Chapter Twenty-Two

The phone rang in the dormitory just before Christmas break was to begin at Le Tour. At this time, Melody's plans for the month-long break in between the fall and spring semesters were uncertain. Truth be told, she'd rather stay at Le Tour and work rather than face the gossip hounds in Bluewater.
"Melody?"
She recognized the woman's voice on the other end of the line. It was Florence Delarosa, the florist who lived around the bend from her mother. "Hi, Ms. Florence."
"Hey, sweetheart. How's college?"
"Great. I'm doing great."
"Listen, Melody -- I'm really worried about your mother."
Melody was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I haven't seen her in about a week. She's not coming out of the house. She doesn't return any phone calls. I think you should to come down and see what's going on."
Florence's words reverberated through Melody's ears as she went upstairs to pack her things. This was not what she wanted to hear.

The winter break found Melody exactly where she didn't want to be -- back in Bluewater for an entire month. If she'd have had her druthers, she'd have been back at Le Tour, staying in the dorms, burying herself in some kind of research project or other.
Arriving at her girlhood home, she barely recognized the place. Its formerly cheery yellow exterior had become a dingy beige. The formerly well-tended flowers had wilted and become overrun with weeds. When she walked in the house, an incredible stench consisting of dirty diapers and rotting formula bottles filled the air. She saw Wanda seated at the dining room table, staring blankly out of a nearby window, while dirty diapers littered the floor. Growing more incensed by the minute, Melody disposed of the diapers and went upstairs to bathe Harmony.
A girlhood memory flashed through her mind. Melody groaned and pulled the covers over her head, wishing her mother didn't have to sing those godawful Christmas carols. Yes, she knew it was Christmas Day, but did everybody have to be so cheerful and happy? Besides, she already knew what she was getting this year (as always).
She'd sneaked down the stairs and carefully slit open the presents to take a peek inside. Then, almost as carefully, she'd attach more scotch tape, just to make it look as though they'd never been opened at all.
Grinning broadly to herself, she'd close her eyes and try to go back to sleep. Then the baritone of her father joined in. As if her mother's caterwauling weren't bad enough, her dad had to join in too.
She remembered when her parents dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus to work in the toy shop. She remembered when despite not having as much money as some of the other families, they had the most lavish Christmas light display in town. She even remembered when her parents wanted her to join in dressing up in Christmas colors for their annual family portraits.
Now, as she looked about the gloomy room, it seemed Christmas had bypassed the Tinker house completely. And it hurt. Deeply.
"Melody, dear," Wanda droned absently, "could you run down to J'Adore's and pick up a couple of cakes for me and Harmony please?"
Melody sighed. "Sure, mom," and she called a cab to pick her up. She still wasn't entirely sure of herself behind the wheel of a car.
"Say, isn't that Wanda Tinker's girl? What's she doing back here?" hissed one of the patrons to Denise Jacquet as Melody walked into J'Adore Bakery. "I thought she left."
"Yeah, that must be the kid Wanda had for the professor. Can you believe she hid the truth about that girl from her husband all this time?"
"I don't know how we didn't guess she wasn't Stephen's. She didn't look or act like him at all."
Filing this in her mind, Melody narrowed her eyes like slits, glaring at Denise and her companion. They were essentially calling her mother a slut right in front of her! Right then and there, she decided that the townsfolk's vicious attacks on her mother had to stop. They had sapped her mother of her energy and her will to live.
She walked up to the counter and requested two cakes, one that read "Happy Birthday Wanda" and another that read "Happy Birthday Harmony." After paying for the cakes, Melody left, but continued to hear the talk from inside the bakery.
Lisa Ramirez had rented the Bluewater Town Hall, like she did every year, for the annual village holiday party. The weather added to the festive atmosphere, delivering cold weather and intermittent light snow flurries. Just about every regular year-round resident of the Village had showed up here -- the Jacquets, Malcolm Landgraab, Florence Delarosa, and of course Lisa herself. Noticeably absent, however, were the Tinkers. "Where's Wanda?" Florence asked Lisa after pulling her aside.
