of course, Trixie said he had done it just because he wanted her out of Sleepyside for good. But what about me? I'm a good student, but I don't know and have never really known what I wanted to do.
A smile finally broke through on her face as she stared out the window. Diana Lynch was walking up the hill towards Manor House. She and Trixie were invited to a sleepover. But even this was a cause for Honey's low mood at the moment. The all-girls sleepover was supposed to have been a house party for all seven BWGs; Honey's private celebration that all her friends were together once again. The boys' university had let out a few weeks before, but they had all elected to stay in the city for the summer. Brian and Jim had been accepted as work-study interns--Brian in a clinic and Jim at a summer tutoring program. Mart, (to no one's surprise but his own), had discovered that he had a gift for languages, and had decided to take a summer workshop in linguistics. Dan, too, had decided to take a summer class at night after working all day in a youth camp. It's not like they won't be home often, just like during the year. But this was going to be just like old times. Our last summer. The seven BWGs at a house party, just like the Beldens, Jim, and I did the summer we met. Instead, the boys had already planned a camp-out in the woods. One of those male-bonding things, Mart said. Don't they get to bond enough at college? Honey sighed. I'm being a baby again. I've got to stop this. I'm eighteen. And it doesn't seem to bother Trixie a bit. Of course, I don't think much really bothers Trixie right now. She's still so relieved to have graduated. Trixie had just laughed when she heard about the boys' plans and made a caustic comment about "bonding." She's excited about college; it's one step closer to her goal. She doesn't seem to have a care in the world right now. It's just me. I feel like such a…kid. A little baby. Especially around Brian. He doesn't act any different around me, but he's involved in some many things I don't have a clue about, and around so many older women, sophisticated women, who know what they want in life and aren't afraid…
Di knocked at the door. Her friendly greeting froze on her lips as she saw her friend's expression. "Honey, what's wrong?"
"Same old thing," Honey responded, trying to make light of it. "Just thinking about how much fun the seven of us have had here in Sleepyside, and I don't know," she paused, "I don't know if we'll ever have this again. Things change when people get older. They just do, even if people don't want them to."
Di hugged her sympathetically. "It sounds like you're in the same mood I'm in. I was so lucky to find the BWGs. It really changed everything for me. And what do I go and do? I'm the only one to break ranks and head for a different university. How can I ever hope to find friends like you guys again? At least you'll still be with the gang. I'm going to be far away." Her smile quivered. Honey, who could never stand to see anyone upset, hurried to comfort her.
"Nothing's going to change, Di. At least, not the important stuff. And we'll have so much fun visiting you, and you'll come visit us all the time. We'll come see you in every play you're in. Nothing will change."
Her voice sounded firm and confident, very different from the way she was feeling inside. She seemed to convince Di, though. Her friend straightened up and smiled back at her.
"It's going to be so much fun tonight, just the three of us," Di said, smiling mischievously. "It would have been great to have the boys with us, of course, but they would just laugh at what I have in mind for the evening, and I don't want to give them more ammunition for teasing."
Honey stared at her, puzzled. "What do you have in mind, Di?'"
Di smiled. "You set this up perfectly, with your talk about the future. Wouldn't you give anything to know what the future holds for us, for the BWGs?"
"Sure, I guess so," Honey responded, still looking confused. "But how can we…"
"You know what tonight is?"
"You mean the date? It's June twenty-third."
"Exactly," Di cried delightedly. "It's Midsummer's Eve!"
"Midsummer's Eve?"
Di smiled, happy for once to be the one doing the explaining. "My grandma told me all about it. You remember when we had to interview a relative about the "old days?' Well, I interviewed my grandma, and we talked a lot about this. She used to celebrate it when she was a girl. June twenty-third is the day of the Summer Solstice, the day when there is the most amount of sunlight. There's some long scientific explanation that I'm sure Mart would be thrilled to give you at great, and I do mean great, length, but the important thing is that it was--and still is, in some places--a day of celebration. Villages would build huge bonfires on that day, and the young people in the town would jump over them for luck."
Honey gasped. "Isn't that dangerous?"
