Tuck Everlasting: the Return of the Fosters

Author's Note: I write this when I was nine years old, after seeing a production of Tuck Everlasting: the Musical. I remember crying during the performance. When I got home, I immediately read the book to Tuck and then, still not satisfied with how it ended with Jesse, wrote an entire fan fiction of "how it ended." It's not the best piece of literature, and I decided not to edit it, as it's a vintage piece of work from my childhood. I wasn't planning on putting it here, but I know my younger self would be happy to know that it's out in the world, as my literal first piece of finished story EVER. So enjoy my younger, worse writing and feel free to laugh at my strange humor and quick-paced style!

Prologue:

We all know the stories and fairy tales of today. The books from the bookstore, we may not all know. The Hunger Games, Tuck Everlasting, The Flame of Olympus. But other ones, like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Aladdin are more popular. I give you peeks into these stories.

I am the Keeper. You’re probably wondering what that is. Well, to fill you in, I exist beyond space and time. I hold the keys to discovery. And I have decided to share those keys with you. 

We are about to enter another world. Or, at least, see what it’s like. You see, there are UNIVERSES, and there are Secundariuses. Secundariuses are a sort of … parallel universe. One slightly altered from our own. They fill in the gaps. Tell us more. And I hold the key to them.

Ch. 1

There is a legend passed down in the family of Foster. It tells of a family, a family that lived on the edge of a small town in New Hampshire, called Treegap. Now the small town of Treegap has vanished, along with the woods which this mysterious family lived in. However, the legend says the family never died, forever young. Stopped in time, forever the same, living on. This family in the myth goes by the name of Tuck. 

A mother, father, and two boys. Think of that. Drank from the fountain of youth, as most call it. The Fosters were called crazy for telling this story, in which an ancestor had started. She had talked of a cabin in the woods, a magical spring, and a T carved into an old tree. She taught her children and grandchildren that, though the fear of death was always near, the thought of living forever was so much worse.

They say that she, this woman, had met them before. Bonded with them. But that wasn’t the part that confused them. It’s that she was given the option to be immortal, and she turned it down.

This book is not about her, though. It is about a descendant of her. Her great-grandchild. So here we go:

Blair Foster sat on her windowpane, staring out at the rain pouring down, pattering against the window, then dropping.

“Blair!” her uncle called. She lived with him and her aunt. Her parents had died in a car crash, and her uncle had welcomed her happily into his house, convincing her aunt to accept. It had been a miracle Blair survived the car crash, she had only been an infant. As in as they were driving home from the hospital which she had been born in.

“Blair!” her uncle called again, tearing her from her thoughts. “Dinner!”

“Coming, Uncle!” Blair cried in his direction. She stumbled down the stairs. Her uncle and aunt were very neat and simple. They had only the necessary things, with an outfit for every day of the week and an assigned meal for every day. Today was spaghetti. No flavor, of course. They said we had no need for special things like spices and sauce. Just the necessities.

It’s not that she didn’t love her aunt and uncle, just that she wanted to live less simply all the time and not just on special occasions.

Her uncle sat next to her aunt at the small, round table that they ate at. He had a white shirt and jeans, for Thursdays. He had a crooked grin and messy brown hair.

Her aunt had bright red hair that was up in a bun, like always. She had a simple light blue dress that stretched down to her ankles. She wore plain white slippers.

Blair was wearing a light blue blouse and black leggings and boots. Her red hair flowed down her neck and back, perfectly matching her green eyes.

They never talked during dinner, so Blair wasn’t surprised when no one welcomed her or said hello when she sat down at the table. They ate their spaghetti and then waited until the rest of the table was done, then went on to their evening chores. Blair’s aunt went to do the laundry, her uncle swept, and Blair did the dishes.

Still, they were silent. This was always Blair’s favorite part of their day. It gave her time to think.

She looked out of the window in front of the sink. The rain had stopped and children had started to come outside. They stomped around in the mud puddles. How Blair wished she could be out there right now. If she finished before 7:00, her aunt and uncle would let her out. 

She glanced at the clock. 6:45. If she hurried, she might make it. She scrubbed a plate. 6:46. She finished a teacup. 6:48. A bowl. 6:50. Three dishes left. Another plate. 6:51. A spoon. 6:52. A bowl. 6:54.

Done! Just as she thought this, she heard her aunt call from upstairs. “Blair! Your uncle and I have something to tell you!”

Dang it! Now she’d never be able to go outside. Slumping heavily, she went upstairs. She walked into her uncle’s bedroom. Both her aunt and uncle sat on the bed. Her uncle patted the bed beside him, in between him and her aunt. Blair sat down. 

She was worried. They hardly talked to her like this. Heck, they hardly talked to her at all.

“Your aunt and I have been thinking,” her uncle said. “You’re fifteen now. We think it’s time you met some of your relatives.”

Blair took some time to digest what he had just said. It’s true, she had never met her relatives. Her aunt had always said that it was because of a story that they loved to tell. Nonsense, she called it. An old myth passed through the Foster family for a few generations. 

This very myth happens to be the same myth we were talking about a while ago. The one with the immortal family.

Blair’s aunt had not wanted to put that kind of junk in her brain while she was so young. But now, she figured she was old enough.

“Tomorrow, at 11:30 sharp, we will drop you off at the airport and you will fly to New Hampshire,” her aunt said.

Oh, I forgot. Did I mention that Blair and her guardians lived in Pueblo, Colorado? Well I’m telling you now. There you go.

Not even leaving her time to think, her uncle sent her off to bed right then and there. Like she could sleep.

She stumbled to her room. She drank her milk and tucked herself in bed. She lay down, wide awake.  She wondered what her relatives were like. She ran them through her head. Her grandparents, two cousins, and another aunt. 

Blair wondered what they were like. If they were kind, strange, or plain, like her guardians. 

Stuck with these thoughts, by some miracle she fell asleep.

At 8:00 the next morning, Blair awoke. She switched the calendar to Friday, August 1st, 1986. She got a bag from the attic and packed all she needed. At 10:00, her uncle and aunt packed the bag into the car and drove to the airport.

At the entrance, her aunt and uncle hugged her and kissed her.

“We will pick you up in three weeks. Never mind what they say, okay? Did you remember your toothbrush?” They said things like this to her. She pretended to be devastated by their separation, but inside, she was excited to leave this simple life. She promised to write every day, but she knew she couldn’t  keep that promise.

Two hours later, Blair was flying toward a small town in New Hampshire. They call it Oakwood. She watched a movie about two lovers on a ship. She thought it was odd. And yet, her eyes were glued to the screen.

Blair took a few naps, ate a few snacks, and the next thing she knew, she was standing in the New Hampshire Airport. She strolled out of the airport and sat on a bench in the airport, eating a burger that she had purchased in an airport restaurant, waiting for her family to pick her up.

How will I know what they look like? Blair thought. She guessed that she would just know. They would have her aunt’s features, and hers were so unique, Blair guessed she would recognize them. After thirty minutes, she had finished her burger and pulled out a book called Grimm’s Fairy Tales. She read a story about a maid who fell in love with a prince. She wondered why everything had to have happy endings. That never happened in real life.

An hour later, four redheaded people came out of the airport, all talking over each other. Blair caught her name several times, but just as she was about to say something, a boy that looked just like her, but male, silenced everyone.

“Guys,” he said. “She’ll show up eventually! Heck maybe she’s listening.”

At that moment, Blair walked up and interrupted. “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help but overhear. I believe that I’m the one you’re looking for. I am Blair Winifred Foster, at your service.”

She stuck out her hand. They all stepped away from her. The other boy, who was younger than the one who looked like her, whispered, “Why’re you speaking so formally?”

“This is how my aunt and uncle taught me how to talk,” she replied. 

After a pause, a middle aged woman stepped forward and hugged Blair tightly, and soon everyone followed her lead. They were all gabbing over each other as they led her to their car.

An elderly woman that Blair took to be her grandmother spoke and said, “Welcome, dear Blair. The first thing I want to do when we get home is buy you some new clothes! Those are drab.”

Compared to their clothes, it certainly was. Her other aunt, who had asked her to call her Aunt Sloane, was wearing a tie die crop top with ripped jeans and hair styled high. Her cousins were wearing twin workout outfits with a variety of neon colors. Even the grandparents were wearing bright, huge pink coats.

Blair zoned out during the drive home. Everyone seemed to be talking and playing music all at once. She pretended to respond to all of their questions, but she wasn’t  paying attention at all.

They pulled up three hours later (the airport was really far away) and Blair was surprised by what she saw. It wasn’t your old fashioned neighborhood.  There were about ten houses, not in a line, but scattered about in no particular order. They varied in shape, size and color.

One house rose above the others. Maybe the mayor’s house or meeting room. Maybe both. Blair wondered where Grandma would get her more clothes. It was prairie in all directions except for a couple of trees crowding around a house way in the distance. A couple of miles away, she presumed. Blair didn’t pay much attention to it at the moment, but she would. In time.

Blair was to stay with her aunt and cousins in the white house at the end of the neighborhood. Her cousins had to go upstairs to finish their schoolwork. They were homeschooled, like everyone else in Oakwood. Aunt Sloane made some Mac and cheese for Blair.

Their home was very strange to Blair. It was not like her other aunt’s home. This one was very decorative. It had beads hanging everywhere and the walls were painted different colors. 

After Blair ate her Mac and cheese, Aunt Sloane spoke, “Come on. You can borrow some of my clothes instead of those boring ones.”

Blair looked down at her blue blouse and black leggings. Then she looked at Sloane’s crop top. “Let’s do it.”

Ten minutes later, Aunt Sloane opened her closet and Blair’s mind exploded in color. It was filled with power suits, leg warmers, leather jackets and crop tops.

“So, what do you think?” Aunt Sloane asked.

My voice was silent as I said, “Let’s try it all.”

Aunt Sloane laughed and agreed. The next few hours were filled with new clothes and memories. It was hard to decide what outfit was right. 

Finally they made a decision. A white t-shirt with  a button down tied at the waist and a jean skirt. Blair hugged her Aunt goodbye to go explore. 

She stepped three feet when Grandma intercepted her.

“Come,” she said to Blair. “Come to my house.”

Blair followed her to her house and through it. There were three cats and knitting laying around. Grandma led her to a cozy room that was neater than the others. There was a fireplace and a carpet. The room was dimly lit by the fire, crackling and dancing like a party. There were two chairs that looked fairly comfortable. Grandma gestured for her to sit in one and left to go get tea.

Blair sat and watched the fire for five minutes. Then Grandma returned and sat in the other chair. 

Blair may not have known it at the moment, but the next words that came out of Grandma’s mouth would be the start of her new life. 

And so, Grandma said, “Let me tell you a story. I don’t think you’ve heard it before.”

And so it began.

