Chapter 7

The next night they were packing for the trip to Chicago, the party was Friday night, and they were going to drive back and go on the camping trip on Saturday. On Thursday night, just for the fun of it, they decided to put on their costumes to see how they looked when they tried to dance. They stood in front of the large full length mirror in Anne's room, the two costumes looked good together.

"No, your costume is missing something," Anne observed of Howie's ensemble.

"What?"

"Hold on, I'll be right back." Anne rushed up into the attic. "Here we
go." She presented Howie with an empty violin case that she had found in the attic when she moved in.

"You have got to be kidding me?"

"Yeah I was, but it was an interesting idea."

They arrived in Chicago early, the party started at 8:00, and they had
three hours to kill. They both slept for about an hour and a half in their hotel room and then got ready. The building the party was being held in amazed Howie, he had never seen anything quite like this party before. Just as Anne had predicted there were people from all eras there. Steve greeted them at the door, he was dressed head to toe in full Louis XIV attire, his costume was ornately decorated with gold braid, he had on a long grey wig.

"Oh my God, Anne, you look fabulous," Steve said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Hello, I'm Steven Connors, nice to meet you," Steve said, extending his hand to Howie.

"Howard Dorough," Howie replied shaking hands with Steve.

"Anne, good job, you found a nice one."

"Thank you, Steve," Anne replied a little uncomfortable.

"I will see you a little later, Sweetie, go dance, and do your thing."

They left Steve who was still greeting guests at the door, and checked
their coats. The pair quickly found a table and watched the diversely costumed collection of people dance out on the large wood floor.

"That's Mark, Steve's partner, he's really cool," Anne said pointing to a man dressed similarly to Steve, chatting with several women. "And over there are Kati, and Kim, I met them on the same trip where I met Steve," Anne added indicating her two friends. One on a black Revolutionary War era dress, topped off with purple hair, and another in black leather and gold 1980's attire. The band up on the stage was an eight- piece band who played a variety of material. They started the intro to Sing Sing Sing, and instantly the dance floor was jumping with 'Swing Kids,' about twenty-five percent of the guests were dressed in clothes from the WWII era.

"Let's go dance?" Howie implored.

"Only if you think you can keep up," Anne replied. They danced for a while
and get pretty into the fun swing moves, Howie held his own, which surprised Anne, and she was better than he expected, much to his delight.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew how to do all this stuff?" Howie asked, after ducking so Anne could kick over his head.

"You never asked. I told you I was into the swing thing when it came out.
Where did you pick it up?" Anne asked.

"Kev and I both thought it sounded like fun, so we both took a few lessons a while back. He's really good at this type of thing, you know he taught for a little while."

"I did pick up that detail somewhere." After the song was over, they sat down to take a breather. A disco song came on next, generally with every type of song people from that era flocked to the dance floor, after that a song from the turn of the century was provided by the band. The Charleston came on next, and Anne went out to dance, Howie quickly followed her. Moments earlier, he had slipped over to where the band was playing, and had been talking to the band leader, unbeknownst to Anne. They danced and had fun, the fringe on her dress flew out in all directions. The night was a blast, both Anne and Howie had fun, the only low point for her was when Steve begged her to sing.

"You never said you wanted me to sing tonight, Steve? That's kinda sneaky isn't it?"

"I know, Anne, just one song."

"Fine, what is it?"

"Some blues."

"Blues? What song?"

"I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good."

"You want me to sing one of Billie's songs?"

"Yep."

"All right. God, you always knew I loved that song. Do they know it?" Anne
asked, indicating the band.

"Yep, knock 'em dead, baby."

"You got it Steve." Anne reluctantly went up and sang the song, she never
could say no to Steve. The crowd ate it up. When she was done she quickly met back up with Howie.

"I never knew you could sing like that," he said.

