Read Tools of Ignorance: Lisa's Story Online

Authors: Barbara L. Clanton

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Tools of Ignorance: Lisa's Story (22 page)

BOOK: Tools of Ignorance: Lisa's Story
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“Oh, yeah? Another Firemen’s Brass Band concert?”

Julie laughed. “No, he’s taking me to the last drive-in movie theater on the planet.”

“In Southbridge?”

Julie nodded.

“Why are you guys going so far away?”

They waved to a group of senior citizens. Even though it was hard to hear over the Clarksonville High School marching band, Julie leaned close and whispered in Lisa’s ear, “Same reason we went to Northwood the first time. I don’t want to hear any Clarksonville redneck jerks harassing us.” She pulled back. “I just…”

“What?”

“I just wish the whole world was either blind or would mind their own business.”

Lisa laughed. “No kidding.”

They chatted for a while about prejudice and the general stupidity of the entire human race until they were almost at the restaurant. Lisa’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Sam leaning against a streetlamp, her blond ponytail pulled back delectably to show the curve of her neck above her blue peasant blouse. Lisa almost jumped out of the moving car, but thought better of it and waved frantically. Sam’s smile lit up the whole block. Susie was there, too, and Lisa vaguely registered Marlee waving at her. Sam hadn’t told her they were coming to the parade. She obviously kept good secrets.

“That’s your friend from East Valley, right?” Julie pointed to Sam.

“Yeah,” Lisa said without taking her eyes off Sam. She knew her voice betrayed her, so she cleared her throat. She tried to look normal, as if the love of her life wasn’t on the sidewalk waving at her, but she knew she wasn’t pulling it off.

Julie stared at Lisa with narrowed eyes as if trying to figure something out. Lisa felt herself turn crimson to the roots of her jet black hair under Julie’s gaze.

Julie pointed back and forth between Sam and Lisa and raised both eyebrows in question. Lisa knew it was time to fess up. She held her breath and slowly nodded. She couldn’t help the smile sneaking out between her locked lips.

Julie wagged her finger in Lisa’s face and said with a grin, “I guess I’m not the only one with secrets, hmmm, Brown Girl?”

Lisa closed both eyes and opened one slowly. “Yeah.” She opened both. “I hope you’re okay with that. I wanted to tell you...” She didn’t know what else to say.

“Lisa, it’s cool. It’s cool. She’s really pretty.”

Lisa laughed and nodded in agreement.

Julie laughed with her and leaned in to whisper, “We both like blondes, don’t we?”

Lisa burst out laughing and pushed Julie away good naturedly with her good hand. In front of the hardware store, she saw William holding hands with a pretty brunette woman who looked to be about his age. Lisa figured the brunette must be his fiancée Evelyn. She waved at them and said, “Hey, there’s my—” She stopped herself short of saying “bio dad.” Instead she mumbled, “William.”

Marlee and Julie waved at them, too. Marlee asked, “Who’s William? You said that was a college scout you were talking to yesterday at the fields.”

“No,” Lisa said, “he’s an old friend of my mom’s. I just didn’t realize it.”

“Oh, okay. That’s cool.” Marlee looked confused, but Lisa just looked away and waved to the people on the other side of the street.

A near miss on that one
, Lisa thought and was glad she didn’t have to come out twice in one parade.

Jeri parked the car behind the brick and mortar building of her family’s restaurant. Lisa and Julie hopped out of the backseat on one side, Marlee on the other. Lisa clapped Marlee on the back. “Geez, who knew Clarksonville softball was such a big honkin’ deal.”

“This really is crazy.”

Jeri and Paula caught up to them. Jeri said, “My mom and dad didn’t tell me about having the team lunch here. I hope they don’t expect me to work.”

“Really.” Paula laughed. “I can’t believe none of us knew about the parade. I don’t know how they pulled this off without any of us finding out.”

Marlee said, “I think we were all exhausted.”

Everybody nodded.

Lisa grimaced. “Geez, you guys. What if they had planned all of this and we’d lost to Brookhaven yesterday?”

“Girl,” Jeri said, “how could we lose? We had the tournament MVP on our team.” She punched Marlee playfully in the arm.

Marlee laughed. “And the catching goddess of the universe.” Marlee punched Lisa playfully.

“With her tools of ignorance,” Julie threw in.

“Her what?” Jeri asked, one hand on her hip.

Lisa laughed and rolled her eyes. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you guys, later.”

“Oh,” Julie said, “I see my parents. I’ll see you guys inside.”

“Okay, White Girl.”

