Page 178 of As They Are
“I’m—” Henrietta began.
“No, you’re not fine. Usually, I annoy you, but this time I think you’re close to divorcing me. If we’re getting back to running a library, you’ll need something to make sure you don’t lose your mind.”
“Do they get rid of humming?” Dale called. “One of the freezers is broken and I can’t take it anymore.”
I looked in between all of them. Even though I hadn’t admitted anything about myself, I felt welcomed. As if being different didn’t make me worse off. I should have seen it coming. Strawberry Springs was a family, even when we made each other mad. There was a reason I chose to settle down here and not in a city.
“So, do you have an obsession?” Marjorie asked.
“Me? Why?”
“Henrietta has her dolls, and while you were zoned out, Nicole was telling me the little girl in her class loves Barbies. Do you have one?”
“H-how did you know?—”
“I’m not dumb. Or maybe I am, in which case, feel free to tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re not,” I said. “It’s just hard to admit it. Where I came from ... it wasn’t understood. Or accepted.”
“It still isn’t in some areas,” Nicole said, hand on her hip. “A lot of people think it’s a disease or something to be cured. Really, it’s just a different way of experiencing the world, one that’s on a spectrum.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re all being sweet,” Marjorie said, waving her hand. “I wanna hear about Henry’s thing.”
“My special interest is growing flowers.”
“Oh,” Henrietta said. “That’s a good one.”
“Is that why your garden is so massive?” Nicole asked.
“Pretty much.”
She hummed. “Nice.”
“Can I steal some?”
“Marjorie!” Henrietta chastised.
“I’ll let youhavesome,” I replied. “As long as you don’t cheer on Jackie’s raccoon thing.”
“You drive a hard bargain. The truth is, it won’t go on forever. They’ll turn feral when they slow down in the winter.”
“And how do you know that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve trained a bunch of them.”
I raised an eyebrow and turned to Henrietta. “You let her do this?”
“Do you think I could stop her?”
“God forbid a woman has a hobby.” She threw her hands up and grabbed at her ice cream. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting this and will be having a date with my toilet later.”
“Oh myGod,”Henrietta groaned. “I faced homophobia for this.”
“You love me, baby. You know you laugh when no one’s looking!”
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