So FF isn't working right, but hopefully when it does you will get to binge read my story.
We tried to get my daughter moved into her 1st apartment (individual lease for a room and shared living space) but it has been a comedy of errors. She was supposed to get a 2nd or 3rd floor apartment, but they stuck her on the ground floor by herself. When we complained about the location, they said she could stay there until another apartment is ready in a couple of days. We decided to just move her in with essentials until then.
There is a swipe key to get into the apartment, and each room has a regular key. While the swipe key worked a couple of times on Saturday, it didn't work at all on Sunday (her move in day) and of course no one was there. I noticed that the front window while locked, looked loose and decided to see if it would open. It took me about ten seconds to open it from the outside by lightly pushing at it so we got her in that way, but then of course we were upset that someone could just break in so easily and that was the window to her bedroom.
We called maintenance and they took a report, but when my daughter followed up today, they didn't seem to be in a hurry to get anything fixed, but said they will move her into an apartment that already has roommates by next week. I hope things improve from here on out. The complex just got purchased by another company after we signed the lease so we don't yet know if that will be an improvement or not.
The first little section with Mary gets into an abortion debate; as this is a hot-button topic, you may skip ahead if you wish.
2.
Later that same day, Elizabeth drove to her parents' home in Radnor Township. It was a four bedroom house that had originally been just two, but then her parents had converted the attic into two additional bedrooms and a bathroom with some dormers. It made those bedrooms awkward and angular. Mary now had the bedroom next to the master on the main floor, while Lydia and Kit each had an upstairs bedroom.
Elizabeth's plan was to visit with her sisters first before catching up with her parents who were out. Feeling that Mary was likely a lost cause as a one-issue voter, after a quick greeting and hug, Elizabeth just went ahead and asked: "Are you still planning to vote Trump for president?"
"Not just planning, did. I voted early last week and yes I voted for Trump. He is a jerk for sure, but he's putting in Supreme Court justices that will get rid of Roe v. Wade. I'm so glad Amy Coney Barrett made it through the confirmation process; she might be the key to changing the whole thing. I just can't vote for anyone that thinks it is okay to off babies right before they are born."
"You know as well as I, that late term abortions are exceedingly rare," Elizabeth countered, "and what about all the women who might die or receive permanent injuries if safe procedures by doctors are outlawed? What about women who've been raped or are victims of incest? Especially earlier on, it's nothing but a bundle of cells, and then later it is pretty much equivalent to any other mammal's fetus for a while. How is something that cannot survive on its own worth more than a cat or a dog? We put those to sleep when they are not wanted."
"You think a baby is like a stray cat or a dog? Really?" Mary's eyes were wide now in astonishment, magnified even more by the thick readers she was wearing. Elizabeth realized she had gone too far in directly challenging Mary's core beliefs and prepared herself for a lecture. Mary predictably told her, "People are made in God's image; we aren't the same as animals! There are so many people who want to adopt a baby, there are lists even for babies with Down Syndrome."
Mary then returned to addressing the rest of Elizabeth's argument. "If SCOTUS overturns Roe, those types of decisions will go back to the states to decide and Pennsylvania will keep it legal here. Sure, there will be abortion tourism, but hopefully, eventually, people will see the truth about the genocide that is being committed against our most vulnerable. Life has value even if the baby is going to have a disability; we don't go shoot and put veterans out of their misery when they end up missing a limb or with brain injuries. Taking a life is wrong no matter at what stage it is done. And honestly, Lizzy, if someone wants to kill her baby and something happens to her as a result, that's just justice."
Elizabeth was horrified toward her sister's caviler attitude toward harm to women, but it was clear to her that someone who could say such things could not be convinced on that issue. Elizabeth decided to pivot to a different approach, hoping that Mary might be more open to considering Biden as a desirable candidate because he would serve the downtrodden. "Let's put abortion aside for a minute," Elizabeth suggested. "What about the fact that we need to help people who are already here? Trump separated families at the border and there are all these children that we don't even know where they are and how will those families ever be reunited. Trump is trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act which will end up with lots of people losing their healthcare and people will die as a result of that. And what about justice for those that are wrongfully killed by the police just because they are African-American? Biden would be so much more merciful to political refugees, the poor, the sick, the meek, the oppressed. God cares about those things, too, right?"
