Read Online Deliver Us from Evie by M. E. Kerr - Free Book Online Page A

Evie charge out of the bathroom and say, “Are you in my room?”
    “I was looking for a scissors and I couldn’t help noticing—”
    “Give me that!” Evie said.
    “It was right out in the open on your bed, Evie! Who’s Jane Doe?”
    “It’s a package I picked up for someone.”
    “It’s open.”
    “I know it’s open! Mom, here are the scissors. Just let me have some privacy.”
    “But who’s Jane Doe, honey?”
    “It’s me. Okay?”
    “I see the return address,” said Mom. “Appleman School.”
    “So now you know…. I’m forced to sneak around to spare your feelings.”
    “I don’t want you sneaking around, Evie. Don’t do that for me.”
    “Really? You want to hear about it?”
    There was a pause and then Mom said, “Maybe not.”
    “You bet not!” said Evie. “I didn’t think you did.”
    “If you want to talk about it, I do.”
    “All right, Mother. This is a Valentine’s gift from Patty. It’s an ID bracelet, and there’s also some k. d. lang tapes in the box.”
    “Why is it addressed to Jane Doe?”
    “I’ve got a P.O. box over at King’s Corners in that name. I didn’t want to chance getting mail at the Duffton post office, even under a false name.”
    “So you two have been writing each other all along.”
    “I mail my letters from King’s Corners, no return address, just in case her father’s got the school on the lookout for anything with my name on it mailed from here…. I’m eighteen years old and I have to sneak around.”
    I could hear Mom sigh, and the bedsprings squeak as someone sat down.
    “Evie,” Mom said, “I wasn’t born yesterday. I’m not unfamiliar with lesbianism. Gays. Whatever you call it. Is that what you claim you are?”
    “It’s not what I claim I am. It’s what I am.”
    “You don’t know that for sure, honey.”
    “I know it. For sure. I’ve always known it. I just never met anyone like me.”
    “ She did this to you.”
    “She didn’t do anything to me, and I didn’t do anything to her. Did Angel do anything to Parr to make him fall in love at first sight?”
    “That’s different.”
    “Did Parr do anything to Angel? Didn’t it just happen?”
    “I’m not going to get into an argument with you, Evie. I’m going to tell you what I think. If this is true , if you really are what you say you are, all the more reason for trying to fix yourself up a little. Be more presentable. Be a little more feminine.”
    “Patty likes me the way I am. She likes me in pants, with my hair slicked back, in my bomber jacket—”
    “Your brother’s bomber jacket.”
    “Okay. She likes me in my brother’s bomber jacket, and she likes me taking long steps, sinking my hands in my pockets, and all the other stuff you say I shouldn’t do. The only thing she didn’t like was my smoking. The only reason she didn’t like my smoking was because it isn’t good for my health. So I gave it up!”
    Mom was silent.
    Then Evie said, “Some of us look it, Mom! I know you so-called normal people would like it better if we looked as much like all of you as possible, but some of us don’t, can’t, and never will! And some others of us go for the ones who don’t, can’t, and never will.”
    Mom didn’t answer.
    Then Evie said, “There’s nothing to cry about!”
    “I’m not crying for myself. I’m crying for you, honey.”
    “I’m trying to tell you save your tears, Mom. For the first time in my life someone likes me just the way I am.”
    Another silence.
    “ Loves me,” Evie added. “Mom, look at this bracelet. See what’s engraved here.”
    “I can’t, Evie,” Mom answered. “Not now…. I have to shower. I have to get ready. I can’t deal with this now. You have to get Angel, too.”
    “And after dinner I have to go somewhere, Mom. I was going to take Angel home and call you from the road. Lie and say the Pontiac broke down. But the truth is I’ll be gone overnight. I’m meeting Patty tomorrow. We’re having lunch over