Barbara L. Clanton - 2 - Tools of Ignorance - Lisa's Story

by Barbara L. Clanton

  “Okay, Papa.” Lynnie reached for Bridget’s and Lawrence Jr.’s hands. They crept up slowly as if Lisa and Sam would shatter if they got too close.

  Sam put a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter, and Lisa clamped her lips shut as her siblings stood quietly in front of them. Lisa put a hand on Lawrence Jr.’s shoulder, but didn’t dare look at Sam, because that would send her into a fit of giggles. They didn’t have much time to spare since they had to head out for East Valley pretty soon. William and Evelyn wanted her at the church by one o’clock for the two o’clock ceremony, and they still had to drive all the way back to East Valley.

  Her father lifted the camera. “Ready, everybody? Say ‘hot dogs and mashed potatoes.’”

  He snapped several pictures while everybody laughed, and then handed the camera to Lynnie to take a few pictures of her parents with Lisa and Sam. Sam then reached for the camera and insisted on taking some pictures of the entire Brown clan.

  “Okay, guys,” Lisa grabbed her clutch purse and white wrap, “we really have to go now.”

  “Oh, Lisa.” Her mother gave her a quick hug. “Have a wonderful time.” She turned and hugged Sam, too. “Take care of my baby.”

  Sam looked surprised by the request, but said, “I will.”

  Lisa hugged her mother and then hugged her father tightly. She whispered in his ear, “Papa? You know you’re my number one, right?”

  He nodded.

  “And when it’s my turn for a wedding, you’ll be the one walking me down the aisle.”

  He cleared his throat and said, “Thank you, Lisa Bear.” He nudged her toward the car. “You two had better get going.” He backed up toward her mother.

  “Okay. I love you guys.”

  They drove off in Sam’s car, and Lisa looked back to see her mother lean her head on her father’s shoulder. “Geez, you’d think we were eloping, the way my parents are carrying on.”

  “This is emotional for them. You’re becoming part of your bio dad’s life now. I don’t think they were quite ready for that.”

  “I know.” Lisa fanned herself. “I wish we could put the top down.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Sam said with a laugh. “And ruin all that work your mother put into doing your hair? Not on my watch.” She turned the air conditioning on in the Sebring. “So,” Sam glanced at Lisa, “you never told me how the talk went with Lynnie this week.”

  “Oh, the talk about her reading my journal?” Lisa grunted. “It went okay, I guess. At first she didn’t want to admit she’d read it, but we stared each other down for a while, and she cracked under the pressure.”

  “Yeah, I know that Lisa Brown glare. Especially when I’m trying to steal second base on you.”

  “Shut up.” Lisa stuck out her tongue.

  “Now that’s mature.”

  “I know.” Lisa sighed. “Anyway, Lynnie finally admitted that she’d taken my journal to her a room a couple of times.”

  “Just a couple?”

  Lisa shrugged. “Probably more than that, but at least she admitted it. She apologized, and I think she was genuinely sorry. I’ve found a new hiding spot, though, just in case.”

  “Are you gonna let me read it?”

  “My journal? No way!” Lisa grinned. “There’s private stuff in there.”

  “About kissing girls?”

  “Yeah. About kissing you.”

  “Ooh,” Sam said suggestively, “I may have to pull the car over so I can get a better idea what you mean.”

  Lisa laughed and pointed toward the road straight ahead. “Keep driving, missy. No way you’re messing up my makeup.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Sam saluted.

  Lisa reached for Sam’s hand and settled back for the forty-five minute drive to East Valley.

  Several hours later, Lisa sat alone at her assigned table in the reception hall. She and Sam had just danced together to a fast Beatles song. Afterward, Sam escorted her back to the table, and then went up to the bar to get them some sparkling grape juice. Meeting William’s family, the wedding itself, the photographs with the wedding party, and the reception afterward were becoming a blur in Lisa’s mind. She was exhausted.