"It's a well-kept secret. That is one of my all time favorite Billie
Holiday songs. Unfortunately Steve knows that. " Eventually, they left the party, at 2:00, which was considered early. They departed early the next morning for the camping trip and rolled into the campground at about 3:00 in the afternoon. It took them about thirty minutes to get all their gear set up, and then they hiked down to the beach. Anne saw the mass of people from her church on the beach and she and Howie went over to say hello.

"Oh my God, Anne, you made it."

"Hi mom."

"Are you guys going swimming?"

"Maybe later," Anne replied. Howie and Anne, who were now shoeless, sat
down on the mass of towels spread out on the sand. The sun felt warm, and the breeze off Lake Michigan, blew gently. Suddenly sopping wet arms draped over Anne's shoulders, and gave her a bear hug, she looked over her shoulder. "Dammit, Kyle! AHHH!"

"I'm glad to see you made it, Annie." Kyle, Anne's friend, smiled, and then looked at Anne wondering who the man sitting next to her was.

"Kyle Carpenter, Howie Dorough."

"Nice to meet you," Kyle said.

"Likewise, I've heard a lot about you," Howie replied.

"Anne was talking about me?" Kyle asked surprised.

"Of course, I've known you since we were like, what, seven? Plus, Kyle, you
were my first 'Haslett friend' to call me Rose, it always meant a lot."

"Hey thanks, well I gotta go, they're playing frisbee without me," Kyle said, then ran back out into the water.

Anne and Howie each laid out in the sun, also Howie talked to several members of Anne's church, most of them knew who he was, but few cared. There was a radio on one of the blankets, tuned to a local station.

"Well I'll be damned," Anne said, out of nowhere.

"What?" Howie asked.

"Check it out," she said, motioning to the radio.

"...looking at the crowd, I see your body swaying..."

"Larger Than Life, that's the first time I've heard it on the radio," Howie
commented.

"Me too," Anne replied. "It took me by surprise."

That night, Anne brought out her guitar, and played while sitting around
the campfire that was cooking the 'mass dinner.' Everyone was starting to gather in preparation to eat. Without even thinking about it she began to play and sing Jewel's Down So Long, when she had finished people clapped, she was a little embarrassed.

"Anne, can you play, Why? I love that song," Mary, Anne's friend asked.

"Sure," Anne replied. She had never played this song, 'unplugged' before,
after she was done, she put her guitar away and prepared to eat. On the way back she saw Kyle high in a tree, suspended by climbing ropes, hanging a special hammock. "Kyle, what the Hell are you doing?" she called up.

"Hanging up my tree boat, I'm sleeping up here tonight."

"You're nuts, you'd better hope it doesn't rain." She left to get in the
food line. "Mrs. Carpenter, what is your son thinking?"

"I don't know, Anne, I gave up trying to understand him years ago."

"What's he doing?" Howie asked, looking at Kyle high in the tree.

"He's going to sleep in that tree tonight," Anne replied.

"That's crazy, it's not supposed to rain, is it?" he asked.

"I hope not, for his sake, it would get mighty soggy up there," she
replied. Over dinner they kept talking.

"Anne, I heard a bunch of people talking about going down to the beach to watch the sunset, do you want to go?" Howie asked.

"I'd love to, it's so beautiful down on the water." After dinner, they walked with the mass of the people from the church down to the water, the sun had stained the sky, bright orange, deep pink, lavender, and violet, the sparse clouds were silhouetted against the colorful backdrop. While most of the people stopped half way down the beach now covered with cool, damp sand, Anne had another idea. "Let's go up there," Anne said pointing up to a deserted dune, about one hundred yards away.

"Sounds good, the view would be better from up there anyway," Howie replied.

The barefooted pair hiked in the direction of the dune, however in their path ran the stream that flowed through the campground and emptied into the lake. Anne bent down to roll up the pant legs of her jeans, but Howie, who was in shorts, had a better idea. He scooped up the unsuspecting Anne, who let out a shriek of surprise, and carried her over his shoulder across the stream.

"You could have warned me," she laughed, when he put her down. She looked back and saw Kyle laughing his head off. They climbed the steep dune, and sat down on the cold, shaded sand. The sky grew darker, Howie sat behind her, and put his warm arms around her, she leaned up against his shoulder.

