“You knew about Rosie all along, right?”
Ginny nodded matter-of-factly. “Sure.”
It was like that, then, I guessed. There was some secret lesbian society that the rest of us knew nothing about where they all got together and did…whatever they did, and Rosie was a part of that.“So you and Rosie have known each other for a long time?”
“Yep.”
Aura was looking at me suspiciously, I saw, distrusting. She’s scary, I thought, looking at the tattoo on her neck and the rows of silver jewelry on her ears. Maybe if Ginny had been there by herself, I could have questioned her more about Rosie’s secret life. She wasn’t going to offer up anything, apparently. I was frustrated. Here was someone who knew the other Rosie, the one that none of the rest of us had even known existed, and I didn’t know how to pry anything loose from her.
“You’re straight, right?” Aura asked me in a challenging tone.I nodded.
“Thought so,” she said dismissively.
Ginny smiled a little apologetically at me, but said nothing more. So the campaign went gay in the last week and I found myself on the outside looking in.
One of the female volunteers, Tracy, who joined us during the final week, developed an immediate and severe crush on Rosie.
She was about twenty, cute, with a thin, boyish figure. She went all pie-eyed every time she saw Rosie. The second morning after Tracy arrived, as Rosie breezed through, Tracy asked, hopefully,
“Can I get you a cup of coffee, Rosie?”
“No, thank you,” Rosie said, then glared in my direction.
“Jean, I need to see you, please.” I followed her into her office and shut the door. “That girl, Tracy, she’s making me nervous.”
“She adores you.”
“I know she does. That’s what’s making me nervous. Did you just see what happened here? I do want a cup of coffee, but now I can’t get one because I just told her I didn’t. I don’t want her to bring me coffee because she’ll hang around in here and look at me like she does and I’ll get irritated and snap at her and she’ll be hurt and probably cry and I’ll feel guilty and try to comfort her and she’ll start apologizing and saying how she can’t help it, how she’s in love with me, and then we’ll have to have a God-awful heart-to-heart talk about her feelings and how she ought to handle it and…well, do you understand?”
I nodded. “Sounds like this isn’t the first time somebody’s had a crush on you.” I was amused at Rosie’s ruffled feathers. “I’ll assign her non-office duties for the rest of the week and keep her out of your hair.”
“Good. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but I’m too busy to deal with this now.”
“I understand.” I opened the door. “I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.”
I sent Tracy out canvassing.
On the Sunday before the election, with two days to go, all indications were that Garcia had pulled into the lead. We had done it. We had done the impossible. And, surprising to all of us, Rosie was securely in second place. As we predicted, the electorate was returning to her. Wow, I thought. If I had just one more week, I could put her in the mayor’s office. Kiester, still reeling from our one-two knock-out punch, didn’t have a chance of regaining consciousness in time.
When I told Rosie the news, she just stood there, lips pursed, eyes shining, looking at me with gratitude. She shook her head, unbelieving. It was a very happy day.
On election day, I spent the afternoon at the rented hall supervising the last-minute decorating, the placement of the flowers, the arrival of food, the setting up of the sound system.
Amy had surprised me with her musical contribution. She did know what she was doing after all. I had expected “Who Let the Dogs Out?” and, instead, I got some really nice music like the kind they play on JCPenney commercials, songs that don’t really penetrate your consciousness usually, but make you want to buy towels.
It was all
Ginny nodded matter-of-factly. “Sure.”
It was like that, then, I guessed. There was some secret lesbian society that the rest of us knew nothing about where they all got together and did…whatever they did, and Rosie was a part of that.“So you and Rosie have known each other for a long time?”
“Yep.”
Aura was looking at me suspiciously, I saw, distrusting. She’s scary, I thought, looking at the tattoo on her neck and the rows of silver jewelry on her ears. Maybe if Ginny had been there by herself, I could have questioned her more about Rosie’s secret life. She wasn’t going to offer up anything, apparently. I was frustrated. Here was someone who knew the other Rosie, the one that none of the rest of us had even known existed, and I didn’t know how to pry anything loose from her.
“You’re straight, right?” Aura asked me in a challenging tone.I nodded.
“Thought so,” she said dismissively.
Ginny smiled a little apologetically at me, but said nothing more. So the campaign went gay in the last week and I found myself on the outside looking in.
One of the female volunteers, Tracy, who joined us during the final week, developed an immediate and severe crush on Rosie.
She was about twenty, cute, with a thin, boyish figure. She went all pie-eyed every time she saw Rosie. The second morning after Tracy arrived, as Rosie breezed through, Tracy asked, hopefully,
“Can I get you a cup of coffee, Rosie?”
“No, thank you,” Rosie said, then glared in my direction.
“Jean, I need to see you, please.” I followed her into her office and shut the door. “That girl, Tracy, she’s making me nervous.”
“She adores you.”
“I know she does. That’s what’s making me nervous. Did you just see what happened here? I do want a cup of coffee, but now I can’t get one because I just told her I didn’t. I don’t want her to bring me coffee because she’ll hang around in here and look at me like she does and I’ll get irritated and snap at her and she’ll be hurt and probably cry and I’ll feel guilty and try to comfort her and she’ll start apologizing and saying how she can’t help it, how she’s in love with me, and then we’ll have to have a God-awful heart-to-heart talk about her feelings and how she ought to handle it and…well, do you understand?”
I nodded. “Sounds like this isn’t the first time somebody’s had a crush on you.” I was amused at Rosie’s ruffled feathers. “I’ll assign her non-office duties for the rest of the week and keep her out of your hair.”
“Good. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but I’m too busy to deal with this now.”
“I understand.” I opened the door. “I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.”
I sent Tracy out canvassing.
On the Sunday before the election, with two days to go, all indications were that Garcia had pulled into the lead. We had done it. We had done the impossible. And, surprising to all of us, Rosie was securely in second place. As we predicted, the electorate was returning to her. Wow, I thought. If I had just one more week, I could put her in the mayor’s office. Kiester, still reeling from our one-two knock-out punch, didn’t have a chance of regaining consciousness in time.
When I told Rosie the news, she just stood there, lips pursed, eyes shining, looking at me with gratitude. She shook her head, unbelieving. It was a very happy day.
On election day, I spent the afternoon at the rented hall supervising the last-minute decorating, the placement of the flowers, the arrival of food, the setting up of the sound system.
Amy had surprised me with her musical contribution. She did know what she was doing after all. I had expected “Who Let the Dogs Out?” and, instead, I got some really nice music like the kind they play on JCPenney commercials, songs that don’t really penetrate your consciousness usually, but make you want to buy towels.
It was all
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