"Back to the Bay"

(Preface: You need to suspend your logic and activate your imagination before reading this.  And please note that Deb Beckman was an innocent "victim" of this story!!)

"Mom?" Candy came rushing in the door from school, followed by Jonathan.  "Mom, where are you?"
  
"In the living room," Carolyn called.  She and the Captain had been looking over some papers.  Both looked up as the children burst into the room.
   
"We have a new teacher!  Miss Stoddard's brother got sick, so she had to go to Boston to look after him.  The Director knew of a teacher from Indiana who happened to be in New York for her cousin's wedding, and he asked her to fill in for last week of school.  She's neat!  She's not old like Miss Stoddard.  About your age, Mom!  With short, curly dark hair.  She can play all kinds of instruments, and said she'd show us how, too!"
  
"Oh?  What's her name?" Carolyn was interested.  It was not often that Schooner Bay had a young, active teacher!  The children would really benefit from this week, she was sure!  Too bad she couldn't tay and take over for next year too.
  
"Miz Beckman.  Oh, Mom, she's so great!  All the girls adore her already!  Even the boys like her, right, Jonathan?"
  
The boy agreed.  "Mark said she was pretty good.  We don't see her much in my grade."
  
"And she stopped me at recess and said she was looking forward to meeting YOU, Mom!"
  
"Me?  More than any other mother?"  Carolyn was surprised.  "Why me?"
  
Candy shrugged.  "She's heard of you."

"Heard of me?"

"Yeah, something about a story.  She says she feels like she already knows you well -- you AND the Captain."

"She knows of ME as well?" now it was Captain Gregg's turn to be surprised.
  
"Probably the story 'Maiden Voyage'," Martha said.  "THAT one made you famous!"  She had come in to hear what the shouting was about, and now went out to the kitchen to get the children's snack ready, shaking her head and grinning.
  
"INFAMOUS.  Notorious." Carolyn rolled her eyes.  "Well, now I REALLY am looking forward to meeting Miss Beckman from Indiana!"
  
"She's going to visit ALL the students, not just us.  She's interested in everything about Schooner Bay."
  
"Sounds like a most remarkable young woman." the Captain said.
  
"Mom, she wants to come out to meet YOU today, because she has waited so many years to finally meet you!"

"I don't understand." Carolyn was puzzled.

"From the stories and things, she said.  She feels she knows you and the Captain quite well."
  
"Stories?  What stories?"

"Well, ‘Maiden Voyage' didn't use our names and it certainly wasn't about your mother anyway!" the Captain frowned.  "Have you written anything about us that I don't know about, Madam?"

"Of course not!" Carolyn retorted.

"She said she has known about Schooner Bay for a long time, and has wanted to come and meet everyone here.  All of us at Gull Cottage, and Claymore..."

"Why would anyone want to meet that buffoon if she knew about him?" the Captain speculated, looking disgusted as he usually did when speaking of Claymore.

Carolyn rolled her eyes.  "You must have gotten what she said mixed up, Candy.  How could she possibly have known us?  I don't know anyone from Indiana!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.  "Maybe that's her now!" Jonathan said.  He and Candy both ran to answer it.

"Hi, again, Candy.  Jonathan.  Is your mother in?"

"Hi, Miss Beckman.  Yes, come in."

Captain Gregg disappeared as the new teacher came into the living room, smiling at Carolyn.  She held out her hand.  "I'm Debbie Beckman, Mrs. Muir.  I'm SO delighted to finally meet you at last.  I feel as if I've known you for years!"

Carolyn shook hands, and tried to overcome her puzzlement.  "I've heard a fair bit about you from Candy, too, in the last few minutes.  But, really, Miss Beckman..."

"Please, call me Debbie." Debbie's eyes roamed the room, her face expressing sheer delight.  Her rapturous gaze was quickly held by the portrait over the mantel.

"All right.  Debbie.  Umm, I have to admit to some curiosity.  You say you feel you already know me?"
  
"Yes." Debbie answered absently.  "You and the Captain.  Oh, the portrait is JUST what I imagined."  She swung back to Carolyn.  "I can't tell you how excited I am...!  Is the Captain here?"

Carolyn gave a little laugh.  "He died a hundred years ago..."

"Oh, I know THAT.  I meant in the room.  His spirit.  I know I wouldn't see him if he didn't wish it, but I DO wish he would grant me that privilege."

"You KNOW Gull Cottage is haunted?" Carolyn didn't want to give anything away until she was sure of what was going on, and right now she felt all at sea!  What stories had Debbie heard in Schooner Bay of Gull Cottage?  Because, of course, she couldn't have heard about the Captain anywhere else!

"Of course I know that!" Debbie smiled.  "I told you I've heard about you all..."

"Who told you?  The people of Schooner Bay have some fairly wild stories.."

"Oh, I haven't talked to anyone here.  I wanted to come and see you and the Captain first.  No, we talk about you all the time in
Indiana.  Well, two of us are in Indiana.  The rest are scattered across the country.  Around the world, actually!"

"I don't understand?" Carolyn felt helplessly lost.  "How could you possibly hear about US...?"

"Well, a group of us got together a couple of years ago, and a  ‘Schooner Bay Beacon' is published out of Texas bimonthly, so we keep up on things happening ..."

"That scurrilous rag is now in TEXAS?" a thundering voice rang through the room, and the Captain appeared, scowling at Debbie.

Debbie's eyes widened, then she looked enraptured.  "It's YOU.    Really YOU.  Oh, Captain, you are ... you ARE magnificent!"  She swung back to Carolyn, "I'm sorry I used the same word you used, but there really isn't another one that fits, is there?  Oh, the pictures and stories don't do you justice at ALL, Captain!"

"Pictures?" the Captain questioned.  "Of ME?" he was thunderstruck.