Ch. 2

Grandma went and told the story. And it went a little something like this:

Once there was a man with a wife and two sons. They were migrating to the east from the west. One day, they camped in a forest on the edge of a town in New Hampshire. They woke up that day and found a spring that they drank from. They kept moving and soon settled down. For years they lived, but something wasn’t right. They should have been growing old, but they weren’t. The townspeople turned on them and drove them out. They lived an immortal life in the woods, all because of the spring.

About a hundred years later, a Foster girl, Winnie, ran away and was found by the family. Soon the youngest son, Jesse, fell in love with her. He offered her the magical spring water to drink and marry him. She declined immortality and lived a long life, then died. But the family, the Tucks, still lived and still do to this day.

“The end,” Grandma finished.

Blair was confused. She didn’t understand the point of the story. Except she did understand that it didn’t have a happy ending. That was just life. The rest of it was fiction, though. 

“Why was there a Foster in it?” Blair asked.

“Because of the way things go. It’s a true story. At least, it fits,” Grandma replied.

No it doesn’t, Blair thought. “So what’s the point of the story?”

“Point?” Grandma was confused. “There’s no point. Well, there might be. My mother and siblings took the point to be that you don’t have to live forever, you just have to live. I thought that was, of course, true, but I feel as though the girl, Winnie, should’ve chosen the Tuck kid over any other. He had to live out the rest of the world with the memory of her. There’s no possible worse torture. What do you think the point is, Blair?”

Blair thought before she said, “I believe the point is that there are no happy endings, only thoughts of what might have been. It didn’t have a happy ending. Jesse must have thoughts of her every day.”

Grandma gestured. “There you go. Many people have different opinions on this story. Now go run along. You must be exhausted after the day. Go sleep.”

“I will, Grandma. Say hi to Baba for me,” Blair said. Then she left and set off for Aunt Sloane’s house.

The walk to the house seemed like a million miles away, even though it was just a few houses away. She kept thinking about the story. It was just a story, but there was something about it. The way Grandma had looked when she told it, the fact that the only reason she’d never seen her relatives was it. Grandma had said it was all true, but that couldn’t be true. It was too far-fetched. But something felt real about it, but Blair just couldn’t tell what.

She opened the door of the house to find her Aunt standing there. Her face was solemn, but she had a twinkle in her eye.

“I presume Grandma told you of the Tucks?” Aunt Sloane asked. She understood by the look on my face. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“Aunt Sloane, I don’t want to go to bed,” Blair said.

Aunt Sloane grinned. “I know what we can do, then!”

She walked out and took my hand, leading me to a house that was a few zigzags away.

“Where are we going, Aunt?”

“Trixie Babbitt always has parties every night. Don’t worry, we won’t stay long.”

Turns out, by parties, she meant a ton of people crammed into a huge black house with fires and coffee. Blair was reminded of cavemen, wild and hitting each other with clubs.

Blair was terrified.

Her aunt led her through the tightly beaded wave of people, all singing and dancing and eating cake. Blair sat down at a counter next to a man who was fairly handsome, maybe in his forties. He had the body build of a blacksmith from the stories. He looked confused.

“Hello! What’s your name and purpose?” Blair asked him.

“Purpose?” he asked.

“Why are you here? You don’t look like you exactly belong here.”

“Huh,” he said. “I’m Angus. Angus, uh, James let’s go with. And I got lost and ended up here. A drunk told me this was a hunting store.”

“Oh,” Blair said. “My aunt brought me here.”

“Yeah. Do you know if there is a hunting store around here?”

“Dunno. I’m new here and so far it’s different from the life I had before.”

“Me too.”

“What was your life like before?”

“That depends. My life changed a lot. In the past ten years, there’s been a lot of tears and newly enforced rules.” He took a sip of water.

“Sounds boring.” I’m Blair, by the way. Blair Foster.”

He choked on his water. “A Foster?” His face was anguished and full of pain. He stood up. “I’m sorry, but I can’t be here. I, I guess that I’ll go find that, that, uh, hunting store. Yeah.” He was looking at her with wonder mixed with fear, so much fear.

The people here are very odd, Blair thought as he stumbled out of the house. 

She went and got a cupcake. This Trixie Babbitt must really outdo herself. She ate the cupcake, and then someone started calling out names. People started coming to a stage that Blair didn’t notice before. They grabbed microphones and started singing.

A distant word came into her mind. Karaoke.

Without thinking, she wandered up to the stage. Soon, she was holding a microphone.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Blair Foster and I’ll be singing a song my aunt taught me.”

She strained to remember the lyrics. Aunt Sloane had told it to her while they were trying on outfits.

Some water, a magical spring

Lonely, misplaced child

It starts in the underbrush, in the wild

She left with a wedding ring

She left it on her grave

A simple boy, master of love

His family forever

But her to decline happened to him never

And now she’s in the heaven above

She left it on her grave

A lonely child, a Foster kid

The man in yellow

An evil fellow

Among many she lay amid

She left it on her grave

She can’t take back what she gave

The boy couldn’t save

What he craves

For she left it on her grave

Blair stopped to find that everyone had gone silent. Then they burst into applause. She looked to find that Angus James had been swept away and hadn’t made it out. His eyes were filled with tears. He shot for the door and slammed it behind him.

Blair stepped from the stage. Though she had never acknowledged the lyrics of the song, she realized that the song had been about the story of the Tucks. It took that pain from the story and put it into poetry, making you feel it.

Blair found her Aunt Sloane, who took her home immediately. Her Aunt was crying tears of happiness when Blair said she had a good first day. She was sobbing and didn’t notice when Blair slipped off to her room. She looked at the clock. 10:51. She crashed on her pillow and immediately fell asleep.

Ch.3

It was 12:30 am when Blair woke once more. The events of the previous day fell upon her. Luckily, she felt fully rested. She got dressed and came downstairs.

Her Aunt was making grilled cheese sandwiches. Her cousins were sitting at the table.

“Sleeping Beauty awakes! Come have lunch,” her aunt said. Blair sat down and ate. The sandwiches were very good. They melted in her mouth and danced across her mouth in a kaleidoscope of wonder.

Suddenly Blair remembered the old house in the distance. “Hey,” she said. “What’s with the lonely house outside of the village?”

Her Aunt and cousins stopped eating. Everyone looked at her. Her Aunt cleared her throat and without a sound, she took Blair by the shoulder and knelt before her.

“Blair, there are some things you should know. First of all, we don’t know who or what lives in that house. Second of all, we promised to tell you when you brought this up. Your other aunt and uncle sent you here because something at work came up for your uncle. They have to move to Russia.”

“Oh, that’s great! I’ve always wanted to see Asia!”

“No, Blair. They can’t buy three plane tickets and pay for their house there without going broke. I’m afraid that by the time they’re back, you will be an adult. You will be stuck with us for a while.”

Blair digested her words. A part of her was sad, but the other part was exhilarated. Freedom from that dull life was beckoning her and she was following. She went outside, ignoring her cousins’ pleas. She ran through the town, her mind blank.

She yelled for all it was worth. She expected to be sad, but she was full of joy.

Blair leaped into the air and stumbled amok, sprinting out of the village and onto the prairie. She danced and sang and laughed. She had never known this kind of happiness before. The pure, joyful kind of happiness that could only last a little while. Like when a toddler loses a balloon and then a stranger buys them a new one. Like when you just got married and you found out you’re expecting a child. 

Blair lay on the grass and looked out. She sat up and looked around. She spotted the lonely house. To her surprise, she caught a man looking at her from the porch. He ducked inside.

“Hey!” Blair cried in his direction. “Mister! Who are you? Why are you afraid of me?” 

She ran towards the house, all thoughts of her freedom gone. Her legs moved like the wind, galloping. Her thoughts sped through her mind, faster than light. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, not fully aware.

The next thing she knew, she was standing on the porch of the house. She knocked.

An old voice answered, “What do you want?”

“I don’t know. Can I at least talk to you?” Blair answered.

The door creaked open a crack and an old, brown haired woman peaked her head out. She repeated what she had said.

“I saw a man here. I just want answers.”

The woman lit up. “Angus! Come here and get our guest some tea.”

The woman invited her inside. Blair sat down in their living room. The woman sat down across from her.

“Hello,” the woman said. She had a warm face, but still fearful. “I’m Mae. Mae, uh, James, I guess.”

The name James rang a bell in Blair’s mind. She just couldn’t remember from where.

Mae called upstairs. “Jesse! Miles! Come down and meet our new guest.”

“Guests? We never have guests!” a voice replied from upstairs. 

Another said, “If it’s a girl, I don’t want to meet her. You remember our last one?”

“Just come down!” Mae said. Soon two boys came down. One looked older, maybe mid thirties. The other looked maybe sixteen. They had brown hair and crooked grins. 

But their grins soon vanished, as they seemed to have been painted on their faces. The oldest came forward and shook Blair’s hand. “Miles.”

The younger one stayed farther back, but still mumbled, “Jesse. Jesse Tu-“

“James! Jesse James,” Mae interfered.

“Right,” Jesse mumbled. He had a sort of sadness about him, like a cloud of mist shrouding his body and fogging his thoughts. He spoke and moved in a manner like it was all painful to him. Blair thought that maybe he wasn’t always like this, like he experienced something so terrible that it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Crowding these thoughts, Angus James entered the room at that moment, carrying a tea tray. He spotted her and their eyes met for a brief second.

“Angu-’’ Blair started. 

“Boys, how about you go make this fine lady more tea?” Angus said, almost panicking. He was terrified that Blair was there. Fosters weren’t allowed in their home ever since- 

“But  you already have tea,” Jesse pointed out.

“Not anymore,” Angus said, taking the teacup and dumping it upside down, causing the tea to get on the floor.

“Um, okay then,” Jesse said before going out of the room. Miles, however, did not follow. He looked suspiciously at Angus and they seemed to have a private conversation. Then Miles looked fearfully at Blair and scurried from the room.

“Angus James, why are you so afraid of me?” Blair asked.

“You know her?” Mae asked.

“Yes, I do. We met in town,” Angus replied. “Mae, I would like you to meet Blair. Blair Foster.”

Mae’s face darkened. “Oh, dear,” she turned her attention to Blair. “Honey, it was nice having you here, but I’m afraid that you must leave. Fosters have been banned from this home by our sons. Go before they come back.”

“Why are we banned?”

“Oh, I’m afraid they hurt us a long time ago. I fear that your family broke all that’s good of us.” 

Blair thought about this before she got up and headed for the door. 

But Mae stopped her. “Dear, I’m sorry for all this. But you are an extraordinary young woman. Take care.”

And then Blair left. She ran back to the town and found that she had been gone for four hours. It was now 4:23. 

She found her Aunt Sloane pacing the porch. When she saw Blair, she cried out in relief.

“We’ve been so worried! I just sent the boys out to look for you! Where have you been?” Aunt Sloane asked.

“Let’s just say that I want to go see Grandma.”

Aunt Sloane gave another hug, then let her shuffle off to Grandma’s. Blair wanted to see her because she had a feeling they were all connected. The story, the Jameses, and her grandma. Grandma was the hub of the wheel. The wheel of life that brought lives together, that weaved the tapestry of fate.

