Page 91 of Here We Go Again
Joe rolls into the living room behind Remy. “It happens to be the Fourth.”
“I don’t want to celebrate the Fourth of July.” Logan shudders. “America is being a shady bitch, and I’m not going to her birthday party.”
“What about a different sort of party…” Remy teases with an impish smile.
Logan perks up like Odie when someone picks up his leash. “What kind of party?”
He waits for a beat, and Logan wiggles in anticipation. “An underground amateur drag show, perhaps?”
Logan turns her hands into paws and starts panting.
“Are drag shows illegal in Mississippi?” Rosemary asks.
“Not yet. But we do tend to get fewer protesters and bomb threats if we keep these things hush-hush.”
“Where is this clandestine drag show?”
“At a church out in Pascagoula.”
The house goes quiet for a moment. Then: “A secret, underground, Fourth of July amateur drag showat a church?” Logan repeats slowly.
“It’s a good church,” Remy says. “One where they truly love all of God’s children.”
“Well, then, I’m in!” Logan shouts.
Remy turns to Joe. “What do you say? Can Rita Morenhoe handle one last ride?”
Joe’s expression flits from horrified, to hopeful, to elated, to crushed all within the span of a few seconds. “I-I couldn’t possibly… I-I don’t have any of my stuff anymore.”
Remy’s eyes twinkle. “Lucky for you, I think I might have something that will work.”
And that’s how they all end up agreeing to go to an amateur drag show on the Fourth of July.
Rosemary is too embarrassed to admit she doesn’t know what a drag king is, but when Logan steps out of a Goodwill dressing room in a three-piece suit, she decides drag kings are her new favorite thing.
“Drag is all about playing around with gender,” Logan says as she eyes herself in a dressing room mirror. “Breaking and bending the cis-heteronormative rules. So let’s play.”
Logan puts together an outfit for herself with effortless finesse, repurposing donated (and often heinous) items into something new. “How are you so good at this?” Rosemary asks in awe.
“Halloween is my Christmas. I’ve been training for this my whole life.”
Unfortunately, Logan is momentarily stumped when she discovers there are no men’s suits in a women’s size x-small at the Ocean Springs Goodwill. “Have you ever dressed in drag before?” Logan asks after she’s overturned half the store.
“I think you know I haven’t.”
She taps her chin and considers. “Okay, but have you ever looked at an actor and thoughtI wish I looked like him.”
Rosemary’s mind immediately flashes to those middle school sleepovers where they watchedGreaseover and over again. John Travolta with those tight pants and loose hips, winning over Olivia Newton-John. “I guess as a kid I wanted to look like Danny Zuko, kind of…”
Inspired, Logan takes off and emerges moments later with a child-sized leather jacket from the boy’s section. She finds a plain white T-shirt, a pair of boyfriend jeans cuffed at the bottom, and black boots that also once belonged to a ten-year-old boy, probably. When Rosemary steps out of the dressing room in the ensemble, Logan whistles triumphantly. “There he is. Danny Zuko in the flesh.”
Rosemary catches sight of herself in the mirror and does a double take. She doesn’t look like herself, or like any version of herself sheever thought she could be. She looks like some badass fifties greaser, like a rebel without a cause.
Logan finishes off the look by tucking the T-shirt into the jeans and securing them with a black belt. She steps back and admires her handiwork. She bites down on her lip and groans rather obscenely for Goodwill. “Damn. I cannot wait to take these jeans off you tonight.”
Happy Birthday, America.
Back at Remy’s, Logan secures her thick hair underneath a hilarious wig that makes her look like she’s wandered off the set ofBonfire of the Vanities. She even bought an old pager to clip to the front of her trousers. For Rosemary’s hair, they use unholy amounts of gel and slick it back with a comb that Logan slides into Rosemary’s butt pocket when they’re done.