Di laughed. "I suppose it was. I certainly wouldn't do it. But the point is, Honey, that Midsummer's Eve was considered to be a day when people could get a glimpse of the future. There were all sorts of things they would do to try to see what lay ahead. And I thought it would be fun, since you and I are so worried about the future, and since it is Midsummer's Eve, that we should give some of them a try. Some of them are a little bizarre, but so what? We fried our brains for weeks studying for finals, we deserve to have a little fun trying out some crazy stuff."
Honey looked at her. "You aren't serious? You don't believe this will actually work, do you?"
Di sighed. "Of course I don't. But…it could be fun, and I could use some fun right now. Even if it is silly."
Honey squeezed her arm sympathetically. "I know what you mean. I'm with you. But I don't know how we'll convince Scully, I mean, Trixie, to go along with this."
Di grinned. Ever since Trixie had completed that internship at the police station Honey and Di had taken to calling her "Scully," because she had become so enamored of the scientific methods of detection. Another change, Honey thought wistfully. I remember when she believed there really was such a thing as the Sasquatch, and that case about Sarah Sligo's ghost? The boys laughed at her for that one, but she still insisted it was real. I don't think she'd feel that way now. She sighed.
Just that moment they heard a muffled yelp coming from the window. Trixie had tripped on her way up the hill. Di and Honey grinned at each other. "Same old Trixie," Di laughed.
Honey smiled. " Some things never change." Thank goodness, she added silently.
Due to her fall, Trixie was not in the best of moods, and Di's explanation of what Honey and she had planned for the evening did not improve her attitude. After a lot of "You've got be kidding"s, they still hadn't convinced her.
"Midsummer's Eve? You're not talking about those Beltane fires, are you? There's no way I 'm trying that one. With my complete lack of grace I'd probably fall right in the flames," Trixie grumbled.
Di suppressed a smile. "How did you know about the Beltane fires?"
This got a wry smile out of Trixie. "They were in this mystery novel I read once. What was it…Oh,yeah, The Wrong Rite. Pretty good book, but still, there's no way…"
"We're not doing the fire thing, Trix. And besides, it's just for fun," Di pleaded. "People do it at sleepovers all the time. Haven't you ever read Betsy was a Junior? Betsy and her friends try to do some of this in there. And there's a Midsummer's ritual in a Mary Poppins book, too," she added quickly, knowing that Trixie actually liked the Mary Poppins books. She had told them years ago that she had always watched the skies waiting for Mary Poppins to come and relieve her of Bobby.
Trixie looked scornful. "Those are kids' books, Di."
At that both Honey and Diana stared at her. "And what's wrong with reading kids' books?," they chorused in unison.
Trixie ashamedly admitted, "Nothing. Of course, nothing. I'm sorry. But still, aren't we a little old for this?"
Honey joined in the discussion for the first time . "That's just it, Trix. Growing up doesn't mean we can't have fun. No one's around. Why not take advantage of it? It's just for fun." Her expression, rather than her words, was what convinced Trixie; there was such a wistful, pleading look on Honey's face that Trixie knew this was important to her.
She sighed. "All right. But first you have to solemnly swear first that what we do tonight will not go out of this room, and second, if Mart ever hears of this, this was all your guys' fault."
"Agreed, " Di said cheerfully. "Now there's a lot of things we can do to try to tell the future tonight. Some of them are kind of silly, but oh well. My grandma told me all about them. First of all, there are the easy things. Like with apples." She glared at Trixie, who was trying not to laugh. "Come on, Trixie! We used to do this one as kids. You take the apple stem and twist it around, saying the alphabet as you twist it, and the letter that the stem breaks on is the initial of the last name of the man you're going to marry."
"Scully" broke in. "Give me a break, Di! Logically, the stem is not that tough, so it's bound to break early in the alphabet, meaning that every woman is going marry a guy whose last name begins with a letter early in the alphabet. That obviously isn't true, so that can't work."
Di fixed her with a stare. "What are you worried about, Trixie? "F" is early in the alphabet."
Trixie glared back at her, her face reddening. "So is 'B'."
"Guys!" Honey interrupted. "Trixie, you promised to go along with this. Please keep the comments to yourself, okay? Keep it up with the sarcasm and you'll turn into Mart."
With that, Trixie subsided. Di meaningfully cleared her throat.
