Rainbow Gap

by Lee Lynch

Kirby gave an eager yap.

  “No gator bites today, princess. If you behave, I’ll let you lick my plate clean.”

  Plain as day, Berry was trying to hide a look of distaste. She was such a lady, Jaudon thought, warmed despite the chilled air.

  Allison engaged Berry in talk about strategies for serving the health care needs of female migrant workers. As always, Berry listened hard while Allison, with her greater experience and understanding of the way the world worked, waved her hands about and devised game plans. Each was as committed to her beliefs as the other; every once in a while Berry, with quiet certainty, made suggestions that stopped Allison in her tracks and led her to rethink some theory or action she was espousing.

  Jaudon and Cullie reminisced about growing up in the area, by turns excited about how much they had in common and angry about most of the changes.

  “Used to be, every orange was picked and shipped. Nowadays, people are letting them fall, not sweeping them up.”

  “They want to sell the orchards and walk away with fists full of money.”

  “Or the taxes are so high they can’t afford to keep their family land, much less pay help to care for it.”

  Berry watched them. Another memory returned to her. Ma and Pa carrying bushel baskets of damaged oranges home to Gran’s trailer. They worked in season as orange pickers. They could still be picking, but out in California. She wanted to visit California as much as she’d wanted to as a child. She smiled at the memory of Ma and Pa presenting the oranges to Gran as if they’d discovered hidden treasure.

  Gran was onto something when she said to turn her focus to the best memories of Ma and Pa; she found herself grinning. “Look at those two cute codgers we love, Allison. Chewing the fat.”

  “Aren’t they adorable?”

  Jaudon tried not to smile.

  Cullie leaned toward her. “Did you hear Judy broke up with that crazy driver who slammed into my truck?”

  Allison shook her finger. “No gossiping, Cullie.”

  Jaudon wanted to ask if Allison thought she was Cullie’s momma.

  “It’s not gossip, Allison. Everyone knows Judy had to give up. That woman of hers had more problems than a math book. She’s trying to sue the car maker for not making a substantially safe product.”

  Jaudon winked at her. She was glad to see Cullie stand up to Allison.

  Cullie went on talking. “Judy was ferociously against Nina suing someone for her own mistake. Nina flew off the handle. She’s now threatening to go after Judy for breach of promise. I can’t wait to be a witness in both trials.”

  Allison’s outcry was a lament. “Judy never promised Nina anything.”

  “Poor Judy,” said Berry. “Who can we introduce her to that’s nice?”

  Allison teased her. “What a matchmaker you are, Berry.”

  Berry had embarrassed herself in her excitement. “Judy’s a great person. I want her to be happy.”

  “You know who else is single?” said Cullie. She was polishing the lenses of her glasses with a shirttail.

  “Lari?” Jaudon wrinkled her nose.

  “No. Mercie Lewis.”

  “Mercie and Judy? Two very strong women. Let’s ask them to dinner.”

  Berry chided Allison. “Don’t you know you can’t be that bald about it?”

  Cullie spoke up for Allison. “Why the heck not? It won’t do a lick of good to shroud our intentions in mystery and murk.” She lifted Kirby to her lap.

  “Not with guests at the table, Cullie,” said Allison.

  Cullie set Kirby on the floor and snuck her a bit of food. “We can double date with them. We can get Donna Skaggs to chaperone us frolicsome lesbians.”

  Jaudon put her fork and napkin down. “That was so fine I could rub it in my hair.”

  “Now there’s an expression we didn’t use in my family,” said Allison.

  “My Pops is known to say it after every exceptional feed. ’Course, he doesn’t have all that much hair.” She offered to do the dishes. Allison declined and reminded them that the place had come with an automatic dishwasher. They moved out onto the screened lanai, Kirby’s toenails clicking across the tiles.

  “How is it, being on the city council?” Jaudon asked. “I suspect I’d tell them to take a walk as soon as they started squabbling like a barnyard full of chickens.”

  “Don’t tempt me, but I have to admit being involved is also exciting. I’m helping to shape this city. The other woman councilor is opposite from me politically. Two of the men are very cool so we’re a block and keep the old guard and Mayor Crum from doing more damage than they have. Parliamentary rules keep the council from brawling too much.”