She ran inside and found Grandma in the fire room. She was grinning.

“Found them, have you?” Grandma said.

“I do believe so, Grandma,” Blair responded. Grandma pointed to the chair across from her. Yet again, Blair sat down.

“What do you want to know?”

“Why are the Fosters banned?”

“A heartbroken tale that was told a while ago.”

“Why did you tell me that story of the immortal family?”

“You might need it someday.”

That was all she needed to know. She had a feeling that she would visit the Jameses again. But not now. They needed their rest and so did she. 

And so, she skipped off to her Aunt’s house.

But soon, pieces would fall into place. The Wheel was turning again. 

Blair drifted off to sleep in her bed, thinking of the adventure of the day. The next day shall bring more wonders than all.

Ch4

Her dream went like this:

Running through the woods, Winnie went as fast as her feet would carry her. Blair was there, watching. Three men came, one of which was Jesse. The other was a scrawny sort of boy, the brainy type. The last one, however, was an old man wearing a suit of the brightest yellow. Jesse and the brainiac came behind Winnie, shouting at the yellow-suited man in a different language.

Jesse spoke one last word to the man and the man turned to ash. Then Jesse turned towards Winnie, grinning. But soon she and the brainiac turned to ash as well.

Left alone, Jesse fell to his knees and screamed into the air, “BLAIR.”

Blair woke up with a start. Her night felt foggy, as though something was missing from it. She had forgotten her dream and would keep forgetting for as long as she had it. Which would be forever. She went downstairs and ate a quick breakfast. She was going towards the door when an unfamiliar face blocked her way.

She was a little person, with bright blonde hair flowing down her back in a perfect trance. Her bright blue eyes pierced Blair’s and seemed to put them up in flame. Blemishes were scattered all around her face. She was slim and wearing a short, flowy skirt with a blinding white tank top.

“Hi!” she said in a high pitched tone. “I’m Marguerite, but you can call me Peggy. You’re probably so devastated that your other aunt and uncle left you. I’m so sorry!”

She spoke very fast.

And, me, the storyteller, must leave you as I excel in my character and leave you to figure out the rest yourself. Thank you.

Blair was confused. “Wait, why are you here in my house?”

“Oh I live around these parts and sometimes I come and visit to tutor your brothers because I used to live in the city and went to college there so they need help with their schoolwork and Aunt Sloane hired me to come every once in a while.”

“Okay, then!” Blair replied. “I’m Blair. My guardians had to move to Russia and couldn’t bring me along, so I’m stuck with this life for a while.”

“Your guardians?”

“Yeah. My other aunt and uncle. My parents died in a car crash when I was young.”

“Cool! So I assume you’ve heard the famous legend from these parts?”

“The one about the immortal family?”

“Yeah! Man, I love that legend. When I go back to the city, I get books and looked it up, but it’s completely regional to this town!”

Blair thought that that was peculiar. She had never heard of a legend that stayed in the same area before. But then again, if it stayed in its parts, she wouldn’t have heard of it before.

“So,” Peggy said. “Do you want me to give you a tour of the town?”

“Sure!” Blair responded. “Where shall we start?”

“How about here? You obviously know that this is your Aunt Sloane’s house. But what about your new neighbors?”

We went outside and she pointed to the house that sat in a diagonal angle across from Aunt Sloane’s. It was a baby blue color and had a flat roof. It was one story tall.

“That’s the Ross’s house. They’re an old married couple, who somehow became millionaires a while ago. They hide in this small village to conceal their money. But they usually aren’t home. They like to picnic on the other side of the town.”

We moved on to a tall house behind the Ross’s. It was the tall building that Blair had first noticed. It was about four stories tall and pitch black.

“This is the shopping center. Although, we don’t really go there. We have no need for money. That’s why no one has a job. We all have the same amount of food and if we need more, we take it from here. A few people live inside to tend to the farm.”

The next few swam in Blair’s mind. So many stories, so much information. This town had such strange people. It was much bigger than Blair had thought. It seemed as though if you picked up a series of words and tried to make sense of them in a sentence, it would fit into someone in Oakwood.

For example, if you took the words daughter, tree, blank, basket, diaper, and horse, you could be referring to Marilee Soms. Her daughter had a horse named White,  and she would always bring a basket of diapers out and would try to force it onto him.

But what Blair found most concerning was that Peggy never mentioned the Jameses. 

“Hey,” Blair asked, “does anyone here know the Jameses?”

“The who?” Peggy said, taken aback. “There are no Jameses here.”

“The Jameses, who live out there on the prairie,” said Blair. “A man with a wife and a family.”

“Well, I’ve never met them before. Could you introduce me?”

“Well, I’m not allowed there. They banned Fosters a while ago.”

“Oh, come on. We’ll be there and then be gone. Then you never have to go back.”

“Well okay then,” Blair said. Soon they were walking through the field together. A few times they stopped to catch bugs. Then they let them go. Peggy’s favorite was when they would find grasshoppers and then they would jump out of her hand. She would laugh and laugh.

It felt like a million light years away when they arrived. Blair wasn’t feeling too confident, considering her last visit. Peggy, however, strutted up to the door and knocked three times.

Mae’s head peaked out of the door. 

“Oh, Blair, it’s you again. What did I tell you yesterday?” Mae said.

“Sorry about this, but my friend wanted to see you,” Blair replied.

“Well then, I guess you can come inside. Come on, ladies,”Mae said, opening the door and leading them to the living room. Peggy sat down next to Mae and Blair sat across from them.

“I’ll call Miles down. Jesse can stay up there.”

Miles came down and repeated his manner like the day before. He shook Peggy’s hand and introduced himself. Then he sat down. He never made eye contact with Blair, for fear of seeing other Fosters in them.

Peggy’s manner had clearly been rearranged by the depression of the people.

“Hello, again, Jameses,” Blair said. Mae and Miles tensed at the name. “This is Peggy. Peggy Cordial.”

There was a long silence before a loud sound came from the stairway and Jesse came tumbling down the stairs. His eyes were red.

“Ma, I can’t find my journ-’’ then his eyes fell upon Blair and they turned to an empty hole of pain and bitter regret.

(Okay, sorry for the similes. I’m just such a good writer (:)

 “Get out,” he said. “Get out of my house! Haven’t you caused enough trouble for a lifetime?”Blair was bewildered and saw the same feeling echoed across Peggy’s face.

Mae stood up. “Have you lost your mind? These are our guests! I understand that you’re still hurting, but you can’t take it out on these children!”

Mae grabbed his arm and led him out of the room. She returned with a grim look on her face. “You guys should probably go now.”

Without wasting a second, Peggy flew out of the door and across the prairie. Mae turned to Blair.

“You must excuse my son’s behavior. He’s still recovering from a terrible tragedy that involved-’’

Mae started. But then she caught herself and just shrugged.

But Blair finished for her. “A Foster girl.”

Mae looked up and had tears sparkling in her eyes. Blair pulled her in an embrace. She hardly knew the Jameses, but she could tell that with every breath, every minute of every day, that they were struggling not to cry. She knew that they had secrets embedded in this house, in their names, but Blair wasn’t sure that she wanted to know them.

Mae was crying into her shoulder and Blair could feel her sadness, a wound so deep that it would never heal. And Blair knew that she had put salt in that wound by showing up.

“Mae, please tell me,” Blair said, pulling her from Mae’s arms. “Tell me everything.”

Mae huffed. “Angus! Wake up! Blair’s here again.”

Angus came down in ABBA footie pajamas. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Mae’s. They had a silent staring contest, then Angus said, “Come into the living room, Blair. We can tell you our story.”

They went and retook their seats. Jesse was there, he seemed to have escaped from his jail. Miles was holding his wrist. Blair sat farthest from him, as he was staring at her and freaking her out.

Angus looked at Jesse and said, “Now, Jesse, what I’m about to tell you is going to anger you very much, but I need you to stay controlled, okay?”

Jesse’s face stayed stoic.

“Okay. We’re going to tell her.”

Miles and Jesse got up and stared at him. Then they started talking over each other. Blair caught phrases like, “Remember the last one?” “Can’t invite girls in and tell them,” and “Winnie would approve,”

On that last one, Blair got up and yelled, “STOP!” They all fell silent.

“Winnie? Winnie Foster?” Blair asked incredulously. “She was my great-grandmother. How do you know- oh.”

At that moment, all the pieces fell into place. The story. The Fosters. This family.

“You guys aren’t really the James family, are you?”

“Blair-’’ Mae started. 

“My Grandma told me a story,” Blair said.

“Blair, listen!” Angus said. Blair silenced him with a finger.

“She told me a story, a story with a girl, a Foster girl, called Winnie.”

Jesse’s face broke at the name. Mae and Angus wouldn’t meet her eyes. Miles just looked ahead, as though this did not concern him.

“This girl, Winnie, got lost in the forest of Treegap, New Hampshire. That’s where Oakwood was built.

“And she met a family. A man with a wife and two sons. She stayed with them for a while until- until…”

Jesse dropped his head. Silent tears streamed down his face, reflecting the pain of these memories.

“Until the youngest son fell in love with her. He offered to marry her when she was of age. But it couldn’t work, it could never work.”

Jesse clenched his fist, as though holding back the urge to punch Blair as hard as he could.

“Because that family, they weren’t normal. They weren’t aging. They would never die, ever.”

Miles looked at her, anger swelling in his manner.

“And so she declined. She lived her life. But they found out and soon realized that she had died. The end.”

Then Jesse came at her, anger covering his persona.

Ch5

Angus grabbed Jesse and pulled him down. They wrestled for a few moments and then Jesse went still. Angus pulled him out of the room, saying, “We need to have a talk, son.”

Miles looked at Blair, then Mae. “I’m going to finish my chores.” He glanced at Blair again before he left.

“Well, dear,” Mae said, smiling, or grimacing. Blair couldn’t tell. “You figured it out. I suppose I should also tell you that we are not the Jameses, but rather the Tucks. Jesse is not usually like this, you know.”

“No, I didn’t know, Mrs. Tuck,” Blair said.

“Well then. I’m sure he should go back to his lively self in a month or so. This would’ve been the week we met Winnie, if it were a hundred years ago. He’s simply grieving.”

“Of course, Mrs. Tuck,” she said, though she thought that Jesse could never be different. “I suppose that I’ll come back then.”

And so she left. But we’re going to stay and eavesdrop on Jesse and Angus’s conversation. So let us enter the Tuck garden, where Jesse and Angus Tuck were pulling weeds and having a hearty conversation. Well, sort of.

“Son, I am very disappointed in you!”Angus started.

“Look, pa-’’

“No! I don’t want to hear your excuses. Do you think that Winnie would have wanted this? For you to live your life in regret? To never let go-’’

“You have no right! No right to talk about her! Do you hear me? It’s your fault she’s gone!”

Jesse had sat down on a bench. He buried his head in his knees.