Mary said, "Of course God cares about those things but I think you over estimate the importance of those issues and the impact of the harm. Family separation was pretty bad, but the courts have stopped it. Yes, loss of insurance would be a bad thing, but the odds of the Supreme Court repealing ObamaCare is low and at least those people can ask Congress to help them out and the emergency room functions as an imperfect safety net. Trump himself says he wants to keep the ban on insurance rejecting people for preexisting conditions. Yes, our country has a racist past and prejudice can influence the police, but murders are more of a concern to me than abuse of power by the police. Yes, all these police shootings make for big headlines, but in most of these stories the real situation is more complicated than the initial story makes it out to be. Bad things have happened before for sure; whatever George Floyd did, he sure did not deserve to die. But two wrongs don't make a right. That guy with the knife with mental problems in Philly that rushed toward the police and was shot, that's tragic, but how does that justify opportunists stealing stuff afterwards from a Wal-Mart?"
"It doesn't," Elizabeth said, "but people are rationally upset that in this day and age it seems like police see a black face, shoot first, and ask questions later. Shouldn't we be past all of that so many years after Jim Crow?"
"Sure, and wanting true equality and justice for people isn't wrong. I'm glad you are idealistic about all that stuff. Lizzy, it's not that I'm not saying that everyone being treated fairly by the police isn't important, it is, but . . . Do you believe in numbers and statistics?"
Elizabeth, feeling that she was falling into a trap, couldn't help but reply, "Yes," adding, "some people manipulate statistics, though."
"Well I'm not trying to do that," Mary told her. "I've checked pretty objective sources, put the picture together myself rather than just memorized some politician's talking points. The thing is that people don't really look at all the numbers combined. When you do, it is pretty staggering and helps put things in perspective."
Warming to her topic, Mary rattled off what were apparently well rehearsed statistics: "Did you know that more than sixty million abortions have happened in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade? Think about that number, Lizzy, sixty million. By contrast the Holocaust may have killed six to eleven million Jews, the Rwanda genocide perhaps a million. The Democratic Party used to say that abortions should be 'safe, legal and rare.' Does more than sixty million, more than 600,000 abortions in 2016 according to the CDC, sound rare to you? Most of those are not children that were the products of rape or incest.
"According to the CDC, the two leading causes of death in this country are heart disease and cancer. Heart disease kills about 650,000 per year, cancer another 600,000. So that would put abortion up there tied for the second leading cause of death. In comparison, right now about 230,000 people have died from Covid 19 in the U.S. Sure, that number could go a lot higher, but look at all the effort we are putting into fighting that disease, have been putting into fighting heart disease and cancer for many years. While young people can die from heart disease, cancer and Covid, the vast majority are older folks who have hopefully lived a reasonable life-span. Why are we trying so hard to save older folks and going along cheerfully as a country with killing people before they've gotten a chance to live? Murders who get executed get due process at least and their cases take years."
Elizabeth wanted to reply, but Mary gave her no time, speaking louder and more forcefully as she continued.
"Almost 50,000 people die a year from suicide and another 40,000 from car crashes. Last year about 14,000 people were murdered, more than half of those were black. Police have killed around 1,000 people each year for the past five years according to the Washington Post with African Americans being killed at twice the rate per capita as whites. Are these problems? Absolutely, for sure! But when you compare them, don't you see? We should care about murders more than police killings, about suicides more than murders, about Covid above those, but let's at least care about murdered babies as much as people dying from heart disease and cancer. So yes, I consider other issues facing our country, but I given them each the weight they deserve."
Elizabeth found Mary terrifying in her rant. Where was the normally meek sister she knew? One thing was certain; there would be no changing Mary's mind.
Elizabeth wandered out into the living room to take a few moments to regroup before starting anew with what should be a much easier target to sway, Lydia. As far as Elizabeth knew, Lydia didn't have any particularly strong political views but should be excited to vote in her first election as she had just turned eighteen three months earlier. She knocked on Lydia's door upstairs, "Lydia, its Lizzy."
When Lydia opened the door, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Visiting, what else. Remember when I promised I would braid your hair the next time I was here to make it wavy the next day like we used to do before I moved out? Well here I am!"
"Okay," Lydia consented. "But, no one's going to get to see it unless I post a selfie. Mom never lets me take the car anymore; she thinks I'm going to get the Corona virus and bring it home to Dad and her. I really wanted you to braid my hair before one of my school days."
"What about the kids who will see you when they trick-or treat tomorrow on Halloween?" Then a thought occurred to Elizabeth, "They haven't banned trick-or-treating, have they?"
