Episode 11 - Seeds of Yesterday

Welcome back to the Forgotten Library – I’m Nikki Gee. Today, we’re going to continue our skewering of the first V.C. Andrews series, the Dollenganger family saga, by taking a look at Seeds of Yesterday, or, as I like to call it, Get On With It Already!

If you have time, I’d suggest listening to episode 2 for the full story of V.C. Andrews and the first book, Flowers in the Attic. Petals on the Wind, the second installment, was covered in episode 6; and If There Be Thorns, in episode 9. What follows is a brief recap of the previous books. Previously on the Forgotten Library

This series follows the story of the Dollenganger family. There are four children – Christopher and Cathy, the older children, and Cory and Carrie, who are twins. After their father is killed in an auto accident; their trophy-wife mother writes to her rich parents and begs them to let her and the children stay with her in their Virginia mansion. Just one little problem – Momma Corrine needs to charm her father into accepting her again, as her family disowned her for marrying her half-uncle, and they ran away when she was 18. Her father doesn’t know she has kids, so they have to stay in a locked bedroom in the attic until she can worm her way back into the Foxworth clan.

The days turn into weeks, then months, then years, while they stay upstairs in the attic. Corrine eventually drifts away from them when she finds a new husband, but continues to make empty promises that they will be released once her father is dead. Cathy and Chris, living so close to each other, take solace in each other, and that includes physically. Momma comes back from her honeymoon and suddenly, powdered sugar doughnuts begin to appear in their food basket. One of the twins, Cory, becomes desperately ill, and Momma supposedly sneaks him out of the house to the hospital, but he dies. The kids have already been stealing out of the attic with a makeshift key to pilfer what money they can to escape the house. Chris finds out one night while hiding behind furniture that the powdered sugar on the treats contained arsenic because Corrine could never reveal she had children, even after Grandfather died (yeah, a year ago, by the way) because then she loses all of her inheritance. The kids make a run for it the next day – after three years of being locked up – and board a bus for Sarasota, Florida.

Carrie, the remaining twin, gets sick on the bus; Henny, a mute woman, rescues them by taking them to her employer, Paul, who is a doctor. Cathy ends up telling him everything and he believes them. He saves Carrie’s life, and then makes the three of them his wards. The kids try to live normal lives; Cathy auditions with a ballet company to fulfill her dream of being a ballerina. She meets Julian, who flirts with her, but she’s trying to seduce Paul as well as fend off the advances of her brother.

Cathy DOES become famous and performs with Julian, but gets engaged to Paul. This makes her brother angry, so she runs off and marries Julian instead, who turns out to be controlling and abusive. He also is inappropriate with Carrie when she visits them. He is jealous of Cathy’s love for her brother and refuses to let her see him graduate from medical school, so she drugs him and leaves him in Spain. Cathy by this time is pregnant with Julian’s baby; Julian’s reckless behavior is rewarded with a car accident, and when he overhears the doctors saying that he will never dance again, he dies by his own hand. Cathy moves back in with Paul to have her son, who she calls Jory, after Julian and her brother, Cory.

Cathy has been holding a grudge against her mother for their misery, so she now begins to enact her plan to get revenge. She blackmails her and then seduces her husband and gets pregnant by him. Meanwhile, Carrie falls ill due to self-poisoning; her boyfriend wants to marry her, but he wants to be a minister and she is still brainwashed by the grandmother telling them they were evil so she feels she isn’t worthy. Add to that that she was coldly rebuffed by Corinne in the street and she just wants to be with her twin and her father again.

Now fully enraged, Cathy gets a dress made just like the one her mother wore to the Christmas party in Foxworth Hall that she and her brother watched in secret during their imprisonment. She reveals herself to all the guests, which leads to a showdown in the library, where Bart learns the truth about Corrine. She, meanwhile, appears to have a psychotic break and sets the Hall ablaze. Bart dies going back in to save the Grandmother, who also dies. Corrine is taken to an asylum.

Paul has a heart attack. Cathy goes back, marries him, and has her second child, which she names after Bart. She nurses Paul for several years, and then he says she should be with her brother. Paul dies, and Chris, Cathy, and the boys move to California, where they live as husband and wife and no one knows their real story. They’ve told the boys that Cathy and Carrie’s parents were killed in an auto accident; that Paul is Bart’s father; and that Chris is Paul’s younger brother.

As the boys grow older, however, Jory begins to hear things that don’t add up, when his parents don’t know that he can hear them. Such as knowing each other when they were teenagers. . . and about Foxworth Hall . . . He’s learning to dance, in both Cathy and Julian’s footsteps, and Bart is, well, seriously disturbed.

The house next door is an abandoned mansion, until one day, when workmen arrive and begin to remodel the place from top to bottom. Chris and Cathy are not happy about no longer having any privacy. Meanwhile, however, one of Cathy’s dancers at her ballet school is in a serious car accident and has a young daughter, which will be an orphan if her mom dies. Chris and Cathy argue back and forth about adopting little Cindy. Chris fears that their relationship will be exposed, but Cathy eventually wins.

The new owner next door turns out to be a woman who dresses all in black with a veil over her head and face. The boys sneak up to the windows and see her without her veil; Jory is scared, not by the scars on the sides of the woman’s face, but that she looks like his mother might, decades from now.

In the meantime, Bart is obsessed with dead things and the fact that no one likes him. He is invited next door by the old woman, who invites him over any time he wants, and plies him with sweets. He goes over to her house often, and soon has his own room full of toys and games. One day, he runs into her butler, the creepy John Amos from Foxworth Hall, who tells him that he should come see him when he wants to know the truth about who the lady really is. The woman tells him he can call her grandmother. John Amos tells him that yes, she IS his grandmother and gives him the journal of his great-grandfather, Malcolm. He begins to feed Bart such wisdom that woman cannot be trusted, that sort of sexist garbage.

Jory, meanwhile, is learning more sordid secrets about his own family. Cathy is also obnoxious and dramatic, nothing new there. Bart is acting weirder than usual, too. When Jory finds out it’s the lady next door, he confronts her and says that she needs to stop lying to his brother, who is already a mixed-up child.

Cindy arrives; Bart hates her, Jory becomes quite taken with her. Bart starts quoting Bible verses at his mother, which freaks her out; he’s essentially trying to channel the spirit of Malcolm, using this kind of controlling shit on his grandmother, too. Then Bart gets sick and ends up in the hospital with a raging infection. When he returns, he continues to playact as Malcolm, even leaning on his cane and acting super-old. Jory’s dog winds up dead; they think Bart did it. Bart tries to drown Cindy. They take Bart to a psychiatrist.

Cathy isn’t supposed to dance, running the risk of permanent disability if she falls. Which of course, happens; somehow her shoe ribbon comes undone and she trips on it. So now she’s wheelchair bound until it heals and she will never dance again. She begins to write the story of their life. Chris finally visits the woman next door and realizes who she is by the telltale twisting of her hands.

Showdowns galore – Chris with Corrine, who still claims she did the best she could; Jory’s grandmother with Cathy about who her REAL husband is, and that she shouldn’t be raising HER grandson in this environment; and finally, Cathy with Corrine, which leads to John Amos cracking them both over the head with a fireplace poker and locking them downstairs in the wine cellar, while Bart watches.

Jory yells at his grandmother, and is disturbed by his parents’ relationship after reading Cathy’s manuscript. He later forgives them. Jory and Chris eventually realize where Cathy went and try to find her. She is ill from the damp and dark basement and in her struggle with her mother, knocks over a candle which sets the basement on fire. There is some final confusion, and Corrine’s last act as a mother is shoving Cathy out of the door to save her.

In the epilogue, Jory worries that Bart will be like Malcolm when he grows up. Bart says that God sent Corrine and John Amos and the spirit of Malcolm to save his parents from the everlasting fires of hell.

Whew. Let’s get to this installment, shall we?