“How is it my fault, son?” Angus asked. “I loved her as much as you did.”

“No you didn’t! And you were the one who told her that she shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what?”

“Nothing. I don’t need to explain anything. It’s you who should apologize for ripping her from my arms.”

When Jesse looked up again, Angus had gone. Jesse looked out onto the prairie. There was a figure in the distance that he knew was Blair.

“Oh, Blair,” he said. “I think you might just show us something. Like Winnie.”

Blair tripped and fell into the grass of the prairie. Hurting her knee, she winced in pain. Lying there, she pulled her leg up to look at the damage. She had scraped it just a little and it was bleeding in a few spots, but in all, it wasn’t that bad. It was painful,but not the kind that was emotional.

Blair wondered what the emotional pain felt like. She didn’t think she’d experienced that kind of pain since she found out that her aunt and uncle weren’t her parents. She thought of the Tucks, forever wrapped up in that pain. She would hate to live forever.

Blair didn’t know how long she lay there, but it felt like an eternity before someone found her. Peggy came running and panting, mumbling things that suggested that she didn’t think very highly of the Tucks.

She carried her to Aunt Sloane’s house. When they got there, Peggy set Blair on the sofa. Blair didn’t say anything at all. Aunt Sloane and Peggy thought that she had fallen ill.

She, of course, had not. Though she was deep in thought. The meeting with the Tucks worried her greatly. When she finally spoke, it was words that concerned Aunt Sloane.

“I want to go see Grandma,” were her words. Aunt Sloane had always thought that Grandma had been a little strange in the mind, which was why it was concerning to her.

And so, despite her Aunt’s protesting, Blair set off for Grandma’s house. Along the way, Blair didn’t notice the frogs jumping around. By accident, she stepped on one. She bent down to look at the damage.

“Hey, little guy. You okay?”  Blair asked the frog. He just blinked. He didn’t seem to have been injured or bruised of any kind. He also seemed to not be afraid of her, of anyone or anything. Like he wasn’t afraid of dying…

A ridiculous thought came into Blair’s mind. “You don’t happen to know the Tucks, do you?”

It blinked again.

And so that frog hopped on and jumped away. Blair would never know about how that frog was connected to her. Many have known that frog before. 

Blair stepped into Grandma’s house, took off her shoes, and looked around. It was a little tidier than last time, but there was still knitting supplies everywhere. A cat brushed against her leg.

“Grandma?” Blair called.

“Yes? Who is it?” Grandma called back from deep in the house. “If it’s Brent again, I’ve already told you, I’m not interested! And I’m married!”

Brent? He was a nineteen year old drunk who lived on the other side of the town.

“No, it’s me, Blair. Your granddaughter.”

“Oh,” Grandma said, coming out of one of the many hallways and smiling as only a grandmother could. She was wearing a bright orange coat that covered her body entirely, like a robe. They went to the place that Blair liked to call the StoryRoom, with the fireplace and comfortable chairs.

“Ah, Blair. I’ve been expecting you to drop by here,” she continued. “Saw you out on the prairie and I just knew. So, what’d you think?”

“They were… odd. Troubled in the mind.”

“Ah, they always are at this time of year. Memories this month. ‘Suspect that they’ll be fine next month.”

“Grandma, how did you meet them?”

“When I was young, my grandmother, Winnie as you know her, told me of them and I occasionally visited, though they never noticed me. Looking back at it, I was kind of stalking them.”

Blair laughed. “What was she like, Grandma? Winnie, I mean.”

“She was… curious. Asked lots of questions. She was not given much freedom in her childhood, so she was always longing to make up for what she had missed. Striving to know. To thrive in what time she had left. You probably think that she was evil for ditching the man who loved her. But she was just clueless. And Jesse had never even known love before, he was vulnerable.”

And suddenly Blair felt a surge of anger towards her Grandma for saying these things about him, for offending him in any particular way. Blair felt as though protecting a young child, even though Jesse was older than her.

“Well, he just can’t understand since he was already immortal,” Blair shot back. “He never had a choice to never die.”

“Yes, I do suppose that’s true,” Grandma continued, oblivious to Blair’s anger. “The Tucks won’t be like that in a while. I do suggest that you go and visit them again. I’m also sure that they would enjoy it.”

“But they told me to never come back.”

“Did they?”

Blair thought. At her first visit, when they found out that she was a Foster, they told her Fosters weren’t welcome there. But in the second visit, they were willing to tell her their most heavily guarded secret. Come to think of it, they probably wanted her to come again, to make sure she wasn’t out there spilling their secrets.

Grandma was smiling, as though reading her mind. Then she stood up and shuffled around on some shelves in the corner. She picked up the biggest one of the books and gave it to Blair.

She blew on it and dust flew off it. It had white leather binding it with pretty flowers that looked like they were sewn on a long time ago. In pitch black cursive letters, the cover read,

Tuck Everlasting 

“Grandma, what is this?”

“This is a book in which Winnie Foster wrote herself. It tells of her time in Treegap. Her family members added onto it after her death. Maybe you can, too. There are some blank pages in the back. I think that you should know the full story. Just don’t show it to the Tucks just yet. Give it time, then when you feel closest to them, show them. But not any sooner or later. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Grandma.”

Blair went home, where her family was having dinner. Peggy was there too, clearly filling them in on her opinion of the Tucks, or the Jameses as she knew them. And by the way she described them, they might as well be blood sucking zombies who chased her out of the house.

“You were so brave, Peggy,” her oldest cousin said, clearly smitten with her. Blair had heard from Peggy that they were once dating, but then one summer Peggy realized that he was not the person that she had thought he was and broke up with him. That he was actually very self-absorbed. Blair could see that in her cousin, as well as the fact that he still wanted to win her back.

“Danny, cut it out,” Peggy responded. Then she spotted Blair, squealed, and ran to hug her. Immediately, Danny came over and hugged them both, but directed his hug towards Peggy. 

She retracted herself, looked at him, and slapped him. Then she returned her attention to Blair.

“We were all worried that you had gone back to that horrid family’s house!” Peggy said to her.

“They’re not all horrid. I think that I’ll visit them again,” said Blair. Her Aunt Sloane came up, stern.

“Never will you visit them again! I don’t want you going near that house! Do you hear me?”

“But-’’

“No buts! No going to that house!” Aunt Sloane looked at the Tuck Everlasting book in Blair’s arms. “And I don’t want you to visit Grandma anymore. She’s a bad influence.”

And then she walked away. Blair made her way to her room. She grabbed a flashlight, dove into bed and looked at the book until she drifted off to sleep. Images of Winnie turning to Grandma to Jesse haunted her, awakening her at night and putting her to sleep again. Though one thought swarmed her the most,

Run away.

Ch6

Weeks passed and soon the school year was upon them, but unlike other kids, Blair was not worried about that. Her mind was filled with thoughts of her great escape plan. She had to see the Tucks again. They needed her, but her Aunt was always on guard.

Meanwhile, the Tucks were getting nervous. They feared that they had put their trust in the wrong person. They hoped that Blair hadn’t told their precious secret, but they couldn’t bet anything. They had, of course, just met her. 

The Wheel was turning again. Things would come together to weave the tapestry of fate. Let’s see how things will unfold.

And so Blair formed the master plan. She just had to wait for the right time and day. And soon they came rolling around.

It all started on the first day of the school year, which was irrelevant to Blair because the Foster children were homeschooled. But soon it would be very relevant.

Aunt Sloane had gone to the market in the morning, and when she returned, things would start working out. She came back and burst through the door, clearly excited about something.

“Guys, guess what?” Aunt Sloane said, but in seeing that Blair was the only person there, she added, “get the boys. I have some news.”

They all gathered in the living room. The boys looked confused, but her Aunt looked absolutely thrilled.

“What is it?” Danny asked.

“Well, as you know, I was just at the market for more food. And in the meeting room, I heard the Board of Oakwood discussing putting up a village school for Oakwood. It just so happens that they’re looking for teachers. I stumbled in at that moment and volunteered. I have a job interview this evening!”

Everyone applauded, but it wasn’t big news. More exciting things were happening in Oakwood. For example, the Rosses were expecting triplets. And Carla Martin was going to move out on Sunday. New school? Meh.

And so everyone in Sloane’s house went back to what they were doing. Blair went back to her room to study her Tuck Everlasting book. That was all that consumed her time lately, besides visits from Peggy. 

Peggy was starting to get annoying. I think that she thought the same about Blair, because these visits were becoming very limited. 

Blair had already read the book, but she liked to look at the pictures. There were illustrations of all kinds. Winnie had seemed like a very beautiful girl. And all doubts that the Tucks were lying about being immortal vanished when she saw the pictures of them, looking the same as they did now.

But what amazed her the most was how the Tucks had been. Miles seemed basically the same, but the way it affected the rest of them was terrifying. They seemed to have gotten really attached to Winnie, only to lose her.

And there were some parts that sort of surprised Blair, like when Winnie found out that Miles had had two children that disappeared with his wife. It made sense why he was so distant.

While reading it, Blair forgave the Tucks for everything. They were more cursed than blessed.

Now Blair put the book away after a while and brought out a new one. She had been keeping track of the Tucks as well. A few weeks ago, a few days after she had been banned from the Tucks, her other aunt and uncle sent her a huge journal with a letter. It went like this:

Our dear Blair,

Hello! We are so sorry we couldn’t bring you to Russia with us. Maybe someday we’ll have enough money and you can join us at last. But for now, Russia is very beautiful. We are sending this journal to keep whenever something exciting happens. Then, when we see you again, you can give it to us and we will know of your adventures. We are also keeping a journal. 

Stay safe, 

Uncle Josh and Aunt Matilda

Blair had used it to in fact, journal, of course, but also she drew illustrations like the ones in Tuck Everlasting. She also wrote of her escape plan and drew maps of it.

She reviewed the plan, as she did every morning, just hoping that the right time would somehow roll around, as if waiting for her to see the Tucks again. Blair returned downstairs to find that Peggy was sitting on the couch. She was reading a book. Blair looked at the title of it. How to Control your Feelings Towards your Ex by Eisely Berdan.

Blair had a feeling that Peggy might still be trying to fight herself away from Danny. Blair thought that the next time she saw the Tucks, she might just bring that book. They needed some help with getting over Winnie. And Miles’s wife.

“Hey, can I borrow that?” Blair asked her. Peggy jumped.

“Oh, I didn't notice you there,” she said. “Yeah, of course you can borrow it. But why do you want it? Old lovers back in Colorado?” Peggy was grinning. Blair’s face turned bright red.

“Well, yeah,” Blair said. It wasn’t true, of course. She was too young to have an old lover. Peggy was, after all, older than her and so was her cousin. But Blair needed that book for the Tucks. “But look who’s talking. Seems like you’re not over Danny just yet.”

Now Peggy was the red one.

“Well, it’s not- but-’’

“It’s okay, I understand. Now have you seen my Aunt?”

“I think she left for her meeting about an hour ago. Come to think of it, I should probably scurry too. Bye.”

