The Facts of Life: Fire And Rain

Chapter 5

V

Everybody's high on consolation
Everybody's trying to tell me what is right for me, yeah
My daddy tried to bore me with a sermon
But it's plain to see that they can't comfort me

Sorry, Charlie for the imposition
I think I got it (got it), I got the strength to carry on, oh yeah
I need a drink and a quick decision
Now it's up to me, ooh, what will be

She's gone, she's gone
Oh I, oh I
I better learn how to face it
She's gone, she's gone
Oh I, oh I
I'd pay the devil to replace her
She's gone, and she's gone
Oh why, what went wrong?

"She's Gone", Hall and Oates

Mrs. Garrett was closing up Edna's Edibles around 8 pm, with Tootie and Natalie assisting her. Edna made sure the two girls, and the other students who worked there, kept a good balance between work and their studies, feeling both were just as important in their own right. It had always been a fun place to work, and her students enjoyed helping her out.

The last customer had been out the door fifteen minutes earlier, with Mrs. Garrett counting the registers, Tootie and Natalie restocking for the next day. It was a typical night for the three of them.

As they busied themselves, there was a knock on the front door. It wasn't unusual for someone to knock, not reading the store hours that were clearly posted. Being the closest one to the door, Mrs. Garrett got it.

"I'm sorry", she began, as she opened the door, "but we're..."

She stopped cold.

Blair was looking at her, as disheveled as Edna had ever seen her: tears streaking down her cheeks, her hair askew, her eyes looking as if...

"Blair, what is it? Come in, honey."

Blair walked in, as if in a trance, barely acknowledging her friend.

Tootie looked over, becoming alarmed at how Blair looked. "Blair, what's happened?"

That got Natalie's attention. Usually, Natalie would start bombarding Blair with questions, but one look at Blair, then over to Mrs. G, and she demurred.

"Mrs....Mrs. Garrett, can we..." Blair's voice was hoarse and broken.

"Natalie, Tootie", Edna commanded, "you two go up to the apartment. I'll call you back down if you're needed."

Both girls silently nodded, both extremely worried about their friend.

When it was clear they were gone, Edna took Blair to the break room in the back and sat her down, getting her a cold bottle of water from out front.

"Blair what's going on?"

"Mrs. Garrett...it's Jo...I..." Blair started to cry again.

"Is Jo sick or hurt, Blair, why...what's happening?"

Blair didn't answer with words, but pulled out the letter that Jo had mailed to her. Blair had been crying for hours, a massive headache pounding at her brain, the life seemingly drained out of the normally effervescent young woman.

She handed it to Mrs. Garrett, who read through it, her face breaking under the emotion of the words Jo had left for Blair. Finally, despite her best efforts, Edna couldn't the tears out of her own eyes. She looked at Blair, despair in both their eyes.

"Oh, Blair..."

The both broke down, sobbing uncontrollably for what seemed like hours, but really was only twenty minutes. Mrs. Garrett couldn't believe what she had read. She could not imagine the pain Jo must have been feeling to do what she had done. It broke the older woman's heart to think one of her girls, that she loved like a daughter had...