Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

his room and heard Laura hang up the phone. She thought she heard her say, “I love you.” Cig blinked. She’d never thought of her daughter as falling in love and hoped she’d misheard. She tried to recall how she had felt at fifteen, but it was too far back or she had pushed it too far back.
    “Laura?”
    “Hi, Mom.” She sat at her desk.
    “May I come in?”
    “Sure.” Laura’s nonchalance was forced.
    “Finished?”
    “Mostly.”
    “What’s left?”
    “Have to read the last part of
Macbeth
for English.”
    Cig sat down on Laura’s bed. “There’s pussyfooting going on.”
    “Uh—”
    “Your Aunt Grace wanted to know if we’d talked about the dance and your brother says he knows nothing, which means he knows everything. What am I missing? Is there more between you and Donny than I know or want to know?” She half-laughed.
    “I don’t like Donny.”
    “Are you going to the dance with someone else?”
    “I’m thinking about it.”
    “Who?”
    Laura flipped through the last two acts of
Macbeth
as though it were a card deck, then quietly she said, “Parry.”
    “That’s fine. There will be lots of boys who go without dates, too. In fact, it will probably be a lot more fun.” Cig brightened.
    Laura drummed her fingertips on the top of the desk. “Yeah—well.”
    “Honey, I think that’s a marvelous idea and I’ll drive you all there if Hunter won’t give you a ride. He’s taking Beryl Smith. Guess you know.”
    “Yes,” Laura said, her eyes now firmly on her mother’s. “I want to take Parry as my date.”
    “What do you mean, your date?”
    “My date.”
    “You mean you’re going to dance with her?” Gg’s shoulders rose then lowered. “Well, I suppose you can but I promise you there will be boys there who—”
    “I don’t care about the boys.” Laura’s voice grew more firm with each exchange.
    “I’m missing something.”
    “Mom, I’m going to the dance with Parry. I like her more than anybody.”
    Cig held up her hands. “Wait a minute. You like her or you
like
her?”
    “I
like
her.”
    “Ah.” Cig gripped the edges of the bed with both hands. “Like her like you want to kiss her?”
    “Mom,” Laura implored, “I don’t want to go into details.”
    “You have a crush on Parry. Now, have I got that right?”
    “Yes.”
    Cig waited a moment. “At your age I guess that’s par for the course but really, you don’t have to date the girls you have crushes on, honey. I never did.”
    “But you’re straight. I’m not.”
    “How do you know that?” Cig challenged Laura without meaning to do it. It had just popped out of her mouth.
    “Mom, that’s something you… know.”
    “You’re a perfectly normal child!”
    “Mother!” Laura slammed her book shut and the dust flew off the pages.
    “Now I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, it’s just that this is sudden and you’re so young and—”
    “It’s not sudden. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”
    Cig didn’t ask what a long time was. “Why didn’t you come to me?”
    “I talked to Aunt Grace.” Laura’s voice lowered.
    “What in the hell does Grace know about a thing like that?”
    “She said that I should follow my heart. She didn’t think it was such a big deal.”
    “I didn’t say it was a big deal, and furthermore, Aunt Grace has followed her heart too many times.”
    “You’re upset. I knew you’d be upset.”
    “I’m
not
upset,” Cig lied. “It’s a little, uh, surprising, that’s all, and I think you might not want to act in haste.”
    “I’m not acting in haste. I have a right to go to the dance with whomever I wish!”
    Cig held up her hands for peace. “I know, but the world is hardly the liberal, wonderful place we wish it would be and you’re asking for trouble.”
    “How come when gay people want to be happy they’re asking for trouble?” Laura yelled.
    “Because the world is fucking unfair, that’s why! All I’m doing is telling you