Free Doctored by K'Anne Meinel Page B

Maddie.
    Deanna overheard, and remembering the conversation in the Rover, she stiffened up.  This time, Maddie noticed and just shook her head at Leida to quiet her and the gossip.  It was inevitable in a community as small as theirs that this type of behavior was noted.  She thought perhaps that Deanna just didn’t approve of the gossip.  She asked her about it the next time they took a walk.
    “You don’t like gossip do you?”
    Deanna already sensed this was about Lenny.  She thought the two of them made a fine couple, but it was no one’s business but the women involved.  “I don’t encourage it, if that’s what you mean,” she answered carefully.
    “So, what do you think about Lenny?”
    “I think what she does is her concern,” she answered in a no-argument tone.
    “You don’t approve?”
    “Actually, I do.”
    “You do?”
    “Yes, if what they are saying is true.  Love is hard enough to find.  It shouldn’t matter who it’s with.”
    “But they are...” she trailed off, not able to say the word.
    “Lesbians?” Deanna finished for her and looked down at her judgmental friend.  They had stopped walking and hadn’t noticed the clouds moving in from the west.  The sun was fading faster than normal.  They were due for some storms and the dry season would officially be over.  The villagers had feared grass fires and Harlan had fretted that the crops he was planting would shrivel and die.
    “Y..ye..yes,” she stuttered at the word.
    “What’s wrong with that?” she challenged.
    “It’s immoral, it’s....”
    “Different?” she finished for her again.  She was getting angry.  She knew why, but it didn’t stop her.  “Why is it that anyone who is different than what people consider their norm is wrong or not allowed?” she asked, her voice becoming stern.
    It was then that Maddie realized where Deanna was coming from, or thought she did.  She’d always been different, the outsider, too young to fit in with her contemporaries, too smart for her own age group.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean anything by it.  I was just surprised that it would be allowed.”
    “Are you aware that some cultures readily accept homosexuality?  Even some species?  It’s only humans that don’t.  Hell, the American Natives accepted it hundreds of years before the Europeans even landed in the Americas!  They called it Twin-Spirits.  They understood that a male essence can live in a female’s body or vice versa.”  She realized she was lecturing and stopped herself.  Glancing around, she became aware that the birds had stopped chirping.  She looked up and saw the oncoming clouds.  “Come on, we better be getting back.”
    Maddie looked up too, realizing the danger of being caught out.  While it hadn’t rained the entire time they had been here so far, they had heard stories of flash floods and worse.  They hurried back.  They were the first in their tent, and none too soon as the rain that had waited months to come back, came down in droves.  “Hey, I’m sorry back there.  I didn’t mean anything by it...” she began as they both watched through the open doorway at how quickly it got dark and the rain began pouring down.
    “Think nothing of it,” Deanna said back.  Her sunny disposition was apparent as she quickly forgave the words between them.
    Maddie wondered at how tolerant Deanna was.  Was it because of her higher education or perhaps because she more intelligent than the rest of them?  The woman was fascinating on so many levels and could converse on almost any subject.
    Suddenly Magda ran in.  She had a towel over her head, but she was soaked to the skin.  They both saw her at the last instant before she collided with them and stepped back to let her into the tent.  “Is Lenny here?” she asked breathlessly in French.
    “No, we just got back before the rain started.  No one is here,” Deanna answered.  She reached for the wet towel, but Magda pulled