  She smiled as she watched her new family on the dance floor. Her new instant grandparents insisted she call them by their first names, but Lisa still wasn’t sure if she could call them Shirley and Manny. Manny was tall with brown hair, and had a pot belly that he couldn’t quite hide behind his tuxedo jacket. Shirley, slim and tall, had a touch of gray in her deep black hair. Manny told Lisa she probably got her dark hair from Shirley. Lisa felt her cheeks get warm and then warmer still when Shirley told her she was their only grandchild. Oh, no pressure there. It was very confusing trying to figure out how these strangers fit into her life.

  Lisa wished Sam would hurry back to the table. She was on information overload and needed her support system. She turned to see what was keeping her, and wasn’t surprised to see her talking to an older woman at a table near the bar. Earlier that day, when they first walked into the church, Lisa got a taste of what it meant to be Samantha Rose Payton. Everybody seemed to know who she was and wanted to say hello, get a quick hug, or talk to her about something. It was like being with a celebrity. Lisa knew she was being given the rare privilege to see the other side of Sam’s life. No, not Sam, but Samantha Rose Payton, and part of being Samantha Rose Payton meant being gracious and charming and talking to everyone and anyone who wanted a piece of her.

  Lisa looked back at the dance floor and watched her new aunt Fran, and Fran’s wife Margaret slow dance together. Fran was the spitting image of William. She was tall with short black hair, minus the mustache. Margaret’s light brown hair was even shorter, almost boyish like Marlee’s. They seemed to fit together perfectly in each other’s arms. They looked just like every other couple slow dancing on the hardwood dance floor, except that they were two women. Lisa sighed. She wished she could slow dance with Sam, right there in front of everybody. William and his family would have been okay with it, and even Evelyn’s family seemed pretty liberal about William's gay sister and her partner. No, not partner, Lisa admonished herself. Wife. Fran and Margaret were legally married. The tiniest of black clouds swarmed around her heart, and she tried hard not to let the fact that if she wanted to live in New York State when she got older, she wouldn’t have the legal right to get married. It was so unfair. She didn’t want to have to move away to Massachusetts or Canada. She wanted to live near her mother and father. She wanted to watch Lynnie, Lawrence Jr., and Bridget grow up. She wanted to see them go to high school, fall in love, and get married.

  “Hey, brand new niece,” Lisa’s aunt Fran said as she sat down. “You look like you just lost your best friend.”

  Lisa forced herself to chuckle. “Oh, no, I’m fine. I’m just a little overwhelmed with all of this.” She whirled her hand to encircle the whole room.

  Aunt Margaret sat down at the table. “Breathe, Lisa, breathe,” she teased. “I can only imagine what all of this is like for you.”

  Lisa chuckled genuinely that time. “I’m okay, really.”

  Once Aunt Fran and Aunt Margaret seemed satisfied that Lisa was comfortable, Aunt Fran gestured toward Sam who held the interest of the entire table of guests. “Sam is absolutely beautiful, Lisa.”

  “Thank you. I think so, too.”

  Her aunts laughed, and Aunt Fran added, “We’ll keep her secret like you asked.”

  Lisa sighed in relief. “Thank you so much. She’s not out to her parents yet, and she wants to be the one to tell them, not, you know, the whole town.”

  “Yeah, coming out is always a tough gig.” Aunt Margaret nodded.

  “Hey,” Aunt Fran said, “you’re lucky I broke William in for you.”

  “Oh, yeah, thanks for that, too. I’m glad he wanted me to be part of his life and his wedding.”

  “You’re family, Lisa.” Aunt Fran smiled and then, as if to lighten the mood, said, “Who else but family would make you wear
powder blue silk chiffon?” She tugged at the hem of her bridesmaid’s dress.

  Aunt Margaret rolled her eyes. “Fran’s not a dress person. She can’t wait to get back into jeans and T-shirt.”

  Lisa laughed, but didn’t want to say that she absolutely loved her dress and doing her hair and putting on the makeup.

  “Oh,” Aunt Fran gestured toward William and Evelyn who were making their rounds to various tables, “speaking of family, and the things that they do—I, for one, am really proud of my big brother for sending you money every month for all those years.”