She handed Blair the book and left. Man, Blair could lose track of time. She’d been upstairs for about three hours.

And then she realized. Both her Aunt Sloane and Peggy were gone. She could put her plan in action. 

Blair ran upstairs and looked out of the window. It was just as she had suspected. A few houses away, where the Soms lived, a teenager, Ashley Soms, was in the yard, watching the house. Aunt Sloane had hired someone to make sure that Blair didn’t sneak away. 

Blair went to her younger cousin, Blake’s room. He looked up from his Legos. 

“Is it time?” Blake asked. He was part of the escape plan. Blair nodded. Immediately, Blake got a box out of his closet and painted his face a greenish tan. He put something in his pocket, then nodded to Blair. “Ready.”

“Phase one: start now.”

Blake walked out of the house and towards the Soms house. He dropped the thing in his pocket and it exploded into a vomit-like substance. It truly looked like he was sick. Ashley Soms came over and immediately took him into her house, patting his back. Before he ducked inside, he put his right hand up. All clear. 

Blair had about five minutes before they came out again. She grabbed the pack that she had packed a while ago. Unhinging the window, she jumped on the roof. 

“Okay, Blair,” she told herself. “You’re running out of time. Just jump.”

She scooted herself closer to the edge. Bracing herself, she leaped over. She flew gracefully through the air before landing on her back.

“Ow,” she said, groaning. She'll deal with that later. For now, she needed to get to the prairie. Ignoring the pain, she stumbled up and made her way between the houses, hiding behind the Ross’s house. She could hear a door opening and closing in the direction of the Soms’s house.

Blair slipped through the rest of the houses. She walked out onto the prairie. Looking behind her, no one was following her to her knowledge.

The pain in her back was spiking. It hurt more with each step. She didn’t care, though. Blair’s only priority at the moment was getting to the Tucks.

When she finally got there, she knocked and winced in pain. It was becoming excruciating. Mae opened the door. Her face was full of surprise. And then Blair passed out in pain.

Blair awoke a few hours later, lying on a soft bed with the Tucks surrounding her. Everything was foggy, as though she was looking through 3D glasses. The Tucks all had concerned faces. Blair felt something on her back. Metal.

“It’s a brace, dear,” Mae said. “You might need it for a while.”

“What happened, Mrs. Tuck?” Blair asked.

“Oh, you can call me Mae, dear. And we do believe that you broke your back. If you had been treated immediately, you would already be fine, but instead you decided to walk through a huge field.”

Blair winced. “So when will I be able to leave this bed?”

“Oh, in an hour I presume. But you won’t be able to walk until about a year.”

“How will I get around until then?”

“We’ll find something, Blair.”

The Tucks’ faces were different than before. Their expressions, I mean. Blair thought that they were more concerned than before. It seemed as though the veil of sorrow that they were in last month had gone. Grandma was right. It was just the time of year. Even Jesse seemed better than before.

“We thought you left us,” Angus said. “Why did you come back?”

“I wanted to come back, but my friend Peggy told my Aunt Sloane terrible things about you and she banned me from seeing you.”

“So how did you come back? Did your Aunt come to her senses?” Mae asked.

“I ran away.”

The Tucks all gasped except for Jesse, who then said, “Why are you so surprised? Winnie ran away, didn’t she?”

Blair looked at him. It really was the month. It seemed that now he could say Winnie’s name without bursting into tears.

“Yes, I suppose she did,” Angus said. “But just the fact that Blair did, too.”

“Well, then,” Mae said. “I’m afraid that you must still go back.”

“But she came all this way, Mae!” Angus replied. “You can’t just send her back. Also, she doesn’t think we’re crazy.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said. “And she’s a Foster. That must be a sign that we can trust her!”

How people can change.

“Mae, please let me stay!” Blair added. “The only reason that I walked about a mile away with a broken back was to stay here.”

Mae looked at all the faces except for Miles’. It seemed that they had all spoken except him. Blair thought of his dead children and wife.

“Well, it’s clear that I’m outvoted,” Mae continued. “I suppose that Blair can stay with us for a while.”

“Yes!” Angus said. He and Jesse high fived.

“Just as long as she doesn’t break our hearts and smash them against the floor,”  Miles had finally spoke.

Blair sat up, winced, and put her hands on his shoulders. “I would never. If you guys have any more heartbreaks, I’m afraid that you wouldn’t survive it, even if you are immortal.”

Miles looked around. Does she know? How could she know about them? He thought. Then he went to the attic.

When he came back, he had a wheelchair. “It’s from when Jesse fell from a tree before we figured out the secret. He was fine, but we bought this anyway. You can use it to get around.”

“Thank you, Miles!”

The Tucks helped her into it and carried her to the place where she would be sleeping. It was downstairs and beside the living room. The boys went upstairs while Mae helped her into bed, with her brace and all.

“Goodnight, Blair,” Mae said. “I hope you have dreams with happy endings.”

Then she went upstairs. Blair thought about that last comment. Happy endings. Maybe they could exist. After all, when she was tired of her simple life with her aunt and uncle, then they left and sent her here, where things have gotten so much more complicated.

Blair drifted off to sleep, her back nearly killing her. But she didn’t care. Nothing much mattered anymore. She dreamt without a care in the world, thinking of everything she had gone through. She wondered what her fate would be. But for now, she just lived what life she had at the moment.

Ch7

Blair woke up to the smell of pancakes.

She got dressed as best she could, got into her wheelchair, and went to the kitchen. She wore a jean jacket and a tie-die dress. She pulled a headband on and tied it up in her bright red hair.

Angus was flipping pancakes on a griddle. “G’morning, Blair,” he said. “How did you sleep?”

“Very well, thank you.”

“The boys and Mae are in the dining room, if you’re wondering.”

“Thanks again.”

Blair made her way to the dining room, where Jesse and Mae were, in fact. It seemed that Miles was elsewhere. Jesse looked at her. It seemed that she had intruded on a conversation.

“We were just discussing how long you are to stay,”Mae said, answering her thoughts. “It is mostly up to you, but we can adjust some things to where you’re not with us all the time.”

“You wish me to be gone?” Blair asked.

“No, child,” Mae said. She was oblivious to human emotions, being isolated after all these years. “We just believe that your family will need to see you every once in a while to make sure you’re okay.”

“Of course, Mae,” Blair replied. She sat down next to Jesse, who tensed when she did. “What? I’m not gonna bite.”

“That depends on what you mean about that.”

He grinned. She had only seen that smile once before. And then, it was fake. This was real. He really was different outside of August. But then his grin vanished. 

Miles came into the room. “So, have we decided when she’ll stay and when she’ll leave?”

“No, Miles,” Mae said. “Though I do believe that we should discuss that today. Miles, while you’re up, do you think that you could get Angus for me?”

Miles nodded and fetched him. Angus came and set a huge stack of pancakes on the table. Jesse grabbed a fork and immediately shoved a mouthful in his mouth. He looked so ridiculous with syrup and pancakes pouring out of his mouth that Blair let out a hearty laugh. Mae was scolding Jesse for not being a gentleman, but when Blair laughed, Angus, Miles, and (cleaning himself up,) Jesse all looked at her in a quizzical way. 

“What?” Blair challenged.

“Nothing,” Jesse said. “Its just-’’

“For a moment,”  Miles continued. “You looked like-’’

“Winnie,” Angus finished. They all dropped their heads. Breaking the awkwardness, Mae continued the subject that they were on before.

“So, what are we going to do about Blair?”

Miles soon said, after a silence, “I think that she should stay with her family for two seasons, and come to live with us for the other two.”

Blair immediately protested. “I can’t stay with them for that long! They’ll keep me there, I assure you! I’ll never see you again!”

“Well, it’s the only way that you’re with them half of the time. They raised you, didn’t they?”

“No they didn’t. My real parents died in a car crash on the way home from the hospital.”

Miles suddenly looked taken aback. His face softened by a million. “Sorry. But maybe you can visit them for about a week every season.”

“That’s better. I think that that is a good arrangement.”

Mae sighed. “But how long will she stay in all? We can’t exactly give her the spring water for her to live forever. It’s all dried up!”

“Wait, what?” Blair demanded. Dried up?

“Oh, we forgot to tell you,” Angus said, clearly uncomfortable. Jesse had begun to sweat in his seat. “That spring in which we drank dried up when they cut down the forest. There’s nothing left of it anymore.”

At that comment, Jesse tensed up more than ever. It turns out, he was hiding something, but we won’t find out just yet. 

“Oh. Well then. I had no idea,” Blair said. “Now, I believe that I could simply stay for about a year or two. Before I turn eighteen. When I’m seventeen. Perfect time to leave.”

The Tucks all looked at each other at the name of the number. Blair thought of the story of Tuck Everlasting. Jesse had told Winnie to wait until she was before eighteen, at seventeen.

“Wait. We’ve still got the problem of life,” Miles said, suddenly realizing their trouble in opening the door to Blair a few weeks ago. “Tucks, I’m afraid that we’ve made the same mistake that we did a long time ago. There’s no more spring water, which means that we’re gonna have a Winnie all over again!”

The truth crashed over the Tucks. It was true. No matter what, they were going to lose their Foster child yet again. Nothing could help them this time, not even the water. They had already gotten attached to Blair. But she was to die anyway.

Jesse turned white. He ran out of the room and went to the prairie. Looking after him, Mae said, “He just needs some time.”

But that wasn’t what he was out there for. Stumbling behind the cabin, he jumped into the backyard. There was a fence surrounding it, but he hopped over it and went to a corner of the yard. There were two gravestones, moved there from a while ago. The one in front read:

In loving memory.

Winifred Foster Jackson.

Dear wife.

Dear mother.

1870-1948

The other gravestone beside it said:

Maria Ames (Tuck)

In loving memory

Loving wife

Good mother.

Beautiful woman.

Jesse reached behind both of the gravestones to pull out a safe. He put in a combination. Opening it, he pulled out  three small jars with sparkling water inside. He grabbed one and put the rest into the safe. He put it into his pocket and went back inside. 

The Tucks were trying to bring up the mood in the room. They were eating the pancakes and telling jokes, but the expressions on their faces were solemn and desperate.

Jesse sat down. Everyone looked at him skeptically. He just grabbed some pancakes and started digging in. He actually seemed more cheerful than before. “So, what did I miss while I was so briefly gone?”

Laughing nervously, Mae replied, “Oh, nothing much. We agreed that Blair would leave when she turns seventeen.”

At the words “leave” and “seventeen,” Jesse’s eyes gleamed. Miles, cautious as always, looked at Jesse suspiciously. Ignoring this, Jesse looked at Blair and her empty plate. He looked at his plate as well, then stood up, grabbed the startled Blair’s arm and said, “Come on, I’ll show you what real fun that you can have.”

Blair looked aghast. Jesse pulled her wheelchair outside.

“Well, Jesse, the thing is- I’m not sure that I am qualified to do this-’’ Blair started. Jesse snapped in her face and shut her up.