[break]

So, I must apologize, dear listener, if you are a Cathy-hater, as she is once again our narrator for this tale. Chris and Cathy are in their fifties now and are arriving to stay at the newly-built version of Foxworth Hall. She thinks back to the first time the house emerged in the moonlight as they trudged up to it that night so many years ago, not knowing that the future held several years of imprisonment in an attic room.

Anyway, after Corinne died, the mansion fell to Bart, but until he turns twenty-five, Chris is the trustee of the estate. The new Foxworth Hall has been uninhabited for fifteen years, but now Bart has decided to make it his home. In the meantime, he has invited the two of them to stay for the summer. And it is a beautiful restoration and Cathy should be happy, she knows she should, but . . . her suspicious nature is already coming to the fore and we are only a few pages in.

Cathy tells us that seven years prior, Bart’s psychiatrists deemed him cured and able to live a normal life without regular mental-health treatment. Chris catches the downward turn of Cathy’s mood and tries to reassure her that everything will be fine. They will stay until Bart’s birthday, when he turns twenty-five and inherits all, and then she and Chris will take Cindy with them to Hawaii where they will live in elegant retirement.

After high school, Jory moved to New York to join his grandmother’s ballet company. His career blew up, much in the same way Cathy’s did. And his high-school sweetheart, Melodie, became his dancing partner, and then his wife. They are critic’s darlings and have been on television specials. Meanwhile, Madame Marisha died. And Bart went from super-awkward poor student to tops in his class, graduating from Harvard Law. Everyone had attended his graduation, except for Cindy; no love lost between them, even still. She is sixteen years old now, and, according to Cathy, very voluptuous. Just wait – she’ll say creepier things about her daughter later.

By this time, Chris and Cathy have made it to the front door of the Hall, and an older man greets them. He looks very familiar – so much like her . . . father? If he had lived beyond his thirties, that is. So, who is he? None other than Joel Foxworth, one of Corrine’s brothers that was supposedly lost in the Alps and presumed dead decades ago. *dun dun dun*

Chris tries to cover for Cathy’s shocked look by saying that his wife’s maiden name was Foxworth and she thought they all were dead, you see. Cathy sees a bunch of troubled past in Uncle Joel’s eyes, but she knows that Chris will tell her she’s just imagining things. Again.

Instead, she admires the first floor and wonders why, when she and Chris have seen so many other, more wondrous places in the world, Foxworth Hall still impresses so much. Uncle Joel prepares a tea and tells them his story, and it is very apparent early on that he hated his father, Malcolm. And was jealous of Corinne, as was his other brother – even though she got punished, too, but Malcolm would make up for it with gifts for her. Anyway, Mel, the other brother, died in a motorcycle accident and their father said that Joel would have to take his place in the bank. Instead, Joel ran away, using his musical talents to pay his way abroad. In Switzerland, he went skiing with friends one day and ended up falling into a crevice, breaking his leg and unable to escape, when two monks happened by and heard his cries for help. They mended his leg and when it healed, he decided to stay on and eventually became a monk himself. A journalist from the US came one day to interview him about being a monk in a modern world, and after casually name-dropping, he discovered that his parents were deceased. It made him think about reconnecting with his sister, but it was only after arriving back home that he learned that she had been put into an institution – and Bart filled in the rest. Oh, and also, that Bart is a great young man, and was quite overjoyed to get to know his great-uncle Joel. The end.

As they are finally being led to their rooms, Jory calls from New York, and can conveniently cancel a few gigs so they can come for a visit, as well. They also have some news but they won’t share until they get there.

Joel leads Chris and Cathy to their mother’s old wing – and Bart has it completely restored to how it was in the original version – the swan bed with the miniature version at the foot, the sunken marble tub, the mirrored vanity. For some reason, this makes Chris turn hard and ask Joel what Bart has told him, and he says that Bart has confided ALL his family history, but gives a truncated version that obviously leaves out all that he knows.

Once Joel leaves, though, Chris tries to assuage Cathy’s fears, by saying that it’s a reproduction of the original bed, and surely Bart only knew about all of this because he read your manuscripts, Cathy, and obviously he wanted to please you! Of course, there’s nothing sinister behind it! And he likes Joel – he thinks he’s sincere, and also that this is a great opportunity to learn more about their mother how she used to be, so that perhaps they can move on and fully heal from all the trauma, through understanding.

Cathy can’t help being Cathy, though, so she does wonder why Joel is Really here – what’s his motive? Especially since he supposedly found so much peace in the Swiss Alps monastery? And actually, this is a legit question! I know, I’m surprised, too!

Cathy is also upset that Chris entreats Joel to move out of the servants’ quarters above the garage and into the main house. The two of them have been tasked with interviewing some servants, per Bart’s request. A husband and wife seem suspicious and they say they know all about the Foxworths, et cetera. They decide on a British guy named Trevor.

The next day, Bart arrives, zooming at breakneck speed up the driveway in a little red sportscar. He effusively greets Cathy and ignores Chris. Bart makes a bold claim that he eventually wants Foxworth Hall to outshine every other grand house in the world. Chris, angry at being snubbed by a boy he helped take care of since birth, snottily remarks that he won’t impress anyone when and if he does.

Bart begins to plan his lavish birthday party. Cathy is bored. Joel is scandalized when he comes upon her exercising in red leotards. Cathy tries to set Bart up for disappointment for his party – that not all two hundred invitees will show up – but Bart says that once they hear that he has the best caterer in town, and that he’s getting big-city entertainment, and even Jory and Melodie to dance, they won’t be able to refuse!

Bart and Cathy talk about love, and it seems for a bit that he is genuinely interested in the conversation, and then he asks her which man in her life she loved best, wanting her to say that it was his father. When she doesn’t answer right away, he blames his contaminated life on her relationship with Chris. Oh, and he legally changed his surname to Foxworth, so he can truly become one of them. When Cathy leaves Bart’s office, she runs into Joel, who was obviously eavesdropping. Then he says that Those who expect to hear evil will not be disappointed and hurries away.

Jory and Melodie come down and Chris and Cathy pick them up at the airport. Bart is too busy with his preparations for the party is the excuse, but Jory knows that that’s just Bart, anyway. Cathy takes a moment to creepily describe her son, replete with a mention of his “firm, round buttocks that made all the women stare.” Um, could you please stop sexualizing your children? Thanks. Melodie, usually effusive, has been very quiet, but they don’t divulge their news until they get back to the house. They’re having a baby!! Cathy is a bit surprised by the news, mainly because Jory had always said that he wanted to be at the top for a while yet before they started a family. But he seems happy so Cathy is happy for them. Melodie doesn’t look right, though, to Cathy’s eyes; Jory signals that he will talk to his mother later about what’s going on.

Bart is actually quite effusive in his greetings with Jory, and then is Ohhi, Melodie, and proceeds to ignore her, until after Jory says they’re having a child and then he says that pregnancy becomes her. CreepyJoel is waiting in the shadows and when he finds out that Jory is a dancer, he abruptly turns about and leaves. Jory and Melodie are installed in a very nice, sumptuous wing and Bart can’t keep his eyes off of her and makes an off-hand comment about fair women in dark settings. By dinner, the want in his eyes is extremely apparent.

Jory dances a bit for his parents and they talk about his career. Cathy thinks about how many times she had heard him say that he couldn’t live without dancing. Foreshadowing glides silently into the room and fluffs a pillow in the corner. Melodie comes down and says the doctor told her she can continue light practice for now, so they dance together. CreepyJoel comes and intones about the Lord giveth and taketh away. Bart stares hungrily at Melodie, then says that they need to dance at his birthday party. Jory will, of course, but it’s too strenuous a performance for Melodie at this time. Jory says that Cindy could dance with him, but she’s not a professional, so Bart doesn’t want that.

