Page 19 of July Skies
The corners of Karen’s mouth twitched. She almost made a quip about Betty Freidan andThe Feminine Mystique.Instead, she thought to clarify one important fact. “It’s something many around here relate to, yes, especially if you ask our older residents who come from a different time. But I’ve been quite open with myself for a long,longtime about who I am. I don’t identify as a lesbian, though, so that helps.”
Dahlia couldn’t look more bemused.
“I am openly bisexual. I had a girlfriend before I met my husband. Would’ve probably had more after him, should life not unexpectedly happen.” That was a reference to Xander, the little squirt who kept Karen attached to her ex for much longer than was natural.You do the right thing… get burned anyway.Ah, to be young, dumb, and twenty-one again.Although I was a little older than that… doesn’t rhyme, though.“My marriage taught me that I’m probably not compatible with men for more than a few months at a time. I moved here partially to start a new life, partially to take a chance with the local dating scene I had heard so much about.”
“Are you with someone now?”
“No, actually.” Karen hated to admit this part, but she had dedicated herself to the truth. A truth conveyed in a most professional manner. “I immediately jumped into local politics when I moved here. As soon as I was done settling in and making sure my kids had transitioned as well as they could, I was too busy to date.” She had been on a few dates, but as soon as she ran for mayor, Karen knew that some of her prospects had dried up in favor of taking on her new mantle. Few women wanted to datethe mayor.Even if she didn’t have kids and a job that kept her busy to hell and back, she was the scapegoat for everything that went wrong. For every person who thought she was okay, there was one who wondered why nobody ever ran against her – not that they were about to do it themselves. “I don’t have any regrets, though. Being in this place has been enough reward. Seeing so many happy same-sex couples going about their lives while knowing I’m helping making those dreams come true… that’s the real reason I enjoy my job. I don’t think I’d be half as happy being the mayor of any other place.”
Dahlia continued to stare at Karen as if she searched for the hidden lies beneath the façade.You won’t find anything, Ms. Granger. I’m as open as a book right now.Her intentions were clear, although her heart might be a little guarded. After all, just because Karen was content to be single in Paradise Valley, didn’t mean she was immune to flights of fancy when in the presence of a woman who reminded her how gay she could really be.
“Howdidyour kids adjust?” That got Wayne to look up from his perch behind the camera when Dahlia asked that, her lips thin and eyes narrower than Karen’s esophagus, which now contracted from the bile making its way up her throat. “Wasn’t it difficult for them to leave everything behind to start life in a small town? Let alone one that… subverts conventions?
Karen had prepared an answer to that as well, but that was before she heard the slight malice coating Dahlia’s words.Dare I take this personally? That would be foolish, wouldn’t it?Karen spent most of the energy on maintaining her demeanor. She couldn’t let Dahlia know she hadgottento her. Part of a politician’s training was knowing when to speak and when to conduct one’s self for the camera. Her mannerisms were as easily misconstrued as her words.
“Naturally, it was an adjustment. You have to understand, though,” Karen said, prepared to mention something she was not originally planning to include in this interview, “the deal I had in my divorce was that my ex-husband got the house while I got the kids. There was no having both.” Karen could still remember the gall of her ex when he laid that down on the arbitration table. Karen had been prepared to fight for custody until her dying breath, but she hadnotexpected to be practically homeless in return.That’s when I knew who he really was. A man who would rather kick his kids out of their home than having them at all.“We had to move. I preferred to move far away, and my kids were still young enough that changing schools wouldn’t harm them too much. I had long heard about this town and decided I could make a decent living here working remotely for my previous company. I daresay my kids took to the small town life better than I did at first.” She placed an opportune chuckle there. “They were quick to make friends, and the smaller class sizes at the elementary school meant they received more attention. It was how we found out my daughter has dyscalculia. It probably would’ve flown under the radar and never been properly addressed had we stayed behind in our old town.”
“It almost sounds too good to be true,” Dahlia said. “A fresh divorcee with two kids moving to small town Oregon, a place she had never lived before. Ten years later, she’s the respected mayor. You’re either tenacious, Mayor, or you’re extremely lucky.”
“I don’t see why it can’t be both.”
Dahlia asked for a break. She and Wayne stepped outside to discuss something, leaving Karen to relax her composure in front of the other young man.
“What’s your name?” she asked him.
He looked between the shadows, having a heated discussion behind the frosted glass, and the mayor. “Kurt, ma’am.”
“You like working for Dahlia, Kurt?”
He grinned. “She’s a rough taskmaster, but I was excited to get the opportunity to work on her crew for this film.”
“Is that so? She must be well-respected.”
“I knew the drama would make it entertaining enough.”
“I hear there’s been a good amount of drama behind my back.”
Kurt blushed. “Yeah… Dahlia is… uh…”
The door slammed open again. Wayne resumed his position behind the camera as if nothing were amiss. Dahlia, however, sat down with flushed cheeks and the sheen of sweat on her forehead.
“Sorry about that, Mayor.” She motioned for Wayne to resume filming. “We had a… never mind.”
“They had a disagreement,” Kurt mouthed behind Dahlia’s head.
So, Mommy and Daddy are fighting?This might play into Karen’s favor. “Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?” she asked.
“I suppose.”
“What is your true intention for this documentary, Ms. Granger? Seems to me you’re attempting to paint us in an unsavory light.”
Wayne jerked back from the camera. Dahlia, however, attempted to remain nonplussed. “I don’t know what would give you that unfortunate view,” she said. “My only intent is to portray this town as it is, and nothing more.”
Oh, there had to be more to it than that. Dahlia wouldn’t be so taken aback by that question if she didn’t have a little something to hide.It’s clear she has a motive for being here. I simply naively thought it was to portray this place as a town where some people’s dreams can come true.Humble dreams. Like “getting to live as one is,” and “not being bothered because of the sex of the person I sleep with.” A place where a kid could be raised by two moms and not feel like an outcast at school. Nobody had to worry about being turned away from services. Especially if that was theonlyservice of its kind for thirty miles in any direction. When your wedding cake decorator was either gay herself or had a sister who was a lesbian, life was so much simpler.
So what was it about Dahlia that made her hold disdain for this place? Enough that she would go out of her way to bother the poor residents with inappropriate questions about their identities?It has to be something that makes her not realize she comes off as a homophobe.Karen was the first person to admit that “intent was not magical,” but she also had enough experience with people being people to know that a lot of homophobes didn’t realize theywereacting that way. Normally, she assumed it was ignorance, especially in other places around Oregon that were not as diverse as Paradise Valley. (That said something, since Frankie was the first person to laugh in Karen’s face to hear that town calleddiverse.)
This was personal. It was ingrained into her from childhood. A traumatic life event? No, not somethingtraumaticto the point it elicited rage like some of the poor people in town. A different kind of trauma. Abandonment. Death. Loss. Dahlia carried a hole within her that she blamed on lesbian women. Did she realize it, though?