"No doubt this won't go over well either, but there's another one with apples. You eat an apple, and then count the seeds, saying this rhyme…where is it? Oh, yes,…that my grandma wrote down for me. It goes like this:
One I love, two I love
Three I cast away
Four I love with all my heart
Five I love, I say
Six he loves me, Seven he don't
Eight he'll marry me, nine he won't
Ten he would if he could but he can't
Eleven he comes, twelve he tarries
Thirteen he's waiting, Fourteen he marries"The number of seeds in the apple tells you what the guy in your life will do," Di finished.
Trixie chuckled. "You know, someone who was logical might suggest that very few apples actually have fourteen seeds anyway, so this game is about as useless as the apples stem thing. No one would ever get married if this game were accurate. Not to mention the fact that no one informed me that apples were given the gift of prophecy." She broke off as she noticed the others' faces and added hastily, "Someone might say that, not me. I'm into this. Let's break out the crystal ball!"
Di ignored her. "There's another one, although this one, like the apples, isn't specifically connected to Midsummer's Eve. You count nine stars for nine successive nights and then the first guy you shake hands with after doing that is the man you marry."
Trixie groaned. "Nine nights? That takes too long. Besides, that's kind of risky. With my luck the first man I'd shake hands with would be someone like Molinson." She then became serious. "The thing that really bothers me about all this is that all the things you've mentioned so far are women trying to figure out who they're marrying. We're trying to see the future, right? There can be more to a woman's future than that, you know. What about careers?"
"Well, Trixie, you know most of these rituals are hundreds of years old," Honey replied. "It's not like there was a whole lot else for women back then. But you're right. Let's try something about careers." Maybe I'll get some ideas, she thought. I hate seeing "undecided" as my major on all those college forms. They could put my picture in the dictionary under the word "undecided."
"What about it, Di? Does Granny have any spells for choosing a profession?"
Di gave Trixie a dirty look. "There is one thing. You wanna try it?" she asked in a challenging tone.
"I already know my future career, thanks. You go ahead."
"Okay, I will! Honey, I need a candle, some matches, and a bowl of water," Di said. She explained the process as Honey gathered the supplies together.
"This comes from the tradition of scrying, which can also be done with a crystal ball. It's an attempt to see the future through a reflective surface, like glass or water. You stare at the water, letting your mind become blank, free of all worries and thoughts," she ignored Trixie's sarcastic comment and went on, "and allow your mind to see images. Those images tell you something about your future. What we're going to do, though, is take the candle wax and drip it in the bowl, letting it form shapes. This used to be done to try to predict your future husband's profession, but I don't see why we can't use it to look for our own."
"Get the lights, will you, Trixie?"
"Why, Di? Is that part of the ritual?"
Di smiled sheepishly. "Atmosphere," she explained.
Trixie grinned, but did as she was asked.
Honey had placed the bowl of water on the floor. Di sat cross-legged next to it, and Honey sat on the other end. She lit the candle and waited for the wax to soften. The excitement was building in the air. None of the girls believed this would tell them anything, but…who knew? Despite her skepticism, Trixie was getting interested, and leaned over Di. Di tilted the candle over the bowl, dripping hot wax into the water.
"They did this on The Simpsons once, you know," Trixie remarked. "At Lisa Simpson's slumber party."
"See?" Di replied. "This isn't that weird. Well, maybe a little."
The wax floated on the surface of the water. The three girls held their breath as they waited for it to shape together. It did--in a long, narrow, bumpy line that resembled nothing. Not even Trixie with her wild imagination could guess a profession based on that shape. Di sighed and scooped out the cool hard wax.
"Maybe that 's a sign," she said, trying to sound like she was kidding. "Maybe I'll never get a job."
Trixie glanced at her face, then at Honey's. She had suspected the two had been worried about the future lately, but hadn't known what to say to comfort them. Honey's the one who always knows what to say. I never seen to get this right, but if this means that much to them…
Trixie cleared her throat. "Wait a minute, Di. You said that scryers look at reflective surfaces too. Look over that bowl." Di did as requested. "Clear your mind and see what you see in the water."
Di stared intently into the water for several minutes. Trixie and Honey stared at her, each holding their breath. Finally, Di shook her head.
"Nothing," she said mournfully. "Absolutely nothing." She attempted a joke. "I never would have thought I'd have trouble making my mind go blank. It always did it naturally before."
