The Raccoon 5/5

Laura and Mary are lying in bed. Mary asks her sister if she hates her. “Why should I hate you?” Laura asks. Oh, honey. Mary goes into a determinism monologue about how she brought Jasper into everyone’s life, she didn’t tell Pa about the bite initially, and then she did tell Pa after promising Laura she wouldn’t. Laura argues against all these points and tells Mary that she did what a sister should do. Mary then takes the approach that she broke a promise by telling Pa. Guh, I find people like this to be so tiresome. If you want to wallow in your failures, that’s your business, but don’t come to me to validate you. I did not RSVP for your itty bitty pity party, ok? Anyway, the girls go back and forth, swap “I love you’s”, cry, and start braiding each other’s hair.

Jack is trying to get some sleep in the barn but someone is rustling some hay and making a lot of noise. It’s Caroline, who is trying to work off some stress. She stops out of surprise when she sees Charles, but then they hug and he tells her everything will be all right. Mary calls from the stoop that Laura is thirsty. Caroline’s face lights up since Doc Baker said it would be a sign of progress, but Charles calms her down. Up in the loft, Charles helps Laura drink and then tucks her in. Jack starts barking again and the whole family looks at each other before looking out the window. Jack is jumping and barking and carrying on far more than usual. Charles closes the shutter as everyone holds back tears. He tells everyone to stay in the loft. Once downstairs he takes the gun off the coat rack and fills it with powder.

Charles slowly walks towards Jack and the barn as Caroline cradles her crying daughters. Jack is still carrying on once Charles arrives. I should point out that Hallmark thought it was appropriate to cut in at this point to advertise for Slim Fast, toilet paper, KFC, and the Scooter Store. Charles pulls back the hammer of the gun and starts to lift the barrel. Jack starts to whimper and back away. Pa is getting ready to aim when something jumps up behind him. He turns around and sees a raccoon. The raccoon does the face covering trick. Charles is so happy to see that it is Jasper, which means he wasn’t the rabid raccoon. Charles runs into the house and tells the family about the mix-up. It’s just like Three’s Company, except I don’t think Mr. Roper ever tried to shoot Jack in the face. Laura runs down to the barn to untie the dog. If you ignore the part about not being a complete plot resolution, happy ending!