Later, Jory and Melodie are dancing again, and Cathy watches them from an alcove, then notices that Bart is also watching. The dance becomes passionate and then more of a horizontal kind, and Cathy moves away, and tries to get Bart to go away, too. He won’t by suggestion, so she moves him by force into the next room. He pours himself a drink and the talk drifts to his shoes (he has the soles treated so that dirt and scuffs won’t show) and then that he’ll hate looking at Melodie when her pregnancy begins to show, and that he could easily take her away from Jory if he REALLY wanted to. He’s better-looking, he’s smarter, AND he’s richer.

Cathy mentions Cindy is arriving the next day and Bart says he disapproves of her, and that she’s NOT his sister because she’s adopted. And also, she’s a slut. I mean, do you read the letters she writes? She’s so popular, she has to be screwing everyone. Cathy gets angry at this and they argue about CreepyJoel, which makes Bart bring up that he could have been the perfect son if only Cathy had married his real father and not entered a sham marriage with her own brother. Maybe he’s just like her – out for his own revenge. For, after all, Jory got the best of her love, then Cindy. So all he got was the pity, and that makes him hate her. She runs from his diatribes, knowing that he’s right – she DOES still fear him and worries that he’s not completely sane.

But here’s Cindy for a breath of fresh air. Although Cathy says that she is “reeking” of a perfume much too old for her; but she has ripe and full breasts, and buttocks that fill out her jeans “delightfully.” Once again, please stop sexualizing your children. Thank you. Jory is very excited to see his sister and runs up and swings her around, which Melodie watches disapprovingly from the sidelines. Cindy greets Bart very formally, and Bart gives her the old up-and-down, then says aloud that she’s “not his type.” Considering you get on your mum and her brother about their “evil” ways, maybe you shouldn’t be checking out your adopted sister, either, hmm? He calls her cheap, also. Chris wants him to apologize, but that leads to Bart turning on HIM and saying that he’s a nobody.

Bart tries to charm Melodie by bringing up the dance he wants her and Jory to perform for the party, but she says that her answer is still NO. The theme that he’s so excited about is revealed several days prior – Bart wanted them to dance Samson and Delilah. Cindy says that she’ll dance the part of Delilah since Melodie is in no condition to do so. Bart is especially keen to know if Jory has the white contact lenses that make it appear that Jory is blind. CreepyJoel is, of course, hovering in the background through all of this, especially when Bart says that this ballet in particular is very exciting to him, as Samson is a great hero of his. Cathy thinks that this all sounds very dangerous and tries to dissuade Bart, but everything has been planned, and besides, Jory is fine with it, so it’s all good. But Cathy, of course, has misgivings just the same.

The day of the party arrives; the reading of the will will be done the next day, when Bart will fully “come into his own,” as everyone keeps saying. Chris wonders if anything in their could spoil his birthday, and Cathy can’t think of anything, but at the time it was originally read, she was too distraught. Apparently, there is something, though, but Chris is not privy to it, despite being the current trustee of the estate, as Bart has made it so with his attorneys.

Jory and Cindy go through final rehearsal while Melodie sits with Bart. Cathy doesn’t see that they’re being that friendly to each other, but their closeness gives her a feeling of unease, just the same. He tries to take her hand when they go to have lunch, but she ignores him. Bart is even annoyed that CreepyJoel stays in the corner and won’t join in the festivities, but Joel doesn’t approve of lavish displays of wealth and vanity.

As Chris and Cathy get ready for the party, they once again do the dance of “What would I do without you? I’d die without you,” blah blah blah. And then they share their worries about Bart. When they head downstairs, Bart is looking very dashing, just like his real father. Everyone looks great, and then Cindy dashes down the stairs. She’s in a “shocking red” dress, the “kind a hooker would wear to display her charms,” sez Cathy. It’s clingy, and it shows her boobs – oh you mean the boobs you were praising a few days ago? Okay, so this book was written in 1984, I think, and it’s supposed to take place in the 1990s. Would this really be so scandalous? Everyone is mad at her, and Cathy entreats her to put on the blue dress she had promised to wear – to look sixteen, not thirty. Oh, okay, so if she was thirty, then it WOULDN’T be slutty? Asking for a friend.

More slut-shaming for Cindy – put on something “decent,” what she has on is “vulgar,” she is dressed like a “whore,” et cetera. Melodie tries to keep the peace by telling Bart to stop being antagonized and for Cindy to go upstairs and put on the other dress. But Cindy, being a teenager, can’t stop, won’t stop, and continues to annoy Bart, so that he goes after her and slaps her face. She calls him a creep and a pervert, and then tries to go up the stairs back to her room; Bart overtakes her and they scream at each other, and then Cathy tries to go up to rescue her when he hears her wailing. Bart comes back down shortly thereafter and says that he gave her a spanking. Dude, that seems inappropriate. And then he puts the rest of them into a receiving line as the guests begin to arrive.

Cindy comes back down wearing a modest little dress that Cathy had picked out for her, and says that she deserved a spanking. Perhaps but, not by her BROTHER – I don’t care if he’s not biologically. Bart comes over and says that she’s to forget everything that’s happened tonight and just dance the best she can, and then pinches her cheek hard enough to leave a mark. So she kicks him, and then he slaps her again. This even makes Chris angry and hisses at them to behave.

Outside, everything is very fancy and the best that money can buy. Bart forces Melodie to dance with him, but by the end, she has relaxed a bit and then goes with him as he moves his way around the grounds. Then the performances begin. Bart and Melodie seem to be having a good time. Cathy and Bart share a nice mother-and-son moment, and then Samson and Delilah begins. Cindy is good, but of course, Jory is superb. In the third act, Jory, as Samson, is meant to bring down the two columns, in this instance made of papier-maché. But as the columns fall, they don’t break apart and shed their sand as they are supposed to, and Jory has fallen onto the stage from a blow to the back of his head. The heavy columns land upon his back and legs and even after the curtain falls, he remains very still. Cathy, after shrieking over her son and awaiting the ambulance, picks up a bit of the sand and finds it wet. As they load Jory into the ambulance, Cathy asks them if he will live, and the EMT says it probably will be a long time before he dances again.

Cathy, Chris, and Melodie are all squeezed in the ambulance with Jory and Cathy is silently praying for him to live, while Melodie is hysterical, screaming that she wished they never came to the house, and she told him that it was a mistake and now they were paying for it. Jory comes to during this diatribe and is reassured that his performance went well before he’s knocked out with some sedation.

Five hours of surgery later, they barely see him as he is whisked to his own room, and only Chris is allowed to stay. Cathy and Melodie go back to Foxworth Hall to try to get some rest. Cindy comes in for news after Melodie finally passes out and Cathy says that she’s going to go back to the hospital and wants Cindy to keep an eye on Melodie. Most of Jory’s torso is in a cast, and Cathy watches his legs and wonders why don’t move at all. Chris joins her and tells her what she’s already thinking – Jory is paralyzed from the waist down. Chris goes on about how they must keep strong for Jory, and make sure he is supported and doesn’t get down on himself for not being able to walk or dance again, especially considering his real father’s death. Cathy can’t think much about that, though; just that her beloved son is now disabled.

Jory finally awakes and starts asking questions, and Cathy is unable to answer, so she waits for Chris to tell him the truth. Which he does. And then Jory falls silent and won’t talk to either one of them. Which, you know, is pretty normal – I’d imagine he’s in a bit of shock. They get a private nurse to make sure that he is never alone. They return to Foxworth Hall, figuring that Melodie would want to come back with them when they go to the hospital again. But, once she hears of his condition, she doesn’t want to see him like that. She gets hysterical and refuses to see him just yet – which, I understand it’s a bit of a shock, but Chris is right – you marry for both good AND bad. You have to at least TRY, you can’t just fucking abandon him while he’s still in the hospital.

She claims that she’ll come “soon,” and they tell him that, and he doesn’t answer anyway; he refuses to eat so they have to give him an IV. Bart visits him in the hospital exactly once. Melodie still refuses, despite entreaties, and Bart asks his mother to leave her alone.