Trixie saw the disappointment in Di's face. She and Honey have been really nervous about leaving Sleepyside behind. But they are both so talented… Maybe all they need is a little confidence. Maybe that's what this is all about--getting some confidence. And suddenly she knew what to say.
"There is too an image in the water, Di. Take another look."
Di obediently bent over the bowl again. "That's just me," Di said slowly. "So what?"
Trixie then moved closer to the bowl, so that a portion of her face was reflected there as well. She motioned Honey to do the same. The three girls stared at their reflections in the water.
"That's your future, Di," Trixie said firmly. "And mine, and Honey's. The three of us, just like the Three Musketeers. One for all and all for one. And no matter what the future holds, we'll have each other to help us get through it."
All three faces brightened at Trixie's words, as they stared at the three smiling faces reflected in the water.
Honey looked at Trixie. "That was good, Trix," she said softly. And turning away so that Diana couldn't hear, she added, "And it was a very unscientific explanation, Scully." Trixie just grinned at her. She seemed to be entering into the anything-goes spirit of the night.
Honey elected not to try the wax, but did stare into the bowl for a while, trying to free her mind of worries and cares. All she saw, though, was her own face, brow wrinkled and expression sad. She laughed it off though, knowing that Trixie had sensed her mood. Trixie refused to try any of it, saying she already knew what the future held for her, and she doubted that that stupid wax could form a PI's badge anyway. Di, worried that her game was becoming boring, hurried on.
"This is another one about getting married," she said somewhat nervously, looking at Trixie, who smiled in encouragement, determined to play her friends' game. "There's this herb called St John's Wort. My grandma says it's called that because it blooms right about this time--Midsummer's Eve is also known as St John's Eve. I asked Mart, and he said "wort" is just an old word for "plant."
"I know about that plant, " Honey interrupted. "It's been used in Europe for years to treat anxiety, depression, sleeping disorders…" Her voice trailed off as she saw her friends staring curiously at her. She blushed and admitted in a low voice, "I've been reading up on medical issues lately, trying to…well… have something to talk about with Brian. I feel so…young, and little kid-ish compared to the girls he must be hanging out with at college."
Di patted her shoulder. "Maybe I should have tried that with Mart," she said, trying to make the others laugh. "I doubt I could have handled memorizing the dictionary though." Mart and Di had gone through periodic break-ups since he went off to college. They always made up eventually, though, and it never seemed to hurt their friendship. Right now they were "off again," but both Trixie and Honey doubted that would last long.
Ashamed of her display of emotions (There you go again--being the baby!) Honey tried to get them back on track. "What did your grandma say to do with the plant, Di?"
"Oh, there's lots of things you can try with it. I thought the easiest and most harmless thing to try is to sleep with a little sprig of it underneath your pillow. Miss Rachel grows a little at her place; she got the seeds from Martin's Marsh. I got a few flowers from her before I came here." She handed them each a little yellow flower. "You're supposed to dream of the man you'll marry with it underneath your pillow. There's another tradition called the dumb-cake, where women bake a cake in total silence, break it into pieces, and put the piece under their pillows. It's supposed to do the same thing as the plant, but it sounded messy, so I thought the plant would be easier."
Trixie chuckled. "Besides, there's no way the three of us could keep silent for the time it takes to bake a cake." Di and Honey joined in the laughter.
I dream about Brian every night, with or without help from the herb community, Honey thought to herself, smiling a little as the three girls placed the little flowers under their pillows.
"What now, Di? I'm not ready to go to sleep," Trixie said.
"Well, you haven't tried anything yet, Trixie! If Honey and I have made fools of ourselves, you have to do something too."
Trixie groaned. "I've got that stupid flower under my pillow, isn't that enough?"
"Not a chance." Honey smiled. "You have to try something on your own. Since your profession's already set in stone, it'll have to be the husband thing."
Di chuckled. "You mean, that's not already fixed, Honey? A certain redhead we know and love would be distressed to hear that."
Honey grinned. " A certain dark-haired guy we also know and love would be delighted."
Trixie, her face red, was about to protest Di's remark when she heard Honey's and her jaw dropped.
"Dan! You mean… he's never…how do you…you're not saying that he…"
The two girls laughed at her embarrassment.
