Blind Allie 1:2

“Just like a man to fall apart when separated from a woman, if you can even call it a man.”

“I think it’s romantic. It’s about self-sacrifice. Eternal love.”

“Oh, snap out of it, Allie. It’s fiction. Pure boneheaded sexist fiction. I still don’t know why you suggested reading it. It’s like reading an ancient manuscript written in some extinct language by some male dinosaur.”

“Because it’s a classic and it’s for class. Speaking of, I have to go to my next one. See you at practice?”

“Yeah.”

Allie pretty much knew that the author’s male gaze and his objectification of women would come up during the class discussion, so she didn’t take the bait that Missy had just dangled in front of her. Besides, she loved Missy, her teammate, friend, and feminist compass, and didn’t want to fracture their relationship. She admired Missy’s outspokenness, especially on matters of equity and social justice. And her flair for drama. No one will forget the day when Missy marched through the cafeteria, twisting left, then right, and left again at her sacroiliac joint, with the phalanges of both hands high above her skull holding the book with “#SkeletettesToo” scrawled in black Sharpie across the cover.

Allie agreed with Missy on most things, but she had a hard time squaring Missy’s world view with her own reality. Although Allie’s mother was the confident proactive one who had filed for the divorce and who had stood to gain more from the postmortem nuptial agreement, she, not Allie’s father, was the one who fell apart when all was said and done and couldn’t pull herself back together. Fearing for his daughter’s safety and security, Allie’s father eventually gained full custody. She’d been living with him ever since.