“Come on,” he said. “Who’s afraid of some adventure?” 

That ticked Blair off. She loved adventure. Ever since, a few years ago she found out that not all children had the simple life that she did. Then she started reading books and longed to live a life like the ones in the fairy tales. But she always knew that even though those tales mostly had happy endings, her life would not end happily.

“Let’s do it,” she said. Jesse grinned. Then he did the most ridiculous thing possible. He fell on his face on purpose.  

Blair was horrified. She kicked him until he got up, seeing as she couldn’t get out of her chair.

He stood up, a furry thing in his hand. Blair wondered what it was, but just as she was about to ask, he let it go. The next events were a blur to Blair. All she knew was that a gopher got stuck in her hair. It was a writhing, wrinkly, yet furry thing. It was biting her and Jesse and Blair were laughing.

Never before had Blair been so full of surprise and excitement at the same time. You would’ve thought that she would’ve been mad at Jesse for releasing it onto her, but the whole situation was so out of place that Blair couldn’t help but laugh. And Jesse’s face was so red, rolling on the ground, that everything seemed so much more funny.

Soon the laughter died down and the gopher went away and Blair said after a moment, “Can we do that again?”

“Get attacked by a small gopher?” Jesse said. “Sure, I’m all in for more claws and laughing till we can’t breathe.”

The giggles and chuckles come back. Blair, while laughing, closed her eyes. On seeing this, Jesse pulled her wheelchair, slowly so that she didn’t notice, to the backyard. He opened the gate and pulled her into a part of the backyard where she couldn’t see the gravestones. Blair had stopped laughing and was just relaxing, oblivious to where she was. Jesse took the hose, and, waiting for the right moment, turned it on and sprayed Blair.

She opened her eyes with a jolt and immediately glared at Jesse, who had thrown the hose and was now whistling as though nothing had happened. Soaking wet, Blair said, “Jesse Tuck, you come here right now or I might just get out of this wheelchair and get you myself!”

Jesse chuckled as Blair wheeled herself around the yard, chasing him and yelling his name. She was doing a sharp turn and fell out of her wheelchair into the mud. She gasped, partly because she fell in the mud, partly because her back brace felt stuck, and partly because Jesse was laughing so hysterically that it was just strange.

Forming a plan of revenge like she had done so many times, Blair started to cry. She had mastered the ability to cry at will since her first day of school. Jesse stopped laughing and looked at Blair with pity. He reached out his hand to help her up. “Come on, it’s nothing much. You’ll be okay.”

Unlike Mae, he was very familiar with human emotions. Being stuck as a teenager forever taught you to become very aware of them.

Blair looked at his hand. Then, smirking, all signs of tears gone, she took it and pulled him into the mud with her. He gasped just as she did, and for all of the reasons she did.

“Now put in my chair before you cause more damage to my back!” Blair said. Jesse put his arms crossed over his chest in a pouty fashion and put a look on his face that suggested that he was more annoyed than he was. He was, of course, faking it, but the more dramatic, the better. Blair growled. Jesse got up and escaped the mass of arms and legs that were entangling him. He pretended to faint. “Oh, I’m so scared!” Jesse said in a falsetto tone. 

“Get back here, you runt,” Blair said, trying to be intimidating, but failing under all her giggles. She pulled herself into her chair best she could.

Miles came into the yard. “Jesse!” Miles said. “What are you thinking? Blair could have been seriously injured.”

Jesse and I exchanged looks, then Jesse said, “We were just playing around. What’s wrong with a bit of fun-’’

“Jesse, you have to control yourself! You have got to pull it together. I know that you’re lonely-’’

“I am NOT lonely!”

“-and that you’re grieving, but you have to remember that Blair is not Winnie. Winnie died a long time ago and you can’t change that. Blair will take the same path as her whether you like it or not. So don’t get too attached.”

Despite the intensity of Miles’s words, they had no effect on Jesse. In fact, he looked more giddy than ever. Miles stared at him with great intensity, but Jesse didn’t react in any way.

Miles narrowed his eyes. “Jesse, come inside. We need to have a talk.”

Jesse waved bye to Blair, who was taken aback by the whole situation. She found it rather odd that her hosts would leave her all alone and exposed in a backyard that she had never been in. But then again, she recalled that guests were rare in this home and are estranged to this family.

Miles took Jesse inside and led him upstairs to his bedroom. Mae and Angus were cleaning up breakfast on the bottom level, so Miles had no reason to worry.

When they entered Miles’s bedroom, Miles looked around. Then, he put his elbow against Jesse’s chest and slammed him against the wall.

“What are you hiding?” Miles asked. 

“No-nothing-’’ Jesse started.

“LIAR! I saw your face at the dinner table. I saw your face when I was outside. The fact that you would so heartily welcome Blair in this house, knowing that you would lose her!”

Miles let Jesse off the wall and sat on his bed. “I can’t lose another one. Especially a Foster. She was like a daughter to me, Winnie was.”

Jesse, not caring about Miles’s emotions, seeing as he was just pushed up the wall by them, was edging towards the door and rubbing his chest. “Well, now that  that’s settled, I’m just gonna-’’

“Oh, no you don’t,” Miles said, standing in front of Jesse. “You haven’t told me what you’re hiding!”

“But I have. Nothing.”

Miles studied Jesse’s face. He was now more calm than before, and so more weak than before. Jesse plastered an innocent grin across his face.

“Okay, fine. I believe you,” Miles said. He dismissed Jesse with a wave of his hand. Jesse left with a flash, sprinting out of the room.

Though Miles might have believed him, Jesse had told a lie. He very much was hiding something. And that something would likely change this story and flip it. In other words, change the Tuck’s and Foster’s lives.

Ch8

Jesse went back to the backyard, where Blair was sitting in her wheelchair, questioning her arrival. Jesse approached her and looked at her sideways. “You okay?”

She looked at him. Then she smiled, composing herself. “Yeah, just thoughtful.”

Jesse took her wheelchair inside and took her to the roof and they spent the rest of the day messing around.

But we can’t stay in this phase of beauty for the whole story. We would have to write the whole thing over again. So let’s just adjust our view.

Weeks passed and then months. Blair lost track of time. Her Aunt Sloane didn’t like Blair staying at the Tucks’ house, but she gave in. It was, after all, another kid off her hands.  And once she met Mae, she nearly gave her all of Aunt Sloane’s other children. Clearly, she trusted her.

The year was spent like all her time at the Tuck’s. Time playing with Jesse. Occasionally they would do fun days with the rest of the family, though. 

A year passed, so Blair grew out of her wheelchair and her back healed. Soon it was a week before Blair’s birthday. The plan was that Blair would spend the week with her Aunt Sloane and cousins, then on her birthday her family and the Tucks would both spend the day together with Blair. We’re going to start off six days in, one day to Blair’s birthday. So far  Aunt Sloane, Blair’s cousins, Peggy, and Grandma had made sure that it was the best week for Blair ever, because it was her sweet sixteenth. The week so far had been filled with bouncy houses, late nights at Trixie Babbit’s, and confetti. Lots of confetti. Aunt Sloane’s house was covered in confetti. This morning they had a huge breakfast and then went shopping for Blair and came home at 12:01.

After setting her many bags in her room, Blair lay down on the couch. Although all this celebration was fun, it really tired out Blair. She loved it, but it was just a little too much for her. She was trying to figure out her life. I mean, she was living the simple life with her other aunt and uncle and hated it, but then when she moved out, it’s too adventurous for her? Confusing.

Blair couldn’t wait until she went back to the Tuck’s. She loved her family, don’t get her wrong, but Blair felt like she could tell the Tucks things. It also felt like she had things figured out there. Like everything made sense there. She felt at home at the Tuck’s,too. Like she belonged there.

“Blair!” Aunt Sloane yelled, interrupting Blair’s thoughts. “Where are you?”

“Here, Aunt Sloane!” Blair yelled back. “I’m on the couch!”

Her Aunt appeared on the stairs. She had a dazzling smile on. “Hey. I’m going to take a nap. Danny is upstairs if you need anything,” she smiled again. Then she went upstairs. 

Blair was glad that her Aunt was asleep. No more partying for the next five hours. Her Aunt slept like a dog. Blair finally got some alone time. And she knew just how she wanted to spend it.

Yesterday, her Aunt Sloane told her that she would buy her anything that she wanted for the last days. There had been a lot of presents, but only one present stood out to Blair. The new landline. 

(Now since this book was published a couple years after this time period, I feel that an explanation of what that  is is necessary. Landline: an old fashioned phone that can only call and looks like a banana. Not the textbook definition, but my definition.)

Blair had received this landline yesterday, but only with the deal that Blair had made with her Aunt was that Blair would only accept the gift if the Tucks had one too. So that she could call them.

Blair picked up the phone and dialed in their number. It rang for a few seconds, then Jesse’s voice crackled from it. “Hey, is this thing working? Blair, are you there?”

“Jesse! Yes, I am there. Can you hear me?”

“Blair! Thank goodness. These things are very hard to work. How humans have evolved.”

 Blair laughed. It was nice hearing Jesse’s voice. “How have things been over there?”

“Oh, nothing much. It’s pretty gloomy. Partly because you’re not here, partly because you’re aging and we can’t, and partly because next month is August.”

“Yeah. Makes sense. Anything abnormal?”

“Apart from the fact that we’re immortal?”

Blair giggled. She could hear Jesse inhale sharply from the phone. “What?”

“Nothing. Just good to hear your laugh,” Jesse sounded nervous and, (surprisingly,) cautious. 

Suddenly, Miles’s voice came over the phone. “Blair!”

“Miles!” Blair said.

“Oh, Blair. It’s been torture not having you here. I suddenly realize how much you have affected us with you being here.”

“Aw, thanks, Miles.”

Angus joined the conversation. “Blair! Blair, my Blair, come home right now! I’m not sure that I can go another minute without you over here! I don’t care what your Aunt says, just run away or something.”

“Angus, I would have to ask my Aunt.”

“Yes, her Aunt would not allow it, I assure you!” Mae’s voice came on as well. “How we have missed you, Blair.”

“Don’t think that I haven’t missed you too,” Blair said. Their behavior was not surprising to her. All the other times that she had gone with her Aunt Sloane, they had insisted that she come home early. And she had. Every time.

Blair would love to go home to the Tucks early. It would truly make this the perfect birthday.

Blair talked to them for a while, assuring them that she would talk to her Aunt Sloane about coming home early, then she hung up. Blair went to her room and brought out the Tuck Everlasting book. She hadn’t shown it to the Tucks yet. She hoped to show it to them about two months after August. Grandma had told her to give it to them when she felt closest to them, but she never got the chance. She was always having too much fun with Jesse.

Blair flipped through the pages of the book simultaneously. She had read it so much that she had nearly memorized it. And still, she poured over the pages. In the blank pages in the back, Blair had been putting in her life story, since she had been interfering with the Tucks as well.