  Berry asked, “What about you, Cullie? Won’t working as a policewoman be a tough row for a woman to hoe?”

  “I don’t know if I have the grit to stand up to guys who won’t want me there. I do know we want to change what’s wrong in this town. I won’t spend all my time locking up criminals either. There’s this new/old concept called community policing, making friends with neighborhoods, being approachable. I want to be involved in that. Another thing I want to concentrate on is the way women are treated by too many policemen and judges. Do you know how very often the courts heave a black or poor woman in jail for defending herself against an attacker?”

  Jaudon said, “That makes me mad. Let’s put some girl power on the streets.”

  “Woman power.”

  Allison made no sense to Jaudon. “Woman, girl, a word won’t change the world.” Allison looked hurt. Jaudon glanced at Berry who again signaled her to drop it.

  Cullie threw ice on the fire. “You bet we need female cops.”

  Berry’s hands were folded on her lap. She realized that Cullie hadn’t lit one cigarette. Had she quit for Allison’s sake? “Aren’t your new lives a complete turnaround for both of you?”

  Allison smiled at Cullie. “I’m a retired radical, grateful not to be arrested by the likes of Cullie. Running from authority wastes time, energy, and lives. If I was poor, I’d be in prison, not doing the world a bit of good.”

  Jaudon said, “Must be the soft Florida air coming in from the Gulf. The heat melts the edges off you.”

  “It does. I adore Florida. I’m in vacation mode all the time.”

  “But you work so hard,” Berry said.

  “Coming down here, I learned that protesting isn’t all that effective. The newspapers and TV either ignore us or sensationalize our actions to increase ad revenue. I come by more publicity in a week as a city councilor than we accumulated for our whole demonstration with lots less effort. This, for me is a vacation. To change things I have to work my way into positions of power. Modest positions first, like a spider spinning a web. That way I catch vermin before they do more harm and I spin my web bigger and bigger.”

  “Is that a good thing? Spiders can be poisonous.” Jaudon couldn’t shake her suspicion of Allison.

  Berry drew her shoulders back and bared her teeth. “And threatening.”

  Cullie held up her hands in mock fright. “My jujube doesn’t have plans to poison anyone. Though she could scare them off a yard or two with her big whip.” She gritted her teeth. “This jujube, not my jujube. Sorry.”

  Cullie apologized way too much, thought Jaudon.

  Allison said, “I’m meeting a lot of people, learning what this piece of the world is in need of, and making voters aware that they want change. I need to build a case for solutions. We don’t have to settle for an outpost on Stinky Lane for women’s health care and safe space. There are deep pockets in this county, and deep purses. We’re going to have a very accessible community-supported visible presence that will serve women’s health needs, from birth to death. There are towns across the country establishing shelters to keep women safe. We can’t do that with volunteers only. So I’m learning to play the games: bureaucracy, politics, rules and regs and laws and power.”

  “Looks as if our Little Miss Clitzpah is making a dent,” said Jaudon,
all the while ready to pull Allison’s soapbox out from under her and smash it to splinters.

  Cullie stood. “We need to play some fun games. Not political games. I bought Uno, brand-new on the market, from a customer who’s the Florida distributor.”

  When Cullie returned with the games, Kirby jumped into her lap and tromped in three complete circles before curling up. Jaudon, too, realized that Cullie hadn’t had one cigarette while they were there and remembered Cullie claiming that smoking was her freedom.

  Allison relaxed on the lounger and gave Cullie a big smile. “This woman is a crazy game nut.”

  Cullie reached to touch Allison’s arm. “And this woman never has time to play.”

  “Tonight, I do,” Allison said.

  Cullie kissed the air, saying, “This will go down in history. Let me get my tape recorder. Order up the all-lesbian chorus, the dancing femmes, declare a lesbian holiday.”

  Jaudon watched Allison through the evening. She liked her lighthearted side and gave Cullie full credit for it.