  Lisa didn’t know what her aunt was talking about. It must have shown on her face because Aunt Fran said, “Oh, honey, didn’t you know? He never missed a month.”

  Lisa shook her head in confusion. As if called by Lisa’s distress, Sam came back to the table and handed her a glass of sparkling white grape juice. “It’s so hard to break away sometimes.” She sat down, but took one look at Lisa’s face and said, “Baby, are you okay?”

  Lisa nodded, but didn’t have a chance to tell Sam what she’d just learned from her aunt, because William and Evelyn walked up to their table.

  William pulled out a chair for his new bride, and Lisa couldn’t help seeing how giddy they both were about being married. She hoped one day to capture that feeling for herself.

  “You’re positively glowing, Evelyn,” Lisa said.

  Evelyn blushed and squealed, “Thanks” in a high tight voice that made everybody laugh.

  Lisa turned toward William, “And you.” She poked him in the arm. “You are the luckiest man alive today.”

  When his cheeks turned scarlet, everyone laughed again. He said, “I am, and I know it.” He smiled at his new bride. Aunt Fran tapped her wine glass insistently with the edge of a knife. Soon dozens of wine glasses tapped out their frantic demand. William shrugged for the crowd and then leaned over to kiss his new bride. A cheer went up in the reception hall.

  Aunt Fran leaned in front of Lisa to get her brother’s attention. “William, she doesn’t know about your monthly checks.”

  “I know.” He looked at Lisa and took a deep breath. “Your mother didn’t tell you, but I sent her money for you every month. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but I always sent something. She said she put every single cent into a college investment fund for you.”

  “She did?” Lisa asked. “I didn’t know.”

  William smiled. “Hey, I didn’t know she was doing that either until I called her a few months ago. She told me that you probably have about three full years of college already paid for.”

  A cheer went up at their table.

  “I do?” Lisa was overwhelmed.

  William nodded, and Evelyn reached up and squeezed his hand.

  William laughed and added, “Well, you do if you go to a state school. If you want to go to Cornell or something then you probably have half a year paid for.”

  Lisa laughed, and then threw her arms around her bio dad. “Thank you, William.” She pulled away and blinked back a haze of tears. “You’re the luckiest guy today, but I think I’m the luckiest girl.”

  “We’ll share him,” Evelyn said.

  “Okay.” Lisa grinned.

  Evelyn grinned, too. “Thank you so much for being in our wedding, Lisa. We’re so happy to have you in our lives.”

  “Thanks.” Lisa knew her face must be turning fifteen shades of purple over the attention. A few people that day had stared, mostly out of curiosity, and a few others had pointed, but for the most part, she’d felt accepted.

  “With that,” William stood up, “we must leave this pleasant company and keep circulating.” He put his hand out. Evelyn placed her smaller hand in his and stood up. William turned to Lisa. “You are a beautiful young lady, Lisa.”

  She smiled. “Thank you. Good genes.”

  He started laughing. “Thank goodness you got your mom’s looks.” Everyone at the table laughed, but then a serious demeanor took over his face, and he looked from Lisa to Sam and back to Lisa. “Promise me you’ll take care of each other.”

  Lisa felt her face get warm. “I promise. For the rest of my life. If she’ll have me.”

  “Same.” Sam’s smoldering gaze made Lisa melt.

  “Hey, girls!” William wagged a finger at them. “One wedding at a time.”

  About the Author

  Barbara L. Clanton is a native New Yorker who left those "New York minutes" for the slower-paced palm-tree-filled life in Orlando, Florida. She currently teaches mathematics at a college preparatory school in the Orlando area. When she's not teaching, playing softball, tiling her floors, or evicting possums from the engine block of her RV, "Dr. Barb" plays bass guitar in a local band called The Flounders with her partner who plays the drums. Her ultimate dream is to one day snowbird between upstate New York and central Florida.

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  Struggling to maintain her grades, dealing with the ever-increasing estrangement from her best friend Jeri, and handling the pressures of the All County Pitching competition, Marlee also has to confront the bittersweet realities of what it might mean to be gay.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two