Dallas, Texas

"…debate club? That's interesting", listening and responding as Kristin brought her and JR up to speed on how the first half of the semester at her new school had gone, Sue Ellen felt happy and secure. While she had spoken to her sister on the phone once or twice, it was very reassuring to see her in person and have it confirmed to her that she had indeed adapted well to her new life and they hadn't all made a huge mistake sending her off to school in another state.

"It is interesting. My English teacher told me that my quick responses to questions and ability to see situations from opposing perspectives would make me a good debater, so I went to the initial club meeting and it turns out she wasn't lying or exaggerating. They give us topics and we have to come up with a strong argument for or against that topic. It's fun, you get to argue your point without risking being punished for saying something that goes against popular opinion; the aim is to persuade people to agree with your position, so you get to be as strong and argumentative as you want. I'm sure mama will hate that I'm in a club that encourages being opinionated and congratulates the person with the best argument, but I'm sure she would have loved it too if she had done it when she was in school; you know how much she enjoys being right about things". Speaking the final part of her sentence in a more bitter tone than the rest of her explanation, Kristin then switched back to her previous demeanour, excitedly regaling her sister and brother-in-law with a recount of her school year thus far.

"Debate club is just one of the activities I'm in though. I've been working on my tennis skills so that I can try out for the team next semester and hopefully get a place in the JV team when I'm in high school. They also offer skiing and sailing lessons, so I've signed up for weekend classes for both of those. I've never done either of them, so they're purely fun extracurricular activities right now, but perhaps by the time I'm in high school I'll be good enough to try out for the teams. They don't have a cheerleading squad for me to work toward being a part of, but apparently when we get to ninth grade, if we want to, we can to opt out of traditional gym class and focus on one of our sports or choose something else like dance or swimming to try, even if we're not on the team. My classes and activities keep me busy, but that doesn't mean I miss out on being able to do things with my friends. Living on campus means that you're never far from seeing people you know or finding someone to do things with in your free time. I loved my old school, but this is better; we have rules and codes of conduct to follow, but they're not like the rules mama has, they aren't restricting and domineering, they're really just there to make sure we stay safe and achieve things to the level we're capable of, not simply to control us".

Surprised by her sister's intuitive evaluation of her life with their mother and away from her, Sue Ellen's satisfaction with her and JR's decision grew. She herself had felt smothered by Patricia's rules and ridiculous insistence upon certain behaviours, and even when she went away to college, she hadn't been able to escape her mother's control, so to hear that Kristin felt the same way and was thriving in an environment away from that made her very happy. Kristin had always been more comfortable with the idea of making good social connections and marrying young than Sue Ellen had, but Sue Ellen hoped that in living away from the intense influence of their mother, her younger sister would develop her own sense of self and strive for something more than to be the wife of a wealthy man. Sue Ellen couldn't deny that she enjoyed the money and status that came with being Mrs JR Ewing, but for her personally, her happiness had more to do with the fact that she had married a man she loved and who loved her and had married into a family that treated her well, than it did with the actual money. Her primary reason for dating and marrying JR hadn't been for money at all, in fact, at the time she had met JR, on the evening of the Miss Texas pageant, she had been in a relationship with a wholly middle class college student and she had been happy with that. The feelings she had felt for JR when she first laid eyes on him and subsequently met him had had nothing to do with his money or power, especially since she hadn't even been aware that he was wealthy and powerful; he had really just been an attractive, mysterious man who had caught her eye.

To Sue Ellen, if Kristin made good social connections in her life and eventually did fall in love with a man who could give her everything their mother had set them up to believe was important, then that wasn't a problem, not really, but it had to come from a place of mutual love and respect. Anything less would end horribly and she didn't want Kristin's life to head in that direction. Her sister was smart, beautiful and absolutely capable of more than just manipulating her way into marriage; there was nothing wrong with being the wife of a wealthy man, but it shouldn't be her only goal, she was worth so much more than that and Sue Ellen hoped that she was beginning to realise that. From what Kristin was saying though, moving out of Texas, away from her mother and the general atmosphere she was raised in was turning out to be the best thing she had ever done. If the encouragement from the teachers and coaches at her new school could boost her self-confidence about what she was capable of, she was on the path to a good, well-rounded life, one where she may get everything Patricia wanted for her, but not purely because she had set out to achieve those things. As JR pulled into the Southfork driveway, Sue Ellen smiled to herself; if things kept going at the rate they were, this was set to be a happy, undramatic Thanksgiving and she was very excited by that possibility.

To be continued…