"Baby, I want to give you something," he said. "Close your eyes." She did, he drew a necklace out of his pocket and slipped it around her neck. "Okay, you can open them."

Anne looked at the silver rose pendant, across on the back of the flower was engraved an 'A.' "It's beautiful, what's with the 'A'?"

Howie thought for a second, it had escaped his mind when he bought the necklace that this question might come up. "Anne. You're both The Rose, and Anne Gray, remember that, don't get swallowed up by your career, don't lose who you are. Please, always remember who you are. I first liked The Rose, but then I met you, and Anne was the one I flipped over."

"Thank you, I don't know what to say," Anne said, she kissed him, the sun, slipping past the horizon escaped their notice. After the stars began to shine, and the craziness of the day began to wind down Howie and Anne joined a large circle of people roasting marshmallows, after his marshmallow caught on fire, Howie began to crack up.

"What's so funny?" Anne asked, a little concerned.

"That just reminded me of the last time I've had these, Nick loves them
burned like this. Well, I think he had like ten plain marshmallows, and like three s'mores, and he was really wired. Hence the 'Hyper' nickname."

"Oh my God, if I had that much sugar I'd get sick."

"He did," they both laughed at that last comment. Howie added, "Anybody
want a burned marshmallow?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I do, I do," replied Ashley, whose wide, nine-year-old eyes, had been glued on Howie since his arrival. She had been camping with a Backstreet Boy, and could not wait to tell all her friends when she got home, although she was a little bummed out that Nick could not come along too.

Howie and Anne decided to crash about midnight, they were still burned out from the party the night before and the long drive. Dead tired, they each curled up in their respective sleeping bags, and fell asleep.

"Here it is guys," Anne said as everyone piled out of her T-Bird. "Now, Kevin, Brian, and Nick, you'll all be staying over here at mom and dads. While A.J., Howie and I will be staying over at my place," she said, showing the two juxtaposed cottages. Anne did own a cottage on the same lake as her parents, but usually they were a mile apart. Instantly Anne, Howie and A.J. were inside her cottage, she and Howie were changing beds, while A.J. was watching tv. "Flannel sheets, shows you the last time I was up here."

"Uh huh," Howie replied.

A horn blared, and everyone went outside to see what was going on, Brian,
Kevin, and Nick were all standing in Anne's parent's pontoon boat, with Nick behind the wheel.

"Come on, let's go," Nick called, as he revved the engine. The other three quickly climbed in Anne's pontoon boat, and followed the other trio down the lake.

"Anne, Nick and I want to drag race, how about it?" Brian asked over the radio.

"Okay, first one past the Tiki hut on the island wins," Anne replied, trying to suppress a smirk. The boats took off, and Brian, Kevin and Nick's larger boat leapt out to an early lead, as they cruised past Brian who had a huge grin on his face, waved. Anne started cracking up.

"What's so damn funny?" A.J. asked. "They're beating us."

"Let's just say, Nick made the error of assuming because that is a bigger
boat that it has a bigger motor, that's only a fifty horse motor, there are seventy pushing this one." A.J. got the clue and tried to suppress a smirk. "So if you'd please sit down, I'd like to wipe that smile off of Brian's face right now." She jammed the throttle forward, and the boat surged ahead, and began to catch the other boat.

"Uh, hey Nick..." Kevin began.

"Shit, where did they come from?" Nick asked.

"Go faster," Brian pleaded.

"I'm going as fast as I can."

The boats cruised past the island, with Howie, A.J. and Anne's boat in the
lead.

"How the hell did you do that?" asked Nick, a little pissed off. "We were beating you."

"Bigger motor, I can pull water skiers behind this thing," Anne replied. "Woah, what the hell?" Anne said as she pointed to a boat pulling four water skiers. "I've never seen that here before, it's like Bush Gardens up here all of a sudden." A wave from the speedboat rocked the pontoon boat, and Anne instantly flashed awake. "Trippy," was all she could say as she reflected on her dream, she chuckled. "Nick swore in my dream." She looked over at Howie's sleeping bag, after seeing it was empty she looked at her watch, nine o'clock, she decided to get up.