Blair lost track of time again. Soon her Aunt Sloane came down, done with her nap, and ate a bowl of cereal. Blair didn’t notice her until she said, through a mouthful of cereal, “Whatcha got there?”

Blair jumped.  She put the Tuck Everlasting book behind her. “It’s just a book Grandma gave me.”

“Can I see it?”

“No!”  

Blair was protective of the book. Aunt Sloane had seen the book before, she just didn’t remember it.

Aunt Sloane looked at Blair with a quizzical look at her outburst. Blair put her hands on her mouth. “Sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

“That’s okay. What did you do while I was in dreamland?”

“Oh, the Tucks want me to go back to their house.”

“Again? Well, I guess you can go back a day early tomorrow morning.”

She smiled. Her Aunt had really warmed up to the Tucks. Mae did the best in helping her trust the Tucks. She met Aunt Sloane first, so she decided to go all out. Mae brought a huge batch of cookies and wrote a letter with really good calligraphy. She wore an adorable power suit and brought Aunt Sloane a matching one. They had talked for a while, then Mae left, but after that, Aunt Sloane fully trusted the Tucks. Of course, she didn’t know their secret, but Mae had promised to tell her in time. In time…

“Well, I’ve got to go to the mayor’s office. They’re discussing the new school. See ya!” Aunt Sloane said. After her interview, Aunt Sloane had gotten the job of the teacher for the new school. There have been a lot of meetings like this.

Aunt Sloane packed a bag and left. That wasn’t like her, leaving Blair all the time. First the nap, now this. She must be really tired after the whole week.

Blair looked at the clock. 6:59. She went upstairs. Since she was leaving in the morning, she prepared. She called the Tucks to let them know. There were lots of squeals on the phone, so Blair hung up almost immediately. Then she packed her bag. Again. She set them out for the next day, then she put out the outfit that Grandma had bought for her. It was a bright red dress with puffy short sleeves. It went down to right below her knees.

Blair brushed her teeth and climbed into bed. She closed her eyes and took melatonin. Soon she drifted off. She had the same dream about Jesse, the man in yellow, and Winnie, like always. And when she woke up, she didn’t remember it, like always.

She had other dreams which she remembered. But that doesn’t really matter right now.

Blair woke up at 9:00. She put on her birthday outfit. Then she descended down the stairs.

“Aunt Sloane?” Blair called. “Can you do my hair?”

Aunt Sloane and Blair went upstairs and styled Blair’s hair high. To top it off, Aunt Sloane put a big sparkly bow on top. It was silver. 

By the time they were finished, it was nearly noon. They all loaded up in the car and drove out on the prairie. Grandma wasn’t coming, she had to rest since she was old.

They could see the Tucks waiting on the porch in the distance as they drove across the prairie. It was a bumpy ride, since there were so many scattered clumps of dead grass. 

When they arrived, the Tucks basically tackled the car.

They opened the door to where Blair was sitting and soon Blair was smothered in a pile of happy tears, hugs, and words. There were talks piling over each other. There were throw outs of, “Sixteen!” “That dress” and “BLAIR’S BACK!”

Only one Tuck stood back. Jesse. He was smiling at Blair’s surprised face. He knew her. He knew that she wouldn’t have appreciated much attention, much less a horde of people coming to welcome her. (There was only the Tucks, but it felt like a horde to Blair.)

After about ten minutes of that tearful welcome, the Tucks finally broke away from Blair. Jesse put his arms out, grinning. Without a thought, Blair stepped right into them. They embraced for a few moments, then Blair stepped back. Mae looked eager to celebrate a new birthday, since she probably hadn’t had one in about two hundred years.

“Happy birthday!” Mae said, as if she had been holding it in since the moment she was born. She gestured inside, which they went into after her aunt and cousins got out of the car. They all gathered on the dinner table and Mae brought out a dish that she had made especially for Blair. Jesse kept looking at her in a strange way.

They laughed and talked and sang happy birthday. Then they ate cake and celebrated. The small gathering was cheery and lasted for hours. By the time Blair checked the clock again, it was 7:34. Blair went outside while everyone was playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey. She went up to the roof and sat down.

It was a few minutes until a figure came up the roof and sat down beside her. It was Jesse.

They sat for a few moments, looking at the moon, before Jesse broke the silence. “Too much commotion down there?”

“Yeah. It was too chaotic. Here is where I can actually get peace,” Blair sighed.

“Tell me about it,” Jesse waited a few moments before he said, “get down. Let’s walk.”

Jesse helped her off the roof and strolled on the prairie. It was silent. No one said anything. They just walked. Blair thought about how Jesse fell for Winnie and told her to wait for him, but she never did. How there was no spring water left anymore. The strange way that Jesse was looking at her…

“I have an idea,” Jesse said. “Follow me!”

He took her hand and led her across the prairie. “Whoa- wait!”

But they kept on running. Blair went from protesting to laughing. It seemed that she was always laughing with Jesse. 

He led her into the town and down the street.

“Hey, why are we outside Trixie Babbitt’s house?” Blair asked.

“To party.”

“I thought I left the house to not party?”

“You did. But you clearly haven’t broken yet.”

“Wha-’’

But Jesse pulled her inside. There, Blair was opened up to the same as last time. There were dancing people so close that Blair and Jesse could barely get through.

Still, Jesse pulled Blair by the hand through the dancing people and to the stage. Blair tried to step off of the stage, but Jesse’s grip was tight. He stepped up to the microphone and spoke into it. 

“Hey, everybody. I’m Jesse James and I’m going to teach you a dance. My partner here, Blair, is going to help me!”

Everybody cheered. Blair looked at Jesse quizzically. She didn’t know any dance! What was he thinking? 

As if reading her thoughts, Jesse winked at her and said, “Follow my lead.”

They spinned around each other, clapped twice, and then Jesse spun her around and dipped her. Most people copied them. Then they did it again. And again. Pretty soon, they had gotten the whole party up and moving. Jesse and Blair were carried into the crowd of dancing people. The DJ got the idea and put on some swing music. Soon the people got tired of the dance and soon created a circle, clapping their hands. Jesse went into the middle of the circle and did a few breakdancing moves. People got the idea and copied him.

But yet again, they got tired of it. They started to drift away. Pretty soon the DJ changed the music back to hip hop. For about ten minutes, people were singing, talking, and dancing all at once. They clearly got bored fast.

Then a voice came over the party. “Hey, dudes and dudettes! Grab that special someone and pull them close. Real close. Rawrr.”

At that last part, he made a sort of cat hiss-roar sound. The music was changed to a sort of waltz. All of the single people crowded in a corner, chatting and waiting for someone in the crowd to invite them to dance. Blair, who had lost Jesse a while ago, sat on the corner of the stage. She considered going over to the singles and grabbing one of them to dance with, but then someone none other than Jesse showed up.

He put out his hand, grinning, but still a little bit of concern was knitted in his eyebrows. Blair took his hand and stood up. He put his arms on her waist and hers on his neck. 

They slow-danced for a little bit before Jesse said, “I was worried that you would’ve already gotten a partner.”

“Well, I seriously doubt that. No one would’ve wanted to dance with me.”

“Nah, that’s not true. Many boys would’ve liked to dance with someone as beautiful as you.”

Blair was blushing deeply. After that it was complete silence. Blair once again thought about how Jesse had fallen for Winnie so easily, about how he had caught his breath when she laughed over the phone. Could he be-

The music stopped and switched back to hip hop. Blair stepped slightly away from Jesse. She removed her hands from his neck. But Jesse just moved one of his hands to her face. She moved to look at him. He was smiling.

“Jesse- I can’t. You remember how Winnie ended. I would gladly live an immortal life with you, but there’s no more spring water. You know that.”

“Blair, look. You’re clearly better than Winnie. I know that there’s no more spring water, but I would like you to live out what life you have left with me,” Jesse said. Blair knew Jesse, and she didn’t like the expression on his face while he said these words. He must be lying about something. She thought about what he had said. The part about Winnie could be a lie, but Jesse had made it clear that he didn’t think very highly of Winnie. And why would he lie about wanting to “live out what life I had left with him?”

So there was only one thing left. The spring water.

Realization broke over Blair’s face. Jesse looked guilty. But then Blair smiled. She looked up at Jesse. He looked confused. But Blair did the most unimaginable thing possible. She punched him.

Jesse was flustered and Blair noticed, but she just walked out of the house. Jesse followed, shoving through the crowd.

She ran out and waited on the street. Jesse found his way through the maze of people and staggered outside. He spotted Blair, who was pacing the street and muttering frantically in French.

“.                               ‘’ she said. Jesse was extremely confused. 

“I didn’t know that you would react to a proposal so… strangely. By the way, where’d you learn French?”

“Peggy taught me. And I’m not acting strangely!”

“What are you so worried about?”

“Well, Jesse. I figured it out. The spring water still exists, doesn’t it?”

Jesse’s face paled in comparison to the moon. 

“Jesse, face it. I know you too well. Also, you’re a terrible liar.”

“No, the spring water doesn’t exist. You know that,” Jesse said. He was lying again, of course. This time he did it better. His face returned of all color and he had an expression that showed as though Blair was a silly child, telling him that unicorns were real. He topped it off with a crooked grin. “Have you been visiting your Grandma again?”

Now Blair was flustered. “No, I haven’t. But are you sure that it doesn’t exist?”

“Positive! Heck, I was there when it dried up!”

“Oh, um okay. This is awkward. Again.”

Blair believed him. But she was wrong about something. Jesse turned out to be a good liar, after all. He had managed to fool both Blair and Miles. 

Blair then said, “So, what now?”

“Well,” Jesse said. “We could either go back to my house like nothing happened, or you could take me up on that marriage offer.”

He looked at her, hopeful. She grinned. “I’ll think about it. Let’s go back to the house. I have something to show you.”

Ch9.

After getting smoothies on the way, they returned to the house of Tuck. Jesse was rather disappointed that Blair hadn’t accepted his interesting offer, but he cheered up at the sight that awaited them, somehow.

The Tucks and the Fosters were all in the living room, eating. Mae looked solemn. When Blair and Jesse arrived, Mae looked up and said, “Oh, good. You’ve back. Blair, Jesse, I’ve decided to tell Aunt Sloane the secret.”

The whole room gasped except for the Fosters, who looked pretty confused. Realizing that they were dismissed, her cousins exited the room. Then Angus and Miles left, too.

“Actually, I have a secret for you, Tucks too,” Blair said. Jesse looked rather guilty as he, too, said, “And I have one for Blair.”

Blair looked surprised. As did Aunt Sloane. “It seems that I’m the only one who doesn’t have a secret.”

Mae looked at her and replied, “Look, Sloane. This is one of the biggest secrets in history. Do you promise to guard it with your life?”

“I hardly doubt it’s bigger than some others, but sure. I promise.”

“Man. This isn’t easy to say-’’

“Aw, heck! Us Tucks are all immortal! We’ll never die,” Jesse said, getting impatient. Aunt Sloane promptly fainted. “WOW. She handled that better than I thought she would,” Blair said. Mae took Aunt Sloane upstairs to where Blair had been for her back, and started to nurse her awake.