"Come on, Trixie," Di giggled. "You don't mean to tell us you never considered Dan?"
"Considered him how?" Trixie sputtered.
Di smiled. "Remember the part in that movie The Breakfast Club where Molly Ringwald is asking Judd Nelson about all the pictures of women in his wallet, and he says, "Some I consider my girlfriend, and some of them I just consider?"
Honey chimed in, "And the she says, 'Consider them what?,' and he says, 'Consider whether I want to go out with them'? You've never considered going out with Dan?"
"I certainly have." Di smiled and smoothed back her black hair.
Trixie was speechless. It was clear that if the idea hadn't occurred to her before, it was certainly occurring to her now.
"A-ha!," Di said, laughing. "It seems there is now a little doubt about your future, Miss Belden, and as such, I think you should put yourself in the hands of fate and try to put those doubts to rest."
"What do you have in mind, Di?" Trixie said, warily.
"A little reenactment from one of the Mary Poppins books, modified by my Grandma," Di said cheerfully. "It seems that one of the things girls used to do was gather up some roses in a garden, and walk backwards forty paces, strewing the petals in front of her, saying this poem:
Rose leaves, rose leaves,
Rose leaves I know
He that will love me
Come behind me and show"Or you could walk backwards with a rose in your hand and the guy that touches the rose first is the one that you'll marry. In some versions of this, the girl held a mirror in her right hand and at the fortieth step she put it up so she could see behind her. The mirror was supposed to have a reflection of the man she was to marry."
Trixie groaned. "No way, Di! First of all, I hate poetry. I almost flunked Senior English because of poetry. Second, that's BAD poetry. If I'm going be an idiot and say a stupid poem, it had better be a good poem. And third…"
She would have gone on but Di interrupted her. "I know, Trixie," she said patiently. "There ARE other ways to do this, you know. And you'll be glad to know that in the Mary Poppins books, a guy even does this, but he has to walk backward with his eyes closed until he bumps into the woman of his dreams."
"I already have a reputation for clumsiness, Di. This is all I need to become a walking disaster."
Di grinned. "That's why I am suggesting we modify it a little, just for you. We'll go down to the Wheeler garden and you'll pick a rose. Honey'll lend you a hand mirror, and you can walk backward with the rose in one hand and the mirror in the other. That'll double our chances at having at least ONE of these things work. At the fortieth step, lift up the mirror and see what the future has in store." As she finished the sentence she had lowered voice to a sepulchral growl, causing Honey to laugh at loud.
Trixie was about to protest the idiocy of this game, but then she saw Honey laughing and Di's eyes lighting up. The things I do to make my friends happy, she thought resignedly. Of course, after all they have done to make me happy through the years, I guess this isn't that much to ask. Just please, please, don't let any of the boys see this!
Meanwhile, the boys had been setting up camp. Dan and Mart had gathered wood to build a fire while Jim and Brian had put up the tent. College had ended for them only a week before, and they were relieved to have finals off their backs.
"Ahhhh," said Mart, sitting on the grass. "This paradisiacal wooded grove has been the focus of my somniferous fantasies for the past fortnight."
"Relax, Roget," Dan grinned. "We're not in Sanderson's English class anymore. You don't have to impress him with your vocabulary; the grades are already in."
"The ensuing scuffle was quickly over. Jim grinned at Brian.
"It IS great to be here--so quiet, no jokers pulling the fire alarm at 3 am, no music blasting through the walls at 4…peace and quiet."
"And no mysteries to cause us all cranial pain, " Mart said loudly. "No fuzzy-haired female to cause turmoil in our lives. Just us sane, sensible men."
Brian chuckled. "You know, things are quieter without the girls, but that also means it's a little duller. Jim and I were saying that of all the women we've met at school none of them can match our three chuckleheads as far as excitement goes."
Dan smiled. "It'll be great having Honey and Trix with us next year."
Mart sat up in disbelief. "Are you kidding? Trix is going to blow that university away! I'm looking forward to my seminar this summer; it'll be the last peace and quiet at that university for the next four years. I'll be surprised if the buildings are still standing by the time she gets through with the place."
Brian said, "Well, it is nice to be just the guys for once."
Jim rolled out his sleeping bag and stretched out next to the fire.
"Yeah, just the guys."
Dan rolled over on his stomach. "Doing the guy thing."
