Page 51 of A Fabulously Unfabulous Summer for Henry Milch

My grandmother stood up and clasped both sides of the walker. She started down the aisle while Sue returned her sheet music to the organ bench—which she flipped up to reveal a convenient spot to keep music—and then scurried after Nana Cole.

Bekah watched them leave, and the minute they were gone rushed over to me. “You’re from Beverly Hills, aren’t you?”

“L.A.,” I corrected.

“Same difference, right? I mean, my favorite show in the world isBeverly Hills, 90210. We have the whole show on tape. I watch it all the time. It’s just like that, isn’t it?”

I think I’d watched one episode when it was on TV and turned it off because it was so stupid, but I said, “Yeah. That’s what it’s like, pretty much.”

“Oh, God, you’re so lucky! I mean, you were. Now you’re here; that’s not lucky at all.”

“No, it’s not.”

“I bet you can’t wait to go back.”

I nodded. I didn’t really want to talk about me. Actually, I kind of did, but that wouldn’t get me any closer to going home. And this conversation was making me homesick.

“So, I guess you’re close to your grandmother?” I asked her.

“I stay with her a lot. It’s better than being with my mom. Not that my mom is horrible, but she’s married to this guy—Steve. He and I don’t really… I mean, he’s a total Brenda, if you know what I mean.”

I was pretty sure Brenda was a character onBeverly Hills, 90210and not a nice one, so I nodded sympathetically.

“As soon as I turn eighteen, I’m moving to Beverly Hills.”

“Do you have a lot of money?”

It seemed a practical question.

“Well, I mean, I’m saving up. Maybe I could sleep on your couch when I get there. I mean, no funny business.”

“I’m gay.”

She gasped. “Oh my God. We could beWill & Grace!”

I liked TV, but seriously, this girl? Did she do anything else? Since Sue and Nana Cole could be back any moment, I cut to the chase, and said, “Tell me the truth, is your grandmother having an affair with Reverend Wilkie?”

“What? No…” she said, giggling. “Why would you ask that? Are you crazy?”

“I get the impression Reverend Hessel had something on them that he used to advance himself in the church.”

She stopped smiling and was suddenly visibly upset. She looked over her shoulder, then whispered, “Does everyone think that?”

I couldn’t speak for everyone, but I nodded anyway.

“Oh my God, this all my fault.”

Something awful occurred to me. “You aren’t having an affair with Reverend Wilkie, are you?”

“Yuck! No. Gawd!”

“My thoughts exactly. So, what exactly is all your fault?”

She thought for a moment, then said, “I got pregnant, and they helped me.”

“They helped you…”

“Not be pregnant. They took me to Grand Rapids so that no one would recognize us.”