The next day, Cindy comes into her parents’ room early to tell them something important, and of course, the first thing Cathy focuses on is her very small bikini and criticizes her that she should be wearing something to cover up. Cathy, stop slut-shaming your daughter. Cindy is hurt, and rightfully so, as she says that her mom makes her feel dirty, and she was here to tell them something she thought they should hear about Bart – apparently, he took out party insurance in case any of his guests were injured that night. Chris says that wouldn’t be that unusual, given the number of guests. Then Cindy mentions the wet sand that Cathy mentioned the night of the accident, which Chris didn’t know about. The thought is obviously flitting through all of their heads – was that Bart’s doing?

They all descend the stairs to find Melodie talking with Bart, and actually smiling. She also tells him that she’s a coward and can’t go to Jory because she doesn’t know how to be strong in the face of all he’s going through. And she just can’t stay in that room anymore, either, so she’s going to move her things across the hall. Bart says he can help her and is essentially putting the moves on her right now.

Cathy comes out of the shadows and Bart snatches his hand away from Melodie’s hair. They argue about Melodie ignoring her husband. Then Chris asks about the wet sand and Bart, of course, has no idea what he’s talking about, and when pressed, begins bitching that now he’s going to be blamed for Jory’s accident, just like he was blamed for so much when he was a child. That’s not really an answer, Bart. That’s a deflection. Then he claims that some of the workers who put the sets together didn’t like him, but he doubted it would be them, as he wasn’t the one on stage that would be hurt by it. Cathy believes him, but now is sad that she has alienated her son all over again. Well, that’s too bad; it needed to be asked.

Cathy tries, once again, to convince Melodie to visit her husband. She says that Jory is already dead, really, so what’s the point? Damn, that’s harsh. Cathy pretty much calls her weak and spineless and Melodie spits back that she’s not like HER, she was petted and spoiled as a child and never really knew hardship, wah wah wah. And yes, if the situation were reversed, she’d want Jory to leave her, no question. Cathy’s next idea is to get Jory to speak again, so that maybe she can convince him life is worth living, and then Melodie might come around.

After some Tough Talk from Cathy, including the fact that Melodie might go back to her parents’ house to have the baby, as well as a hefty dose of guilt-tripping that he’ll leave them bereft if he dies, Jory begins to talk to her again. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do with himself. Cathy speaks hopefully of all the things he’ll be able to do, and then Jory brings up Hawaii. And of course, they can’t leave now. Foxworth Hall has trapped them again.

Meanwhile, Cindy is bored as hell, being a regular sixteen year old girl; she want to go to a summer camp with her friends. And then she and Cathy get into a discussion about sex. Cindy, again, being a regular sixteen year old girl, has urges and wants to give into them, especially when she really likes a boy. And Cathy’s wisdom is that she needs to be moral, not throw herself away like “worthless trash.” Because, there is no inbetween, you’re either pure or trash in the Foxworth-Sheffield universe. Anyway, Chris agrees that Cindy needs some fun and a reprieve from the gloomy old house, so they put her on a plane.

On their way back to the hospital, Chris brings up the fact that they can’t move to Hawaii now, of course. And once Jory is back home, he isn’t sure what he will be doing with his time, so he’s decided to go back into medicine, but on the research side of things.

Bart is not at home, apparently at a bar drinking, according to CreepyJoel, who’s muttering about whores and harlots, and this makes Cathy ask him what’s the difference, further challenging him on strumpets and prostitutes, hookers . . . He claims not to understand why she doesn’t like or trust him, and she says that he protests too much about his father, which makes her wonder if he’s any better than Malcolm, really.

Cathy next turns on Melodie, forcing her to shower and dress to visit Jory in the hospital. She pleads for more time, but Cathy says she’s had more than enough time. She coaches her in the car on how to act and what she should say, and seriously, Melodie, it’s really depressing you’re THIS fucking spineless. When he sees her at the door, Jory is seriously happy that she’s there, but then Melodie makes no moves to come any closer, so what little pleasure he had immediately dies. He gets angry and says she can file for divorce if she wants. She launches into a little speech about how she’s not brave, and she’s ashamed she didn’t come sooner, and still wants to be his wife. He says that he doesn’t want her to stay if he’s only going to be a burden. She says a few other things, but doesn’t exactly dissuade him of that notion. He feigns exhaustion so she will leave.

The next day, Chris says he actually has a position now as a researcher, thanks to contrivance, and Bart has graciously allowed them all to stay as long as they like, or until he gets married. Cathy is upset because this new job will mean she can’t see her brother-lover as much as she wants to, but he’ll try to be home every night, and will have weekends off. Later, Melodie comes to see her and cries that Jory is still not really forthcoming with her, and that the house is cursed, and they weren’t supposed to start a family yet but Melodie decided to stop taking her birth control, and apparently, when she first told him she was pregnant, they had a row and he wanted her to terminate the pregnancy. So she feels that the fact he is permanently disabled now is her fault, because if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, they would be on tour in Europe right now and nowhere near Foxworth Hall.

Melodie is not immune to the mansion’s haunting qualities – she can hear the house breathe, there are knocks on her door at night and no one is there, and the house is a vampire, sucking the life from all the inhabitants. It’s changed Bart, too, made him very imposing. She says that he’s happy, yet annoyed that they keep postponing the rereading of Corinne’s will, but as everyone has to be present, they have to wait for Jory to leave the hospital. Cathy is suspicious how she knows so much about Bart’s doings, and Melodie is suddenly tired and has to go lay down. How convenient!!

Cathy hired some decorators to redo Jory’s suite and enlists Melodie’s help. Cathy is happy on the one hand that Melodie seems to be more accepting of Jory’s situation, but she can’t fully trust it; it was too quick of a turnaround. Bart comes in and is displeased that the room has been made over. But then he talks to Melodie, ignoring Cathy, and is all smiles and says that all she has to do is ask and he’ll do anything to help. They share a Look, and Cathy is wondering if there’s more behind it.

Jory comes home and he’s happy to be there. Melodie is acting weird. To save the awkward silence, Cathy gives him a gift, something to occupy his time – a shipmaking kit. Bart comes in and is awkward, staring in silence, until a Look from Melodie (at least it appears to Cathy) makes him actually come in and speak warmly to his brother.

The family all convenes in the afternoon, even Cindy, for the reading of the will. And here it finally is – Bart coming into his own! Except . . . not so much. Now that he is twenty-five, he will receive $500,000 annually, until he is thirty-five. At THAT time, the remainder of Corinne’s estate, will be turned over in its entirety. Chris will still be trustee until that time, unless he dies, in which case the trusteeship falls to Cathy.

Bart is about to explode, of course. He feels lied to and cheated, but as Chris points out, he’s getting $500k a year. Also living expenses and the cost of running Foxworth Hall will be taken care of by the money still in trust, so he doesn’t even have to use any of the annual for upkeep. And . . . it’s $500k!! How much will he receive when he reaches the age of 35? No one knows, but Chris knows that Bart will be one of the richest men in the world when that day comes. Bart throws in his face that until that day, CHRIS is the richest – which, he’s maintaining the money for you, not keeping it, you fool. But that doesn’t matter, it’s just a convenient excuse for him to say that Chris is richest, despite his most sinning ways, and wahhhh, it isn’t fair!