  They laughed so hard learning to play that they never finished the game before Jaudon and Berry yawned in unison and Allison sent them home. She insisted they take what was left of dinner with them, saying, “You go out and buy yourselves a Crock-Pot. Your Gran will love you for it.”

  It was one of those heavy humid nights when you expected the air to burst into tears it was so full of moisture. After an evening with another loving couple, Berry was in a hurry to take Jaudon to bed and planned to tease her all the way home.

  Other than the sound of an unmuffled car engine traveling fast, there was silence outside the front door of the condo.

  Cullie stood in the doorway and spoke in a soft voice. “Drive safe, dear little lesbians. Don’t fall off the turning planet.”

  Chapter Forty

  Zefer had her chin on Rigo’s thigh. “You know I adore your pancakes, Gran, but my appetite has diminished radically.”

  Gran left the stove and sat with them at the table. “I don’t care for the way you’re looking, young man. Turn sideways and you’d disappear.”

  Berry exchanged a chagrined glance with Jaudon. Rigo was more disheveled than usual. He scratched his stubble. It shone copper-red in the light from the kitchen window.

  “I have to keep my girlish figure, don’t I?”

  The phone rang.

  “That’s my ride, pet. I’m going with the seniors to the museum.”

  “The art museum in St. Pete?” asked Rigo, perking up from what seemed to be complete despondency.

  “We already got our culture there last year. This museum is fun: the Circus Hall of Fame over in Sarasota.”

  As soon as Gran was out the door, Jaudon, petrified Rigo was dying of liver disease, said, “Tell us.”

  From the expression on Rigo’s face Berry imagined what he looked like as a kid suffering a dressing down.

  He took a deep breath. “I was at the park.”

  “Which park?”

  “Ballast Point. A lot of guys go over there to get together.”

  “You mean…?” Jaudon was unable to hide the sneer of distaste that took over her face.

  “I do mean. Where else can we go? Anyway, I got busted by an undercover cop.”

  “No.” Jaudon punched him in the upper arm. Hard. “What is the matter with you, Rigo, you jerk.”

  Berry handed him tissues and he blotted the tears from his eyes.

  “I called Jimmy Neal, but he didn’t have bail money. The banks were closed. I asked him to call my father’s attorney and tell the attorney to keep his mouth shut.”

  “I’d be so mad,” said Jaudon. “I might call your father, your mother, and your first grade teacher.”

  “Did he keep quiet?” Berry asked.

  “Of course not. The lawyer’s job is to protect my father. I got bonded out, but my dad closed my bank account. He’s not paying rent on my apartment starting next month. No more tuition payments. I’m destitute. The lawyer let me know my father never wants to see his maricon son again.”

  “What about your car?” asked Berry. The crabbed unworthy part of her thought he might deserve it for playing the field when he had a fine man at home.

  “Thank God he gave that to me as a gift for high school graduation. I’ve put up a for sale flyer at school. I’ll trade it for a clunker, find us a cheaper apartment, and finish my master’s on time despite my father. You may have a dinner guest on occasion.”

  “I can give you more hours at the store, Rigo. Momma can put you on at one of the other stores too.”

  Berry said, “You and Jimmy Neal are welcome to join us for meals anytime.”

  Under his curly red mop Rigo gave a self-assured grin. Berry breathed and let her bad feelings go. She’d love to plop a bright white toddler’s sailor cap on his head and cuddle him.

  Jaudon no longer itched to punch his good-looking face, but she wanted this be a lesson to him that would keep him home with Jimmy Neal, who deserved better. She’d punch his father’s face instead if she ever got an opportunity.

  Rigo bowed to Berry. “I hoped you’d say that.”

  “Momma is bad enough, but disowning a kid?” Jaudon’s jaw clenched. “Make my life difficult, sure. Break up the family? Never. You must feel like the last pea at pea-time.”

  Berry said, “I’ve a mind to ask Gran to call your father and give him what for. Be a good boy and eat your pancakes.” Berry pushed the sorghum syrup to him. “You used to be nothing but an appetite on two feet.”

  Rigo slipped a pancake to Zefer.

  “Rigo,” Berry said with an admonishing scowl.

  “Is your father some kind of a religious crackpot?” asked Jaudon.