"Yeah, all those things we could never do with the female contingent of our illustrious society around," Mart chimed in.
The four boys gazed contemplatively into the fire for a few minutes.
Mart, as usual, was the one to break the silence. "So what do you think the girls are up to?" Three pillows were flung at him. "Right, right, the guy thing. Just us guys. Sorry, I forgot."
They returned their attention to the fire. No one spoke. Fifteen minutes passed. No one had moved a muscle.
"So, what do you think the girls are up to now?"
Jim grinned. "The only way to know is to find out. Let's invite the girls to breakfast. I felt kind of bad about ruining Honey's plan for the weekend. I think this house party thing meant a lot to her, a chance for all the BWGs to be together again. If we invite them to breakfast, maybe that will make it up to her. And if they're here, we can stop wondering what they're up to every five minutes."
Mart scoffed. "Then we'd have to cook for those lazy squaws."
Brian grinned. "How unPC can you get? Besides, they've cooked for us plenty of times. I say we invite them."
"Not anxious to see a certain honey-haired woman, are we, Brian, hmmmmmm?"
"Just because you can't keep a girlfriend more than five minutes, Mart," Brian said evenly, "doesn't mean the rest of us can't. And yeah, I am anxious to see her. What of it?"
Honey's adopted brother grinned at the quarreling Beldens. "I see that when Trixie isn't here, Brian takes the role of Mart's sparring partner," he said lightly. "Honey's light is still on, but if we want to catch them up, we'd better get going. Who's coming with me?'
After a brief discussion, two boys headed towards the Manor House.
Please, please don't let any of the boys see this. Especially not Mart…or Jim… or Dan. As a matter of fact, please don't let any creature with a Y chromosome see this, Trixie thought to herself as she walked unwillingly down to the Wheelers' rose garden. I would just die if they saw me doing this.
Honey and Di had raced ahead. "Here is your rose, Trixie. Red roses, of course, mean true love," Di handed her the flower.
"Of course, " Trixie said dubiously as she accepted the flower. Di had broken off the thorns for her.
"She should have a yellow rose," Honey said mischievously. "Yellow roses mean friendship. All the men who are candidates for this were her friends first, after all."
"Oh, for the love of..." Trixie began, blushing.
"Maybe you're right, Honey," Di said thoughtfully. The two began to discuss the pros and cons of each rose.
I can't believe this. I just can't believe this. My two best friends are insane. Come on, let's get this over with, Trixie thought anxiously, thinking of the number of people who could theoretically walk in on her making a fool of herself. I can just hear Mart now. "Come on, Trixie, you're depriving some poor village of its idiot." She shuddered.
"Enough! " Her voice was almost a shout. "I'll carry them both! Let's just do this already!"
The first young man turned to the second. "Did you hear something?"
The other nodded. "It was probably some bird."
They continued their walk towards the gardens.
Trixie Belden had never felt more like an idiot in her life. And considering some of the situations I've been in, she thought grimly, remembering Tom and Celia's wedding reception, to name just one, that's saying a lot. In one hand, she carried two roses, one yellow, one red, in the other, an uncomfortably large hand mirror. She looked at her two best friends. "Can we just do this already?"
Di nodded. "Okay. Start walking backwards, counting each step as you go. On the fortieth stop right where you are, lift up the mirror, and look into it. Then tell us what you see."
I'll tell you what I'll see. Trees! Lots and lots of trees. This is the silliest thing I have ever done ever. But the two of them look more cheerful. Of course, it's at my expense. But at least someone is having fun. To be honest, Trixie herself had a knot in the pit of her stomach. Of course, she didn't believe in this sort of thing, of course not, but all the same, there was something about the feeling of the air that night that made these things seem not so ridiculous. And the thought of seeing who she might marry….This was ridiculous!. It's all Di's talk about Midsummer, that's all, she thought and she carefully counted each step.
"Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three…"
"I swear, I heard the girls' voices."
"They must be outside doing something. We're almost there."
"Forty." Trixie stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth had gone dry. The hand that held the mirror was trembling slightly. She raised it up, took a look, and shrieked at the top of her lungs. Reflected in the mirror, getting closer every second, were the images of not one but TWO young men, one with red hair and one with black. She was so startled that she dropped what she was holding.
