Super Special #7: Snowbound
This Super Special starts with a letter from Kristy to the editor of the local newspaper, announcing that she would like to edit together an article of the experiences of the BSC during the blizzard, for "human interest." In true Kristy fashion, this is how she ends the letter:
Classic. So anyway, apparently Stoneybrook has been wishing for some snow because it's looking like it's going to be a green Christmas. The weathermen and women keep predicting snow but it never arrives. The BSC is looking forward to the Winter Wonderland Dance at the end of the week - especially since they all have dates (Kristy and Bart, Claudia and Iri Mitsuhashi, Mary Anne and Logan, Stacey and Austin Bentley, Dawn and Price Irving, Mal and Ben, Jessi and Quint) - which had been canceled three times in past years due to bad weather. They don't think they have to worry about that this year, though...
But oh, wait. They do. Because 23" of snow gets dumped on Stoneybrook, and nobody had taken precautions because they all thought it was a bunch of bullshit, a false alarm again. The BSC is caught in a variety of situations when the storm hits:
Mallory and Mary Anne are baby-sitting all the Pike kids while Mr. and Mrs. Pike spend the entire day in New York City. Oh, and bad news: there are only one day's worth of groceries in the house. Stacey and her mom (who is afraid of driving in snow) are at the Washington Mall, half an hour from Stoneybrook, when the snow starts to come down. Kristy has rented a couple of movies (Uncle Buck and Back to the Future) and invited Bart over to watch them and then stay for dinner (hubba hubba). Jessi is stranded at ballet rehearsal with no idea whether or not Quint's train has made it from New York City to Stamford or whether her father made it there to meet him. Dawn and her mom are at the airport to pick up Jeff. Claudia is sitting for the Perkins girls.
As Stacey and her mom are driving home from the mall, Mrs. McGill decides there are too many crazy drivers on the highway and that they'll take the back roads home. Stacey is worried that they'll get lost but Mrs. McGill assures her they'll be fine. Mrs. McGill is wrong, because before they know it, they're stuck in the snow, stranded. Meanwhile, Bart is stranded at Kristy's house - he has to spend the night because the storm got so bad so quickly. Kristy is, of course, mortified - both at the thought of a boy spending the night and at the thought of subjecting Bart to more of her family's craziness. Everything is made worse for everyone when the power and the phone lines go out. Claudia is now doing an overnight with Myriah, Gabbie, and Laura (luckily just across the street from her own house). This is 1991, so no one has a cell phone or anything helpful, obviously.
Jessi is stranded at her dance school for the night, worried about whether Quint has made it to the train station... but she need not worry, because suddenly Quint shows up in the doorway of her dance studio. He walked in the storm from the train station. (Idiot.) Unfortunately, the phones have gone out, so they can't inform Jessi's parents or Quint's parents that he's fine and safe with Jessi. Meanwhile, there are nine people at the Pikes' house and practically no food. Who would they eat first if they started to starve? Probably Vanessa or Nicky. Dawn and her mom finally get to the airport only to find out that Jeff's plane has been rerouted to Washington D.C. due to the weather and that no one can go in or out of the airport until the storm clears. Dawn has PTSD flashbacks to when she and Claudia were stranded on the island.
Stacey and her mom are stuck in the snow, out of gas (from running the heat), and now out of heat. Stacey is also diabetic, duh, and really needs food. All she has are some carrot sticks and crackers, which don't last long. They are basically resigned to the fact that they're going to freeze to death in the car, when a man appears at the window and offers to let the McGills stay with him and his wife down the street for the night. Phew. Do not let my queen die in the cold!
Logan Bruno wins Boyfriend of the Year Award for skiing over to the Pikes' the morning after the blizzard with real food for the nine hungry inhabitants. (Also, Mallory mentions global warming... the BSC was really ahead of its time.) Jeff finally gets into Stoneybrook and the Schafers get to head home. But still, no one can find Stacey...
The man at their car window, Ken, helps them into his car and drives them off into the dark. Stacey, as I would, assumes there's an 85% chance that she and her mom are going to get murdered. But it turns out her "Dateline" fears are premature. Ken and his family (wife and baby) have a beautiful Victorian home and they're super nice and feed Stacey and her mom and let Stacey put the baby to bed and don't mind that her fresh perm smells like rotten eggs. Stacey and Mrs. McGill barely want to leave the Schiavones' house, but they do and, with the help of AAA, they make it back to Stoneybrook - where the BSC is thrilled and relieved to see them alive. Everyone is also thrilled and relieved that the Winter Wonderland Dance will happen as planned. #Priorities
Happy endings: the dance was great (Stacey was best dressed, obv) and Kristy's article "SNOWBOUND!" gets published (and she gets paid).
