By Ann M. Martin. Published July 1990.
Well. Here we are. Are you ready for the most egregious
parenting fail in the BSC-verse? Me, too. Let’s jump right in.
So apparently, even though we’ve never heard about it
before, Dawn and Claudia have been taking sailing lessons at the community
center. Now they’re at the end of their lessons, and are going to race each
other to an island and back. Claudia of course, doesn’t dress correctly for the
race, wearing an unbuttoned shirt and large earrings. The shirt flies up in her
face, and the earrings get caught in the sail. That sounds like it would hurt.
Despite this, the girls end up tying. They declare a rematch, and they won’t
have to have counselors with them, they just can’t sail alone.
At the next BSC meeting, Dawn and Claudia are pissing Kristy
off by talking all about their rematch. That’s not official club business,
girls. The girls are all excited because they have a three-day weekend coming
up. And then they just try to slip this in there. Jessi’s parents are going
away for the weekend, and letting Jessi babysit all weekend. Yes, that’s right.
A fucking ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD is watching an eight-year-old and a one-year-old, for
three whole days! By herself! Ramseys! I usually love you, but this is a
serious breech in good parenting skills! WTF?
Ok. Anyway. Claudia and Dawn decide to race that weekend,
and Dawn decides to bring Jeff, since he’ll be visiting. Claudia then needs a crewmember,
and asks Mallory. She’s flattered, but she has family plans. So Jessi offers up
Becca, she thinks she needs something of her own to do. They get permission
from both sets of parents. Why not, Ramseys? You obviously have no safety
concerns for your children anyway.
Becca is so excited, she calls all her friends and tells
them. Haley Braddock wants to come along. Of course the girls are all good with
that. They just need another crewmember, and they think bringing four-year-old Jamie
Newton would be a great idea. So Jamie and Becca are going with Claudia, and
Jeff and Haley with Dawn. Plus, they decide to only race to the island, and then they’ll have a picnic and whatnot there.
Dawn is all about getting ready for the race, so she’s
exercising, when the phone rings. It’s Logan, trying to get ahold of Mary Anne,
to tell her he can’t meet her at the library. She’s not there, but Dawn says
she’ll call her at the Perkins’. But then her mom calls, and then her dad, and
she totally forgets. Mary Anne gets home, and she’s totally pissed, and calls
Logan to bitch at him for standing her up. He tells her what the real deal is,
and she tries to apologize, but now he’s pissed that she would think he would
do that. So now Mary Anne is pissed at Dawn, and she tells her she wishes Dawn
would get out of her life forever.
It’s the day of the race, and everything starts out well
enough. But then a storm starts to come up. The girls discuss turning back, but
Claud says they’re closer to Greenpoint Island than the shore. So they press
on, through the storm, until Dawn’s boat starts sinking. They’ll have to get to
Claudia’s boat, and hang on to the sides. Jeff has the bright idea to toss their
supplies to Claudia first. Then it’s into the water. It’s not too long until
they see land, fortunately. But when they land, Claudia says it’s not Greenpoint,
and she has no idea where they are.
Jessi is having a nice day with Squirt until the storm comes
up, and he doesn’t like that one bit. And then it gets later and later, and
Becca doesn’t come home. Jessi starts calling around, and learns that nobody
from the trip is home. The community center is going to send out the Coast
Guard. Jessi goes over her list of emergency numbers. First on the list is the
Johanssens, but they’re not home. Next is Aunt Cecelia, and she comes right
over. Yay! The only member of the family with some sense! The first thing she
says is, “How could a couple of intelligent adults leave an eleven-year-old in
charge of two younger children for three whole days?” Yes! Thank you, Aunt
Cecelia! I get that we’re supposed to be on Jessi’s side here, and I probably
was when I was younger, but that’s so not happening now. Aunt Cecelia wants to
call her parents, but Jessi doesn’t want to ruin their vacation. Jessi. Their
daughter is MISSING. Get some perspective. She’s relieved when they’re not in
their room. Whatever, Jessi, I’m done with you.
Back on the island, the first order of business is to find
some shelter. Which they do, they finds a pile of boulders leaning together,
making a cave. Then they get a fire started, and eat the food that they don’t
think will keep. Dawn keeps thinking about the last words Mary Anne said to
her.
Stacey is in New York for the weekend, but Kristy calls her
to let her know what’s going on, and to see if she can come home for an
emergency meeting. She wants to, but her dad won’t let her. He even calls her
Anastasia. Serious.
Back on the island, it’s bedtime. They make a bed of leaves,
and they have the blanket for the picnic to cover themselves with. The kids
start voicing all their fears, but Dawn and Claudia calm them. The two of them
talk about what they should do, and decide to see if they can see any land at
all in the morning, and then maybe send someone out in the boat.
When they wake up the next morning, Jeff is missing. They
hope he’s just exploring. They give the kids the choice of candy bars or fruit
for breakfast. They choose candy bars. Jeff returns, with fish. He fashioned a
fishing pole with a stick, some string, and a safety pin. Jeff is the shit.
Only he and Dawn will eat the fish, though. The kids start getting excited
about going swimming, and Becca comes up with the idea to spell out HELP with
shells on the beach.
Alright, that’s it for Part One. Check back on Friday for
Part Two, and see if Aunt Cecelia knocks some sense into anyone.
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