Tucker is going nuts - he had something to tell everyone, but has forgotten what it is. From a bag, Sam takes several commemorative items: her grandmother’s locket, which inspired "The Tale of the Long Ago Locket"; her brother’s school ring, which inspired “The Tale of the Dream Girl,” and a whistle, which inspired "The Tale of Watcher's Woods." Memories unite friends - but what if we had no indication of the past? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, she calls this story "The Tale of C7".
Ellen drives Jesse and younger sister Lisa to a tranquil, forested lakeside, where stands a large, detached house. Round the back of the house, an expansive lawn directly meets the lake. While Jesse isn’t too enamoured, Ellen revels in the natural splendour. The house, she explains, used to be called Homestead Inn - a once-prosperous site which she plans to revive.
By the dock, Jesse inspects a small metal boat. Ellen laughingly forbids its use.
Late that night, above the wind, Jesse hears a distant, echoing sound - a female voice sings a wistful set of notes. Jesse creeps onto the landing, where he runs into his mother, who hasn’t heard the music. Downstairs, they find Lisa, staring, entranced, out of a window. She asks if they can hear the music.
The following evening, Jesse wrenches open a stuck door. Inside is a vintage jukebox - which could do with some repair work.
Later that evening, Jesse, having spent some time tinkering with the jukebox, prepares to test his efforts. He selects C7. However, that record is stuck. He tries instead B5. With a mechanical whirr, a smoky waltz plays.
Jesse looks behind him. Across the darkened room, he sees, through the window, the unfamiliar figure of a young woman in a blue frock.
Jesse gasps in fright, steps back, and accidentally deactivates the jukebox. When next he looks at the window, the mysterious girl has vanished.
Late that night, Jesse is woken by the sound, from downstairs, of a smoky, tender song. He walks into the front room, and finds the record to come from the illuminated jukebox. He turns - and finds himself face to face with the girl from the window. He asks who she is.
Apparently unable to speak, she stares solemnly, and raises an indicatively proffered hand. Jesse backs into the jukebox, which deactivates the current record. The girl then fades from view.
Next day, as Jesse mounts a ladder to clean the windows, Ellen dismisses the likelihood of his curious encounter, and discourages suggestion of a haunting. Lisa overhears.
Some time later, Jesse looks down from scrubbing a window, and gets a nasty shock: Lisa, sitting in the boat, is rowing it away from the dock.
Jesse runs onto the dock, and calls for her to stop. Just in time, he steps on the loose tether which trails across the dock, and starts to pull the boat back.
Lisa urgently asks if he heard the lady in the canoe, who sang a song to which someone had promised to dance with her.
Ellen prepares to head out to a meeting. Mindful of Lisa's new preoccupation, Ellen confides having only been able to afford this place because of "the stories." Before she rushes off, she warns Jesse not to tell Lisa. According to the real estate agent, just after the Second World War, a young woman, in this hotel, prepared a welcome home party for her boyfriend, returning from overseas. Before the party, a telegram announced his death. After a storm that night, the girl's canoe was found empty on the shore.
Jesse searches the jukebox for the ghostly girl’s song. He reaches C7, "The Last Dance," but it’s still stuck. He opens the windowed case, and finds the mechanism to be jammed. Lisa distantly hears something. Entranced, she gazes out of the window at the lake.
Having fixed C7, Jesse looks up to find Lisa to be missing. He pelts onto the dock, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Panicked, he runs to the phone, and phones the Lakeshore Police. Dismissed as a prankster, Jesse slams down the phone. On sudden inspiration, he presses the jukebox button for C7.
The song floats across the air. In a curious trance, Jesse closes his eyes. He opens them, and turns around to find the room bedecked with a "welcome home" banner. A crowd of people in 1940s attire happily throw streamers. They approach Tommy, a beaming young man in army uniform. He hugs and shakes hands with several of his friends and family.
Through the door enters the young woman seen by Jesse at the window, and softly calls to Tommy.
With a brief word of thanks to Jesse, Tommy hurries over to Iris. The two jubilantly embrace. As the song continues to play, they start their planned waltz. Iris briefly breaks away, turns to Jesse, and earnestly thanks him. Overcome, he smiles and nods. The couple wave to their party, and head merrily into the night.
As Jesse looks on, the room darkens, and the party fades. He backs into his mother, and bolts outside in search of Lisa.
At the dock, Jesse and Ellen start to panic. Suddenly, they see Lisa standing, unharmed, at the end of the dock.
Ellen and Jesse run across the lamplit dock to Lisa, who happily reports all to be well: "the lady and her boyfriend" brought her back. Stunned with relief, Ellen hugs her, and leads her inside.
On the dock, Jesse lingers. He hears a final call of the ghostly song. In response, he smiles.
While his family saw no further ghosts, closes Sam, Jesse would always remember Iris and Tommy, and the song that brought them together - but the memory was all he had, as he could never get C7 to play again. With a crash of thunder, lightning flares. Tucker beams - he remembers what he had to tell: tonight is the night of a big storm! The heavens open, and release a mighty deluge. The Midnight Society run home.
This episode provides examples of:
- Big Damn Reunion: When Jesse manages to play record C7, he suddenly finds the room around him host to a spectral iteration of Tommy’s welcome home party. The spirit of the young soldier is happily welcomed by those of friends, family, and girlfriend Iris.
- City Mouse: Jesse initially bemoans relocation to the relatively remote spot, but eventually warms to the place.
- Cue the Rain: Once again, a meeting ends with the Midnight Society getting "dumped on."
- Disappeared Dad: Jesse and Lisa’s dad seems to be absent.
- Family Business: A haunted reputation lowers the price of the lakeside inn, offering a prime venue for an accommodation business.
- Friendly Ghost: Iris just wants reunion with her boyfriend.
- Ghost Reunion Ending: With a long-awaited airing of “The Last Dance,” Iris and Tommy, amidst friends and family, finally waltz to their favoured song.
- Ghost Song: Iris’s ghost manifests in wistful song.
- Haunted Fetter: The jukebox, with its offer of a cherished song, entices Iris’s haunting.
- Hostile Weather: Shortly after Tommy was killed in the war, Iris, on crossing the lake to his welcome home party, died in a storm.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: Along with her instantaneous arrival at the window, Iris’s spectrality is hinted by her 1940s attire.
- Missing Child: Young Lisa, who can’t swim, wanders off, and is seen to be rowing a canoe on the lake. When she disappears one evening, the terrifying implications of this are displayed - although thankfully, she returns unharmed.
- Scenery Porn: Some lovely shots of the open, lightly forested lakeside.
- Technology Porn: Get a load of that lovely old jukebox...
- Together in Death: Tommy and Iris, finally reunited by the planned airing of their beloved song.