Fall arrives and Jory’s cast comes off; his upper body is weak so he’s encouraged to use the parallel bars in his room. Melodie rarely comes to visit him, and Cathy suspects that she’s spending time with Bart. Jory asks Cathy what Melodie does all day, and then demands to see her. Cathy delays as much as possible, with idle chatter and bullshit, which her family should know by now is her tactic when she can’t face up to a truth. Melodie is not in her room, of course, and Cathy’s feet take her to Bart’s wing, where his door is, surprisingly, unlocked. Cathy sits down on a couch, and thinks she hears some sounds in Bart’s bedroom. In the gloom, she’s rather in shadow, so when Bart strides out, completely naked, to his bar area to mix two drinks, he has his back to her and doesn’t notice she is there. For further cover, she hides behind a plant. Melodie comes out, wearing a negligee – sooo, you’re drinking while you’re pregnant, in addition to cheating on your husband? SUCH a winner. Bart tries to get her to come back, but she says she has to go visit Jory – oh, NOW you remember him. Bart doesn’t need anyone, and she’s pretty now, but when she’s showing more, she will be repugnant to him.

When she finally runs from the room, Cathy throws open the bedroom door to confront her naked son. He’s sarcastic, then broken and guilty, and says that he is in love with Melodie, and without Jory in the way, she’d be eager to be his wife instead. He can’t give her up, don’t you see?? He LOVES her, and he’s never loved ANYONE before. No man has every loved before!! And Jory’s not a real man anymore, according to him, and that’s what Melodie needs – a REAL man! Cathy says that they should wait at least until Melodie has the baby, then both go to Jory and tell him how they feel about each other. Bart didn’t give a thought to the child, whether he wants to take that from Jory, too; he’s suddenly so tired of all her questions – just go away, Cathy, and don’t tell Jory or Chris, either.

Cathy goes back to Jory’s room and says that Melodie is napping, but is planning a “date night” for them. She gets him to dress, have a shave, and even get in the dreaded electric wheelchair. Cathy goes to get Melodie, and she’s not in the house. Trevor said that they left together to go out to eat. Cathy goes back upstairs, wondering if she should lie, again, but Jory knows that she’s not coming. She never comes in anymore. And he’s trying, but he knows that she is thinking he’s not a “real man” anymore. Cathy says the baby will make her change for the better. Jory says that he doesn’t want to wait that long – she can go, or stay until the baby is born, but either way, he won’t contest a divorce, because that’s obviously what she wants.

Cathy has a conversation with CreepyJoel in the hallway, and she asks why he always seems afraid of her. He says that she can be a hard woman, just like his mother . . . and also HER mother. Chris, of course, thinks Cathy is being rude to the old man, and that he’s just lonely.

At 3:30 in the morning, Melodie and Bart return. Cathy slips into Melodie’s room and waits there to have a showdown with her. Melodie pleads for her understanding – she had nowhere to turn, and Bart was so gentle when she needed him while Jory was in the hospital. And she doesn’t think she can be with a man who is forced to live out the rest of his life in a chair. Oh, she just wants to disappear!! Cathy says she needs to leave Bart alone. She promises, as does Bart when Cathy confronts him again. Because they can be trusted, right?

Sure enough, Cathy sees even less of Melodie, AND Bart. She spends a lot of time with Jory, watching television, playing games, drinking wine. Jory says he’s worried about Melodie, as she barely drops by, and when she does, he can see that she doesn’t really want to be there. Cathy suggest a small apartment for the two of them near the hospital so that he can get his regular physical therapy, but Jory wants to stay at Foxworth Hall, because he needs his folks, even Bart.

Chris’ research team has seen a breakthrough, which means he’ll be away from the house more. This upsets Cathy, because of her co-dependency, first, but also because she lets slip that Jory needs him too, especially since Melodie is a failure as a wife. Cathy confesses that she knows Bart is in love with Melodie; Chris already knows this, and actually came upon them fooling around once or twice. Jory doesn’t need a woman who doesn’t love him anymore, so Bart might as well take her. It’s cruel to force her to stay if she doesn’t want to be there. And I hate to say it, but Chris is right. Melodie is a cowardly shit, but if she really can’t support Jory in the way he needs, it’s best he cut her loose so he can have an opportunity to find someone who can.

Jory, meanwhile, tells Cathy that he’s going to stop feeling sorry for himself, and make the best of his situation – read all the books he never had time for, learn painting, just generally be more creative. He also decides to give the clipper ship to Bart for Christmas. Bart is planning an epic Christmas ball.

Cathy misses Chris when he’s gone all week, so when he comes home for the weekends, naturally she wants to talk about everything that she’s thought about during the week – her worries, her fears, and so on. Chris says that sometimes he dreads coming home because she’s always so suspicious. Here’s the thing, though, Chris – as much as Cathy annoys the piss out of me, she has been right sometimes about people. She knew your mother was no good a LONG time before you came to that realization.

Cindy comes for Christmas and brings a guest with her, a young man named Lance. Bart, at first hostile that Cindy would be so ballsy as to bring a stranger with her without permission, is suddenly cordial when Cindy says that the boy’s father is president of a chain of banks. Anyway, Bart is enthusiastic about his upcoming party – Joel mailed the invitations for him, and two hundred people should arrive. Melodie comes in, in a shapeless shift, her pregnancy really showing now; this makes Bart hastily leave the room. Melodie barely acknowledges Jory.

That night, Lance is put into a room near Bart’s suite, while Cindy is in the opposite wing. Jory is sad because his wife has abandoned him. CreepyJoel comes to Cathy as she’s heading back to her suite and tells her that Cindy is having sex with Lance. Cathy doesn’t believe him, so she runs to Cindy’s room to prove him wrong. She raises her hand to knock and Joel said if she wants to know the truth, she needs to just open the door. She knocks anyway, one sharp rap, then opens the door . . . to find Cindy and Lance in flagrante delicto. Cathy says that Cindy is moaning so much, it can’t possibly be her first time. While Cathy is indecisive about what to do, she hears a gasp behind her, and turns around to see Bart, staring at his adopted sister, who has now switched positions and is atop her man, and shouting out “four-letter word vulgarities,” as Cathy rather primly says.

Bart goes directly over to the bed and grabs Cindy around her waist and hauls her off of Lance, throwing her on the floor. He punches Lance in the face, repeatedly, breaking his nose, screaming there is to be “no sinning” under his roof! Joel is nearly gleeful that Cathy has witnessed this, her own daughter a harlot. And you a fool. Just like Corinne, who was both. This actually upsets Bart, who says that Cathy is NOT like her mother at all. CreepyJoel just says, You’ll see it my way eventually. Corinne got her punishment, as will Cathy, and if justice will be served, so will Cindy. All will roast in hell, as they deserve. Bart actually yells at Joel not to say anything like that ever again. This is HIS family, and he makes the decisions, not Joel.

Then Bart whirls on Cathy and bitches about Cindy, that she’s no good. She’s a horny teenager. Yeah, it was a bit disrespectful, perhaps, but that’s it. This isn’t the 1950s. Stop slut-shaming Cindy. I feel like this should be a hastag. Bart reluctantly agrees that Cindy can stay, but Lance has to go RIGHT NOW. When the boys leave, Cathy is cold towards her daughter and says that she is disappointed. Cindy says that she wanted to give herself to Lance as a Christmas gift. Cathy doesn’t believe that was her first time, and is pissed that Cindy thinks she is stupid. Cindy begs for forgiveness and Cathy says she’ll think about it.

Daaamn.

After this, Bart is subdued and Cindy is weepy. Cathy has a talk with her daughter, where she says she understands Lance’s actions, but not Cindy’s, because well, ANY young man would have come in the room once invited. Ugh. She says Cindy can wait until she’s 18, and Cindy says that she held out much longer than most girls she knows, firstly, and secondly, Cathy really is no better, is she? I would also add that Cindy isn’t trying to get with anyone in her family, either blood-related or by marriage, unlike the rest of them in that house . . . Cathy doesn’t appreciate being called out, of course, and kind of uses her sad upbringing as an excuse. Cindy still tries to convince her that her experience with Lance was the first, and she’s been waiting, and she was in love with him, so it wasn’t casual. Cathy thinks about her experience with Paul – which, YEAH, he had ADOPTED you and you fucked him. You’re not really the most appropriate person to give advice about sex and love to a young girl.