Julie skipped off to join her parents just as Bridget came bounding up to them.

“Give me a ride, Weesa.”

“Okay, Sweetpea, but it has to be tree trunk today.”

“‘Kay.” Bridget clamped on to Lisa’s right leg and sat down on Lisa’s foot. Lisa stiff-legged her sister toward the front of the restaurant.

Marlee laughed. “Oh, so that’s how you stay in shape.”

Lisa smiled. “Yeah, pretty much.”

As they emerged from behind the brick restaurant onto Main Street, cheers went up from the crowd. Coach Spears’s roommate, Anne, instructed the team to gather in front of the make-shift podium set up on the sidewalk in front of D’Amico’s.

Lisa stood with her teammates, Marlee to her left and Julie to her right. The lone seniors, Jeri and Paula, stood by themselves in front of them. Lisa’s parents, Lynnie, and Lawrence Jr. stood in the crowd to her left, but Bridget still clung tightly to her leg. Lisa lifted her leg off the ground every now and then causing her sister to giggle. Lisa craned her neck looking for Sam, but couldn’t find her in the mass of people crowding the barricaded Main Street.

Mr. D’Amico stepped behind the podium. His large frame belied the fact that he liked his own cooking. He put both arms out to his sides and said, “Welcome home, champions.” This incited thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd. He gestured toward Jeri’s mother. “Francesca and I would like to thank all of you for this wonderful parade and for supporting our daughter, Jerida. Oh, and the rest of the softball team, too.”

Marlee laughed and playfully pushed Jeri from behind. “Hey, Jerida.”

“Shut up,” Jeri said, but didn’t turn around.

Mr. D’Amico invited Mayor Bradley to speak, and the mayor practically leaped behind the podium. He’d probably just come from church, because he was dressed in a blue suit with a white shirt and a plain blue tie. His hair was almost completely white. Lisa pegged him to be somewhere in his sixties.

The mayor cleared his throat. “It’s a proud moment for our little village of Clarksonville. We are gathered here today to honor some of Clarksonville’s finest citizens. They fought hard and conquered all that challenged them.”

The crowd cheered, and Lisa wanted to clap, but her hand had started to throb again. She held it up against her chest to get some relief.

The mayor went on to thank the school board, the high school principal, and the athletic director. Lisa looked around and finally caught sight of Sam in the crowd. Her breath caught in her throat. Sam was so freakin’ gorgeous. How did I get so lucky?

Sam grinned when she noticed Lisa watching her. Lisa smiled and waved back. Sam put up one finger and then looked down for a moment. Lisa’s cell phone chimed. A text message had just come in. It was from Sam. “I luv u.”

Lisa hid the phone quickly, but Julie saw it. “Brown Girl, you are so caught.”

“Shut up,” Lisa said and texted Sam back. She typed in, “SAME!” Sam’s grin got even bigger.

The applause from the crowd refocused her attention to the podium as the mayor introduced Coach Spears.

Coach Spears coughed once and grabbed on to the podium as if she were afraid she’d fall over if she didn’t. “I am so overwhelmed with all of this.” The crowd cheered, and Lisa smiled when Coach Spears blushed.

Coach Spears smiled. “First of all, I must thank my Anne for putting all of this together. I understand she was the mastermind behind it all.” Coach Spears smiled sweetly at her girlfriend.

Lisa and the rest of her teammates hooted their approval.

Coach Spears’s girlfriend smiled back and then turned to acknowledge the applause and cheers with a couple of nods.

“She’s been my support for many many years, so thank-you, Anne.”

“Way to go, Coach,” Lisa whispered under her breath. Coach Spears had kind of just come out, but not so overtly that people would get weird about it.

It was just like she and Sam had been saying. If more people saw and heard gay people, then maybe it wouldn’t be so strange and terrifying.

“And,” Coach Spears continued, “I want to thank the team.” She gestured to the team in front of her.

“Whoo hoo,” Sam yelled loud enough for Lisa to hear. Lisa whipped her head around and scrunched up her face in a smile.

“From our two seniors down through our lone freshman, these girls worked together through thick and thin. They hung in there during two tough ones against East Valley—” Coach Spears had to wait because a chorus of boos had begun somewhere in the back.

Lisa laughed, but shot Sam an embarrassed look. Sam waved her down as if to say it was okay, and she wasn’t offended.

“No, no,” Coach Spears said, “East Valley has an exceptional team. We, however, were just a little more exceptional this year.” The boos turned to cheers.

