The Proud and the Prejudiced Read Free Page B

myself.
    By then I knew I wanted to be an actress, and I
decided to practice the craft immediately. I would regale my classmates with
terribly untrue tales, not so much to get their attention but more to see if I
could fool them into believing me. Sometimes these falsehoods went too far when
they actually did believe me. All the mean girls would talk about parties and
going out, so I told them about a wild party I had attended, in my mind. I
fictionalized a guest list, entertainment, hors d’oeuvres, and the hostess all
in intricate detail. After hearing my story, some of the girls relayed it all
to Sr. Theresa, the principal, and I was summoned to her office.
    “Some of your friends are worried about you.
They said you attended some sort of hippie bacchanal.”
    “If they are the ones I think, they are no
friends of mine. I did no such thing.”
    “But they all heard you talking about the
party.”
    “For some reason, they don’t care for me – at
all. I wouldn’t doubt that they all got together and made up this ridiculous
story just to turn you against me.” At this point, I turned up the histrionics
and even managed to make myself cry. “And you believe them! Of all people, I
thought I could trust you. Why do they hate me? They are trying to ruin my
reputation, and I have never once served then an injustice!” The nun believed
me. Or maybe she believed Marlene, who could have verified that I had not spent
a single night out of her sight.
    I think Marlene, Mother now, might have chosen
that time to adopt me because Tad had gone away. He still lived with us while
he went to college at Georgetown, but as soon as he graduated, he was drafted.
I knew as much as I could about Vietnam, and I was against the war even before
the Marines took Tad. I prayed every night that he wouldn’t be sent overseas.
    Molly was a Senator now, and he used his
connections so Tad could stay in the States as long as possible. I still never
saw him, though, since he was stationed in California. I figured Molly had used
those same connections to keep his own son out of the war altogether and
couldn’t help but resent them both for it, especially when the inevitable
happened.
    Almost a year after he had been drafted, Tad
was standing in the kitchen when I came down before school.
    “Tad!” I ran into his arms as he lifted me off
the ground. “What are you doing here?”
    “Can’t a guy come and see his little sister
every once in a while?”
    “You better believe it! I’ve missed you so
much.”
    “Me, too. You haven’t been out drinking and
carousing, have you?”
    “Of course.” We laughed, and I caught him up on
any new things since my last letter as we walked into the living room and sat
on the sofa. “And how is everything on the base?”
    He averted his eyes. “Um, fine.”
    “You still haven’t explained your unexpected
appearance.”
    “I’m here because I have to talk to you.” He
looked at his watch. “But you’d better get to school.”
    “No, we can talk now. I have first hour free
today anyway. You can’t expect me to spend the day imagining the worst.”
    He looked at me then. “Lexie, it is the worst.
I’m going. They’re sending me to Nam.”
    “No. No, they can’t! What about Molly?”
    “There’s nothing he could do. He arranged for
me to come here first to see you, but he couldn’t do anything else.”
    “It’s not true! It’s not true! They can’t send
you!” I was screaming, and tears flowed down my cheeks in rivers. He held me
close, but he couldn’t stifle my hysteria. My screams had awoken Mother, and
she and Annette came running into the living room. “You just can’t go!” I
pulled out of his arms and fled to my room.
    I know he tried to cheer me up while he was
there, but sometimes just looking at him made me cry. I couldn’t believe my own
brother was going to Vietnam. A few days later at the airport, Mother left us
alone to say goodbye.
    “Don’t worry, Lexie. I’ll be