Angus peaked his head into the living room. “Is it over?”

“Yes. You can come in,” Blair said. “In fact, I have something to show you.”

The rest of the Tucks came in and Blair called Mae down. Blair grabbed the Tuck Everlasting book and returned to the living room. She hid it behind her back and sat down.

“Well, I’m sorry that I kept this from you guys. My Grandma told me to give it to you, but I just wasn’t ready,” Blair said, pulling the book out. The Tucks crowded around, looking over it. “Winnie wrote in it. It was about her time with you guys. I recorded mine, too. I thought that you guys would like to have it.”

The Tucks all grabbed it at the same time. They all wanted a piece of Winnie, something left of their time with her. Mae grasped it, tears sparkling in her eyes. She mouthed the words, Thank you. Only Jesse stood back, Stoney faced, staring at the book. Blair was reminded of when she had first met Jesse, and how distant he had been. How consumed in grief he was.

Blair hoped that she hadn’t returned him to that state by bringing this book. She looked at him fearfully. He was still staring at the book. Then he caught Blair’s eye and gave her a weak smile. 

The Tucks kept fawning over the book, fighting over who would have it first. Soon they decided that they would all read one chapter at a time in rotations. Jesse was the only one who didn’t want to read it. Mae turned to him.

“Did you have a secret for Blair as well?” she asked. Jesse seemed to snap out of his daze and looked at her. He blinked.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure… I’ll tell her later.”

“Well, okay then!”

Blair looked at Jesse with a questioning approach. He looked nervous, but he winked and nodded towards the backyard. Then he mouthed, Nighttime. And Blair understood.

And so, after the party had finished, when everyone was asleep, Blair went to the backyard. There, Jesse was waiting on a box in a corner of the yard. A little after Blair had arrived, he had put this box over the graves to ensure secrecy. Anytime Blair had asked about it, Jesse just shrugged off the question.

This time, however, Jesse strolled over to her, took her hand and led her to the box.

“Am I about to find out what’s under that box?” Blair asked.

“Technically.”

Jesse took a deep breath and looked into her eyes as though gazing into a bright light. “I knew from the moment that you brought out that book that I needed to show you this.”

“Okay?”

Jesse grimaced and turned to the box. He brought it up and threw it over the fence. Blair stared down at the graves that lay below. Then she glanced at Jesse, tears fogging her eyes. 

“I wanted to tell you,” Jesse said. “We moved them from their spots. Maria Ames was Miles’s old flame.”

“Why? You always knew that you could trust me.”

“I know, but I was never as brave as you! You don’t understand-’’

Blair took his face in her hand. “I understand. But next time, no secrets, okay?”

“Well…” Jesse was looking at his feet, uncomfortable all of a sudden.

“What?”

“In the case of no secrets, I have a few other things I need to tell you.”

He bent down. Blair followed his lead. “When I tell you this, Blair, please don’t kick me very hard.”

“What?” 

“You’ll see,” he paused. Then he pulled the safe out of the graves.

“Wow. A safe. Very impressive.”

“It’s not the safe. It’s the things inside of it.”

He opened the safe. There were two jars of glittering water. “A long time ago, a family by the name of Tuck had a friend named Winnie Foster. She died. How did they know that she died? They found her grave, which was next to a magical spring that made you immortal. But what you don’t know, is that underneath the grave, there was a letter.”

Jesse pulled a piece of parchment from deep within the safe. He read it aloud:

“My dear Jesse,

I know that you would remove my gravestone for safekeeping. You were always a little possessive of things like these. My time is drawing to a close, and I want you to know that I deeply regret my choice not to drink this spring water, but I am glad that I was able to live my life with the memory of meeting you. As you can see, I have left you the bottle that you gave me to drink from. I have given the water that was once inside to a precious toad of mine, but I kept my memories in the jar. I am aware that you love me, but I need you to move on. Keep going. I know that you are frozen in time forever, but make the most of it. Don’t be frozen in time over something that has died. (Me, in short.) I need you to find someone better than me. Ask them the same as me. If they refuse, move on again. Don’t stop to delve in darkness. If they accept, however, that’s a different case. Right now, fill up this jar with the spring water and keep it for safekeeping. Then give it to them. But ask them first! Do not give it to them against their own will! If you do, I shall be greatly disappointed in you. Please try to live as though it wasn’t forever.

Deepest wishes for your health,

Winnie Foster.”

Jesse looked up at Blair. She immediately hugged him.

“So why are you showing me this?”

He looked back at the safe. He took one of the bottles in his hand. “These are the magical spring water.”

“You lied to me! You said that there was none left!” Blair’s eyes were widening and her voice was getting louder.

“Shh! That wasn’t the part that I was worried about how you would react. That isn’t the worst of it.”

“Jesse Tuck, what have you done now?”

He looked more nervous as he said, “Well, I had three bottles.”

“You lost one?”

“No, of course not,” Jesse said. “I'm afraid it’s much worse. You remember when we got smoothies in the village a few hours ago on the way here?”

“Yes. You got strawberries and I got bananas. We had an argument over which one was better.”

“And how we swapped to test which one was better?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” he said. “I may have had the other vial in my pocket at that moment. And I believe that I disappointed Winnie.”

And all the puzzle pieces were built. The puzzle was one big, confusing maze that led to one of the bottles at the end. Blair gasped, realization breaking her face. She clutched her throat, hoping to get that smoothie out of her system, but it was no use. It really did take all her willpower not to punch Jesse in the hardest way.

If you have not realized why she was so desperate, so angry, here’s the answer. Jesse had snuck the spring water into Blair’s drink. She was now forever immortal, like him.

“Why?” Blair cried. “Why, Jesse, why?”

“Because,” Jesse looked full of sorrow. “I used to do as she asked. I would court the prettiest girl in the room, then tell her, then ask her. They all declined. It was only two girls, of course, but I would grow more bitter every time. You have to understand, Blair. I’m desperate.”

“If you really do love me, you would’ve asked me!”

Blair was taken aback by his next words. “But I did, Blair. I did. Don’t you remember Trixie Babbit’s party before that? I asked you if you would be willing to live out your life with me. You said that you would gladly drink and marry me, if there was spring water left. You didn’t know it at the moment, but there was.”

Blair’s eyes widened. She said nothing, but simply stood up and paced the yard. Then she stopped, looked at the sky and screamed. Jesse bounced up, put a finger on his lips, and said, “Shhh! They’ll hear you and find out.”

“About what?” Blair asked, clearly agitated. “That they have a new family member? They’ll find out eventually, why not now?”

Jesse opened his mouth to say something, but he thought and then closed his mouth. He then went and sat on the porch while Blair stood and gazed up at the stars. She was crying softly. As much as he loved Blair and wanted to be with her forever, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He put his face in his knees.

Soon lights went on in the Tuck house. Mae came out in her nightgown. “Why are you out so late?”

Blair looked back at her, putting everything into her expression. Mae gasped, put her hands over her mouth, and hugged Blair. This hug lasted about ten minutes, both girls crying into each other’s shoulders.

Then Mae straightened up, turned around, and looked at Jesse, her face contorted in fury. He had been dreading this moment, but knew it was the price he had to pay for giving Blair the water. Jesse turned his face toward her, almost afraid.

“Yes?” Jesse asked cautiously.

Mae smiled at him sarcastically and went inside. Jesse looked relieved, but his expression melted when Mae came back out with a sack of flour. Blair surprised a giggle as Mae started hitting Jesse in every body part multiple times with the sack.

Unfortunately, Jesse caught her giggle and said, even as he was being hit, “ha! You do forgive me!”

She maintained a straight face. “Never! What you did is unforgivable and unacceptable!”

Then she strutted into the house and slammed the door behind her.

Now, for most of you that is a lousy ending for a book. So, simple. I have two things to say to you: first of all, SUCK IT UP! And second, I thought about this and decided to put some entries from Blair’s diary as an epilogue. Enjoy.

EPILOGUE:

Jan. 21, 2022

Today Aunt Sloane died. It was quite sad, and I suddenly realized how hard it is being immortal. You have endless goodbyes. It was a little bit harder than Grandma's funeral, since I knew her better, but still, it’s not like Peggy or Mae died. Not like Mae could die.

Anyway, I scheduled the funeral for next Thursday. I’m inviting all of my surviving relatives  and some neighbors in Oakwood. And the Tucks. But not Jesse. Never him in anything.

Sincerely,

Blair Foster

Feb. 13, 2023

I got a fish from the local fish store today. I’ve always liked the little guys. Since we had a little more spring water left, I gave it to him. And I named it Miles, after my favorite Tuck brother.

I also planted a garden in the Tucks’ backyard. It has many flowers, sunflowers and marguerites mostly. Jesse helped me, since the Tuck parents were away and Miles was trying to find a job. 

I didn’t enjoy it, of course. I still hate him. Except that I did notice for the first time that he has green eyes. Ones that sparkle when the sunlight hits them at the right angle.

 Sincerely, 

Blair Foster

Jul. 8 2023.

I regret having to put this in my diary, but it just proves that people can change.

Today I was picking the bouquet for the dinner table when Jesse came up behind me. He tapped me on the shoulder and did the craziest thing ever. He apologized. Now, in some of my other entries, you might recall that I made myself a promise. That if he truly, sincerely apologized, I would forgive him. Well, let’s just say that I kind of did that.

When he had spoken the last word, I sort of attacked him with a flying hug and kiss. I’m sad to say that I kinda, sorta enjoyed it.

Sincerely, 

Blair Foster

August 1. 2024

Today’s my wedding day. I’m so excited! My dress truly looks amazing. Peggy’s daughter, Maggie, designed it, and I think that she has a future in doing that more. 

It's going to be a private sort of wedding. We don’t have many friends, because we’re immortal, so it was hard choosing the guest list. We settled on (of course) Maggie Cordial-Foster, Blake Foster, and obviously the Tucks and me. 

Sincerely,

Blair Tuck

December 25, 2026

Today Winnie learned to hold the bottle and feed herself. Me and Jesse were so proud, but me more than him. He’s still edgy around her. I know that he’s probably feeling regret about agreeing to have her in the first place. We’re talking about feeding her the water. It would be great, and we wouldn’t have anymore. But it would still be risky, because we don’t know what will happen to infants who are immortal. But I at least hope she’s happy.

Sincerely,

Blair Tuck

Jan, 1. 2028

We froze Winnie a few weeks ago on her birthday. We will be stuck with a two-year old for the rest of our long, long lives. Jesse and I are talking about going on an expedition to find a cure for the spring water and think that it’s a good plan. 

But on other topics, Winnie and I finished the book today, filling it with our adventures. She wants to start another one. I’m going to. But make it just my story, with a little bit of hers. I’m thinking of calling it,

Tuck everlasting: Return of the Fosters!

Sincerely,

Blair Tuck