Chris Calls and asks how things are, and Cathy lies that Lance needed to go home early due a family emergency. Chris knows she’s lying because Lance is right nearby and he told Chris everything; Chris took care of the boy’s broken nose and cuts. Bart went too far.

Cindy complains that it’s boring at Foxworth Hall now, and Bart says she can leave anytime, and she’s a bastard. They trade insults, until Cindy says that he’s crazy and he grabs her and threatens harm to her. Cathy tries to get them to make peace with each other, but it’s not use, they rile each other up again. CreepyJoel comes in and says for him to let it go; Bart is a born leader, and Cindy is, well, nothing. Bart instantly calms down and follows Joel out of the room like an obedient puppy. This worries Cathy; how does Joel have that much power over him?

Christmas Eve arrives and everyone is festive and joyous . . . well, almost everyone. Melodie is miserable and sitting kind of in the corner away from everyone. After insisting she’s fine, she goes back upstairs. Jory is sad now. He mentions that she doesn’t even cozy up to Bart anymore. Cathy is disturbed – did he know his brother had been having a dalliance with his wife? But that’s all he says.

Later, Chris and Cathy open their one gift on Christmas Eve. Chris gives her a teardrop-shaped diamond necklace, for, as he says, “all the tears he would have cried if he couldn’t love her.” The rest of the family comes to join them, and Jory toasts to his parents’ love and says that he hopes he can rekindle that sort of love with his wife soon. She just shrinks into the chair and refuses to look at anyone. And once again, Melodie leaves, after snapping that she doesn’t need anyone’s help. Their little party kind of breaks up after that, especially after Jory begins a bout of coughing. Bart says that Melodie doesn’t need to be at the party next day, especially when she is being so miserable. Cathy just thinks of how fastidious her famously-sloppy son has become in his adulthood. And it’s snowing pretty badly still, so she wonders aloud how all of these guests are going to show.

Bart says that he’ll fly them in if necessary. Joel has a weird look on his face as he leaves the room. When Cathy goes to Cindy’s room to say goodnight to her, she says that after tomorrow she wants to go to New York for a New Year’s party her friend is throwing because this place is SUCH a bore; she promises she’ll be on her best behavior for the ball.

Christmas Day dawns and it has stopped snowing. Everyone seems happy, except for Joel, of course, who is upset at Bart that he is throwing away so much money to try to impress people, and this sort of pride is sinful. Bart screams at him to shut up and hates that everything he tries to do is a sin. Cathy tries to comfort him.

Jory and Bart talk about religion and Joel, and Jory says that Bart should just give the old man a few hundred thou and say tata! Bart seems to be struggling with his relationship with Joel, and asks Jory why he doesn’t like the old man. Jory says that he’s seen Joel looking around Foxworth Hall like it’s his, and that he glares at Bart when he doesn’t think he can be seen.

Everyone tears into their gifts. Cindy gives CreepyJoel a old-time nightshirt and cap. He thinks she’s making fun of him, which I’m sure she is. Jory is trying to find the clipper ship to give to Bart, but it doesn’t appear to be under the tree anymore. Cindy finds it behind the couch on the other side of the room. Cathy notices CreepyJoel has suddenly comes back and is watching from the shadows as Bart opens the box, and he’s super-excited, hoping it’s the ship . . . but it’s broken. Bart, angry at this letdown, says that Jory did this as revenge for Bart screwing Melodie. Jory says he’s lying, Bart says he isn’t, Chris demands he apologize for lying, Bart says no, because it ISN’T a lie, and Cindy slaps Melodie’s face. Bart begins to laugh and Chris asks where his honor and integrity are, and Bart says HE’S one to talk. He just wants his mother to die a decent woman, and Chris is keeping her from that. Cindy wants to know if Melodie really DID sleep with Bart, and she just cries that everyone needs to leave her alone! She can’t take all of this! Yes, she did go to Bart – she pretended he was Jory. Jory said he had his suspicions but now he knows for sure; Melodie can’t live without a man, and he really isn’t much of one right now, is he? And he sadly leaves the room.

Cathy wants to know who smashed the ship; it was packaged so carefully. Bart thinks it was Cindy; Joel helpfully pipes up that maybe Jory dropped the box. Later, when Joel is alone, Cathy accuses him of smashing it. She asks why he came back to the US, especially when he supposedly was so at peace at his monastery. He’s too close behind her and she whirls around quickly, thinking he’s about to choke her. He tells her that his grandmother’s name was Corrine, and that’s why Cathy’s mother was named thus, as a punishment. No beautiful woman can be trusted. Cathy slaps him and he warns her that she will regret that, along with all her other sins.

They have an early dinner so they will have plenty of time before the party. Cathy notices that Joel seems very . . . smug, almost, and muttering to himself about deceit. Then he claims he’s going to bed early, as he doesn’t approve of parties. This is a day for worship, not drinking and fornication. No one is decent anymore. It’s shocking. When he leaves, Cindy calls him a son of a bitch, which enrages Bart; then Jory gets into it with Bart about religion. Bart says that Jory is being punished by God and Jory says that as soon as he can, he’s leaving this house and he will forget he has a brother.

After the elevator doors close, Jory is a bit regretful, because he thinks that Bart might actually believe all that he says, even though Joel might be a hypocrite. Chris says that Bart needs their love and support now more than ever.

Later than evening, dressed in their fancy party clothes, they settle downstairs to wait for the guests. Cathy swears Joel is hiding upstairs to spy on them. Headlights sweep down the street and everyone stands at the ready, only to be disappointed when none of the cars turn into the Foxworth driveway. Cindy arrives fashionably late, in a low-cut gown that displays her “creamy, swelling breasts,” as Cathy says. How come no slut-shaming this time, Cathy? Cindy is disappointed that no one has arrived, and she heads over to the piano and does a thrilling rendition of “O Holy Night.” Apparently, no one knew that she could sing so well. This momentary respite is dashed by Bart’s gloominess that no one showed, despite all the RSVPs he had received. Why are they snubbing him? He begins throwing back drinks. Cindy is making the best of the situation, engaging the musicians to play for her while she sings, and she dances with all the men there, including some of the servants. As the clock strikes midnight, Bart is bitter and swears his revenge on the entire town. He’ll buy out everyone and THEN they’ll see the power he can wield! Bart stays they will never celebrate any other holiday in this house as long as he is here; Joel was right, he shouldn’t have tried to make people like or respect him. From now on, he will be like his great-grandfather, Malcolm – ruthless and full of iron will.

Cathy makes an excuse for not going upstairs right away and sneaks into Bart’s office to look for the RSVPs from the townspeople. Two-hundred-fifty cards inside the desk. No rejections. Cathy is sure no one would do something like this, even to people they don’t like – they would have thrown the card in the trash and never answered, or sent the decline card back. Cathy goes to CreepyJoel’s room and throws open the door to find him doubled over on his bed, but in pain or silently laughing she isn’t sure. She asks him why he was laughing at Bart’s suffering and he says they made such a racket he couldn’t sleep and the sight of everyone waiting made him chuckle. He claims he can’t remember if he was the one who mailed off the invitations, but Cathy says that she remembers Bart was too busy the day he wished them sent out and gave the task to Joel. He says he DID mail them, but he just said he couldn’t remember, so. . . .anyway, Cathy says he’s lying about sending them – the invitations all look so weird, with a bunch of crooked handwriting and various-colored inks. Seems more like he brought them up here to his little room, and painstakingly filled out Yes to every RSVP in a way to make it look like they were signed by different people. Now, that seems like something Joel would do – but for RSVPs I thought you just checked off the accept or decline box and mailed it back. . . what handwriting would be needed? Then again, I’m po’ so I have never been invited to fancy parties.

She tries to tell Bart her theory, and Bart is drunk and throwing all the cards into the fire. He says that his great-uncle is the best friend he’s ever had, and it’s HER fault that no one showed up, her and her brother. Cathy leaves and wonders if that is, indeed, the truth – and that Joel is just a harmless old man who wants to live out his last days here with the only person who actually loves and respects him.