  “No. It’s his culture. To him men are by definition heterosexual which makes me not a man and not a son. It’s also this damned gay liberation movement, excuse my Spanish, Berry. It’s got everybody up in arms about us. You should hear my father rage when they talk about gay people on TV, or, God forbid, interview one of us. Though I guess I won’t have the pleasure of hearing his rants from here on.”

  “I don’t understand what those city people are trying to do with their marches and riots,” Jaudon said. “Shine a light on us so we’re rooted out and beat up?”

  “That’s a fact. It doesn’t have anything to do with gays here in the sticks. Leave me out of it.” Rigo pushed his plate away and laid his head on the kitchen table. “Don’t we have enough trouble without a bunch of spoiled brats stirring up more? They can have their equal rights. All I want is a regular everyday life.”

  Berry and Jaudon moved their chairs and made a circle of their arms around him.

  “My father.” Rigo gulped for air. “You hear about these things happening, but not my Papi.”

  “What about your mother?” Berry asked, praying his mother stayed in his corner. Would she have lost Ma and Pa for loving Jaudon? Gran would have put her foot down to stop that.

  “She threatened to divorce him if he cut me off. He hit her. I got between them and that’s when he ordered me out of the house. I told the bastard to hit me, a man, not my mother. You know what he said?”

  Jaudon by this time was crying with him. She rubbed the onyx ring Rigo had given her. “I know his words exactly. He told you you’re not a man, just like Momma tells me I’m not a woman.”

  “But you are, Rigo,” said Berry. “You’re more of a man than someone who rejects his own child.”

  “I didn’t leave until my mother got away from him. He accused her of turning me gay for the same old reasons.”

  Berry rubbed his cold hand between her own. “Her gay friends must have been a sore spot between them since day one.”

  “While I blocked his way, she ran upstairs to her bedroom. I went after her and locked us in. She pulled out suitcases and packed like a maniac. We went down the back stairs and took off for the banks. She was desperate to withdraw every cent from the two accounts he’d given her access to, and she’d saved cash for years
in a safe deposit box he didn’t know about.”

  He lifted his head and drew a handkerchief from his pocket. “This was a long time coming. He started hitting Mom the past year or so. It seemed that, the older he got, the more narrow-minded and suspicious he was. He was a charmer when he was young, but Mom’s long been disenchanted with him.”

  “I’d burn his darned house down,” Jaudon said. “With him in it.”

  Rigo smiled. “I approve of how you think, Jaudo. Mom’s left for Miami. To the freedom of the Atlantic Ocean, as she called it. We were in the parking lot of the First National Bank of Tampa when she kissed me good-bye. She called me her full-blooded American man. She wants me to move to Miami.”

  “No.” Jaudon clung to him.

  Rigo’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down a few times, like he was swallowing a sob. “Absolutely not. I won’t leave Jimmy Neal. Or,” he said, looking in their eyes, “my best friends in the world.”

  Berry’s eyes were inflamed with unshed tears. “My two castaways. Maybe I’m here for no reason other than to love you both. And Gran.”

  Rigo managed a small laugh. “I’ll take every bit of love you can spare me.”

  “You might be here to love Jimmy Neal.”

  “You’re close to sounding like a preacher lady, Berry,” said Jaudon.

  She covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry if I sounded preachy. No, that’s not quite true. I want you to be as devoted to Jimmy Neal as he is to you. As I am to Jaudon.”

  “Guys don’t work that way, Berry.”

  “You’re convinced about that?” Jaudon tried to keep the rankling out of her voice. “I think Jimmy Neal might work that way.”

  “I’m tempted to set him free so he can find someone who can be everything he needs. I’ll move over to Miami with my mom, stay high, and have constant wild sex.”

  “You don’t have the sense God gave a Billy goat.”

  “Yes, I do, Jaudo, because that must be my totem animal, the Billy goat.”

  Jaudon didn’t think she heard him right. “Totem animal?”

  Berry said, “It’s your life to do with what you want, Rigo. This is your wake-up call. If you don’t settle down, guaranteed, you’ll get sick.”