"No. They haven't, but they did say it is a 'high-risk' traditional activity. I hope some kids stop by, though," Lydia explained. "Of course if they don't, that is more candy for us. I wish I wasn't too old to trick-or-treat. That used to be so much fun! I know just what I would go as, too."
"What?" Elizabeth asked as Lydia obviously wanted her to.
"Well, I'd be a protestor. I would make a sign that either read 'Halloween Matters' or maybe 'Candy Matters.' I told Maria Lucas about my idea but she said I shouldn't make fun of 'Black Lives Matter' that it wasn't okay to compare getting candy to innocent people being shot by the police."
"Well, I think it would have made a good costume," Elizabeth consoled, even though she rather agreed with Maria that Lydia's proposed costume would be rather insensitive. "But you could dress up to hand out candy. Does Mom still have that witch hat and cape? Wavy hair might make good witch hair."
"Maybe," Lydia was noncommittal.
Lydia and Elizabeth crowded into the upstairs bathroom and assembled the necessary supplies before returned to Lydia's room, including Elizabeth placing five thick hair bands on her right wrist. After Lydia combed through her own hair, Elizabeth took over, squirting Lydia's hair with water from a spray bottle before making Lydia comb through it once again. They then went back to Lydia's room.
Elizabeth sat on a low chair and had Lydia sit in front of her on the floor. Elizabeth parted Lydia's chestnut hair into five equal parts, placing each section into a loose ponytail as she went along. Then Elizabeth began french braiding the last loose section of Lydia's hair. Because Lydia's hair now barely reached her shoulders, and Elizabeth added large chunks as she braided, the braiding went quickly.
As Elizabeth braided, Lydia nattered on about the current situation at Radnor High School. "Lizzy, it is so unfair. My senior year just isn't going the way it is supposed to! I know it isn't as bad as a total shutdown, I'll probably have a graduation and all, but still it sucks. I'm in Cohort A because of my last name is in the A-K group, so I'm stuck hanging out with Pen Harrington and Mary King instead of my 'L' friends. Maria Lucas and Jess Long go to school on the opposite days!
"And why do I have to be stuck going to school with Eric Chamberlayne? He is keeps asking to borrow my clothes. Seriously, a guy who can fit into the same size clothes as me, and wants to, that is just so wrong. I don't even think he is queer or trans; he is just weird. And then, it is just my luck that hottie Mitch Nicholls is in Cohort B. I swear all the cute guys have names in the second half of the alphabet!"
"If that is your most serious problem, I don't think you are doing too bad," Elizabeth responded.
"Yeah, I suppose. But my school is so cheap that we are all going to get Corona for sure. Rather than give someone the job of taking everyone's temperature when we get there, we are all supposed to do a self-screening survey each school day that we attend. The whole thing is a joke. Mom's supposed to take my temperature in the morning and you can guess about how long that lasted. After the first day, she said I should take my own temperature every morning and of course I don't. It is the same thing with most of my friends. No one is taking their temperature every morning, so why should I bother? Supposedly there are random temperature tests at school, but I've never gotten pulled for one."
Although Elizabeth made no reply, she resolved to speak to her parents about taking Lydia's temperature every morning and considered whether she should talk to her favorite teacher that still taught at the high school. However, she didn't have much hope that anything she said or did would change anything. By this time, Elizabeth had finished three braids, so she decided it was time to transition the conversation to the election as Lydia had provided the perfect segue. As she started the next braid, she commented, "You know, Lydia, that voting is the way to change things you don't like."
"Oh, I'm not voting," Lydia stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Why not?" Elizabeth asked, her hands stopping.
"I never got around to registering and that deadline passed a while ago, I think."
"But Lydia, I got you the form back in September!" Elizabeth heard the whine in her own tone. She took a moment to try to settle herself before she resumed her braiding. "I even addressed the envelop for you and put on the stamp." Elizabeth pulled the braid tight as she worked, taking out her frustration on her sister's hair.
"Ow! Not so hard, Lizzy!" Lydia complained.
"Sorry," Elizabeth commented; she hadn't meant to hurt her sister. She forced herself to braid gently even as she continued to seethe.
Elizabeth knew just when the last date to register to vote in Pennsylvania was, October 19th. She had texted her sister at least twice about submitting the form earlier in the month and each time Lydia had assured her that she would turn it in. Elizabeth hadn't wanted her sister to be one of those apathetic people who just didn't care enough to vote, and now her sister was one of them. She twisted the elastic around the end of the fourth braid, making one final loop.
