Chapter 8

Using a combination of conviction that it would happen and shameless bullying, Dana hustled Clara out of the house early. As a result, they got to school several minutes before they usually did—definitely not late, as even Clara had to admit. It wasn’t until she reached her locker in the nearly empty hallway that she realized what she was doing: avoiding Tina before she arrived. It was cowardice, she knew, but she wanted Josh to talk to Tina first. He knew how to explain what happened better than she could. And after all, hadn’t going out been his idea?

When she closed her locker door, she paused. She ought to wait. She owed it to her friend.

Yes, a guiltmonkey chittered in the back of her head, but which friend?

She turned and walked quickly to class, calling herself a chicken with every step.

Her discontent with herself turned into general discontent with the day. In English, her teammate Lucella pointed out that Hester’s scarlet letter meant more than just Adultery—the Puritans may have meant just that, but Hawthorne also used it to symbolize Apart and Altered. When classmates disagreed, Dana added Attractive and Alluring. Ms Emerson asked the class what Dana’s and Lucella’s golden Rs (they wore their letter jackets for game day) might mean aside from Riverton. But Dana continued debating two kids who both stubbornly argued that A = Adultery and nothing more—the boy because he didn’t see anything else, the girl apparently for religious reasons. Dana didn’t get that—but then, she didn’t get a lot of the ways that religion gets twisted. Hester’s punishment included.

The vigorous, cranky argument made her feel better, though.

On her way to chem, Sam gave her a wink. “Good luck tonight.” Meaning the game.

“And tomorrow?” Dana asked as blandly as she could.

Sam smiled wickedly. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

Dana liked that look, that tone of voice. Yes, definitely, she should stick to girls.

Tawnia stopped Dana on her way to lunch, to remind her of their travel arrangements. That night’s basketball game was in Silver City, over 100 miles away across two mountain passes—a very away game. That meant the bus was leaving right after school—no delays. So when Dana finally found her friends in the cafeteria, a debate about homosexuality was already going strong.

Dana wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved—in the mood she was in, she’d get too involved and out herself more thoroughly than she wanted to, even to her friends. Then she saw the look Tina gave her. Crap. As in, Dana was nothing more than. Now Dana really didn’t want to sit down. But to turn now would be running away. She made herself sit down, in the chair at the other end of the table.

If the others noticed Tina’s reaction, they didn’t show it. Well, Josh was as bland as when talking with her father, even as he insisted on the naturalness of homosexuality. Maybe they thought it was Tina and Josh being themselves.

“All I’m saying,” Sandy said, “is that the Bible tells us being gay is wrong.”

“Oh really,” Dana said dryly. All eyes turned to her. So much for non-involvement. But she couldn’t pass this up. Especially with Tina watching her. Dana wondered, then, whether Tina had started it to get back at her. She quickly went on, “Look at it carefully. For example, take Leviticus 18:22, which says, um, let me get this right...”

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination,” Josh supplied.

Dana looked at him. “King James?”

As he nodded, Sandy asked him, “What, you have it memorized?”

“My uncle’s a lay preacher,” he told her. “I know all the common sermon texts by heart.”

Ah. Dana went on, “Well, let’s look at that.” She propped her elbow on the table and held up a finger. “First off, it only talks about men, not women—so not all homosexuality.” Mike and Josh smiled at her, and Lillian snorted; so much for not outing herself. Dana didn’t look at Tina as she ticked off another finger. “Second, everywhere else the Hebrew word translated as ‘abomination’ is used, it means ‘ritually unclean’—a stain you must purge before entering the Temple. It says nothing about whether it’s wrong in daily life, just in a sacred setting. Compare the next verse, where bestiality is banned outright as ‘perversion.’ And finally,” a third finger, “the whole thing is a loose translation—closer is ‘don’t lie with a man as with a woman’.”

“Which is what I usually hear,” Mike put in.

“Right—but even that’s not perfect. The Hebrew is ambiguous—it could just as easily mean ‘don’t lie with a man in a woman’s place.’ In her bed, in other words. Regulating not the act itself, but where it’s performed.”

Dana heard Tina snort. No doubt thinking about someone trying to sleep in her place. Dammit.

“You’re making that up,” Sandy said.

“Nope—I have all the references at home, if you want them.”

“I’ve never heard of this before,” Sandy insisted.

“Where did you hear it?” Josh asked Dana, more curious than accusatory.

Dana gave him a sly glance. “My grandfather was a Unitarian minister.”

Sandy said, exasperated, “So, what, you’re saying the Bible says being gay is okay?”

“No, I’m not.”

“It sounds like it,” Lillian said with a frown.

“I’m saying, look carefully at what it really does say. Go to the source—find out what the writers thought the words meant at the time. Don’t take some preacher’s word for it, but make up your own mind what you believe.”

Sandy fiddled with her crucifix, looking sour. Dana realized she probably wasn’t going to change her mind, or Lillian’s. Still, she had to try it.

“So let me ask you this,” Sandy said suddenly. “Do you read Hebrew?”

Dana grimaced. “No.”

Sandy smiled thinly. “Then you’re taking someone else’s word about what it says.”

Dana picked her next words carefully. “The word of people who do read Hebrew, and who I trust.”