Cathy tries to sleep, but can’t, and hears Bart’s car leaving around 3am. She intends to go to his room and wait for him to return. He’s drunk and whiny and sad – no one will ever love him, and he’ll never be truly happy, and Cindy’s right when she calls him a jerk, a creep. He loves Jory, but also hates him, and he has no love at all for Cindy, especially because she’s not even their real family . . . and I hate when he says this, because families are not always who’s related by blood. But anyway.

Cathy asks what she can do, and he says she needs to send her brother away; that’s the only way he can feel good about himself, and her. She says that if she loses Chris, it will destroy them both. Bart says she’ll still have HIM, and he wants her to purify her soul before it’s too late, before something terrible happens. She asks if he’d hurt her and Bart says that sometimes he wants to; he hears “whispers” in is head that say she’s evil and deserves to die. Hmm, I think you might need to go back into therapy, my dude.

He goes on and on, about Melodie not really loving him – he was just a substitute for Jory; about Cindy and that she teases him by walking around her bedroom wearing skimpy clothes. Um, what are you doing in her bedroom? You expect privacy in yours – it’s none of your fucking business how she dresses in her own room. Joel says she is a whore, but Joel thinks EVERYONE is a whore, so is that really telling you anything? Cathy asks if Cindy was deliberately displaying herself to him, and he says that she must have done the same thing with her brother . . . all those years locked up and all. She says she doesn’t want to think about those times and he says she just has excuses and he’ll never be clean, EVER, because of her.

Cathy goes back to bed, only to be awakened by screams. It’s Melodie, and she’s in labor. Chris is angry that she didn’t say anything the whole evening, when she must have been having contractions. It’s very dramatic and she screams and faints. It’s a boy! As Cathy is cleaning him up, she hears a second cry from the other room – it’s a girl! Cathy thinks to herself that it’s Carrie and Cory reborn. Because that’s normal, right? Chris tries to stop that right in its tracks – they are not the same, these are not doomed children. Since they are so small, Chris takes them, and Melodie, to the hospital. Jory gets to the see the children before they leave and he is choked up with emotion, aww.

They decide to name the twins Darren and Deirdre, breaking the curse of C-named children, I suppose. Bart is obnoxious and says poor Melodie has enough problems, like Jory isn’t even there. Jory says not to worry about them, they’ll be leaving soon, which saddens Cathy until Jory says that they’ll go wherever Chris and Cathy want to go. He can’t stay here with Bart acting this way, though.

Melodie returns from the hospital, weak and whiny. What is she going to do by herself with two babies? Who’s going to help her?? You have family and a bunch of money, and Jory. Bart makes a perfunctory visit to the hospital to see the twins and comments that they are very small. No shit, Bart.

Winter goes by. Everyone but Bart goes to a New Year’s Eve party; he claims he’s going to an exclusive men’s club. Cindy says that means it’s a cathouse, and Cathy yells at her that what Bart does is his own business. O rly? Cathy tries to find out at this party if anyone received Bart’s Christmas ball invitation and they say no, but Bart doesn’t care when she relays this information because he believes Joel. Melodie retreats further into herself and barely takes care of her children. Cathy sees her as a monster, but hey, perhaps it’s depression, hmm? No one in this family seems to take mental health seriously. She also has no interest in Jory, but that’s nothing new.

Cathy wants to throw a party for Jory’s thirtieth birthday, but Bart says no. he doesn’t approve of dancing and he sees how sinful it is now. He also mentions that a chapel is being built on the grounds and then EVERYONE in the house will be required to attend services, services that will be presided over by his saintly Great-Uncle Creep, I mean, Joel.

Cathy begins to see local headlines about prominent families going bankrupt and wonders if this is Bart taking his revenge. Bart explodes at her when she even brings it up. He’s not God, and he said some crazy shit that night, but why would she think he had anything to do with THIS?

In order to find out what really goes on with her son, Cathy hangs out near the kitchen and gets all the hot goss from down the hill. According to the kitchen help, Bart is screwing around with a good bunch of the society ladies, married and not. He also frequents a brothel outside the city limits. When asked one night while he is drunk, he says that Joel told him the best evangelists have been the worst sinners, so he’s sinning so much he’ll truly know what it’s like to be saved. Or something.

Jory really gets into gardening for something to do, in between helping take care of his twins and painting. Cathy implores Melodie to take care of her kids and she sneers that their grandmother is already doing so much, what point is there? Cathy always gets what she wants, says Melodie, except Bart’s love and respect. She knows that Bart hates his mother, and at first she felt sorry about it, but now she understands.

The next morning, Cathy comes to Jory’s room with the twins to find him crying over a letter. It’s a dear Jory, from Melodie, saying that while she still loves him, she cannot accept his disability and can’t live with a man who can never make love to her again. This house makes people insane and lonely. She’s failed as a mother and a wife and she knows that, and it’s not his fault. She was always just a fantasy and when reality came crashing in, she crumbled into dust.

Bart is out of town when Melodie leaves, and the only thing he’s sorry for is that he couldn’t see the look on Jory’s face when he read the note. But also, good riddance. Melodie’s depression was so dreary, omg, Cathy sez. Bart seems to be fascinated by the twins, until Joel says because they look like Cory and Carrie, they’re also evil. Cathy says that they were the ones who were harmed by his family. Um, also, these two were conceived in a relationship that wasn’t marred by the parents being blood relatives, but whatever, right?

Cindy arrives for the summer and one night, she says she’s going to a walk in the moonlit woods, which Bart takes to mean she’s meeting a boy there. She argues that she just wants to really soak in the nature, and the village is ten miles away, so . . . His argument is that she’s not his sister, just a little bitch in heat, just like her mother. Chris slaps his face for that remark and Bart draws back as if to punch Chris in the face, making Cathy stand between them and say that if Bart punches Chris, she’s done with Bart forever. Bart continues to argue that Cindy is just a little whore and they refuse to see it. The staff talk about her, you know – they also talk about you, Bart, and your tomcatting around, but that’s okay, right? Because you’re a MAN. Cathy pretty much says this and he says that he’ll fire all the help for their rumors.

Cindy is upset in her room and threatening to leave. Cathy wonders as she goes to bed where she can send Cindy to keep her from being hurt by Bart. In the meantime, Cindy sneaks out of the house to meet a boy. She goes out dancing and then he parks on the way back to Foxworth Hall and claims to have fallen in love with her. They get down to business in the car and that’s when Bart comes upon them. Bart hauls the young buck out of the car and throws him on the gravel, then beats the shit out of him. The boy, Victor, does hit back, unlike Lance, but he continues to beat and curse him until Victor gets knocked out cold. Then he turns on Cindy, slapping her face over and over, while she stands there, naked. Then he picks her up in a firefighter’s carry and takes her back to the house, leaving Victor on the ground. He doesn’t let her call an ambulance for Victor, nor will he let her put clothes on. Later, when relating this story to Cathy, she says he took her to, then stops and says, Just home.

Cathy has her phone taken out of the room and she’s disappointed that Cindy is so free with her sexual favors. Why, she just met that boy! Cathy couldn’t bear for a stranger to lay a finger on her – okay, but that’s YOU! Cindy begs for her mom to help her, and she says that she needs to get to know a man better before she has sex with him. Cindy goes into a monologue about all the books talking about sex, and never love. What even IS love? Sex is natural and despite her mother’s old-fashioned ideas, if a boy wants to make out, she’ll oblige. She wanted to have sex with Victor. And if that makes her a sinner, well, then so is most of the world – including Cathy and Chris! This deeply hurts Cathy, but is she wrong, Cathy? Is she?