Coach Spears said a few more words and then handed the microphone back to the mayor. She was about to walk away, but Mayor Bradley grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Not so fast, young lady,” he said. He turned toward his assistant who handed him a plaque of some sort. “By the power of the office of the mayor of Clarksonville, I am pleased and honored to give the key to the village of Clarksonville to you, Coach Dorothy Spears.”

“Whoo hoo!” Lisa yelled and slapped her thigh, careful not to hit Bridget who still clung to her leg.

Coach Spears said, “Thank you, everyone.” She held up the plaque with an old-fashioned key attached to the front. “Thank you.” Lisa saw the tears in her coach’s eyes and squeezed her own shut. She didn’t want to start crying, too.

Mr. D’Amico moved behind the podium and said, “Thank you all for coming. I would like to invite the team members and their families to come eat.
Mangia
!”

The rest of her teammates headed toward the restaurant, but Lisa, Bridget, and Marlee waited for Sam and Susie.

Lisa greeted Sam with a quick hug. She smiled at Susie. “Hey, Susie.”

“Hey, Lisa. Congratulations.”

“Thanks. Sorry about those boos for East Valley, you guys.”

“Oh,
Dios
,” Susie said. “You guys just wait until next year.”

“And you,” Lisa turned toward Sam. “You didn’t tell me you were coming, you sneak.”

Sam grinned. “It would have given away the surprise.”

“So you guys knew all along?”

Sam and Susie nodded and grinned. Everyone laughed and headed toward the front door to the restaurant. Lisa’s leg was getting tired, so she pulled Bridget up into a standing position. Sam reached for one of Bridget’s hands while Lisa held on to the other. Lisa’s family stood out front talking to Coach Spears.

“Lisa Anne Brown,” Lisa’s mother said sternly as she approached.

“Yes, Mom?” Why did it sound like she was in trouble? Sam, Marlee, and Susie stopped dead in their tracks wide eyed.

Her mother reached for Lisa’s right hand and held it up for Coach Spears to look at. “This is what she’s been hiding from all of us.”

Lisa felt her face flush.

“Oh, Lisa.” Coach Spears looked at the bruising. She felt around the side of Lisa’s hand, and Lisa winced. “As soon as this is over, your Mom said she’s taking you to the emergency room for an x-ray. You will call me as soon as you know anything. Understood?” She looked Lisa in the eye.

Lisa almost wilted under her coach’s glare. “Yes. Sorry, Coach.”

Coach Spears sighed and turned to Lisa’s mother. “Do you have a pen and paper? Let me give you my cell phone number.”

“Yes.” Lisa’s mother dug around in her purse and handed the requested items to the coach.

Coach Spears wrote her phone number on the paper and handed it and the pen back to Lisa’s mother. “She really should go right now, but I think you’re right. She’s waited this long, another forty-five minutes won’t matter, but please call me the minute you hear anything, okay?”

Lisa’s mother sighed. “Yes, of course.”

Coach Spears turned to Lisa. “In the meanwhile we need to RICE you.”

“Rice?” Lisa followed her Coach into the restaurant thoroughly confused.

“It’s an acronym for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. I’ll send Annie to the car for an ace bandage, but I think Jeri’s dad will happily give us some ice.”

“Okay. Sorry, Coach.”

Coach Spears headed over to her girlfriend, Anne.

Marlee smacked Lisa on the arm. “Man, that looks bad Lisa.”

Susie said, “
Dios Mio, amiga
. Does that hurt?”

“Uh,” Lisa hedged. “Yeah, I guess it kind of does.”

Sam hooked her arm in Lisa’s. “C’mon, go sit with your team. Me and Susie’ll sit over there.” She pointed to a remote part of the restaurant.

Before Lisa could object, Mr. D’Amico came barreling up to them. “Could this be Samantha Rose? All grown up?”

Sam blushed. “Yes. It’s nice to see you again, Mr. D’Amico.”

He pulled her into a smothering hug and then held her out at arms' length. “I hope your mother and father are well?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. You tell them to come to D’Amico’s, and we take care of them. Okay?”

“I will, sir. Thank you.”

Mr. D’Amico headed back toward the kitchen, and Lisa turned to stare at Sam. “How do you know him?”

Sam looked at Susie as if to get help, but Susie grinned and said, “Samantha Rose Payton, I guess it’s time for you to finally come out and tell these guys who you really are.”

Sam grimaced, obviously uncomfortable, and hid her face in her hands.

 

 

Chapter Nineteen

 

 

Closets

 

BOOK: Tools of Ignorance: Lisa's Story
11.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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