"Oops, it must have slipped my mind to invite her," Lisa said. "Well, she knows we do this holiday party every year, so nothing's stopping her from coming again this year."
Without anyone noticing, and without uttering another syllable, Florence slipped out the back door.
Meanwhile, back at the Tinkers, Wanda, still staring blankly out the window, heard the commotion coming from the town hall, the festive holiday music and the laughter reverberating through the air. "What's going on at the town hall?" she asked, not even looking at Melody, who was holding her kid sister in her arms.
"Mom, you know it's the holiday party, they do it every year."
Wanda shook her head. "Oh, that's right."
Melody came up with an idea. "Mom, let's go over there, the three of us."
Wanda shook her head again. "No, it's not a good idea. Besides, we didn't get an invite."
"Since when do you need an invite to go to the Village holiday party?" Melody was incensed. "So this is what it's come down to, right? Dirty diapers, bottles all over, not taking a bath, not eating -- Mom, this isn't you."
"I don't know how much more of this I can take." Wanda heaved a sigh. "This was our favorite time of the year in the toy shop. We used to dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus for the children --"
Just then Florence arrived. "Dear, the holiday party is going on --"
"I'm not going."
"Yes you are." Florence took Harmony upstairs and gave her a bath and dressed her. After bathing and dressing herself, Melody took Harmony from Florence and curled the toddler's jet black hair.
Melody helped her mother up from her chair, her blood continuing to boil the entire time. She told her mother to clean herself up, change into some decent clothes, and come along with her to the holiday festival. Reluctantly, Wanda listened, showing the first signs of climbing out of her abyss.
After Florence Delarosa slipped back into the gathering unnoticed, she heard Lisa Ramirez talking to Denise Jacquet and another lady over sparkling drinks. Everything stopped, though, with the entrance of the Tinkers -- Wanda, Melody, and baby Harmony. "You mean she bothered to show her face here after everything that's happened?" one lady whispered within earshot.
"You know wild horses can't keep her away," added Lisa. "She's a glutton for punishment."
Melody took a deep breath and examined the room. Her head started to spin in ten thousand different directions. Then, suddenly, she couldn't take it anymore. A lifetime of pent-up anger and rage had finally come to a boiling point.
With fire in her eyes, Melody first turned her attention to the Jacquets. "What kind of voodoo spell do you have on your son, Denise? You talk about everyone else but the sun shines out of his butt, he could do no wrong. I bet you don't know that besides the 2 women he's seeing here, he goes downtown to the gay bars too. He needs to grow up and be a man instead of sticking up under mama all the time."
"Hah, I knew it!" Lisa said to herself, "and it finally comes out of her mouth. She's the one who's gay!"
The whole gathering stopped, their eyes falling on Melody. But she wasn't fazed. And Gilbert was even less so, even to the point of walking up to Melody and trying to flirt with her. "I remember that gangly awkward little girl in the green sunglasses who used to wander in the bakery. You sure did grow up nicely. Mind if we cut out of here and take a spin downtown?"
Melody shook her head. How dare he try to hit on her! By this point, though, her anger was palpable. And there was no controlling it. Melody raised her right fist and smacked Gilbert right in the jaw. With fire in her eyes, she shouted, "Try it again and your other side is going to be busted too."
Wanda was astonished. "Melody!" she cried in disbelief. "Oh, my dear sweet child."
Gilbert, for his part, scampered away toward the men's room, with bruises to his jaw and his pride.
Then she sharpened her fangs for Malcolm Landgraab. "And you, you greedy vulture, you came here with no connections to anyone who lives here and now all of a sudden you want to take over every damn thing."
"What are you talking about?" Malcolm shouted.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about, Malcolm. My mother told me, you offered to buy my father's toy shop. He worked his hiney off for that shop. I'd rather see the place rot than to see it in your dirty filthy hands!"