"Good morning," Howie called, he was sitting on the picnic table drinking tea. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, but I had a real trippy dream." She relayed the events she could remember, to which Howie laughed.

"It must have been all the marshmallows," he said.

"I guess so. What in the world? Look." Anne pointed out the small objects
flying through the air at the hammock high in the trees. "I'll be right back, I have to check this out." Anne walked 'next door' to the Carpenter's camp site. After peering around their tent, she cracked up, and then walked back. "Kyle is still up there, and Mr. Carpenter is down there chucking stones at him, trying to wake him up."

"Really?"

"Swear to God. Mr. Carpenter," she called out. "You need to lob them up
higher so they drop in there." Later that morning they packed up to leave. Anne was cramming the last of the gear into the car, when Kyle, who was now wide awake came over and pulled Howie aside.

"No, Anne, I'll bring him right back I promise. Howie, I don't know when I'll get to talk to you again, so I think I need to say this right now."

"What is it?" Howie asked, concerned.

"Let's walk. I'm sure Anne has told you, I've known her since we were
little. I've seen her go through a lot. When we were growing up, she was so audacious, there wasn't anything she wouldn't do or at least try. She always had this sparkle in her eyes that told you she was going to do something special. It burned so bright when she was in college, and while she was doing the play in London. I've noticed recently, especially when she's around Jacob, whom I've had the misfortune of meeting twice, that the sparkle has faded. It was something inside her died. I was a little wary of her bringing you here, it's nothing personal, I was just worried you'd be like Jacob, which you're not, thank God. Look, I mean, well, I'm just trying to say, that you're good for her. I haven't seen her this happy, in a long time. That sparkle is back, please take good care of her. You know I can see she's good for you too. By the way I like the necklace, I assume that's your doing."

"Yes," Howie said, and smiled at that compliment, and went back to finish loading the car. They departed, and when Anne got into her kitchen she checked her answering machine.

"Rosie, Jake. Where are you? I've got great news, you got the call. Call me A.S.A.P."

"I don't get it?" Howie commented.

"Me either," Anne replied. She quickly called Jacob. "I what? When? The
seventeenth? But that's in two days, yes Jake. No-of course I'll do it.
Yes, thank you Jake. Okay, I'll talk to you later. Yep, bye."

"What was that all about?"

"I got Lilith, they called, they want me. I meet up with them on the
seventeenth. Lilith Fair, oh my God, I can't believe it, I'm so excited, Jake said they got a hold of one of the tapes from the tour somehow. This is the coolest thing ever," Anne said ecstatically.

"Wonderful," Howie replied, less than enthusiastic.

"Oh my God, your birthday, I forgot, I'm so sorry. I wish I could be with
you in Florida, I'm sorry I'm going to miss it."

"It's okay, you need to do this, you've wanted this for a long time. I'll live, I'll see you down there like the first week in September, right?"

"Yes, I'll be there. Howie, I want you to have something." Anne pulled the silver ring off the ring finger on her left hand.

"Your angel ring?"

"Yes, this ring means so much to me, I always wear it. It brings me luck,
I want you to keep it until I see you again, just so you won't forget me," Anne said.

"I'll cherish it," Howie said, putting the slightly oval ring through the chain on his necklace. With a difficult goodbye, he left for Florida the next morning, Anne flew to meet up with the rest of Lilith Fair. She would play to good crowds and good reviews for the next two weeks, the final two weeks of Lilith, ever. Because of scheduling conflicts, Anne was not able to go to Florida. She had to shoot the video for Why, Jacob and the rest of the higher-ups agreed to let her call the album, Crossroads, although it required a completely B.S.'d story to sell the title. It was now the first week in September, she went to TRL, and premiered the video, and decided to stay in town because the MTV Video Music Awards were days away, and she was going to be attending.

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