Both young men stared at her as if she were crazy, and then looked puzzled at the two girls laughing some feet away. Honey and Di were doubled over with laughter.
"Here, Trix," Dan put the mirror and one of the roses in her hand. Jim picked up the other. "What in the world are you girls up to?'
Trixie thought fast. "Star-gazing." She said it very firmly. She noticed that the more confident you sound when you say something, the more apt people are to believe you. It only seemed to half-work. Both guys were looking at the three of them as though they were escaped mental patients.
"Star-gazing," Jim said finally, "With a mirror? You should have borrowed my telescope." A fresh peal of laughter from Honey and Di made the puzzled expression on his face deepen.
"Yes, " Trixie sounded even firmer this time. "Yes," she repeated loudly. "We were STAR-GAZING, right guys? I forgot about the telescope thing. Well, you know how bad I am at science anyway." She did not feel in control of this situation. Help me out here, guys, she thought, looking pleadingly at Honey and Di.
Honey managed to give an unconvincing "yes," gasped out between giggles. She and Di had given up and collapsed on the ground.
Dan grinned. "Well, my astronomy class would have been a lot more fun with your method. Ladies, we come bearing an invitation. We guys would like to host breakfast for you fair maidens." He gave a deep, courtly bow to Trixie as he said this last part.
Trixie's face got even redder. Di began to laugh harder.
"We'd like that," she said hastily. "And we had better get to sleep if we're going to take you guys up on your generous offer. Come on, ladies." She grabbed Honey by one arm, Di by the other, and marched them up to the Manor House. She had to stop frequently as the two of them broke out into fresh laughter.
Jim and Dan stared after them, perplexed.
"I don't even want to know."
"Yes, you do. And so do I. But I don't think we'll ever find out."
The two boys headed back to their campsite.
Trixie sat in the middle of Honey's floor, face in her hands. It felt hot, and she knew it was still bright red.
"It's okay, Trixie," Di said soothingly. "They can't have any idea what we were doing."
"I'm sorry we laughed so hard," Honey said softly. "It was just that the tension had built up and we were all waiting for something to happen, and when it did…and who it was…"
This time, Trixie joined in the laughter, a little sourly.
"Well, none of this stuff worked, guys," she said. "This little exercise in idiocy didn't tell me anything. I saw BOTH of them in the mirror, but only because they were actually there, right in back of me. What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know, " Di admitted.
"Which one handed you which flower?" Honey asked. "Red is love, yellow is friendship. Which guy gave you which one? I was laughing too hard to notice."
"Me, too," said Di.
"I didn't see, either," Trixie confessed. "I was too stunned to notice much of anything. I was so busy thinking of a semi-plausible reason for what we were doing that Mr. Maypenny could have ridden through on his unicycle and I wouldn't have noticed."
"So, that really didn't tell you anything at all," Di said, a little disappointedly. "I guess none of this was worth trying."
"I don't know about that," Honey replied. "We had a good time. Just like we used to. Just because we're almost college freshman doesn't mean anything has to change. Some of our best times have been when we were being crazy." She smiled. Nothing important has to change. I won't let it. "And we still have that flower thing under our pillows," she reminded Di. "We'll have to see what that does."
Di cheered up. She grinned at Trixie. "Let us know which Romeo is in your dreams tonight." A pillow fight ensued. Soon the girls went to sleep, each carefully checking to see if the flower was still there.
Honey lay awake awhile. She had suddenly remembered a word Mart had used in one of his pompous speeches some time ago: "serendipity." Not wanting to ask Mart and have him spend two hours telling her, she had looked it up in a dictionary later: "the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident." She had smiled, thinking that the word reminded her so much of Trixie, but maybe it meant a little more than that to her.
My whole life in Sleepyside began with a "fortunate accident", Honey thought. If Daddy had bough that house he and Mother liked in D.C, if I had never met Trixie, if she had never persuaded me to explore the Miser's Mansion…My whole life from that point, everything that had made me happy these past few year had its start in one "fortunate accident". She thought about this for a while. Maybe it's better not to know what the future holds. Maybe it's better for me to start college off the way I started my life here in Sleeepyside--having no idea what was coming next. With Trixie around, it's hard to know what to expect next anyway. And that turned out wonderfully--perfectly perfect in fact. Without me having a clue about what the future held. She lay still for a while, thinking, as she listened to the steady breathing of her two best friends. The song that had started her off on her self-pitying that evening came back into her head:
When I grew up and fell in love.