"I'm just looking out for your family's best interests, Melody. You know that." He flashed her a sly smile.
Melody scoffed. "Oh, spare me the drama," she shouted. "The only person's best interests you're looking out for, Malcolm, is your own."
"Melody Tinker!" someone shouted from the crowd. "What's gotten into you? Must be the punch!"
"Yeah, what the hell brought you back here in the first place? To cause more trouble, it seems like."
"I'm not finished. This whole town has been built on a foundation of lies. That's all, I say, lies! Nobody here is living the life they profess to live. It's time somebody in this god-forsaken place wises up to the truth."
Melody saved her sharpest knife, however, for Lisa Ramirez. "You!" Melody shouted, directing a sharp finger at her. "You pretended to be my mother's friend and confidante but instead went around town spreading vicious lies about her!"
"I did not!" Lisa yelled. "How dare you accuse me of something as blatantly disrespectful as that?"
"Oh don't give me that bull, Lisa. You run around with your smiley face, saying hi to everybody, pretending you've got so much, and yet you go around stabbing the knife in their backs. What you did to my mother was absolutely inexcusable! The only thing she did wrong -- was trust you."
"I didn't do anything to your mother that she didn't do to herself."
"You don't get it, do you?" retorted Melody. "With friends like you, who the hell needs enemies? Is that why you conveniently forgot to invite her to this, the town Christmas party?"
"I didn't forget to invite anyone. We have an open-door policy here, Melody, you know that, as long as you've lived here. Anyone is welcome here."
Melody then tried a different tack. "Where's your husband?" she asked.
"Business trip," Lisa replied, "some convention for the furniture shop."
"No, he isn't. He's at a hotel with his mistress, Dina Caliente from Pleasantview. Just yesterday he withdrew six thousand four hundred and fifty-three simoleans from his bank account and placed them in hers. Apparently it's been happening for quite awhile, Lisa. There's a whole slew of debits charged to his account on Dina's behalf. Diamond necklaces, fur coats, even a Mercedes."
The whole gathering stopped to hear everything. Lisa turned around to see them, and see her entire world crashing down around her. "Is this true?" she asked, trying to hold back tears. "If it is true, how do you know all this?"
Melody flashed Lisa a devious grin. "I have my sources." After a brief pause, Melody's tone suddenly turned reflective and she was on the verge of tears. "All my mother and father have done the entire time they've been here is make your children happy with their lovingly crafted, handmade toys. And this is the thanks they get? My father is six feet under, working himself literally to the grave so that he could produce this year's Christmas shipment. My mother is a nervous wreck now, thanks to all of you. She won't eat, she can't step outside to pick up the newspaper or to water the flowers, and she can barely even look at my baby sister, much less care for her. All the stuff you people are saying about her, it's all lies. You don't know a damn thing about what happened that night. And you shouldn't know, because it's none of your damned business!" Tears began to flow down Melody's cheeks, and she was powerless to stop them.
Collapsing to the floor in a heap beside the drink bar, her glasses fogging with her tears, Melody took hard, deep breaths while rocking back and forth. She was joined -- and comforted -- by Wanda and Florence. "It's okay, baby," Wanda whispered in her ear, rubbing her shoulder, "it's over now."
Lisa came forth, looking highly affronted. "Hmmph," she muttered, disgusted at what had just taken place. "I would never have expected that from her, the dyke."
Wanda's eyes narrowed in slits as she glared at Lisa, gaining the fury of a mother bear protecting her cub. "You called my daughter a dyke?"
"Well," Lisa said in a snotty tone, "she is, isn't she?"
"So what if she is?" Wanda asked. "That doesn't mean anything. She's still my daughter and I love her, no matter what."
A soft cough made Lisa spin around. Florence stepped forward. "Considering how you've all treated her family since her father died, you all had it coming to you."
Wanda, Melody, Florence, and Harmony left the party without saying another word. Melody's head rested on Wanda's shoulder.