Read Online Weapons of Mass Seduction by Lori Bryant-Woolridge - Free Book Online

said sullenly. “I don’t really know who Rebecca is. I never have. Not when I was in Iowa and certainly not since I’ve been in Chicago.” She held up the charm and took a long look before sighing deeply and placing it back on the tray. “But the one thing I do know is, whoever she is wants to be someone very different.”
    â€œWe all do at some point,” Pia said, putting a protective arm around the girl. “You’re young. Take it from us old chicks: other than the great body, the twenties basically suck, but everybody has to go through the confusion to get to the other side. You’ve got time to figure out who you are, and hopefully this weekend will help.”
    â€œIt already has.” Rebecca smiled, appreciating Pia’s sisterly attitude. “Do you think they could make me a necklace that says Becca?”
    â€œNot
Re
becca?” Flo asked.
    â€œBecca sounds more grown and…big city.”
    â€œIt does sound a little less like you grew up in a cornfield or on Sunnybrook Farm,” Pia said with a teasing giggle.
    â€œI did not grow up in a cornfield,” Becca shot back with practiced indignation. “I’m from Cedar Falls, which is right next to Waterloo. My dad is a high school science teacher and my mother is a nurse. We’re not all farmers.”
    She hated the way people stereotyped her home state and the folks that lived there. Seems like her entire life had been spent peeling off the clichéd labels stuck on by other people.
    â€œI’m sorry. That remark did sound pretty ignorant. Is Rebecca a family name? I only ask because you don’t hear of many black folks named Rebecca.”
    â€œYou’re black?” Flo remarked. “I’ve been wonderin’ what you are. I thought maybe Latina.”
    â€œMy biological mother was African American and my biological father was white. I’m adopted.” Pia and Florence listened intently as Becca conveyed her story.
    Her parents, Chester and Mary Vossel, unable to have children of their own and tired of waiting in the long line behind other couples looking for healthy white children, emptied their savings account and headed south to the Window of Hope, a Christian adoption agency in Macon, Georgia. Three weeks later, six-week-old Rebecca Mary Vossel moved into the lovingly prepared nursery in her parents’ modest three-bedroom home.
    As the adopted daughter of devout, conservative Christian parents, Rebecca was raised to be obedient and God-fearing. Chester and Mary were strict but devoted parents, demanding good grades and community service at the church and allowing little social life. She learned quickly that her father’s word was just as powerful as the Lord’s, and she grew up toeing the line, learning to be seen and not heard. Naturally shy, she didn’t find this difficult, and she actually preferred keeping to herself. It was the being seen part that she wished she could change.
    Despite her name, she’d become the ultimate plain Jane, less by nature and more by parental design. No makeup, modest “proper” clothing, no flash, and absolutely no trash. As the years went by and the features of her African American mother emerged, it became impossible to disappear behind a veil of good behavior and the New Testament. Amid all the corn-fed-looking girls surrounding her, Rebecca’s honey-toned complexion and unruly hair made her stand out in all the wrong ways.
    â€œThat’s why you said in session this morning that you spent your life trying not to get noticed?” Pia probed gently. “And why you want to change your name?”
    â€œYeah, pretty much. New identity, new life,” she admitted, not sure if she could make them understand.
    â€œMy parents definitely loved me and they made sure I didn’t get in any trouble growing up. They kept me away from alcohol, drugs, and wild parties, but the problem is they kept