"Why didn't you send in the application?" Elizabeth asked. And then without waiting for an answer she followed up exasperatedly, her voice rising in pitch and tone, "I tried to make it so easy for you!" Elizabeth did not start on the final chunk of hair; instead her hands were in two fists, her short fingernails pressing hard into her palms, not tight enough to cut but with enough pressure to hurt.
Lydia shrugged. After a while she admitted, "I know you were trying to help me. I just didn't get around to it. What do I care who becomes the Auditor General or the State Treasurer? I probably would have just voted for whatever name I thought sounded best. That's what I did on the fake ballot they had us fill out in history class. Did you know the Libertarian v.p. guy has a middle name of 'Spike'? Remember that guy on that old series that you showed me, with the girl that killed vampires and fooled around with them too? There was a vampire named Spike in that show, too, pretty cool. It is too bad that Kanye isn't on our ballot, but I might have written him in if I were voting for real."
Elizabeth shook her head at how silly her sister was. Maybe, though, it was better if her sister didn't vote, rather than voting so ignorantly. "Well, you've really missed an opportunity to participate in our democracy. Don't you know that all the news networks are saying that in the race for president it may all come down to our state?"
"Lizzy, don't you know anything? We live in a republic, not a democracy. And anyway, there are lots of people in Pennsylvania; it would never come down to me anyway. Now can you finish braiding my hair?"
Elizabeth started braiding again. She was just about to discuss some recent elections where things had come down to just a few votes, including a Kentucky election with an initial one vote win, that upon recounting ended in a tie, when Lydia got an alert tone on her phone, effectively cutting off any further conversation Elizabeth might have had with her sister as Lydia's fingers started inputting a response.
When Elizabeth finished with Lydia's hair, she told her, "I'm going to hang out with Kitty now." Lydia didn't even acknowledge her; she was too busy texting on her phone.
Kit was sorting through her closet when Elizabeth knocked on her door.
"How are you doing, Kit?" Elizabeth asked.
"Pretty good." Kit paused to turn toward her sister, beaming at her. With her blonde hair and the way she smiled, Kit reminded Elizabeth of Jane just then. "I just heard today that I might be able to live on campus at U Penn in the spring. Most of the classes will still be online, students will have to do a modified quarantine when they go back and get covid testing twice a week the rest of the semester, but still I will finally be able to move away from home for the rest of the school year."
"Sounds promising," Elizabeth enthused. "Now I'm hoping you are actually registered to vote, unlike Lydia. I couldn't believe that she didn't send in the form." She moved closer to the closet to see what Kit was doing.
"I am," Kit replied, still flipping through the clothes in her closet. Elizabeth noticed that Kit had grouped tops, bottoms and accessories, rubber-banding hangers together. "I've put together so many good outfits, but I have no place to wear them to."
"If you put them on, I'll take your photo in them."
"Good idea!" Kit responded with enthusiasm while she flipped through her pairings again, trying to decide what she would put on first. "Selfies aren't all that good at showing a complete outfit. Maybe we can do four outfits or so and I can ask my followers which outfit is the best for Election Day."
"Sure," Elizabeth replied, hoping that her offer of helping with the pictures might help sway Kit to Biden if she wasn't already planning to vote for him. "So, who do you plan to vote for in the presidential election?" Elizabeth asked.
"It's a hard decision, but I think I'm going to vote for Trump." Kit responded. She had picked out the first outfit she wanted to be photographed wearing, but had just realized she hadn't considered shoes.
"No, you can't," Elizabeth responded, horrified. "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"You can't be serious," Kit said, turning around. Her eyebrows were raised pretty high. "I want my life back. For most adults my age, we will hardly be sick at all, yet still we've been locked up. Maria Lucas just had a fever for a day. No big deal at all."
"Is that the only reason you like Trump?" Elizabeth wasn't thinking about winning the bet against her husband right then, but understanding her sister's perspective better.
"Well," Kit pondered, wandering to her shoe rack at the far end of the closet, "I like seeing how Melania and Ivanka Trump dress. They've helped me with my own fashion choices. Nothing against Dr. Jill Biden, but she isn't ever going to be a fashion trend setter. I know you voted for Hillary the last time around and, sure, it would have been cool to have a woman elected president, but her fashion sense was the worst, really bad old lady. She looked so dumpy. And what was with her coloring all her hair but the bottom sides? It was like grey sideburns. Gross. She wasn't fooling anyone into thinking she was only a little bit grey."