This installment written by Mary Ann…
Gwendy uncrossed her legs and dropped over the edge of the bed, sliding onto the floor in front me. As I sat there, sunk deeply into the bean bag chair, she leaned forward in my direction as if to whisper something very private in the strictest confidence.
“Whatever the two of you did, it doesn’t seem like either one of you are exactly ashamed or sorry about it,” she said quietly. “Even so, it must have been something pretty serious to cause people to react so strongly against you. I mean, you gotta admit that people usually don’t get this worked up over nothing. You’ve gotta admit that, right?”
“See, Gwendy… that’s why we don’t talk about it much,” I responded. “Like you said, nobody’s told you much of anything about our story, but that hasn’t stopped you from making assumptions about it.”
“I wasn’t assuming anything except that whatever you did, it must have been serious,” she contended. “Whatever it was, the trouble it caused didn’t just, you know… blow over. People didn’t, like, just forget it. It looks like they’re still pretty serious about it all.”
“You’re afraid, Mary Ann,” Gwendy continued. “If you weren’t afraid, you wouldn’t be hiding out here and worrying about Prentice. The two of you would be back at your apartment doing what newlyweds do.”
Gwendy shifted her weight and leaned back against the edge of the bed. Looking straight ahead at the tapestry on the wall above and behind my head, she continued to vocalize each thought as it came into her mind.
“I can’t imagine either one of you doing anything too bad,” she said. “Whatever it was, I’m sure you had a good reason for it. You didn’t kill anybody did you?”
“We’ve just about killed ourselves,” I replied.
“I know, and I’m sorry,” Gwendy said, turning her gaze back to me. “I’ve watched Prentice over the past several months, and I’ve been watching you pretty closely since you got here last month. I’m not as strong as either one of you. If it were me, I’d just stay hidden in the closet or something. You two go to classes and carry on your lives in spite of everything.”
“If we didn’t, they would win,” I quickly replied. “They would win, and we would lose. They are absolutely not going to win!”
It wasn’t so long ago, I was thinking, that almost no one was interested in what I said or did. I could have had two heads and driven my car backwards down Main Street, and nobody would have noticed. Then, one day, suddenly everything I said, did and thought about became headline news—the number one topic of conversation all over town.
Prentice and me, we were the fat everyone wanted to chew, everywhere we went, and all the time. More people knew us than Lucy and Desi. Almost no one knew a single thing about either one of us, but almost overnight everyone had an opinion about us, and more than just a few were eager to act on it.
“You want to know what this is all about?” I asked. “Well, I’ll tell you.”
“I’m sorry, Mary Ann,” Gwendy quickly responded, sitting up again and leaning forward. She was almost speaking in a whisper. “I’d do anything in the world for you and Prentice. I don’t care what it was…. It doesn’t matter. I was just curious.”
“I understand, Gwendy,” I said, “and I understand why you’re curious. I’d be curious, too. You’re a good friend, and even if I didn’t trust you, there’s no real harm in your knowing the truth. Like I said, none of this is really a secret. It’s just that a lot of people don’t react too well to the truth.”
“Mary Ann, you know I’m gonna side with you, no matter what you did,” Gwendy assured me in a whisper, leaning further in toward me. The odd way she clinched her pants cuff in her right hand and twisted it into a knot told me she could hardly contain her anxiety. She was hanging on every word, and she was more than just a little anxious for me to finish every sentence.
“Gwendy, there’s no great mystery here,” I started. “Until all of this started my life was as ordinary as they come—an ordinary, middle class girl raised in an ordinary, middle class neighborhood, just like you. I went to church on Sunday and Wednesday night, made reasonably good grades in school and never caused any trouble. There wasn’t a single thing in my life that was remarkable.”
“Prentice grew up a little differently,” I recounted, “but, for the most part, his story wasn’t any different. When I met him, he was a quiet, solid sort of boy. He made straight A’s in school and went to church on Sunday. He did all the things people say you’re supposed to do and none of the things you’re not.”
“Then one day everything in our lives changed. The sun came up, and suddenly we were in the middle of a firestorm of controversy,” I confided in her. “We were the hottest attraction in town, the center of attention… the focus of all the town gossip. Suddenly, everybody knew our names and thought they knew what we’d done. Their imaginations went wild. People we’d never met before would approach us on the street, some of them would spit at us… and the things they’d say… We hadn’t done anything… at least, nothing like they thought. We were just trying to mind our own business.”
“‘People we thought were friends turned into enemies. I learned quickly that people will choose to believe sensational lies over the simple truth every time,” I told her, realizing that my volume was increasing with every word. It was all like a raw, exposed nerve, throbbing with pain and anger every time these things came to my mind.
“For God’s sake, what in the world did they think you’d done?” Gwendy pressed for the answer. “What could you have done that would make people act like that?”
“It’s not just what they thought,” I answered. “It’s what they still think.”
To be continued…