I asked my sweetheart, "What lies ahead?
Will we have rainbows
Day after day?"
Here's what my sweetheart said:"Que será, será,
Whatever will be, will be;
The future's not ours to see.
Que será, será,
What will be, will be."Whatever will be, will be, Honey thought to herself. And whatever it is, it'll be good. I've thought all along that my happiness here was due to this house, the Beldens, Di,Dan,Jim…and they're a huge part of it, but other people can't make a person a persona be happy--we're responsible for our own. Other people help, but ultimately, it's up to me. And the future will be good because I will make it be good. Surprised at her own firmness, Honey nodded. The future's not ours to see, but who cares? It's my future, and if it isn't all formed right now, so what? I've got time. It takes some people longer to figure out their future than others. That valedictory speech had it right: the pages are blank, but they are ours to fill. And I don't want any hints about what is to come, thank you very much. I'll stick with the "fortunate accidents." If it isn't broke… She lifted up the corner of her pillow, took the little yellow flower in her hand, and set it gently on the bedside table. She then rolled over and went to sleep.
Early the next day, the four boys were up early, getting the campsite ready for their guests. Mart had taken charge of the food, as always, and the four boys sat around the fire watching it cook.
"Say, you never did tell us what the girls were up to last night," Brian broke the silence. "I thought we heard someone scream."
Jim and Dan looked at each other. An unspoken agreement passed between the two of them.
"Nothing," Jim said firmly.
"Absolutely nothing worth mentioning," Dan said, in an even firmer voice.
The girls, upon waking, were comparing notes about their dreams. Di, as it turned out, had not dreamed of Mart---("Thank heavens for small favors," she had sniffed as Honey and Trix grinned at each other)--but of Joseph Fiennes.
"Even better," Trixie laughed. "Somebody maybe they'll make a remake of Shakespeare in Love and you can play Viola."
Honey smiled at her. "You're getting good at interpreting these things, Trixie. And tell us, who did you dream about?"
Trixie's cheeks flushed. After some urging, she finally admitted, "Both of them. They were both in the dream. But it wasn't romantic or anything."
Honey and Di exchanged grins.
"Sure," said Di.
"Right," said Honey.
"And what about you, Honey?"
Honey smiled. "My flower wasn't under my pillow when I woke up," she sighed, feigning distress. "But I had a good dream anyway. I dreamed all seven of us were together again, like we used to be."
"As we will be in a few minutes," Trixie replied. "There's no way I'm passing up a free breakfast. Let's get moving, ladies."
The three girls headed out to the boys' usual campsite. As they passed through the rose garden, Trixie's face flushed, and Di and Honey made Herculean efforts not to burst into laughter.
The four boys jumped to their feet as they heard the noise they had been waiting for: the sounds of the girls' footsteps in the woods. As they came into view, Mart grinned.
"How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?" he intoned in a deep voice.
"Hags!" Trixie began angrily, but Di interrupted her.
"Wrong play, Mart." He looked inquiringly at her. "You shouldn't be quoting Macbeth, but A Midsummer Night's Dream. Today is Midsummer's day." She grinned at Trixie and Honey.
"I bow to the future thespian," Mart said, pretending to be humble.
"I love it! Mart admits he's wrong. When does that ever happen?" Trixie exclaimed.
"Unlike you, dear Beatrix, I haven't had as many occasions to practice admitting error as you have," Mart retorted. The two of them began one of their typical quarrels.
"So," Brian said curiously, "what were you girls up to last night?"
Honey and Di looked at each other.
"Astronomy," Di said hastily.
"Botany," Honey replied.
The two girls burst into laughter as the guys looked puzzled.
Jim grinned. "It sure has been quiet without you girls around all the time. It'll be nice having at least two of you around at university."
Brian agreed, looking right at Honey. "There's no one at college like you."
Honey sighed contentedly. She looked around the campsite. Trixie and Mart were arguing. Jim was discussing some detail about his plans for the school to Brian and Dan, and Di was sketching the scene on a crumpled piece of paper. Nothing important has to change.
The End