"Stories?" Carolyn asked at the same time.

"Yes.  There are a number of writers in our group ... Caro, Linda, Jane, Laurie, Haze, Dee Dee, Judy, Lynn, Susan ... even I've written some.  Quite a few people have, actually.  I can't remember them all.  Both stories AND poems ... about the Ghost and Mrs. Muir.  Sometimes we call ourselves GAMMies for ‘Ghost and Mrs. Muir'.  And we have LOTS of pictures of you, Captain.  ALL of you, actually."

"What?" Carolyn was floored.  Suddenly she saw the children watching wide-eyed.  "Candy and Jonathan, why don't you go ask Martha for your snack.  You must be hungry after school!"

"Okay!"  The children ran off happily.

Carolyn turned back to Debbie.  "I've never HEARD of these people!  OR seen the stories!  Why would anyone be writing about ME?"

"Oh, because your story ... you and Captain Gregg, I mean ... it's just so romantic!"

"Romantic!" Carolyn spluttered.   

"Ridiculous!" the Captain scowled.  "I'm a blasted spirit!  An illusion!  I died over a hundred years ago!  How romantic is THAT, may I ask?"  His blue eyes darkened as he frowned at Debbie.

"Oh, but when you came back to open the windows that first night the Muirs arrived, and spoke out loud while Mrs. Muir was sleeping, saying that you had been looking for her all your life, and how were you to know she hadn't even been born yet ... and that if you had known her a hundred years ago, you would have carried her off to sea..."

"How could you possibly know THAT?" the Captain was aghast.

But Carolyn was staring at him.  "You said that?  You never told me that."

Now the Captain was looking rather uncomfortable.  "It was a private moment.  How in blue blazes did YOU hear about it?" he demanded of Debbie.

Debbie backed up a step in the face of his fierce scowl.  "I'm sorry.  I was just so excited about finally meeting you ..."

"Please, Miss Beckman ... Debbie." Carolyn waved to a seat.  "Could you PLEASE start at the beginning?  Do you work for the FBI or something?"

Laughing, Debbie sank into a chair.  "No.  I really AM a teacher.  But thirty years ago I watched a show on television, and fell in love with it.  It only lasted two years, but I've thought about it ever since.  I've kept a scrapbook with pictures and articles about both you and the Captain.  Then the show came BACK on television for re-runs, and what with one thing and another, a group of us managed to find each other.  Our common interest is in the show, sharing memorabilia, video tapes of episodes, thoughts, and stories.  Some is done through the computer, some through the publication I already mentioned.  It was started by Linda.  We sometimes call her the Wombat but that's another story.  Anyway, she called it the Schooner Bay Beacon to remind everyone.  When I had the chance to, well, come back in time to actually MEET you, to see you face to face, to talk with you ... I HAD to take it!"

"Back in time?" Carolyn sank down on the couch herself, a stunned expression on her lovely face.

The Captain paced by the fireplace, his eyes fixed on Debbie.  "I believe she's telling the truth, Madam." he announced after a moment.

"Of course I am!  I know it's unbelievable ... I can hardly believe MYSELF that I'm here!  I was sort of hoping you could tell me the end of the story."

"The end of what story?" the Captain spoke when Carolyn remained silent, green eyes still wide with disbelief.

"YOUR story.  You see, it ended with the wedding that wasn't.  The last recorded statement we have is Mrs. Muir telling you that if you were alive, Gull Cottage would be a palace."

The Captain smiled.  "You know, I had almost forgotten that."

"I hadn't." Carolyn said softly.  "But I'd qualify it now by saying that even though you AREN'T alive, Gull Cottage IS a palace anyway, with you here."  She gazed at the Captain, and he returned her regard tenderly.  Then Carolyn looked sharply at Debbie.  "I suppose you'll share THAT comment with everyone?"

"I'm afraid so." Debbie said, somewhat apologetically.  "We loopies are quite dedicated.  Actually, most of the stories are just made up ones anyway ... ones we wish WOULD have happened, MIGHT have happened, even SHOULD have happened!  Very romantic!"

Carolyn looked down and twisted her hands in her lap.  She forced a soft laugh.  "I'm not so sure I like having my innermost thoughts ... written out, so to speak.  It's ... rather unsettling."

"I KNOW I don't like it!" the Captain was vehement.  "We like our privacy here, and expect to be able to keep it!"

"Yes, I do understand."  Debbie sighed.  "And how COULD you tell the end of the story anyway?  For you, it's still in the future.  Well, I'm still SO glad I could come and meet you both.  You are just the way I have imagined you to be.  And thank you, Captain, for the honour you gave me by even condescending to appear to me, let alone talk to me!  I've promised to stay for the next week, until the end of the school year, then I'll be leaving Schooner Bay.  Forever, unfortunately.  And I promise I won't talk to anyone here about you.  OR the stories I know!  But you won't be forgotten!  Ever!  Not by our little group, anyway.  Thank you again." she got up and shook hands with Carolyn who looked as if she wanted to ask something, but was
either undecided or too shy.   

The Captain muttered, "Good day!" and disappeared.

Carolyn went with Debbie to the door, and when it was opened, she leaned closer to Debbie and whispered, "Tell me, DOES he love me the way I think he does?  In the stories?"

"Oh yes." Debbie grinned.  "It's a wonderful love ...  I'll see if I can get some of the stories to you, if you like!"

"I'd appreciate that." Carolyn's face glowed, and she laughed lightly.  "Imagine ... a writer, not even a FAMOUS writer!, being the subject of someone ELSE'S stories!  How strange!"

"Goodbye, Mrs. Muir.  And thank you again!" and Debbie waved as she went down the flagstone walk, turning her back rather regretfully on Gull Cottage of Schooner Bay, Maine.