Chapter Seven

For all the anticipation regarding the Tinker baby's arrival, the child's birth itself was more than a little bit anticlimactic. It happened at 3 am on an otherwise normal, chilly early Tuesday morning. The proud papa, Stephen, even managed to sleep through the whole thing, but awakened when the baby let out its first hearty cries. Harmony Lauren Tinker (author's note: much, much more on her later) had entered the world.

Wanda looked at her bundle of joy and decided that her new daughter bore a marked resemblance to her father. She had black eyebrows and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. Wanda didn't want to admit it, but the birth of Harmony had made it a little easier for her to accept that Melody was out of the house, and possibly permanently.

As far as Melody herself was concerned, her life wasn't getting any easier. The art show was just two weeks away, and she hadn't even started on her piece. The fact that she'd never entered a formal art competition weighed on her. And on top of everything else, her arch-nemesis Jill Vance had seen her and Sarah together and just went ballistic, calling her hurtful names in the school cafeteria in front of everybody. Other than her close friendship with Sarah and all the new things she was learning, Melody couldn't help but be disillusioned. I left home for this? she wondered. If she hadn't had Sarah's friendship, she admitted, she wouldn't have any idea what she'd do.
Sarah, of course, was torn. Here were her two friends, who she desperately wanted to get along, and they were at each other's throats like prizefighters. Sarah asked Jill at one point, "Why don't you two like each other?"

"No reason," Jill replied, "I just can't stand her. And I don't understand why you're with her all the time, either."

"Because I like her," defended Sarah, "as I thought I liked you before you started all this." "Did you mean because you love her?" Jill asked, a tone of disdain and resentment detectable in her voice.

Sarah said nothing and walked away, disappointed that she was unable to play peacemaker.

At six that evening, Headmistress Hanover received the phone call from Stephen Tinker, with instructions to alert Melody of the baby's birth. "Yes, I'll tell her right away!" Miss Hanover promised.

Liesel confronted Melody with the news over dinner. She caught her alone, without her "other half" as the joke ran around the Academy. "Your mother had her baby," she began, "another daughter, named Harmony. Melody and Harmony -- such beautiful names."

"I'll call her when I'm done." Melody took a deep breath.

"You know, my staff and I have been talking -- and, frankly, we're wondering about you and Sarah Rodiek."

Melody looked quizzically at Miss Hanover. "What about us?"

"We have it on fairly good authority that the two of you are in a romantic relationship and have been for some time."

Melody rose her voice. "It's none of your business!"

"Then it's true."

"Come on, we're fourteen. You say that 'romantic relationship' like we're a couple of old fogies."

"Melody!" Miss Hanover blinked back tears and calmed herself down. "Melody, it's okay to question yourself, it's okay to be confused."

"You're trying to say I'm gay, aren't you?"

"You're fourteen, confusion is a part of being a teenager. I'm thirty-seven, and still don't know what I'm doing half of the time."

"All my life," Melody admitted, "I never felt I belonged. Not in my family, not where I lived, not where I went to school. Then I came here and I met Sarah and everything just seemed to make sense. We just clicked, you know? It was -- it was like a light went on, and I was able to say things to her that I wasn't able to say to anybody else."

"Did you kiss her?"

Melody didn't hesitate. "Yes." The answer flowed from her lips, without thought.

"Have you told your parents any of this?"

"No. I can't. They already think I'm a freak, this will make it worse."

"Your parents love you, no matter what."

"You don't know my parents." Melody looked away from Miss Hanover. "They're toymakers, both of them. And ever since I was a young child, I've been afraid of toys. I never even played with them."

"I've met your mother, Melody, she seems like a sweet, sweet lady, and she cares deeply about you."

"They figured I was odd for not wanting to play with toys, for not being interested in toys or their toy shop, and they tried to get me interested, and I couldn't get interested, so they gave up."

"So instead you turned to painting."

Melody nodded. "It was like I felt a canvas wouldn't 'get me' like a jack-in-the-box could. So I spent hours up in my room with my easel. At first it wasn't really painting, it was splattering watercolors all over the canvas, but as I got better at it I made stick figures and even painted the front of my house."

"Did you ever get lonely?" Miss Hanover wondered.

"No, strangely enough, no. I had my canvas and my books, and just before I became a teenager, I got my telescope, so I spent my nights stargazing."

In her years in education, Miss Hanover thought, she had never encountered a girl quite like this. "You've wrapped yourself in a neat little cocoon, haven't you, Melody?"

Abruptly she disappeared from the table, to Miss Hanover's dismay. Completing the sentence, unsure if anyone heard her, she continued, "and as soon as someone tries to intrude your wall, you push them away."

Melody picked up one of the public receivers in the common room and dialed the number of the Tinker residence. To her surprise, her mother answered the phone. "Hi, Mom," she began.

"Sweetheart! I was wondering when you'd call. Are you coming this weekend to see the baby?"

"Hopefully, if I could get my science project finished up."

"Why not? You haven't been back since Christmas. Are you ashamed of us all of a sudden?"

"No, mom, it's not that, it's just --"

Wanda took a deep breath. "Melody, you're hiding something from me. I can tell."

"What can I hide from you, mom?"

Wanda laughed. "Lots of things, like, maybe, a boyfriend, or that you're making bad grades -- " Her tone suddenly turned serious. "I know you, Melody. There's something you're not telling me, and you're miserable."

"Mom, really, I'm fine. School's great, I've made a couple new friends."

"Well, that's good," Wanda sighed. "I was worried about that, given your tendency to keep to yourself."

Desperate to get rid of her mother, Melody hastily said her goodbyes. "I've got to go finish my project," was the excuse she used.