Annie CXII: Fair Share

(Chronological index: High School)

"Raymond?"

The teen gave a start and glanced around. Jennifer was looking at him oddly. He looked to see of Mr. Physics had asked a question but the class was still on independent study.

He bent over his worksheet and checked he answers. They blurred in a second and he mostly just made sure there was ink in each blank.

"Raymond, what's wrong with you?" The cheerleader leaned across their lab table to catch his eye. "Man, you just go to pieces without Annie, don't you?"

"It's not that," he said. "I just... I may have ticked her off this morning.

Miles away, Annie was spending her day off with fishing line. Reels of the stuff were stacked in one of the closets on the floor her and Raymond's bedroom was on. She dragged four strands from the closet to the fabric parking lot that was Raymond's laundry hamper..

She snaked each strand through Raymond's dirty clothes. Belt loops were handy, shirt sleeves stinky but straight-forward, jockeys icky but easy. Socks gave her pause. She couldn’t tie all of them in knots. Then she decided to stuff them in pants pockets.

Right up until she touched one and it crunched.

"Chances are good," Jennifer said. "You can piss Annie off by breathing sharply."

"Well, her Easter bonnet was never the same after we got it out of my nose," he said with a shrug.

"So what have you done now?"

"Oh, last night she reminded me to do chores, so I could take her to the movies tonight."

"Oh, what are you going to see?" she asked.

"Well, if she wins the coin toss, All That Jazz," Raymond said.

"Ohh! I want to see All That Jazz!" Jennifer cooed.

"Really?" Raymond perked up. "You, uh, you, uh.... You wanna... I could..."

"That's so sweet!" Jennifer said. "But aren't you going to take Annie?"

"I'll say I was outvoted," he said, much more confident while talking about his sylph. "That way you being present will mean she doesn't have to watch the Amityville Horror."

Annie pushed the dowel and shoved the last sock into the leg of the jeans. They should stay in there during the slide down the stairs. And being in the pant leg, they wouldn't add to surface friction.

"In fact," she mused. "I could reduce a lot of friction putting everything else on the pants!" It was like folding a hot air balloon onto a tennis court, but it went pretty quickly.

It was the first time she'd been glad that Raymond used the hardwood floors instead of a hamper.

SHE was civilized and her laundry was exactly where it was supposed to be. Up on her bed, tucked around her mattress. And if she owned any clothing, that would be where it was supposed to be, too.

"Boys," she muttered.

"I can see why she's pissed at you," Jennifer nodded.

"Oh, the Horror isn't the problem. She doesn't mind horror movies, she just hates all the noise of the screaming audience." He shook his head. "No, she's mad about chores."

"What chores does she have?"

"None. None at all. That's why I called her a freeloader." Jennifer's eyebrows rose. "Yeah, it's not like she's lazy, or that she chose to be a house-pet. But I pointed out she can't do much of anything and she... Didn't take it well."

Annie stood a wooden clothespin up on the hall carpet and made her fishing lines fast to it. There were a few feet of slack between it and the pant's belt loop. That was crucial to her plan.

She was going to weave it through the balusters, like primitive block and tackle, using her superior engineering knowledge to get the laundry downstairs to the laundry room.

They'd see who was capable of a simple task, dammit. She glanced over the side of the railing. Figure an hour to get it to the parents' floor, an hour to slide it down the hall to the next flight of stairs... Well. She'd be ready for laundry day... She glanced up on the wall where the Old Mantel Clock perched. "Two?" she cried, scandalized. Raymond was almost due home! If he caught her in the middle, he'd just taunt. She had to be FINISHED! She turned to run get the clothes pin.

And saw the closet door swinging slowly and creepily open...



Jennifer had a car, but giving rides to boys was absolutely verboten. So they agreed to meet at his house and walk to the theatre. Raymond insisted on buying the movie tickets, so she insisted on buying the popcorn.

"That could be dangerous," he said. "You're going to give my sylph ideas about feminist ways," he joked.

"Good," she said, completely serious.

The door swung and a fishing pole scraped across the inner door surface. Annie squeaked and ran out of the way. Slowly and ponderously it tipped and fell. The clatter was horrendous. But it was over quickly. And it didn't even block the clothing's path to the door. She wiped her forehead dramatically and started towards the clothespin.

On the bus, Raymond stood up suddenly, startling several classmates. "Oh, no," he said.

"What?" Terri asked.

"I don't know..." he said. He considered getting of f the bus at the next stop and running straight home. But it might not be faster. He crossed his fingers and sat back down.

Just as Annie stepped over the pole, the shelf at the top of the closet creaked. She backed up a step and looked up.

A bowling ball rolled off and plummeted. She screamed and ran. The racket was even greater. But it stopped even faster. She turned around and saw the ball sitting calmly, motionless.

"Huh," she muttered. "On TV, you'd have rolled around like something malevolent and alive, chasing poor little defenseless Annie."

She cautiously circled the ball, looking for the clothespin.

As she did, though, the ball did move. Not malevolently. It didn't approach the sylph, but rolled down the hall. "Good riddance," Annie thought to herself.

