Page 20 of And Still Her Voice
“I was once just a young woman giving piano lessons to support myself. I, like other women, wanted suffrage, but why should I have to marry in order to have any rights? Why did men have all the rights? Women had already been fighting for nearly one hundred years. I belonged to the Votes for Women Club in Los Angeles. We were part of mobilizing over ten thousand local supporters, including teachers, college women, wage earners and veteran suffragists to carry out the drive. We spoke wherever we could find an audience, to voters in the streets and from automobiles. We distributed a million pieces of literature and thousands of ‘Votes for Women’ buttons in Southern California alone.”
Surprised. Was this Grandma talking? I pulled the pillow off my head.
“We used electric signs and billboards and even lantern slides at night to flash the message. And yes, we marched and even held mass rallies like the ‘monster rally’ in San Francisco, followed by fireworks and a band concert, much like today. Oh, the blisters on my feet from canvassing. Imagine, California finally gained suffrage in 1911.”
I rolled back over. “Yeah, but mostly white women gained the right to vote.”
“True, but we were making progress. My future looked bright. For once I felt invested in myself. And then the war came. In the end, it served to strengthen the cause. But we’re still fighting. Imagine, that was almost fifty years ago. I do hope we continue to see more changes in women’s rights soon, certainly within the next fifty years.”
2017 seemed so far away. Surely all of this would get resolved by then. “Wait, didn’t you get married fifty years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And so, all you believed and fought for flew out the window. Why did you end up marrying?”
“It was complicated.”
“Mom told me you don’t get married unless you’re in love, or pregnant. Were you pregnant? She also told me a woman needed a husband to co-sign for property or credit cards.”
“And then after Wesley died, you married again. George, of all people. Dad told me George had something to do with the death of his own father, Wesley.”
“Charley needed a father figure. I didn’t know until it was too late.”
“Well, I’m never getting married.”
“Anna, you don’t have to marry, you can aspire to be wise. You can learn all you can. Education is the key to freedom.”
“What better way to get educated than to see the world—like you did.”
“True, but my views have changed with death.”
“What do you mean?”
“The world is different now.”
“Different, not better. Have wars ended? Have women gained equality? Or only for rich white people like you.”
“Not exactly, but there’s another struggle you must consider.”
“Uh huh, like what?”
“Wherever you go, I go, too.”
“Well maybe you should have thought of that before you invaded my body.”
“I know that now. Unfortunately, once I started the transfer, I knew I’d made a mistake, but it was too late.”
“Now you’re telling me?”
Grandma suddenly changed lanes on me. “I do miss my music. Don’t you, too?”
***
The next morning, Ben and Betsy with wilted flowers stuck in her hair, announced they were headed home. “Ben has finals so we do need to get back,” Betsy said.
From the surprised look on my face, she added. “You’re welcome to come home with us, maybe help out with Poppy. I can’t believe how in just this short time, she’s grown so attached to you.”
I’d learned to love this little family and suddenly panicked at the thought of being on my own again, but grew even more terrified at the thought of what home would look like in the middle of Betsy and Ben. My gut told me it wasn’t a good idea.