Cindy stays in her room, watching TV, refusing to eat at the table if Bart or Joel is there. She once again threatens to leave and never come back to Foxworth Hall. Cathy asks what she’ll do and she says whatever she has to. Cathy says she’s disrespectful and when she can be mature, she’ll help her escape the house. Why does Bart have any hold over her? He doesn’t give a shit about Cindy, so why does it matter if she goes back to South Carolina, or anywhere else, as long as it doesn’t interfere with Bart’s goals? Now he claims he’s trying to lead a “decent” life, and now he claims that he’s fine with her leaving, as long as she stays out of Virginia. Cindy wants to go to a drama school in New England and Bart says, Cool, say bye to the trash for me.

When Cindy leaves, she says that the rest of the family should leave, too, for the house is evil. Chris and Cathy talk about the new nurse that Chris hired for Jory and the twins. Toni is beautiful, of course, but Cathy thinks that Jory hasn’t even looked her because he is so busy with his art and the children.

Jory says that there’s been construction going on in the house while they’ve been gone, and he’s been calling for Toni for the last ten minutes to help with the twins but she hasn’t heard him. Of course, she’s in the pool with Bart, and they seem taken with each other. Of course. Cathy chastises her and she runs off to help Jory. Bart says that he’s glad they’ve decided to stay, especially now with Toni there. CreepyJoel comes to get him, as he’s been neglectful of his duties. He has been chosen and now he must stop wasting time. Bart drops everything and follows him inside. Chris doesn’t see anything wrong with this; if they want to pray in their little home chapel to avoid the prying eyes of all the villagers, so be it. And besides, it’s time they all left, anyway, just need to find a house that is suitable. Jory comes in while he's talking and agrees that perhaps he and Cathy have been overly suspicious of the old man.

Jory changes his mind about leaving again, now that he can swim in the pool, and there’s the wide corridors and the elevator for his wheelchair. Chris is going to a convention in Chicago and he’d like Cathy to go with him, but she makes an excuse that she needs to be there for Jory. But that’s why he hired the nurse! Cathy isn’t sure if she will take good care of Jory yet, though, especially with Bart chasing after her.

Toni and Bart draw closer and Bart seems to be truly happy. Joel says that she’s just after him for his money. Bart isn’t worried, though; he’s going to test her to see if she is worthy, and if so, he will make her his wife.

Jory talks to his mother about Bart and Toni, and about Joel. He’s changed his mind again about the old man. He reminds Jory of John Amos and feels that he’s using the family. He overheard Bart and Joel talking and it seems like Bart’s test is that he’s going to tell Toni the complete history of his past, his psychological problems, and that if he’s ever committed to an institution he will lose his inheritance. He knows that Joel prowls the house at night, and he really doesn’t like Cathy, muttering to himself that she’s just like her mother, only much, much worse. Cathy is concerned, and tells him that she’s pretty sure Joel smashed the ship, and never mailed the Christmas ball invites. And how did Bart know where Cindy was unless someone was eavesdropping? It had to be Joel, because Bart doesn’t give any of the hired help a second glance. Jory is surprised she never told him any of this, but Chris didn’t believe her, so why would anyone else?

That night, Toni comes to talk to Cathy. She says that she loves Bart, and she thought that he was falling for her, too, but then he sat her down and told her in a very calculating way about his past. It’s obvious he loves and is obsessed with his mother, and that’s the type of woman that he really wants. When Toni told him this, he was shocked. She’s upset that he had so little faith in her that he put her to this kind of test – and so she thinks she should leave. Cathy implores her to stay and tells her that most of this was Joel’s idea. Toni stays.

Cindy comes back home for the holidays, presumably because Bart has allowed it, now that he has twoo wuv and happiness. Cindy and Toni become fast friends, and Jory notes that Bart seems so much happier than he’s ever been. Bart and Toni go to New York with Cindy for a New Year’s party. Cathy tells Joel that Bart won’t be as dependent on Joel when he gets married. Joel says that will never happen. And indeed, when the couple return from New York, they don’t appear to be speaking to each other. All Toni will say is that he doesn’t love her. Cindy told her mom in a letter that he humiliated her at the nightclub, and was also harsh with Toni because she danced with another man. The quiet between Toni and Bart erupts into fights, and then Bart stays away from the house longer, going to bars, and Toni spends more time with Jory and the twins.

Bart makes them all attend chapel services with him and Joel, pinching the twins to make them sing hymns. Jory seems to have fallen in love with Toni. After one too many hellfire-and-brimstone sermons, Chris and Cathy decide to stop attending the services, and keep the impressionable twins away, too. Cathy occasionally slips and calls these twins by her brother and sister’s names. This grimly amuses Joel, who overhears her and says that she would remember the ones born of evil.

Jory and Toni talk about each other and Bart. Jory turns a bit ugly and says she should leave, but he’s obviously in love with her, as Cathy sees while spying on them in the garden.

At this point, my copy went back to the library, but there aren’t many pages left. Cathy discovers that Bart and CreepyJoel have been luring the twins to the chapel to preach to them, and Cathy has decided that enough is enough and they are all leaving this house, NOW.

After their plans have been made to leave Bart to his fate, Chris is supposed to come home, and just like their father, never arrives, because he has been killed in a car accident. The circumstances are different – Chris was attempting to help a stranded motorist and became a victim of a hit-and-run – but this breaks Cathy. Bart, of course, “sees the light” at the funeral and realizes what a colossal piece of shit he was to Chris. He becomes a televangelist and even makes amends with Cindy.

Jory and Toni get married, and she even gets pregnant, so he gets a happily-ever-after. For Cathy, though, there is no happy without Chris, so she continues to withdraw from the others. Trevor, the butler, finds her in the attic, dead amongst a bunch of children’s drawings of paper flowers and animals. We are to presume that she died of a broken heart.

[break]

Of the Dollenganger series, I always liked this one the least, mainly because it is SO very long and a lot of the action is repetitive. Also, the feelings of foreboding that are constantly threaded throughout the narrative rarely come to fruition. Yes, Jory becomes disabled because the sand in the columns was made heavier with water, but we never get a clear conclusion on who was to blame. Was Joel the culprit? He is painted as a frail man, so I doubt he actually got his hands dirty – he might have paid some of the workers off, though. It’s unclear, and frustrating. And then you have arcs where Bart threatens people, or when he keeps trying to brainwash Jory’s children, and to what end? It freaks Cathy out, but why? Are we supposed to presume that they’re going to hurt their parents or grandparents?

As an adult, the thing that really bothers me – in case you weren’t aware in the earlier segment of this episode – is the slut-shaming of Cindy. CONSTANTLY. What makes it interesting in this universe, however, is she’s attracted to men and boys that aren’t related to her or live in her house, and she doesn’t cheat on one with another, which is something that cannot be said for pretty much anyone who is condemning her.

Briefly, however, I wanted to speak about the disability horror trope. While it has been touched upon in previous novels, it’s VERY prevalent in this book. (And My Sweet Audrina, which will probably feature in a future episode at some point).

Many religious stories gleefully recite disabilities as punishment, and CreepyJoel is no exception. He feels that Jory was punished for the sin of dancing, of showing his body to others, et cetera. If you want to go deeper, and view the other part of this trope – that disabled characters become evil – one could swing the pendulum on Bart and his mental illness to capture the more sinister elements of his character.

I am NOT dogging people for mental illness, so please don’t send me letters!

The old writer adage is “write what you know,” so I’m sure there is a bit of that here given Andrews’ background (although she never fully lost the use of her legs, she was dependent on wheelchairs and crutches for most of her adult life), and I’m betting that was a real fear of hers, as it is for many. HOWEVER, using disability as a foundation for your horror – either film, television, or book – is ableist as fuck and needs to stop.

Well, that’s the show. Please like, subscribe, and comment. The Forgotten Library is available on most podcast aggregators. Transcripts and source materials are in the show notes. And suggestions for future shows are always welcome.

Until next time, I’m Nikki Gee, your intrepid library haunter.