Until she saw the clothespin wedged in the ball's thumb hole.

Raymond finally decided the St. Augustine stop was close enough to home and got off. He aimed for home and started pounding the pavement.

The ball went down the hall, speeding up on the gently inclined hallway floor. Annie looked around desperately for something to brake the thing with. She grabbed the loose threads and hooked them around the end of the fishing pole.

It caught up the fishing line, then bent. It was wedged between the door and the frame of the closet, and gave slightly to the ball's weight.

The clothes slid out of the bedroom into the ball's path. Annie relaxed with a sigh. Then the pole flexed, yanking the ball back towards the stairs, the clothes...and the sylph.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" she shouted, jumping over the pole, trying to clear all the hazards that might stretch, bounce, roll, flex or otherwise harm a perfectly innocent little sylph.

Then there was nothing to do but enjoy the farce. With inevitable precision, the ball rolled up to and collected the pile of clothes, then aimed for the stairs.

"Of course," she muttered as it tipped over the first step. The fishing pole was dragged forward a few inches, but the fishing line worked clear and it was left behind, unable to contribute to any impending mayhem. "Don't worry," Annie told it as she ran to the top of the stairs. "I'm sure we'll find a way to make you explode before graduation.

The ball had thundered down the steps and blundered up the 2nd floor hallway. Something crashed. She couldn't remember what was at that end. Raymond and pet seldom spent time there.

Whatever it was, it had some give, the ball came back very energized, whipping towards the top of the next set of stairs. Annie started to follow,

Then she gasped in terror and threw herself down the steps, two at a time. She stumbled over the edge of a couple but kept on going, jumping and leaping, then she was running down the hallway. The bowling laundry had bounced around the hall and gone down the steps. She got to the top step, aimed for the front door and screamed.

Raymond unlocked the front door and started to call out his pet's name, full of nameless, vague dread.

Annie's voice went from his ears to his spine, screaming 'LOOK OUT!' He rolled to the side before he was even sure what he'd heard.

A blue and green and red comet bounced through the doorway about testicle high, hit the front porch with a tearing, crunching sound, then ricocheted off the mailbox with a hearty 'bong.' Raymond lay against the front door, watching it curve out of sight.

When he could breathe again, he stood and went inside. Annie was about four steps up from the bottom. She twisted on one foot, biting her lip. "Everything okay?" she asked.

"Let's go find out," he said. He picked her up and followed the trail of socks to the front door.



The base of one of Mom's roses had been snapped off clean, two inches above the ground.

The thorns had done a number on his jeans, but most everything else came through. He collected them silently, then walked through the house picking up socks.

Annie sat in his pocket, wringing her hands. "I was trying to help," she said.

"I know," he said calmly.

"Amityville Horror, I take it?" she said, trying to sound joking, trying to break the tension.

"Jennifer Candace wanted to see Jazz," he said. He sat down on the sofa and put her on the coffee table. "Tell me exactly what happened," he said.

"Well, Master," she said. "I was thinking I could help get the laundry down to the laundry room."

"With a bowling ball?"

"I was going to use the staircase like a block and tackle."

"Ah. And this was because I said-"

"NO! No, Master," she said, trying anything but to try to shift blame. She did it, she'd take the heat. She'd gotten off scot free on the chemistry set incident. "I was think about this for a while."

"Just..." He rubbed his forehead. "Just tell me what happened," he said.

----------

They were almost home again before Jennifer relaxed enough to walk naturally. "There you go," Annie said into her ear. "That's a lot easier to ride through than..." Her voice trailed off at the sight of the Foster home.

Or more importantly, lights in the yard.

"What's that?" Jennifer asked.

"Hsst!" Annie warned her. "Slow down! That's a funeral!"

"Oh, who died?" Jennifer whispered. She paused for a second. And why are they being buried in the yard?"

"It's for the rose bush," Annie explained. Jennifer gasped. She had been advised of the whole story of the afternoon when Ray gave her a sylph and money for the ticket. She just hadn't expected a color detail.

The candles moved to the porch and went out. A lamp came on and they saw Raymond shoveling in the grave. She walked up and handed Annie over.

"They're pissed?" Jennifer and Annie giggled when they realized they'd both asked the question in synch.

"They're beyond pissed. Piss boiled down to crystals, loaded into a shotgun shell, and fired up my a-"

"RAYMOND!"

"MOM!" he snapped, coming to attention like a soldier.

"Is that your friend? The one who took 'innocent' Annie to the movie?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

"Ask her to come in for a glass of iced tea," Mom said. "You have work to do." He rolled his eyes and handed Annie back. They went inside.

He went back to shoveling, happy to shoulder the blame. He really knew better than to antagonize Annie, especially before her day alone. And he really had been unfair.

Frankly, his only regret was not seeing the look on her face as the ball started to tumble.

But now Annie was in his debt, and Jennifer had a soft spot for him, and his parents...

Oh, wait. Mom had said " took 'innocent' Annie." With a.... A TONE. Mom may not have been fooled.

Well, two regrets, then.

Then he remembered the dress Jennifer had shown up in. No, just the one.



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