Chapter 12 The Truth Part 3
The next day, Lisa approached Roseanne's room and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Roseanne called from inside.
"It's me, Lisa." The young girl answered.
"Come on in."
Lisa entered the room and saw Roseanne putting the finishing touches on her hair. To Lisa's delight, her laptop was on and sitting on a nearby desk. This would make the plan go a little more smoothly.
"What's up Lisa." Roseanne asked, not bothering to take her face away from the mirror.
"Well. There's something I need to confess." As she spoke, Lisa attached a USB drive into the laptop. Inside the drive was the video from Zelda's phone. "I snuck away with some of your friends to go see that house where that man lives."
"Oh dear!" Roseanne shouted. "He didn't hurt you did he?"
"No he didn't." Lisa continued. "I was actually treated very well at his house. His wife made me tea, his youngest daughter let me play with her dog and his oldest let me watch a interesting video on her phone.
"That rat bastard has a wife and two daughters?" Roseanne gasped. "I feel so sorry for them."
"Me too." Lisa took a deep breath knowing that she was about to betray the only adult she trusted. But it had to be done. "That's why I decided to help them.
"Help them? How?" That's when Roseanne finally turned around. "What are you doing on my laptop?"
Lisa ignored her and continued the task on hand.
"What video did you say that girl showed you?"
"This one." Lisa moved her head and showed Roseanne the screen. The video had been attached to a e-mail ready to be sent to Roseanne's entire fanclub. Lisa held her hand over the enter button, ready to send the e-mail faster than Roseanne could stop her.
"Now Lisa!" Roseanne fretted. "Let's talk about this. You don't want to send that video to everyone."
"You're right! I don't." Lisa turned to face Roseanne while still holding her finger over the button. "I want you to send it."
"What!?" Roseanne exclaimed.
"I want you to admit you lied." Lisa repeated.
"Lisa. I can't do that! That man has to pay!"
"For accidently walking into you!?" Lisa shouted. "He deserves to have his life ruined for that?"
"What about my life!?" Roseanne screamed. "All my life all men have ever done is try to dictate how I live my life. My father. My brother. My uncles. What clothes I could wear. What toys I could play with. What boys I should marry! Not a single one of my own feelings mattered. You said it yourself! The man back home hurt you right!?"
Lisa was at a loss for words. Yes. The men in her life had hurt her more times than she could count. Homer, Bart, Mr. Burns, Skinner. There hardly was anybody who hadn't hurt Lisa in someway. However, she also remembered when her father gave up the last Ribwich in existence to see her at the spelling bee championship and how even though she lost, the whole town treated her like a hero. She remembered when Apu helped her realize vegetarianism wasn't meant to be forced on others or when Lenny and Carl helped her discovered Buddhism. Finally, she remembered she Bart used his own money to buy Bleeding Gums Murphy's solo album so she could play it on the radio. Murphy, Mr. Bergstrom. Moe. There were a lot of times men have helped her as well.
"You're right. The men in my life have screwed me over more time than I can count. But they've been there for me as many times as well."
"What do you mean?" Roseanne asked.
"My Dad always takes me to places that bore him to tears so I can be happy. And my idol is Bleeding Gums Murphy." Even my brother can be sweet when he's not pranking me. Lisa walked up to Roseanne and held her hand. "Surely not every memory of the men in your life is a bad one."
Roseanne wiped her tears of anger away. "I do remember me and my brother catching frogs in the summer evenings. That was fun. There was also that time our Father surprised us with a puppy." Roseanne fell silent for a minute. "That man. He really has a family huh?"
"A family who's life you're ruining with your lawsuit and your lies! Roseanne I know you see yourself as a feminists and frankly, I want to see you as one too, But a real feminist would never step over her fellow women, especially just to hurt a man who did nothing wrong." Lisa motioned to the laptop. "Please be the strong women I know you can be."
Roseanne remained silent for a moment more and then sighed heavily as she walked to the laptop. "You know kid." She said with a weak smile. "I don't think I'll ever be as strong as you." And with that, she pressed send.